The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-30
FPROHTEERINe
 NEEDS TRAINING
Goaden AEal

SeAA1 4A1AO eOO11LctEb1DCC AAA>O @AA-Ao charmed circle of Chamber Com merce responsibility, where there ex- ists .'eomm erciaI honor" The honor ofefhieves is more worthy of respect than is this piffering of the pockets of widows and paupers.
 However, if one is to become a profiteer he must dedicate hinseM to the profession. and learn the way into the, sacred precincts Cleveland, it appears, is able to teach something about profiteering. There is lake on one side of tf1at city, ready to function for an Important part of the profiteers art, but hacking in the es- sential of secrecy; for nothing done upon Lake Erie co1Eul be kept from the poFulace, who are to be prof iteered upon, and must not learn the game
 On the far outskirts of the city is a bog trayerSed by a lone1y railroad line, and there 1t is that the daily ''rot'' train dumps fits burden of IS to fl carolads Not that the fruit and vegetables are spoiled, or in any way ined1bde. They are too good to keep so good that the Cleveland rabble of million hungry stomachs would gladly buy such perfectly good food. But part of the education of the prof iteer is in the art of making away with sufficient supplies to keep the price up enough for a real profit on the rest, and not to educate the com mon people back to the ancient idea that occasionally there are bargains because there is plenty.
 The Cleveland News is to furnish lesson number two in the school of profiteering. According to this pulp hcaion admissions have been made by prominent Cleveland railroad offi- ciaas who do not desire their names made known, presumably because it might intenfere with the revenue from the "rot'' train or perhaps af feet their standing with other mem bers of the comm ercial and financia! elect" Tn Cleveland it takes four concerns prominent enough to. be able to control the situation to profiteer properly in food products that the populace would eat, if they could get them.
 The consignees, says the News, are members of what is known in the cornmissio house district and at the railroad receiving stations as "the connbnation.'' All four members it is pointed out, very often deal with the same ship pers multaneously, this being done, it is said, for the purpose of giving the impression that there is no secret Understanding between tn en.
 In the case of four carloads of cu- cuiabers that were destroyed the four consisEees placed their orders simul- t4neously one of the combination for two cars out of d total of five.
 When the. cars were delivered, how ever, he accepted only one. That left fcur ars QT the track, all of which were refused, despite the fact, accord ieg to the railroad officials, that they were :r nerfect condition.
 The purpose Of placing the order V hen i!lc combine" had no intention cf making use of the entire shipment. Ntaa tp prevent it from going to any o,1t. else. it is said In this way they had lht. market in their hands and could dictate prizes.
 The combination is so perfect one railroad official says, that the four members even go so far as to share ere car of a shipment and refuse the remainder.
 He specifics one instance where q CleVeIand commission merchant not in the combination he so vigorously con1cm cornered the entire Mich isan potato output for a period of weeks on a promise to the shippers to give them ten cents a bushel above the market prices.
 "'Wher the shipments began to ar rive . he says, the commission man proceeded very promptly to refuse ali but a few cars, making the excusG 
 ei'p-ises bad. He then made the offer 70 take over the shipment on specula- tion. agreeing to give the shippers what he could get By the time the 6iickerinsc was completed much of the shirncnt had routed. and the ship Ters got for the rest a price that was 10 or 20 cents below the prevailins market price. The commission man of course. sold at the then curren prices He cleaned tap nice sum 0 money, while the shippers suffered"
 In the meantime. the railroad off tal explains. decay of most of tn, shipments served to keep potatoes oG the scarce list and made it possible 10 n1aintain high prices.
 This will do for lesson number twn The profiteers are still out of jail ez cept a few ones of microscopic inpor lance that retailed a little sugar few cents above the current prie prenaaturely---tha is. before the wor' wasepassed among these men of so .ciaI5a and commercial in4p0rtance' the tlcz time had come for the big rais from, 10 to 20 cents a pound and fo the releasing of millions of pound hidden in store cellars, barns, ware houses, lofts md buildings of ever description and icon cealed'' so mys ;criously that not even the sleuths q the taw could find them. 1'hcs / were perhaps the same officials tha after the war prohibition was in ei feet, and saloons were then sellin drinks in every corner of New YOri could not get even a scent of the fol biIden liquiis---a scandal that wa TO sooner out than it was hushed III because it was openly charged tht widespread bribery of sleuths figure in the case. This will do for lesso number three in this course by ma in the elements of the new prOfes sion.
 The "scaraity' of food has sprea from Cleveland to other portions the world. It noticeable in II dia1ap poIis where carloads of fr': rot:ed in the railroad yards, In Ne York the sick could not get enou2 lemons though trlckload5 were D. ing dumped into the river. Poor pe' pie went hungry in Chicago, w-hi
 nilIions of pounds of good food we being destroyed.
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