Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-12-03

prices were fixed for materials pough
for military purposes. but'the enort'
! to curb profteering at the expense ol
the civil population Of the United states
have mainly been OF a moral rather
than a legal character. with rev ex'
ceptions. These exceptions have in
cluded coal and foodstuffs, for which
, fixed prices were established, and to
limited extent the efforts to curb prof
itcering in those products have beer
fairly successful.
The fuel and food administrations
have had their hands full providing
for the demands of war. Their rules
for the regulation Of prices to domes'
tic consumers. while generally Follow
ed, have not been rigidly adhered to
The result has been that the practice
Of extortion in even those materials
which had no war value has been uni-
versal.
The licenses Of many dealers in Goa
and food have been taken from them
Others have been fined nominal sums, a
few have been compelled to refund
their ill-gotten gains, and here and
there 4 profiteer more mercilcss than
the average Of his fellows. has been
sent to Jail But on the whole the prof.
iteer in an almost endless variety OF
materials has escaped unscathed.
Several hundred persons caught
boarding foodstuffs have been fined
The governments regulations. while
reasonable and comprehensive. have
left many loopholes for the avaricious
who, conspiring with the more fortu-
nate Of his customers, has profted to
an unholy extent through expensively
bought favoritism.
Clothing Men Unchecked.
The shoe and clothing dealer escap.
cd unscathed until a few weeks ago
when the war industries board fixed
prices to apply to shoes. There 10 abb
solutely no supervision Of clothing
The manufacturer OF clothing fabrics
the wholesale dealer and jobber In
mems. women's and children's clothes
and. finally, the retailer, have charged
what the market would stand"
Aside from the general laws apply
ing to extortion, obtaining money un-
der false pretenses, swindling and
grand and petty larceny, provided BY
the Federal statutes and penal laws o!
the various states. there Is no govern
ment agency authorized to deal direct
ly with the clothing problem. nor has
any attempt been made by the depart
ment of justice. the war industries
board, the Federal trade commission
nor any other government agency en-
powered to investigate and FIX the
prices.
Congress has passed but one bill re-
lating to profiteering, though thore are
now pending two or three measures
relating to this problem. The oni$Afs
actually written into the statutes oi
the United States applied to prof1teer'
ing in rents in Washington. D. C. The
war demands of the government at
tracted to the national capital proba'
bly, 100000 persons. To house and
care for these was a problem that the
government is just beginning to solve
Until it embarked upon the business
Of constructing living quarters for Its
tremendously swollen population, per-
sons who either volunteered or were
drafted into the public service there
were the victims of most outrageous
cxtortion practiced by house owners
and lcssees Of apartments.
The one law directed against prof.
teering. therefore. sought in a measure
to protect people Of this sort.
President Wilson sounded the first
note of warning to profiteers in per-
sonal appeal to the citizens OF the
country on April is, 1917, nine days
after the United States entered the wal
against Germany. Appealing to the
producing element to observe extraor'
dinary efforts to increase the output ol
all commodities to meet the demand.
Of war. he said:
The course of trade shall be as un-
hampered as it is possible to make II
and there shall be no unwarranted ma
|nipulation Of the nations food supply
by those who handle 1t on its way Il
the consumer. Let me say to the mid
dlemen Of every sort, whether they are
handling our foodstuffs or our wal
materials of manufacture or the pro
ducts Of our mills and factories: Th'
eyes OF the country will be especially
upon you. This is your opportunit!
for signal service, efficient and disin
terested. The country expects you, a!
It expects all others, to forego unusua
profits, to organize and expedite ship
ments Of supplies Of every kind, bu
especially food, with an eye to the ser
vice you are rendering and in the spiri
Of those who enlist in the ranks, fol
their people, not themselves. I shal
confidently expect you to deserve anc
win the confidence Of the people OF ev
cry sort and station"
Following the presidents declaration
the functions Of various government
agencies were employed to preven
profiteering Of any kind. The Nationa
Council of Defense, the Federal Trad
commission. the Food and Fuel admin
istrations. and finally the War Indus
tries board began the work Of stand
ardizing the government prices for al
materials and supplies covering ever!
variety Of product bought for war pur
poses. Less attention was necessaril!
paid for the time being to problems o
the same character affecting the civi
population.
After the gigantic task Of systematic
ing the supply and price Of all pro
ducts needed for war purposes. tn
Food and Fuel administrations and tn
Federal Trade commission set abou
establishing fixed prices for domesti
products distributed through the retail