The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1920-05-07
The Beast Turned Loose.


the daily papers are using papel
made for them at the contract pric,
of five cents, while many of tn,
smaller dailies and practically al
the weekies are compelled to pay
any price the mills exact.
The popular idea is not pessimism
but when man looks on at the pres
ent conditions / don't know how he
is to arrive at any ether conslusion
than that civilization is a sham. II
is merely veneer, and when the
polish is rubbed off all the realities
of barbarism are exposed.
Three years ago all that any pub
Usher was asked to pay for his paper
was less than three cents pound
delivered at his office. Now he is
raging fourteen and is asked eigh-
teen for future delivery. Still the
big papers are supplied at five cents.
We are led to believe that the
wholesale dealers are not "in on the
deal" l don't know whether they are
or not. 1t is understood that some
of them have mills.
But the man with no more honor
or no more character or integrity
than to carry on this internal steal
is doing the same work as the yegg-
man and the stool pigeon, and still
he is not half go rotten as the man
carrying on the highway Robbery in
foodstuff. The men in the food
steal-sugar, meat, etc., are not
amenable to any law, but they are
every day inflaming the popular
mind, and at any minute or any
hour they may find themselves called
on to answer to a more unmerciful
judCe-the mob.
1t was the original intention of
those who were responsible for the
newspaper mailing privileges to al
low minimum rate of postage to
the press so that the public might
have its current news literature
and comment at a nominal cost.
This was done as part of the gen
eral system of public education. In
view of this the whole of the
united press for years and years
have offered their papers at nom
inal price.
But how is this work to be carried
on? The cost of labor and Of paper
are prohibitive. Is it all the fault of
labor? Not by any means. The pub
licity campaign has been extremely
unfair. Labor strikes have been
exploited while the greed and ava
rice of the profiteers have been
shielded by the press and even by
our immaculate United States Con-
gress. More shame on them!
Not until private citizens took up
the work did we know how far the
corrupt practice of extortion was
carried on. We had monopoly be-
fore the war. The glutton was held
in leash by public opinion. Since
the war the beast has been turned
loose, and he goes forth to-day in
the highway to seek whom he may
devour. We are now facing the hid
eous realities of unclaimed monop-
oily. If this is not general invita-
tion to the mob l don't know how
one is to be made. Watch out that
it is not unbridled.
We want to say again as we have
said before that it is not labor but
coal operators who are making prof
it's ON their capital stock of one
hundred to eight thousand per cent;
it is not labor but the meat packers |
who are making profits ranging as
high as four thousand per cent; it !
is not labor but Gamers of fruits |
and vegetables who are making as
high as two thousand per cent; it |
is not labor but the wooden mills
which are making eighteen hundred
per cent; it is not labor but the fur
nitnre manufacturers who are max
ing three thousand per cent; it is
not labor but the wholesale dealers
in clothing and dry goods who are
making as high as ten thousand per
cent; it is not labor but the steel
mills which are making as high as