The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-02-19

were NOT iuteIGSttu III pay. 4ucy
went to fight for principle.
With the coming Of peace a large
quantity of labor was dumped upon
the market. The demobilized men
rushed for employment. Comrades
competed for Jobs. The same old Law
Of supply and demand sent wages to-
bogganing. The number of men who
wanted Jobs was much greater than
the number Of places available. The
returning soldier seeking a job was
offered a much smaller wage than he
knew was paid for the same work
while he had been fighting. 1t in
censed him. He figured that he had
given four years out Of his life. had
come home tired and broke. He look
ed upon the decline in wages as
positive discrimination against him.
cemparison Breeds Discomfort.
Everywhere 1 have heard these men
say: I'VE are out Of luck. The
bands played and We were applauded
when we left to fight. While We were
gone the wages went up. We don't
begrudge the men who stayed at
home the wages they got. but it's
damn funny that when we come back
down 60 wages. The cost Of living
don't go down. 1 guess we're out OF
luck"
found two phrases inseparable in
the speech of the discontented. "the
high cost of living" "the profiteer."
workingmen with whom I talked.
freely admitted that some Of the high
cost of living was the legitimate re-
suit Of the great demand for every
thing and the natural shortage, but in
the same breath they insisted that
much Of 1t was due to the mercenary.
ghoulish profiteer.
The proflteer took blood money dur.
ing the worlds greatest tragedy. He
exacted usury from the toiler at home
and the fighting man at the front.
He drew dividends out Of the tears
and walls Of broken-hearted women
and fright-stricken children. He
minted his gold out Of agony, starva-
ton, heartaches. He stands today
the Judas Of the war. the most dc
spised man Of earth.
The pronteer is not an Englishman,
He Is found In every country Of the
world. a man without nationality.
without conscience. without humanity.
He is the pimp Of civilization. He il
still on the job.
The profteer has given the United
States q terrible black eye. A COM
mon comment OF Europe is. The
United States made money out Of the
war" These people do not refer to
the money we made legitimately.
They point to the fact, fact that
has been given great publicity in Eu-
rope. that in August, 1914. there were
about 1000 millionaires in the United
States. while at the time Of the sign
ing of the armIstice 1t was estimated
the millionaire colony had increased
by 5000. making total OF 10000
millionaires In the United States. The
proflteer IL still on the job. He Is
holding up the world. 4 starving. cold
world.
Profiteerins Case In Point.
Under date OF November II. 1919, ].
J S. Bache 4 CO., members Of the New
York stock exchange. in their financial
letter say: "In mercantile circles
there is proceeding Mt the present time
a vast amount of speculation on n
very large scale in commodities. An
Incident Is cited to us OF one con
cern that Is carrying S15.OOO.OOO worth
/ of vegetable oils. which are in great
demand. and the concern is holding
them for higher prices. This is a
distinct damage to the consumers. and
keeps living prices in these things
used daily. at top and increasing lev
els. Speculation of this kind is a
real detriment to the community"
| The pair of shoes the workingmar
once bought for $3.50 are now SO and
/ SO. 1t is true that the cost of labor
and material have gone up, hut moi
enough. to warrant any such exorbi
tant prices. Business men have tax
en- advantage of the situation. and jus
tify their larcenies on the ground OF
the law OF supply and demand. A
shoe man with a prominent Chicago
firm, a man long in the business. told
me that the present unwarraAted ant
outrageous price of shoes was due tt
the fact that American shoe mnnufac
turers could get almost any price fol
shoes from the barefooted people OF
Europe.
Governments are blamed for mo-
dealing with this species of holdup
The discontented ask why ism
profiteering treason-why shouldn'
these Fagans he sent to the wall will
a firing squad as an esfort7"
Copyright. 1890. weJern Newspaper Union
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