Evening star., 1917-12-23

OOIO Hoover can't pun IL on'
id with all the eaeiH he's so,;
YOU women mixin ins
at least. we can try. says wee
The prices this Belcher person is
charging are something outrageous.
Eggs 90 cents,
I'VE should worry" says l. Amt we
got nearly a hundred hens on the
job?"
But others haven't" says Wee,
.-rhose people in that row of little
. cottages down by the station Ihe
Walters, for instance. He can't get
more than twenty-five or thirty dol
Mars a week, can he?
There's so many cases YOU can't hg-
ure out" SAYS l. Maybe he scrubs
along on small steaks or fried
chicken"
Its no joking matter" protests Wee.
.-of course there are plenty OF people
worse off than the Walters. That Mrs.
Burke. whose two boys are in the s9th-
She must do her marketing at Belch-
ers, too Think of her having to pay
those awful prices"
IT would" says l. "if workin' up
C8Ec OIL tlOOiis " o7 Hh- A-Nf
can't see
we can see enough" breaks in Wee.
The new Belcher limousine. the addi-
tions TO their hideous big house All
made. too, out of food prohteerins
right here. It's got 10 stop. that's all"
which is where 1 should have shout
ed "Kamerad" and come runnin' out
with my hands up but l tried to show
game like every one else was pIayin'
81.
He amt springin' anything new"
says l. He's just followin' the mob.
> They're all doin' 1t. from the Steel
Trust down to the pushcart men. And
when you come TO interferin' with
business-well. that's serious"
"Humph," says Wee. When 1T comes
ITO taking advantage of poor people and
it plain piracy And YOU ought to be
ashamed of yourself, Torchy, standing
up for such things"
So you see L was about as convincin'
as JAZZ band tryn' to initiate the
Metropolitan orchestra doin' the over
ture to Lucia. IL hadn't finally had
sense enough TO switch the subject "A
LITTLE. there might have been poutin'
scene and maybe double case of sulks
But when | got to askin' where she'd
collected all this crouch against our
local meat and provision octopus. she
cheers up again.
Seems she'd been to Red Cross
meetin that afternoon. where lot Of
Inc ladies' got TO swappiu tales o.
voc about their Kitchen expense ac-
counts. Some Of 'em had been keepin'
track OF prices In the city markets
and was able to shoot the deadly
parallel at Beicher. Anyway. they
ditched the sweater-knittin' and band
age-roliin' for the time bein'. and pro
ceeded TO organize the woman's Eco
nomic League on She spot.
Sounds impressive says l. "And
what then: Did you try Belcher for
treason. find him guilty. and sentence
him to be shot at SUNRISE"
Wee proves that shes good-natured
again by runnin' her tongue out AT
We did not. Smarty." says she. "But
we passed a resolution condemning
such extortion severely"
How rough OF YOU" says l. Any
Yes" says Wee we appointed n
committee to tell him he'd better
stop.
Fine says /. Il expect he'll have
everything marked down about 40 per
cent by tomorrow night
Somehow. il didn't work out Just that
way. Next report ! got from Wee was
that the committee had Interview e.I
Belchef. but there was nothing doin'
He'd been awfully nice to 'cm. even if
he had talked through his cigar part
of the time.
Beicher says he feels just as bad as
they about hayin' TO soak on such stiff
prices. But how can he help it? The
coid-storage people are boostin' their
schedules every day. They amt TO
blame. either. They're bein' held up
by the farmers out west who are hayin'
their hair cut too often. Besides. all
the hens in the country have quit lay
in and joined the |. W. w, and every
kind of meat is scarce on account OF
Fershing's men deyelopin' such big ap-
petites. He's sorry. but he's doin' his
hest. considerin' the war and every
thing II people would only get the
habit OF usn' corn meal for their pie
crusts. everything would be lovely once
more.
IAN alibi on every count" says L "I
expect the committee apoiogizedH
Very nearly that says Wee The
stiles, J just wish I'd been there. /
don't believe half of what he said is
true"
That's one thing" says ]. but
.provin'. II on. him would be another.
And there's where Beichers got you"
Course, j liz to watch Wee in action,