Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-09-18
Following the Other Fellow.

Hoarding OF tremendous supplies Of
hides has been discovered In New
York. Those responsible for the cor
nering methods frankly admitted that
they were taking advantage Of a
scarcity to reap big profits. Their
justification was that everybody else
was doing the same thing"
There's the rub. The discouraging
fact is that they were telling the truth.
for the greatest handicap that the ma
ton has been fighting and Big stiA
c0ntendinE against IS the avariciOuH
ness Of It's business interests TO &C
emulate wealth unfairly at q time
when the people already are Cverbur-
dened simply because they feel That
they NAV do so without suffering legal
punishment Federal agencies have
made exposures Of ilIegitimate profit
eeriug in various channels of manu-
facture and production and here and
there there have been concessions
that have served to pacify the public
0utcry against the piratical methods
that have been introduced in the ave
nues of trade and merchandising but
if you sit down and try to argue your
self into believing that you are get
ting along a any less financial out
lay for the uecessarIes Of life than you
were at this period one year ago you
are due to experience appointment
{ It is true that you have Witnessed q
slfght reduction in the price of your
coal. but this was gained only after a
bitter struggle in which the president
had 10 threaten temporary couhsca-
ton Of the mines and their operation
in the interest Of the people before the
Lsl
reductions, thereby indicating that
they were unwilling to give a sympa-
thetic ear to the pleadings of the ad-
ministration. vOiCing the demands of
the public. that there be fairness OBJ
served ia the handlings of commodities
between the producer and the con- /
sumer: that by minimizing discOu-
tent among the people the nation /
would better be able to prosecute its !
war program; that with the people +
FESTIVE and possessed by suspicion +
that their government was not shield /
ing them against the enemy at home /
the producer seeking to profit through /
the excitement and uncertainty of war, /
they would not be in a mood no give .
that whole hearted cooperation that
must be had from them II the nation /
is TO fulfiIl its expectations as an eff /
fective ally of the other countries lined /
up against brutanzed Germany.
In viewing the horizon through the /
eyes of the average American citizen, /
it must be admitted that there re I
mains much for the federal agencies /
TO do before the public IS convinced I
that ii is getting that service from its +
government that it has been promised I
and which it has a right to expect. f
especially ip such a critical time Not +
that the administration has not been /
doing its utmost to obtain ameliOgatiug
results, for we all are familiar with /
the activities carried on thus far. But /
the surface has been barely touched.
The interests in this nation which. by
ramified combinations control com
modities and prices, have rot yet been
converted TO the new order. They
have by agreement fixed the tariffs
that they are TO impose, and while
here and there there have been allow
ances made in the hope that they viii
still the rumhlings Of public protest,
the knife has not yet been sunk i'm as
deeply as it viii have TO be. We need
not look to the interests controlling
the markets to make grants 10 the
consumer. The coal barous did not
do it. Neither viii their contempOrar-
les engaged in other lines of prOduc-
tion do it-and it lis 10 their shame as
pledged to do their part in
gaining early settlement of the ma
ional crisis. Administration appeals
have reached some sources of produc-
ton and manufacture, but they have
been greatly in the minority. and
when they realized that they were per
hitting sentiment 10 interfere with
profits they naturally fell ia with the
big procession and got theirs and still
are getting while the getting Is good
There are many directions in which
the price pruning knife may be swung
But the federal government must
direct the swinging Investigations
accomplish little beyond Irritating the
lie wants action and relief