The Clio messenger., 1920-04-08

wanted Jobs was much greater than
the number OF places available. The
returning soldier seeking job was
offered a much smaller wage. than he
knew was paid for the same work
while he had been fighting. II 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.
Comparison Breeds Dlscontent.
Everywhere I have heard these men
say: "We 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 go wages. The cost of living
don't go down. I guess we're out Of
luck"
l found two phrases inseparable In
the speech Of the discontented. "the
high cost of livlng% "the profiteer."
Workingmen with whom l 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 II was due to the mercenary.
ghoulish profiteer.
The profiteer 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 de-
spised man OF earth.
The profiteer Is not an Englishman,
q Frenchman, Italian or American.
He is found In every country of the
world. man without nationality,
without conscience, without humanity.
He is the pimp of civilization. He Is
still on the job.
The profiteer has given the United
States a 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, a fact that
has been given great publicity in Eu-
rope, that in August, 1914, there were
about 1000 milllonaires in the United
States. while at the time of the sign
ing of the armistice 1t was estimated
the millionaire colony had increased
by $4,000, making total Of 10000
millionaires in the United States. The
profiteer is still on the job. He is
holding up the world, starving, cold
world.
Profiteering Case In Point.
Under date of November II, 1919, J.
S. Bache & Co, members Of the New
York stock exchange, in their financial
letter say: "In mercantile circles
there is proceeding at the present time
n vast amount of speculation on a
very large scale in commodities. An
incident Is cited to us of one con-
Germ that Is carrying S15,000,000 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
real detriment to the community"
The pair of shoes the workingman
once bought for $3.50 are now So and
SO. 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 larcenies on the ground Of
the law of supply and demand. A
shoe man with a prominent Chicago
firm, 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 dlscontented ask "Why isn't
profiteering treason-why shouldn't
these Fagans be sent to the wall with
firing squad as an escort?"
Copyright 1920. Western Newspaper Union)