The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-05-15

hungry or clothing the naked or
 giving drink to the thirsty. It will do all CT none of these things for 1 the money may be in it. If there
 is no gain. then it is none of its
 business. If all the people clamored
 money raising it, the farmers would
 raise turnips or alfalfa or timothy
 or rye or barley or oats or some
 thing that there was money in,
 never wheat. If the railroads lost
 money lending cars for the trans
 portation of wheat, the wheat could
 profitable to move it. If the mills
 cannot pay making fcur, they stop
 grinding out flour. They do none
 of these absolutely necessary social
 processes for the sake of human be-
 ings, but for the money that's ill
 it.
 Hence the wheat broker is in the
 gambling business for profit. If
 you only grow, grind and distribute
 wheat for the money in doing these
 things, then there is just as much social morality in buying and sell ing, long or short May or September , wheat, for the money that is in it. , That's the position taken. The
 law says so far it Is all right. The law says that the owner of the field
 over which society has given him property rights, the owner of the railroad which has got a govern . mental right of way and which by virtue of paying them enough to live upon could take the whole ot | mems days labor to construct its : permanent way, it's cars, it's steel, it's | engines, the owner of the mill who : has control of the machinery of flour making, need only suit himself what he does with it. If one or all of them stop operating, they have
 perfect right to do so.
 It is very likely that the people will denounce in a especial manner 5 the wheat gamblers. They hate to see it. It strikes them as particu- larly vicious. But it is no more
 vicious than the whole system. The system itself is vicious be ] cause it is not the human need at ] all but the matter of profits which is the incentive.
 Every person knows full well that since the European war began pri' ces have greatly increased in all ne- cessaries. The reason for that, as 2 every one also knows, is that the Q exports increased so much that the
 domestic supply relative to the de s mand decreased. Those exports to l Europe were shipped out Of the t country quite regardless of the rc- quirements of the people here. The : money n.ade in selling to Europe s was greater than would have been
 the money made were the products s retained here and sold to meet Am r erican needs. So away they went. C It was and 1t is immaterial that | people suffered here in consequence - Business activity, productive ahi S distributive activity -s not concerned
 ,at all what suffering follows those [. activities. But these activities ar' It concerned it is their life blood g with the rate of gain that owners s are able to extract from such ope g rations.
 Everyone is complaining abou l. the combines, the warehousemen It tho spectators, the business inter j. ests, tho high prices and everyon ), is saying that something ought t n be done.
 y But what is happening to cxcit l. all this agitation is nothing ney II 1t is what has always been done
 It is what is being done every day g. It is what has been done iron 1, time immemorial. The fact is tha al today, because the time is littl y, more stenuous everyone feels il y Today the shortage is a little nor T. marked. Today speculation is of little more frantic. Today the rusl al for profit seems a bit greedier. To
 day the purchasing power of tn S. dollar is shot to pieces. But tn D. economy is the same. The systen D is the same. The incentive is tn h same. The fact that human welfar ,r and human need and human happi-