Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-08-28

were singled out as the individuals
mainly responsible for the anarchisttc
idea of conscripting incomes and pro.
| fits for war use, and treated according
ly
Profiteer Tactics.
The committee was made up of men
| of undoubted loyalty and high stand
ing; most of them had been fighting
for democracy for years before we
| entered the war. Our loyalty, to
America needed no endorsement. But
our proposals were promptly labelled
by profiteer- controlled papers as "at-
! tempts to make the war unpopular"
as "thinly yelled pro-German propa
ganda," etc. Speeches we're editori-
ally commented on, though never
made, in which we we're alleged to
have favored peace which would
leave Germany in possession of north
ern France. Our motives were private
ly as we'll as publicly attacked. In
various social organizations move
ments were initiated to force our re-
signations. And, in some instances,
officers Of these organizations, who
believed themselves to be, and no.
doubt cWere, moved by friendly feel
ings, came to us secretly and advised
us to resign in order to escape ex-
pulsion.
Nevertheless, the propositions of
our committee, which appeared before
your Committee as we'll as before the
Senate Finance Committee, received
very wide public endorsement Some
four million people in different Sec
tons representing all classes, from
business mems clubs to church con-
ventions, labor unions and farmers
associations, at once passed resOlu-
lions endorsing our recommendations
Thousands of letters, many of them
containing contributions, flooded the
committees headquarters, and literally
hundreds of patriotic newspapers pub
lished our briefs and advertisements
without charge.
Very much the same thing happen
ed in the case of the Farmers Non
Partisan League. 1t will be remem-
bered that Mr.. Townley, and other
leaders of that organization advocated
CONSUMPTION of wealth, from the very
moment the war began. Later on, they
started an organized movement a.
gainst the packer and miller profit
GERS of the north and central West.
Although the Non-Partisan League
was absolutely patriotic, although it's
members bought liberty bonds, en-
listed in the army and navy far above
the average, and offered to sell their
grain and stock at profit so small
that the packers and millers were hor-
rified at the idea of themselves being
obliged to conform to such low rates
of return, they were accused of all
| liz :~:~ @f h1:,,
ganizers were mobbed and beaten by
, rested, and in some cases indicted for
sedition. Their houses were painted
yellow, their business integrity was
was injected into the minds of many
ae to whether the Non-Partisan Lea
: que was better than a nest of anarch-
lists and traitors.
But the main body of the public
was not deceived by these tactics. The
Non-Partisan League, instead of be-
ing decimated by profteer drum fire,
steadily grew in membership and in,
tluence; and it is today the dominant
social as we'll as political force in the
agricultural districts where it is or.
. gained. And now e&report OF the
Federal Trade Commission On "Meat
: Packing" and Flour" quite justifies
/ the public in it's previously formed
1Dpinion that the assault on the Non,
Partisan Leagues loyalty was engi
neered by people who were trying to
y stave off uncomfortable exposures
:. as to their own.
:, Give the Profiteer Chance.
, But to return to Mr. Wilson's words
y 1.-THE prOfiteering that cannot be got
), at by the restraints of conscience and
), love. of country can be got at by tax
I alton" Why not make an effort to get
: at it both ways? However, before dis
- cussing this proposal more widely, let
! me say, at this point that l do not
- want to be understood as implying
. that all corporations shown in the
y lists as having made big war profits
; are consciously 'profiteers," or that
all the men who control them are will
: fully disloyal, in that they have sane
- toned huge earnings at a time when
3 war conditions give the government
- and the public the right to buy neces
9 !saries at the lowest price consistent
with sound business. For l am con
= vinced that many, perhaps most, OF
> the individuals responsible for profit
eerlng are well intentiOned There is
nothing, l believe, consciously un
American, or pro-German, about the
: vast majority of our profteers, the ex
- PLANTATION of their conduct probably
lying in the fact that, til now, they
. have failed to realize the new obliga
- tons of citizenship raised by the war
. and have proceeded on the old ante
e bellum plan of charging as much as
! the traffic would bear.
The average prOfiteer unquestionab
= ly feels the call of patriotism; he
. wants to be good American, help
= the war and back up the boys at the
front. But he also wants to make a
r lot OF money out of the war, and lay
,, it aside against a rainy day. In short
he is torn by two conflicting and per
y fectly irreconcilable desires. Before
= April, 1917, the word patriotism" did
= not have it's present content of incon
= venient sacrifice. In the old days, be-
y ing patriotic only demanded from the
man of property an enthusiastic con
= viction that the United States was the
: best country on earth, and an occa
= sional attendance at functions where
the sentiments of revered, but very
=, Dead persons were repeated in par
!, rot-like manner which stirred up nc
: social obligations and was highly salts
factory to all present. Now, however
; patriostism has undergone alarming
. transformations transformations sc
;, new, so confusing and so truly .un
businesslike, that the profiteer's mind
e :, has not yet been able to adjust to
them.