Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-05-21

views. He works on the emotion Of fear and by
threats Of red hot hereafter, and the influence
of mob psychology, he seeks to "save" the souls
of his hearers. And in like manner and by like
means the preachers of the evangel of lower
prices and the reform of the high cost of living
seek success. They appeal to the emotions of the
crowd by every sensational device. They seek
to rouse the anger of the mob against the "profi-
teers." Who are the profiteers? Nearly every
man can tell you. 1t is the other fellow. The
farmer who sold his hay this spring at $50 ton
is selling his potatoes at the price of oranges,
knows who the profiteers are. They live in Wall
street or make steel in Pittsburgh, or copper in
Butte, or plows in Illinois. And these men can
tell you who the profiteers are also. They are
the men who draw down big wages and strike for
still bigger wages Always it is the other fellow
who is profiteering and the speaker can prove
it to his own satisfaction at least. But the prof
iteer serves the purpose Of hell to the religious
evangelist 1t serves to stir up excitement IN the
mind We have strong suspicion that there is
no such place as hell after ALL and we have
strong suspicion that there is no such sinner as
the profiteer in the sense in which he is held up
to the hatred of mankind. That there are men
who are willing to take long profit in anything
they have to sell we know very well. Most of us
are profiteers in the sense that we will accept
the highest bid we can get for horse, or house
and lot, or bushel of potatoes, when we need
money more than we need those things. 1t was
so from the foundation of the world we guess.
There may be a few exceptions that prove the
rule it is true, but when people sell goods SER
vice for high price and long profit it is usual
ly because the people who want these goods and
services bid the price up against each other be-
cause the demand is greater than the visible sup
ply. But whether the profiteer be real devil
torturing poor sinners with red hot pitch forks
or largely an imaginary creature, he serves the
purpose of increasing the excitement and swell
ing the rising tide of hysteria over the high
prices.
The overall fad, the temporary boycott of high
priced potatoes and eggs and other things, mark
the rising tide Of hySteria over the high cost of
living. Here We have Senator Thomas of Color
ado, dignified old buck of statesman general
ly speaking, standing up in the senate and taking
the other dignified senators in that assembly in
to his confidence regarding the condition OF his
personal clothing He is quoted as saying in a
public speech in the senate yesterday, Il have
on suit of clothes four years old, somewhat
patched but still serviceable The shoes | have
on were bought in 1916. | do not propose to buy
any more clothes until prices go down to a rea-
sonable level if | subject myself to danger of ar
rest for not wearing enough clothes. | am will
ing to live on corned beef hash and if corned beef
goes too high | will go without meat to bring
down COSTS
Hold hard, Senator! This kind of talk sounds
~
year and some extras such as you pull down
most of US would undertake to clothe our naked
ness in some way so as to avoid arrest for inde-
| cent exposure. And then again in calmer mo-
ment you will recall that a United States sena-
tor is not subject to arrest for indecent exposure
! while in the performance of his senatorial dut-
! les at the national capitol unless it be ordered
| by the senate itself and the senate has witness
| ed so much indecent conduct politically in recent
! months that it is almost clnch that no lack OF
clothing is going to shock its atrophed sense
of decency And then this regretable break
about diet of corned beef hash is unforgivable.
1t will not please the senator's constituents most
of whom know that cOrned beef hash is one of
the delicacies of the gourmand, when properly
concocted. He can get no sympathy from us by
| picturing himself condemned to corned beef
| hash diet on SIS day and extras. The dish is
| too tempting and costly at that. We suggest
that the senator, when he quits corned beef hash
as too costly, try navy beans as a substitute
They are very cheap and very good also. He can
get 13 pounds for dollar out there in Colorado
and there is lot of potential energy in 13
pounds of beans. That dollars worth should be
| good for great many pages of oratory IN the
! Congressional Record.
But speaking seriously, the action of Senator
| Thomas in refusing to buy clothes or shoes or
foodstuffs at high prices is good far as it goes
in its influence on high prices. But it would be
doubled in its effect on prices if he not only cut
down his consumption of these things, but at
the same time increased the production OF WOOL
or hides or potatoes, or other necessities Ii he
would dig up his back yard with spade or a
plow an acre of land and plant it to potatoes he
would do more toward reducing high prices than
he can do by going without potatoes himself
It is point not to be lost sight of that the law
of supply and demand can be affected just as
| Vschf,