The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-08-28
THE NATIONAL
CAPITAL NEWS
ATTORNEY GENERAL PALMER IN
vESTiGATES PRICE MANlP-
ULATORS
IRRIGATION PROJECTS FOR MONTANA
Action Taken by Congress to Reim-
burse Contractors Caught
BY Advances.
by j E ZONES.

By ]. f. Jones.
Attorney General Palmer has taken
the bull by the horns and proposes,
il possible. to reach tho food hoarders
and price manipulators through the
route of criminal prosecutions. While
the big fellows are controlling vast
amounts of food supplies, and using
the storage of food to create greater
values, there are. at the same time,
innumerable numbers OF small retail
ers raking in airplane profits for
handling goods. Many Of these will
be prosecuted, and as a further part
OF the program OF holding down the
hoarders and manipulators there has
been a resurrection of the fair-price
committees in local communities, and
it is to be expected that published
prices" will again greet the house
keeper in the columns Of the daily
p:pers.
From comment in Washington 1t Is
evident hat the return to food con
troll" is not looked upon with enthu-
SiuSii, Jul IL 10 pun pooN 10 cihipiy
to help in the processes of swattins
the jugglers in food products, the
temporary use of the weapon for cor
receive purposes, may work out re-
suits beneficial to the public. But
the public" is taking notice of the
fact that prices, ~profiteering and in
creased cost of living, have had THEN
heyday under the system Of "bossing"
the country from Washington; and if
some senator will invent a policy that
will stimulate and revive the time
honored custom Of competition-and
lots of it, the people will nc doubt be
extremely grateful. They might even
go so far as to erect a statue for such
a d%eliverer, and place it in a public
square in Washington; notwithstand-
ing the comment of Lord Bryce, that
"taere are enough of these 'adorn-
mcnts' to the landscape in the Ma
tional Capital"
In the Congressional Record for
: August II action was had to reim-
burse contractors on postoffice build
ings and other government structures
throughout the United States, includ-
ing the Lincoln Memorial, for losses
sustained by them by reason OF in
creased costs of labor and material.
Senator Fernald stated that eighty
two contractors were caught in the
upward curve that wiped out their
proRtn anI Len 1o-~ L.
over two million dollars in the hole.
Good old Uncle Sum will see them
through! In the oldcn days he might
have eyed them asksnce and said, Let
'em whistle" But the days Of clever
Yankeeism Of this sort have waned.
On the same day a resolution
adopted by the Legislature of Montana
asking for appropriations Of $50,000,-
coo by the government for work OH
the government irrigation projects
throughout the west, was presented.
The resolution cites the fact that the
drouths have ruined the crops Of Mon
tana, and that the farmers are 'all
in" In consequence they ask that
the work on the irrigation projects be
pushed, and they cite among the bene-
fits that it has been clearly demon
strated that work must be done for
the purpose Of storing and retaining
vast quantities Of food waters which
flow to waste each year, which "if
made available, would reclaim a vast
acreage Of the lands OF the state and
make them more certain and profit
able for the raising of such crops as
ere necessary for the support of the
nation in time of peace and war" To
this appeal presented by Senator
Walsh. the senate is giving earnest
attention, and 1t is quite probable that
federal relief will be furnished Mon
tana and other suffering states. And
this, too, is quite different from the
attitude assumed by Washington in
the old days when North Dakota had
successive crop failures, and fore
closures Of mortgages by the whole
sale; or the more recent days when
South Dakota and Nebraska were
burned dry with drouths, resulting in
great privations to the settlers.
Uncle Sam no longer tells his
nephews to "go whistle" But his
concern for his people has resulted
in a lot of yearning for relief from
the responsibilities they acquired at
birth, which some people imagine are
obtainable through the panaceas
dubbed paterIalism, socialism and ma
tionalism. AS one studies these
groups there is a remined Of McCau-
lays description of I'VE diners-out
from whom we guard u spoons"
Patient old Uncle Sam. when he comes
to these human species, might be ex.
cused If he should resume his
whiting, and "let EN- whistle"
Champ CLARK ia drifting with his