Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-04-13
Rotting At the Core

blatt, but the supervising staff has
not held It's own against the tempta-
lions offered by the a and it is of
no use@to shut ones eyes to the fact.
Any one who is engaged in business
and wants an order from the authori-
ties to get his raw material and fuel,
or to prevent his railroad shipments
being delayed or to insure that
bill is approved and paid without g
lay-he does we'll when he puts n
few greenbacks in his pockets to stir
up the zeal of the necessary officials.
This Is not limited to subordinate
positions, but extends to circles of
whose 'unimpeachability' we Germans
have been justly proud. There has
arisen, in fact. a state of affairs that
bears a desperate resemblance to So
called Russian conditions
The outbreaks Of larceny and bur-
glary n crimes against life and
property certainly resemble the Rus
sian disorders. The German papers
explain that these crimes are due to
'jaiiblrds and deserters'' who take ad-
vantage of the fact that there are no
|able-bodied men left as .watchmen.
The word 'deserters" is Significant.
But the extraordinary number of
cases reported shows that neither
army deserters nor criminal classes.
could be responsible for them all.
Inc whole people have become cor
rupted and the lower classes steal be-
cause 1t is the only way in which they
can prey upon the state as the others
are preying.
The Volksblatt makes that plain in
a long article upon THE Decline OF
Economic Morals"
The opportunity for GAIN it a
I, mas promoted a feature of business
ethics that not only disgusts he per
son who is Yet free of 1t. hut even
makes him despair. considering the
extent to which it has spread during
this war. The lust for wealth has
SIMPLY DESTROYED all business ethics
and even the appearance. of
Even the *church has no longer the.
slightest influence on the masses.
is caught. in this prof
teer1ng makes all sorts Of daring wins
dlcatlons' and excuses. The small.
dealer, without much money or in
nnence, ultimately accepts punishment
as. unavoidable, promising himself.
mat next time he will go about. it
differently. But the rich dealer and.
manufacturer avails. himself. Of "A,
government. organizations, chambers
Of commerce. trade unions, etc., in
order to. protect himself from pun
lshment. In all fairness, itamight.b be
expected that the organizations Of the
mlddle classes, or industry and
wholesale dealers, chambers OF conf
merce: retail dealers associations,
manu1acture associations. etc.
would exhort and warn their mem.
oers to refrain from such courses of
action and be of loyal assistance to
the Fatherland. Yet. no one hears Of
anything like that. On the contrary
these institutions give protection to
such people instead of expelling them
and letting 'them bear the responsi-
bilitv of their dirty tricks.
hear of some Of the widest
kin of court decisions which declare
that a profit of rs per rent or even
more Is only normal and customary in
business. We learned it in the
'S~chondorf case. In that case a half
a dozen decisions We're cited. all OF
which were OF course favorable to the
offenders. The profit which originally
came to "a per cent was cut down to
23!44 per cent, and this rate was not
considered as ,usury. Herr Schondorf
his enormous profit, while
posing as a Red Cross benefactor. 1t
Is a fact that he was fully aware that
mis- way OF transa citing business was
0 legitimate. for he sought a certain
Strohmann, who loaned his name for
the dirty deal. The court being driven
to It. on all sides, was finally, forced
to declare the man not guilty, being
aira1n 10 render a decision unfavor-
able to commercial men,"
The former recorder of the Master
Mechanics union. Herr Heinz 'Pott-
hon. n an article In the Hilfe. -re-
ports anon other things: when
army contractors, sugar factories.
breweries and establishments dealing
y 1000 products. declare "a dividend
off20 per cent, 30 per cent. SO Der
cent. n more-and double andstrfpIe
thetr ga pital, transfer their obe
and present their stockholders with
new shares SO az not to declare a diyi-
dend. In excess Of such ratas-it is war
pronteerfng. Until we make people
realize. this. no change Is possible.
Mere laws will not do 1t. On the CON
trary, superabundance OF. instfuc-
tons which contradict themselves has
had the DISASTROUS consequence that
RESPECT for law has disappeared. In
spite. OF all failures. I consider the
principles of economic regulation
necessary n just. But since the Just
as necessary moral principles are
neglected. he regulations are met
everywhere with opposition. Because
there IL 2 lack Of respect for orders,
more minute and stricter-until they
become meaningless. because no one
ear keep up with them any longer. Ar
the present time there fs no offender
IN Germany Who could be put into
prison because of violation Of war
res1ilations Whatya c~ondition!t.s
That this condition involves the
highest In Germany. a. well ~ Il
lfiowest, has been shown by the recent
exposure Of the Daimler Motor com.
Danv. wh0Ae .dtrectorksare amone thns1
.uniisipeAchable classes of whom