The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-02-09

Chinese-Japanese treaty regarding
Shantung, near completion.
The settlement Of the Japan-Chin-
csc puzzle over Shantung is in itself
big piece of diplomacy and to Mr..
Hughes and Mr.. Balfour, Of Great
Britain, can the credit be given for
this. 1t has been a great conference
and out of it will come much good to
the world at large.
Governor Nestos has demanded the
resignation of Totten and Cahill from
the board of administration and has
signified his intention of beginning
custer proceedings to force their re-
moval, claiming that ample informa-
ton has been placed before him to
support, and require, such action. AS
predicted by Governor Nestos, the OPP
position press have featured his move
as a political one, made in an attempt
to gain control of this board, for po-
litical purposes. They have also in
dictated that the move has been forced
on him by office-seekers who had sup
ported him in the campaign for cleo
ton, in order to provide positions for
them. These insinuations are pub
lished in spite of the demands of the
opposition press that any wrongdoers
found in the late administration be
prosecuted. These demands have
been made continually since the inau-
guratior. The en-. is too close to
the late administration to plead lg-
norance of the manner in which state
business had been carried on so the
natural supposition is that they
thought they had been too clever in
covering their tracks to be exposed In
their management Of office. Cover
nor Nestos promised the people OF
the state before his election that If
he was elected he would Immediately
start complete investigation OF the
various state industries and would
give the public the particulars of their
condition as found. He is evidently
trying to live up to those prediction
promises, which is an original way he
has, and this action is not pleasing to
those lately in authority. The insinu-
atoms that he is being forced by Of
flee seekers do not fit his personality
very we'll. There has been little to
lead one to think that Governor Mes
tos can be forced to do anything that
is contrary to his better judgement.
The custer proceedings will no doubt
bring to light many interesting facts,
and will be watched with interest by
the voters Of the state, whether sup
porters of this administration or not.
There is a lot of talk about the ex-
tortionate methods Of the retailers
which are without foundation in fact.
The retail business is in precarious
condition, and the percentage of fall
ures during the past year has in
creased at an alarming rate. The
large retail establishments have
shown large losses as have the small
err places. In face of these facts At
torney General Daugherty has declar-
ed, thru the newspapers, that retail
ers, backed by their associations, have
been guilty of collision in fixing ex-
tortionate prices. It is an established
fact of economic observation that in
periods of price fluctuations whole
sale prices move first and farthest,
while retail prices move more slowly
and not so far, the retailers not TAX
ing the full percentage of increase
passed to them by the wholesaler. In
the natural order of things the retail
err is the last to reduce prices, as he
was the last to raise them. This nat
ural order strikes a price balance and,
instead of working to the retailers
advantage is in reality a disadvan-
tage to him. These conditions should
be taken into consideration when
making charges against the retailer,