The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1919-01-23
s1774 and long since abandoned by
England, and he gave many illustra-
tons to back his points, such as the

he was caught with his head in his
hands and was accused of being asleep
while on duty. Though he denied that.
he was asleep and asserted that he
only yielded to overpowering fatigue,
he was convicted by courtmartial and
sentenced to Is years in the peniten-
tiary."
Those who know of cases where men
have been railroaded to prison by ar
my authorities for trifiling offenses
under this old system should commun-
icate the facts to their senator's with
out delay. The more the senate hears
Of the matter the more likely we are to
secure thorough reform.
Unemployment Grows
The politicians who refused to pre-
pare for reconstruction are beginning
to see the tangible results Of their
carelessness, or better, their, unwilling
ness to interfere with special privilege
From the shortage of labor which we
had so recently as early November,
we have suddenly changed to wide
spread unemployment. st. Paul, one
of the smaller cities, has over 5000
out of work, by official report. Chica-
go reports $4,000 unemployed. New
Orleans and Boston each report 20, 1000,
st. Louis, $4,000; New York, 10000;
Cleveland, 10000. Every day the sith-
alton grows worse because soldiers
are being rapidly discharged (about
100000 in the last two monthsl; war
industries are laying off their men;
basic commodity prices are kept SO
high by the monopolists that peace
time manufacturers do not dare to
launch out on increased production.
Starvation, which follows the wake Of
unemployment, means bread lines in
the cities. It means riots and blood
shed, the more terrible because from
the point of view Of the starving
they will be justified in that the hand
of organized society has turned
against them, denying the right or
opportunity to work that they may
live. It means declining markets for
farm products. ..t q.
The more intelligent business lead
ers, who see the way things are going,
are demanding more cooperation
among business men to meet the un-
employment problem, but they have
no workable plans because the big
special interests insist that this is
their opportunity. to hold up their
prices, reduce wages and kill off la
Dor unions. They will insist on accom-
plishing these aims though the skies
fall. Also President Wilson's .unex-
plainable advice in his last message to
the effect that reconstruction would
take care of itself, has played into
their hands. #
The Sims Bill
The Sims bill, before the house,
which aims to carry out the recon-
mendations Of the federal trade com-
mission, is now receiving serious at-
tention. Under its provisions the
packers are first to be put under
strict license regulation. When that
fails to stop their lawlessness, they
are to be put under license that COW
ers other activities besides the pack
ing and marketing Of meals. # that
fails, they are to lose their ownership
Of the markets, but may still operate
under license. ia they still play 81
crooked game, they are to; be. punished
by a complete program Qf public own
ership and operation Of 4 stockyards
and the restsof the marketing system.
ii {~g - - AAt 49,