Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-07-16

the pint basket. Cabbage tips the
scale at ten or fifteen cents a. head,
lettuce at twelve and up. Eggs are
quoted at so cents the dozen.
Farmers Shift Blame
The farmers blame the high price
of things on the rise of grain. They
claim that people, ordinarily, do not
understand the expenses incident to
raising good foodstuffs, and COM
plain bitterly when the farmers
raise the prices a bit. Other costs of
farming are likewise given by the
farmers as the cause, such as in
creasing expense of implements,
livestock care and feeding, number
of acres necessary to turn out food
which barely yields enough to war
rant it's continuance, and like mat
ters. .
They say also that there will be
no letup in prices until the grain
and seed people come down on
theirs. And they add, that they
don't expect this Utopian state for
some time to come.
License the Profitccrs
The question of bringing about a
reduction in the prices of food con-
tinued to interest consumers in Har-
risburg. During the day it was sug-
gested that one way to curb the
the profiteers would be to grant mer-
camille licenses only under restric-
tions that would prevent merchants
from charging unfair prices for theri
merchandise. The citizen who point
ed to this means of getting at the
bottom of the trouble gave it as his
10 O.,
that close supervision be made on
the conduct of merchants than it
was to restrain corporation from
charging unjustifiable railway fares.
People must eat" he said, "they
must buy clothing; they must pro-
vide homes for their families. Isn't
it just as important that the prof
iteers, on whom there seems to be
no curb whatever. should be con-
stantly held in abeyance through
fear of arrest and imprisonment? !
think it is. The important point is
this:
Poor People Suffer
There are hundreds of poor peo-
pie who are completely at the mercy
of unscrupulous food dealers. Some
one must think and act for them
else they must suffer impoverish-
ment and be poorly nourished to the
extent that they cannot properly
earn their livelihood. This matter
of raising the price of food out OF
all proportion to the earnings of the
people must stop somewhere. First
we had the rent prof1teer, who still
is with us and who goes hand in
hand with the coal profteer.
Now we have the food merchant
striking at the very hearts of the
people who must buy or go hungry
The continued practice of boosting
the price of foodstuffs isn't going to
result in just one thing. People who
have saved a little toward buying
their own homes are going to find
themselves literally robbed of their
property. for they will not be able
to keep up their payments; further
more, they will be powerless to
maintain their insurance on life and
property; they will be deprived of
the little pleasures that belong to
the poor man because the pittance
they would spend on themselves and
their families will be swallowed up
in the profits of the grocer, the
baker, the butcher, the produce man,
the trucker and the dozen other
profiteers whose greed will not be
restrained. 1t is clearly the duty
of the authorities to take this mat
ter up in all seriousness and to pur-
sue the problem to a successful So
luton"