The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-08-01

States; they are not Republi-
cans; they are not Democrats !;
they are patriots, willing to.
spend their last dollar and to
drain their veins dry in the cause.
Of their country, and, until you
have crushed that indomitable
spirit that thrills their souls,
and until you have destroyed all
of their men, you can not sue
ceed. Long before that hour
can come your throne will totter
your scepter will be broken, the
bloody sword will fall from your
palsied hand, and your own en-
slaved people will rise and bless
the flag that bears the emblem
of America, for it will also be to
them the emblem Of liberty"
Baer on the Profiteers.
4 Congressman Baer Of North
Dakota, recently renominated
for congress, strongly favors
government action to curb pro
Efiteering in the necessities Of life
and articles il common use. Mr..
|Baer declares there is a great
fallacy in the policy Of allowing
corporations and others to pro-
Efiteer and then to extract part Of
their profits from them by taxa
tion. n
"The trouble with this" said
Mr.. Baer, lis that it is a tax on
the consumer in disguise. The
money which the government re-
ceives is wrung out Of the pub
lie by profteering and then it is
passed on to the treasury in part.
The public pays the freight. The
profiteering corporation or con-
Germ doesn't suffer, and in reai-
ty by this system escapes taxa
tion and gets away with a suf-
ficient amount Of loot to pile up
more net profits than it made in
the pre-war period.
"What should be done is to hit
at profiteering at the source.
The prices Of articles Of ordinary
use, Of foodstuffs, clothing and
so on, should be held down to a
reasonable figure.
'"The method of permitting
profteering and then taking
part Of the profits out of the
profiteer, which is now so freely
advocated, is simply a scheme,
and an adroit one, to compel the
consumer to pay the cost Of the
war. We have all heard objec-
ton to paying the cost of the
war by consumption taxes. If
such objections are sound, then
we shouldn't assent to a system
that imposes taxes on the con-
sumner by indirection.
''I voted for $40 wheat, but
/ doubt if it would have done the
farmer much good. It he has 20
cents more put in one pocket
and 40 cents taken out Of the
other by the selfishness Of the
profteers, he isn't helped. The
farmer will not profit as much
by $40 wheat as by $2.2O wheat
if the administration will go
down the line and fix fair prices
lon implements, shoes, clothing
and other things that the farm
ers and consumers generally buy.
Referring to the talk of inn
posing an 80 per cent tax on
profiteering concerns, Mr.. Baer
declared this inadequate and
that the profiteers could well af-
ford to snap their fingers and
laugh at such a proposal, as it
meant they would make their
getaway" with tremendous gains
out Of the necessities Of the peo-
|ple.
''The big business man, the
big profteering corporation( as
shown by the report Of the fed
eral trade commission, Mr.. Baer
added further, lis making inor-
dinate profits. The small busi-
ness man in the Middle West,
and doubtless elsewhere, is be-
| ing taxed to the limit. He IS not
getting any fat war contracts
either. The result Is that the
condition Of the small business
man, is not healthy. It is like
taxing sick men.
Play John DIS Way.
AZ war is on between the
Rockefeller Foundation crowd,
which has set out to- influence
not only the American schools
and churches but the American
habits Of play, and the group led
lby Margaret Wilson, daughter
lof the preside lent, who want the
!. 9.