The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-07-08
SCULPTOR TELLS
OF PR0F|TEER|NG
BorgIum Lifts Veil in Speeches
for'League in Primary
Campaign.

P~rofteering on the part Of that
small portion of the American people
that has secured control of the neces-
sites of life is the aus of the pres
ent high cos of living, declared Gut
zon Borglum, noted New York sculp-
tor, in a short address he delivered
in Fargo.
"For nearly w years, all men
who are thinking upon good govern
ment, thinking upon the cost that this
nation has paid in the final shaping
Of democracy, have been interested,
are now concerned and are watching
closely the outcome of what has
ceased to be an experiment but is Il
fact in North Dakota" said Mr.. Borg
luna. "For months past I have read
the s%landeubus and scurrilous articles
leveled at the men who are trying to
get a fair price for the farmers prod
ucts in this state, trying by one
method to white down the exorbi-
certain interests.
~Prof1teering by the Few.
II live in the east. 1 live where
men live mainly on the profits that
they manage to secure out of hand
ling the necessities that the consum-
this situation as we do there. There
we can't get what we need to eat and
yea unless we pay this exorbitant
tax that is levied by a small portion
Of the population against the many.
II vas n of the men who could
and should have gone to the "a but
vas not allowed to. But 1 believe
l did my part just the same and prob
ably it was a bigger part than if l
had been allowed to shoulder a gun
and go to the front. I had the oppor-
tunity to see what the dollar-year pa.
triots did in Washington.
"Now there were a number Of very
good men who served their country in
Washington for a dollar a year. These
We're men who sacrificed and rendered
thier services without question. But
there never has been in the history
of America or any other country so
large, so able and so we'll organized a
band of scoundrels as settled down On
the nation at Washington during the
war. These men had complete con-
troll of all the things produced and
all the things that had to reach our
men over there. These men levied a
tremendous tax on these things for
their own benefit.
Profits Their Sole Object.
"ThOse of you who have read and
those Of you who think, know some
thing about the one single depart
ment that I investigated. You know
how dangerous it was to investigate
or NEEDLE with anything that touched
upon the cost of things. 1t wasn't
whether a thing should go or come;
whether it was needed orfnot. It was
the price that could be wrung out of
it, the profits for those who controlled
things.
snow this isn't democracy. This is
not Republicanism. It's the doing a
small group of men who live in this
country upon the products of those
who work. A system that allows such
a condition is wrong. I tell you men
that this country with it's vast re-
sources, it's abundance of everything
for everybody should not tolerate a
system that allows a few men to- gain
such a control of it's products that
the rest of the people must pay the
price they demand or 60 without.
1--WE don't want wealth. We want
home and security. We have a right
to them. Labor has earned all that
and that we still live in a mortgaged
condition is an outrage to a country
as rich as ours. .-
do you know that the American
people are compelled to contribute to
the profteers every few months in
the form Of increased cost of necessi-
ties much in excess Of the total of
our Liberty Loans? II a Liberty Loan
was saddled upon you every six weeks
now you would raise hell, wouldn't
you? Yet, you are submitting to the
present extortions by those who cor
troll your markets with only a slight
grumbling now and then.
They tell you that imitation Of
money Is the cause Of present high
prices. There is no imitation 81
money. But there is imitation against
transportation, against every kind of