The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-11-19
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TO-DAY
and
TOMORROW
By DON ROBINSON
PROFTTEERS
By DON ROBINSON
millions

| 4 NUT HI AGAUAo MAAAAOAAS
The "war profiteers" of today
are not the big armament manu-.
factpreres but the men and wo'
men, young and old, who, because
of the war, are earning more
money than they ever made ir
their lives.
In using the term "war prof
iteers" I do not necessarily NEAR
to be critical of our nations labor.
ing force. I use the term merely
to define a fact-the fact that
millions of patriotic civilians are
profiting because war is going
on.
During the last World War the
words "war profiteer" were used
to brand as selfish and unpatrio.
tic those large companies and
wealthy individuals who were
making fortune ont of war.
Today, because of stringent con-
troll from Washington, plus high
taxes on excess profits, an in
dustrial concern couldn't be g
profiteer if it wanted to.
Nevertheless, the cost of pro-
ducing war materials in this war
is higher than it was in the last
for instead of a handful of large
companies making excessive pro-
fits, the government is insisting
upon higher wages for millions
of workers.
Somehow it may seem less OBJ
jectionable,. if someone has to
profit out of war, that millions
share in it rather than a few. But
this can prove far more dangerous
to the nation.
LUXURY war
There seems to be something
very wrong about civilians living
in greater luxury than they ever
have at a time when millions of
young men are fighting and dying
for our country.
Oh, yes-1 know we have had
to cut out joy-riding in automo-
biles, and we're going to have to
give up that second cup of coffee,
and one lump of sugar will have
to take the place of two, and we'll
have to eat fish one night a week
instead of roast beef, and we sac
rificed an afternoon to dig out
old scrap iron that we wanted to
get rid of anyway, and there are
a few things we like which are
missing from the storekeepers'
shelves.
But in spite of those few incon-
veniences, when a family has an
income of $75 a week instead of
the $50 a week it formerly had,
there is no question that it now
is tasting a lot more of the good
things of life than in the old days.
In this country, where money
talks so loudly, there must be a
lot of people who are pretty we'll
satisfied with conditions today.
Most of them are anxious to have
the war end-but meanwhile they
find it a pleasant sensation to
have that wad of bills handed to
them every Saturday night
EXPLOSION shock
Some day there is going to be
a terrific awakening.
It doesn't take most people any
time at all to get used to a higher
standard of living, but it is very
difficult to go back to a lower
one.
But when this war ends-When
all armament production stops
and 10, 100000 soldiers and sailors
come home looking for jobs there
is apt to be big economic ex-
plosion. Even if major depres-
sion is prevented after the war
by an immediate shift to produc-
ton of automobiles refrigerators
and other necessities which we
all will want, there is no hope
that the artifically inflated wages
Of today can last.
Actually, this may mean that
large proportion of the civilian
population will do the major part
of it's sacrificing after the war is
all over-when we have to make
room in our plants, and thus share
our pay, with the men who have
been out winning our war.
DOLLARS :. victory
There are, of course, some odd
creatures among us, such as col
umnists, gasoline dealers n d
automobile statesmen, who haven't
made any extra money out of the
war and who, when they read
about the national income soaring
from 70 billion to lis billion, feel
as though they are letting oppor-
tunity slip by not getting in on
the easy millions.
But. as for the millions of peo-
Pile employed in flourishing war
production plants, where the I'm
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