Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-04-22
WRAPPED UP MEAL,
 TOOK Y T0 ]. 5.
 AGENT F0p ACTION
Many and Varied are the Complaints on PrOfi-
 teering

teering
 Z New York. April 21.-A. W. Riley chief of the Flying Squadron" of the Department of Justice, whose campaign so far has resulted in the conviction of 107 profiteers with fines ranging from $50 to S2,500 and Imprisonment from one day to two years, has uncovered number of surprising commodities for which dealers are said to be asking exor- bitant prices. Complaints of alleged "gouging" in almost everything from pickles to rouge and from lemonade to whiskev are being reported to Mr. Riley by New York consumers. One man who had paid S1 15 to 8 restau-
 ratue1 for tiny steak and six small
 pieces Of French fried potatoes. did not stop to eat them but glancing at his check, took a newspaper he had been reading, wrapped up his meal" and brought 1t to the Federal pros ecutor.
 Some of the letters of complaint were amusing, others pathetic. All, however, showed the seriousness of
 the present era of high prices. One indignant citizen wrote: You ought
 to investigate ---'s fish market in Brooklyn He's modern Jesse James. What do you think of soc pound for salmon and 60c for sea bass ?"
 The chief of the Flying Squad ron" has received complaints of such
 examples of alleged profiteering as follows:
 Drug store whiskey at S5 pint and $2 more for doctors prescrip- ton: canary birds $2O to $25 and s3 to SIS for cage; lemonade, served at hotel dance and said to have been weak" S1 a glass; rouge $1 to S3 box for Imported" brands: that fish during Lent rose from 20 cents to S1 pound in some New York
 markets; prunes, three for 10c in q popular restaurant; peanut oil, sold as "olive oil," $4 a quart; anthracite coal S15 instead of $9.5O ton in Ny ack, N. Y., because the miners were
 granted wage increase of 50c ton.
 Consumers complain to MT. Riley that they have to pay 50 cents a pound for the same coffee that re- tailed for 21 cents a pound before
 the war and that wholesalers paid II cents a pound for some of these coffees three years ago and are now paying 15 cents. Milk they charge costs 10 cents a glass in restaurants which buy it for 12 cents quart;
 that they have to pay 35 cents for linen collars costing at wholesale $40 dozen; pickles cost 6 cents each; cabbage 40 cents a head; 75c a bunch for asparagus and 35 cents head for lettuce.
 A young woman protested after having paid B for bag at depart ment store bargain sale" which, she discovered later, cost 75 cents to the manufacturer She said that many big business houses were not satis- fled with 100 per cent. profit, but were making, in some cases, 150 to 200 per cent She suggested "rem-
 edy" as follows:
 Do not buy anything in the first store you visit. Ask the price and, if it seems at all excessive, say you will not pay it and walk out. Then go next door and you may buy it for less. At any rate these profiteers need to know that the public is wise to them. A tremendous volume of re- fusals to buy would make such mer- chants realize they must stop over charging if they would not precipi- tate general business boycott" Obviously the Plying Squadron" | is working with the utmost secrecy and names of complainants are with held, Several big New York corpo-
 rations, which have been accused of
 making unjustifiable profits on food stuffs and clothing, are now reported
 under investigation. According to MT. Riley, one convicted profiteer blamed the public for much of the high prices.
 "It's so easy to get what you ask for," the merchant confided to the chief investigator, "that few business men can resist the temptation to
 raise prices. If l put two garments
 in my store window of exactly the
 same cut and materials but with a $50 tag on one and a $55 tag on the other. most persons would buy the high er- priced one. It's a strange freak of human nature. People now,
 adavs don't seem to concern them selves any more about what thing costs"
 Protests against profiteering are reporting pouring into the Federal building here from all over the coun- try. When a complaint is received it is indexed and forwarded to Feder-
 al prosecutors and flying squadrons' operating in the United States judi
 cial territory where the victim re-
 sides. Investigation follows and. if the facts warrant, arrests are made.
 The campaign, initioted by Attorney ! General Palmer, will go on accord
 ing to H. L. Van Sickler, in charge
 of the New York office for MT. Ri-
 ley. until prices of food, clothing,
 fuel and feed for livestock are