Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-11-19
1920 CONVICTED IN ENGLAND'S FIGHT ON
 POFITEER!kC EVILS
Stupendous Task of Tracking Greed Is Disclosed in Series
 of Reports.

ed Press. .)-Great Britain's stupen- dous effort to grapple with profiteer- ed 7.350 offenders and secured 1920 1900 tribunals which have prosecut- ing is just disclosed by the work Of convictions, with fines aggregat.ne $35,000.
 Besides setting up these local trih- unals to which complaints aganst dealers are submitted, appeal trlbun- ais have been established in speeifi- ed areas of England, Scotland, and Wales. In addition central commit tees also have been formed to inves- tigate supposed trusts or monopolies which may be manipulating whole sale prices. This has been done un- der the profiteering act.
 Apart from the prosecution of complaints, the board of trade, which is charged with the administration of the -profiteering law, IS in dependently Investigating prices, costs and profits of a large number of articles in common use. 1t has formed costings committee, con- posed of distinguished accountants, which is assisting the central com- mittee in it's task. A subcommittee on trusts has been empowered to ob- tain whatever the technical and eX pert assistance may be required.
 In scope, the act applies to "any article or class of articles which is one of a kind in common use by the public" or to any material, machin- cry or accessories used in the produc tion of such articles" The act does not apply to controlled" articles. such as butter, sugar, beer, flour, liquors-co for which max imum prices were fixed by wartime legislation.
 Define Profiteering.
 A clear-cut definition of the term "profiteering" has been point which has given local tribunals much diff ficulty in the prosecution of their tasks. So far, the definition laid down by Sir Auckland Geddes, pres ident of the board of trade, has been accepted as a basis for prosecution. It follows: "The making of an un- reasonably large profit, all the cir cumstances being known, by the sale to ones fellow citizens of an article which is one, or one of kind, in com mon use."
 On the moot question of what con- stitutes an unreasonable profit" c. A. McCurdy, parliamentary secretary to the ministry of food, recently de- clared, "One of the causes of profi teering is the fact that the public seems to have lost all sense of what is a reasonable profit. A good pr1n- ciple for tribunals to work upon is not to ask themselves whether the profit is higher than someone else is charging, but is the profit arrived at on any reasonable business prin- ciples or is it merely dictated by avarice and greed?"
 MT. McCurdy has characterized the profiteering act as "an abnormal remedy for an abnormal state of pub lie feeling-an act not intended to harass British trade, but to help it to normal and healthy conditions"
 Critics of the governments anti profiteering machinery point to off cial figures just published in the board of trades Labor Gazette show ing that, despite efforts to beat down living costs, the general level of re- tail prices on October 1 was about 12O, per cent above pre-war figures, or an increase of five per cent as CVlAP0A Cu WAtll LllC ACNCl VI 6CpCSII- Der 1, last, when the local tribunals were just getting under way. But it is not contended, even by these fault finders, that the increase would not have been larger had the government made no effort to bring the profi- teers to book.
 Women Help Serve.
 Against such objects may be set such testimonials as that of the Var mouth Profiteering committee which claims that reduction in wholesale prices by as much as thirty-five per cent has been noticeable in that To- cality.
 Membership of the local tribunals is fixed at from seven to twenty-five, two of whom must be women. All complaints are heard in public ex- cept in special cases when under au- thority of the board of trade, pro- ceedings may be in private. Books or documents produced at private hearings are to be treated as confi- dential if the person producing them so desires. Labor is represented on the local tribunals and un the central committee, among the members of the committee being J. H. Thomas executive head of the railway men during the recent strike and G. H, Stuart-Bunning, president of the British Trades Union Congress.
 Local tribunals have been empow- cred to investigate all claims brought before them and, if the allegations of excessive charges are established ] to institute proceedings against the seller before court of summary jur. isdiction where, upon conviction fines of not more than $1,000 or i'm prisonment for terms not to excee, three months, or both, may be i'm posed.
 Questions before local tribunal are decided by majority of th members present and voting. An, seller aggrieved by any finding of local tribunal, other than decision to take proceedings before cour of summary jurisdiction, may appea to the Appeal Tribunal for the are n.