The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-12-20
HAVE A RIGHT 5
01aA - AAA~AAA
TO COMPLAIN
President Says Farmers Com
plain With Justice" and
Scores PrOfiteers.

YAf1AA Will JUStlCe ana
Scores PrOfiteers.
When the National Nonparti-
san League conference at st.
Paul Sept. 18-19-2O adopted res
Olutions denounclng the war
profteers and demanding that
the government extend its price
fixing policy to include all COM
modieies necessary to the peo-
pie, the Big Biz press Immediate
" directed a flood of vitupera-
tion and slander against the
league and it's leaders. Big Busi-
ness was attacked in a tender
place Its pockets and it
sought to divert attention from
it's profteering by hiding be-
hind the flag and to discredit
the Nonpartisan league by
branding it as disloyal and trait
orous,
The resolutions adopted by
the st. Paul conference were for
warded to President Wilson. He
was fully informed as to all the
circumstances. The president
knew exactly why the farmers
and workers complained and this
is what he says about their
complaint in his message to Con-
gress on Dec. a:
The farmers, for example.
complain with a great deal of
Justice that while regulation of
food products restricts their in
comes, no restraints are placed
upon the price Of most Of the
things they, themselves, must
purchase, and similar iniquities
obtain on all Sides"
But the Nonpartisan league
resolutions did more than COM
plain. They suggested q rem
edy in the following language:
Resolved, that in the face of
national necessity, and partictl-
larly in contemplation Of the
suffering Of the poor in our cit
les who must have bread at q
price within their reach, we
cheerfully acquiesce in this sac
rifice, but we respectfully urge
and will continue to insist that
those who produce and sell 9TH
Ell products necessary for the
peoples use and for carrying on
the war be dealt with upon a
like basis, and that the govern
ment take the same drastic ac-
tion toward those who are MAX
ing extortionate profits out of
the necessity of the people in
time Of war"
This was the plank that arous-
ed the animosity of the profit
eers and their prostituted press
toward the Nonpartisan league,
but President Wilson evidently
considered this recommendation,
also, for his message to Congress
continues:
Recent experience has con-
vinced me that Congress must
go further in authorizing the
government to set limits to the
prices. The law of supply and
demand, | am sorry to- say, has
been replaced by the law Of un-
restrained selfishness. While
we have eliminated profiteering
in several branches of indus
try, it still runs impudently ram
pant in others"
President Wilson's requests
to Congress are exactly in line
with what the National Nonpar-
tisan league urged last Septem-
Der. President Wilson not only
ruges that price fixing be ex-
tended, but he denounces the
profteers for their ''unrestrain-
ed selfishness' and these are
the same profiteers who assailed
the Nonpartisan league because
it pointed out that they were.
fattening their purses with
blood od-money coined from the
necessities Of the people.
These profiteers are silent and
confounded when President Viii
son repeats the accusations made
by the National Nonpartisan
league. Big Business has not al
word in denial and its prostitut-
ed newspapers and apologetic1
politicians do not dare to ques-
tion the Presidents integrity Of
purpose, although they almost
ovhn11ctnd tho xynr ahI11 nyv 5ss ~,