The Raymer enterprise., 1920-03-18

The usual competition was among
men To gel Jobs The law OF supply
aud demand affected the labor market.
wages went up. The soldier went of
to war. While he was In the trenches
the wages back home were high His
pay was small Our fighting men
were moi Interested In pay They
went 10 fight for a principle
With the coming of peace a large
quantity of labor was dumped upon
the mTrlset The demobillzed men
rushed for employment. Comrades
competed for Jobs. The same old law
OF supply and demand sent wages to-
haggaLGs The number Of men who
wanted jobs was much greater than
he number II plates available. The
feturning soldier seeking job was
iffered much smaller wage than he
knew was paid for the same work
while he had been fighting. II in
rensed him. He ;cured that lie had
given four years out of his life, had
come home tired and broke. He look
ed upon the decline In wages as q
/, positive Il d'cr'lH9 'da against him.
Comparison &c, Discomfort.
Everywhere | H., e heard these men
say "We are "; of luck. The
lands played alH! Sc were applauded
hea We itfI 10 .s.,i While we were
gone the wages went up. We don't
hegsudse ilis men who stayed at
holaa rhe yGses ihey got, but It's
lann s.aay .,at Nhen We come back
down 60 wages. The cost OF living
don'i 60 tlovn guess we're out Of
luck"
found tw0 p'ul IS inseparable In
HE sreeth If lh. lIscontented, "the
high cost Of living" ''the profteer."
WorkIngmen with whom ! talked.
freely admitted that some Of the high
cosl NJ living rae he legitimate re-
suit N the great demand for every
thing and the natural shortage, but in
The same bruih .llpy insisted that
! much # Il vas ,lap 10 the mercenary.
ghoullsh profiseer
The pr6Gteer took blood money dur
Ing ihe worlds - Il est tragedy. He
e@actod usury iao.! lie toller at home
and the fighting man at the front.
He drew dividends out of the tears
and walls Of broken-bearted women
and fright-strlcken children. He
mInted his gold out OF agony. starva.
tion, heartacbes. He stands today
the Judas of the war, the most dc
spIsed man OF earth.
The profteer Is not an EnglIshman,
a Frenchman, Italian or American.
He is found In every country OF the
world man without nationality,
without conscience, without humanity.
He is the plmp Of civilization. He 10
still on the Job.
The profiteer has given the United
States 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 mlllionaires In the United
States. while al the time OF the sign.
ing Of the armistiee II was estimated
the millionaire colony had increased
by $1,000, making a total Of 10000
milllonaires In the United States. The
profteer Is still on the Job He Is
holding up the world, a starving cold
world.
Prohteerino Case In Point.
Under date of November H. 1919. J.
s. Bache 4 Co, members Of the New
York stock exchange. In their financial
letter say: IN mercantile circles
there is proceeding at the present time
vast amount Of speculation on q
very large scale In commodities. An
incident Is cited to us of one con.
cern that Is carrying $15.0000O0 worth
OF. vegetable oils, which are In great
demand, and the concern is holding
them for higher prices. This is q
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 Q
real detriment to the community"
The pair of shoes the workingmap
once bought for $3.50 are now So and
$40. 1t Is true that the cost OF labor
and material have gone up. but not
enough to warrant any such exorbi.
tant prices Business men have tax.
en- advantage OF the situation. and jus.
tify their larcenles on the ground OF
the law Of supply and demand. A
shoe man with prominent Chicago
firm. a man long in the business, told
me that the present unwarranted and
outrageous price OF shoes was due to
the fact that American shoe manufac.
turers could get almost any price for
shoes from the barefooted people Of
Europe.
Governments are blamed for not
dealing with this species Of holdup,
The discontented ask "Mhy isn't
profiteerng treason-why shouldn't
these Fagans be sent to the wall with
firing squad as an escortf'