Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-29
UNWISE ECONOMIES
I'e EdHoF or Che Telegraph:

To tie Editor of the TELEGRAPH:
very much fear your readers dc
not fully understand the true intent
OF the much discussed Cash and
! carry plan. l fear they think that
1t is intended to cover very large
purchases as we'll as small articles
| that easily can be carried home. If
the plan were adopted the way some
! people understand ii l would like to
know how the newspapers of Harris
| burg would get their supplies of
| paper from the railroads to their
warehouses by the cash and carry
| plan.
/ would like to have some one ex-
plain how the great bakeries of Har-
rlsburg could deliver their bread on
the cash and carry plan, and would
IKE to see what service the public
| would get from such a system. 1t
occurs to me this is one of the most
foolish things l have ever read in
these days of prosperous times.
wouldn't 1T be exceptionally nice to
see the coal dealers of Harrisburg
go on the cash and carry plan. l
should rather think that it would he
a great deal better for the presses of
the country to keep our Industries
going so we can buy Liberty Bonds
to win the war and for this reason |
of which is taken from the Chicago
Daily News and a part of which is
written by one of the great editors
of the South.
The man who shouts hard times"
these days is either fool or O
knave, and the truth is not in him.
BY careful and painstakingly in
vestigation every real news item on
conditions throughout the country,
q rn -fWagr 1AI ta
conclusion possible-that business
was never better and that prospects
of big business in the future are
growing bigger all the time.
The South" to quote the editor
of one prominent trade journal, "is
literally burning up with prosperity"
The huge army cantonments below
the far famed Dixie line demand
such volume of supplies that the
merchants are staggering under the
welcome burden.
New England is taxed to its utmost
capacity to meet the nations want
of shoes and woolens, and its ship
yards are crowded. The farmers in
Aroostook county, Maine, have not
yet recovered from the shock OF the
fabulous price paid for potatoes last
spring, which paid off more farm
mortgages in six months than in ten
previous years.
The middle west is getting sky
line prices for grains and all other
products, and the prices paid for beef
and pork insure a profit of several
hundred per cent. No need to dis
cuss this further-everybod knows
the farmers pockets are well lined.
The Pacific Coast boom is heard
half way across the continent and
fruit and lumber can scarcely be
marketed fast enough to supply the
demand. If there is a section of the
country that can truthfully plead
poverty, then we haven't heard of 1t.
A fool can stand on the beach and
let little spray hit him in the face
and right away he wants to write a
book on navigation. Americas first
battle in this war will be with the
fools right here at home. A tongue
without a brain behind it is as dan
gerous as a gun in the hands of n
drunken Indian. This war is so big
and complex that a fool oughtn't to
be allowed to monkey with it.
We keep cranks away from our
powder factories and, by the same
token, why shouldn't we keep fools
away from our presses? Better still.
why shouldn't we muZzle fools and
intern them till after the war?
Here's what the fools are doing to
us:
President Wilson, in his wisdom,
eXhorts the people to conserve their
foodstuffs. And he appoints this man
Hoover, who, by the way, is the most
expert food conservation specialist in
the world, to help the people raise
their truck and to make their truck
go farther--all of which is wonderful
generalship.
But the fools, who can no more
fathom a deep mentality like that of
President Wilson than a canary can
whistle the anvil Chorus" miss the
whole idea and just manage to catch
on to the tail end of the word ECO
nomy." So right away they want to
go on a nationwide hunger strike,
start a bread line and raise Caine in
general.
Secretary McAdoo asks the people
to buy some perfectly good per
cent. government bonds, non-taxable,
the best investment that any sane
man could make-because it is, the
safest. Right away the fools shout:
Uncle Sam wants you to give him
your money"
Fortunately, wise men are in a
vast majority in this country, and
-. 7