Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-01-25
EESPR0F|TEER|NG
AS WORSE MENACE
T0U.S. THAN REDS
Senator Capper Would Jail
Persns Convicted of Charg-
ing Excessive Prices.

PerSnS Convicted of Charq-
| ing Excessive Prices.
Declaring that pronteerins is a
Greater menace in the United States
! today than the activities of the reds.
Senator Capper of Kansas. republican
| IN an address in the Senate yesterday
afternoon urged that Jail sentences
! De given persons found guilty of
| charging excessive prices for goods
mat the people require.
senator Capper advocated further
legislation by Congress to curb the
profteers: He said that the people
could help themselves, too, IL they
organize to boycott the profit hogs"
| oy refusing to buy goods offered at
extortionate prices.
"Public Being SandbaeRed.v
The Kansas senator said there
could be no doubt that the general
OF profits reported by large manufac-
| turing corporations and the rise in
the value of their securities. He cited
figures regarding the American Wool
en- Company' the Central Leather
Company, the Crucible Steel Company,
the United States Steel Corporation
and others.
Just now" he said. "the country
condemns labor in unsparinE terms
Tor its exactions. but the evidence is
/ expensive cost of living is not labor
/ wholly. but profits. It is true that
labor demands all it can get that ii
may live, but keeps on getting and
the helpless consumer pays. After
the labor is paid profits mount to un-
heard-of heights.
Tells of Wooden Profits.
Wooden Company. after federal taxes
had been deducted, were s2,f7S 300 in
| 1914, $5.160.295 in 1918, $8,21O761 i'm
1916, S15.664,9S5 in 1917, and $12,324,-
0S4 in 1918. All on an invested cap
| ital OF twenty-five millions. The earn
| a share in 1915. $27.05 share in
1916. $47.62 a share in 1917, and this
year. according to best Wall street
Information. will exceed 800 a share
or more than the stocks par value
A year ago the watered stock of the
American Wooden Company. the chief
| textile company in the United States,
| was quoted on the stock exchange at
As. Today it is close to $50. and in
recent weeks has been quoted at sc.
| For the wool that goes into a suit
Of clothes which sells for 500 the
| wool grower receives $7.37. says the
! Wool Growers Association. This
makes the finished garment cost the
consumer more tnan Twelve times the
| price of the raw material. The price
I of clothing has made enormous ad-
| vances and is still advancing, not
withstahding the American Wooden
Company cleaned UP net profits of Sc
per cent in 1917 and in 19lS-or ST.
900, 900 more than the $40. total
of the companys authorized out
standing stock.
There can be no real shortage Of
cotton with a crop of 11.eo0.Oo0 bales
added to 100000 bales LETT over from
| 1918. but it is a common occurrence.
am told for the spectators on the
cotton exchange to boost me crops
value $50,000.000 in a single day. In
\ one week. during the crop year. they
1 actually increased it ope-half bill
lion dollars.
Scores Rise i'm Shoe Prices.
"A so per cent increase in the price
{, of shoes by next summer is predicted
| by the president of the National Shoe
4 Travellers Association" continued Mr.
| Capper. The day this prediction ap-
! peAred another extra dividend was de-
I clared by the Central Leather Com
pany. The common stock Of this com
\ pany was rated at So year ago. 1t is
now quoted around los. While the
\ people contemplate going barefoot, the
1 leather trust walks on velvet made
thicker. A year ago 1t was the war
demand for leather that made shoes
4 HlSH NOW IL Se$uiS " Ue TIE pcdCc
demand for velvet.
| Just now the greatest 'get-rich-
quick game in America is gouging in
sugar. The increase. in the price of
sugar will add q billion dollars to
the burdens now. being borne by the
! Cuba american company hasadvanced
more than geo per cent. in the last
twelve: months probably because.of
| the sugar shortage.
| I'VE. have 100000 homeless people
In the United States as result of the
melon cutting in lumber. There has
been and Is shameless profiteering in
! that industry.
| 1.-THE market price Of the farmers
live stock has declined nearly SO per
cent, bringing many farmers to the
| verge of bankruptcy, but the high prices
! the consumer pays for meat are virtu-
| ally unchanged.
| Points to Coal Price Advance,
THE fuel administration restricted
| the advance in wages asked for by the
I striking bituminous coal miners to IA
per cent, because at that per cent the
consumer would not have to be further
| taxed for his coal. Notwithstanding
Chicago coal dealers, and perhaps others,
| have since advanced the retail price of
coal 50 cents or more a ton, l have
a telegram today from Leavenworth,
| AAnS., tnat tne PUBIC Is being COM
PEELED to pay the II per cent Increase
The quotations I have referred to
conspire to prove that it is profiteer-
ing in manufacturers, in the great
industrial corporations, that has
sandbagged the public, rather than
by merchants who deal directly with
the consumer. 1t goes behind the re-
tail price. No doubt there is price
gouging by some of the retailers, but
1t is the price of goods when they
leave the factory to which the ad-
mlnlstration's best attention should
be- first directed. These gigantic cor
porations have become drunk with
| unconscionable profits extorted from
q too compliant public. The out
standing fact is that there is nowhere
\ the sltghtest indication of any change
In the strategy of the great trusts,
combined and industrial corporations
In fattening their Profits. A thief
has only to stead hao as much prop
erty these days to commit grand lar
ceny, but it seems a proateer cor
4 peratfon may take all it can get from
! the people and then make them pay
] fts wRr taxes besides.
Il Prosecution of l79 profiteers in
4 eighteen states has been started by
4 the Department of Justice since a
I penalty WAS added to the Lever act.
In three cases fines and Jail sentences
/ have been imposed. OF these victims
lnf oil chpa