Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-08-21

pleasant for the men who last week
looked with SNUG satisfaction on
something in the p~rofteering line IN
which he was engaged to have Ii sud
denly brought to his attention that he
was doing something for which he
might go to the gallows.
The cost of living Will come down
because Public Opinion demands II.
The foulness that has come to be a
trade custom in exacting exorbitant
profits no longer will be tolerated. The
merchant who laughs at protest
against high price and asks why
shouldn't / get it while the getting is
good and while everybody's doing
it?" may know public wrath.
Profteering will stop or hide its
head because it is questionable or
dangerous. The fear of the public, If
not of the law, has been thrown in
one day into the hearts of many
thousands of men. The President did
not go before Congress any too soon.
Reports have poured into Washington
from most of the large cities of
Genes in small shops in the large
cities that threatened outbreaks a
little later. outbreaks led by women.
That is what brought matters to a
head. Food riots in a land of the
greatest plenty and at a time when
the food stocks were unusually large
were anachronistic.
The price of foods and Of goods
will come down sharply and rapidly
but will not stay down unless the
public stops it's extravaganza in
spending. Retail merchants in var
ious quarters report they sell more
low in two weeks than they did two
years ago in two months. The peo-
pie pinched and saved two years ago
but there is no justification for ex-
cessive buying now The merchants
say "the higher the price the quick
er and more they buy" That indi-
Gates disorder and recklessness. The
person who pays an exorbitant price
for anything is unjust to the public
at large for he or she helps to in
crease the price others must pay The
person who buys wastefully is unjust
to the public for he or she raises the
on others.
1t is idle to inveigh against the big
profiteers and not damn or stop the
class profiteer and the small
profiteer. The whole vile system
branches. 1t can be eradicated now
and it must be not only for the good
America but for the good of the
world for the restoration of the world
upon the power of America
The riot of p~roiteering and the riot
Of extravaganza have tended to sap
power.
There is no warrant for $40 shoes
or ready made suits of mems clothes
S85. There is no warrant for beef
at 20 cents a pound in Mime |
apolis and SIS cent in Providence, r. |
I. There is no warrant for SIS shirts.
There is no warrant for plums at Is
a dozen, bananas 5 cents each
or apples at 10 cents each.
The public can stop small profiteer-
ing by refusing to pay the prices re-
tail profiteers exact.
Meanwhile if the government needs |!
proof of large profiteering it is to be
had in abundance. 1t is as plain as
4 pikestaff and stands revealed in the
reports of the profteering
The person who expects Washing
ton to cure all the evils that confront
people is a poor citizen. Great
er ability toward correction is possess
I'd by the public through ane think
ng and prudent action. Prices will
down to an honest basis if the
public backs UP the government but
hey will not stay down unless the
public Of itself checks its ~extrava-