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Show !' j0 Goodwins UJqq&Ii ' 1 I g. feV CCORDING to the Federal Food Com- i I A 1 HAl missioncr of California, every retail " 7 1 YJHlBr grocer and vegetable dealer in that 3 I " JvgJgNr state, will be ordered to put in a con- i f " II . I wmjjF spicuous place in his establishment a I' i&iwv placard list of a dozen or more of the I1 t ' leading staples and vegetables with ' the prices he paid and the prices he is charging to the consumer. IB n The measure is to protect the public against profiteering, it be- 1 1 ,. ing the purpose in the office of the commissioner, Ralph P. Merritt, !' to make out a list of the basic maximum prices, from wholesaler I tj&, or commission man to retail dealer, a corps of inspectors comparing 1 L, these prices daily with the retailers' posted list, and will result in an 9 m immediate summons of a merchant for hearing and conviction in tl case excessive charges, with revocation of the license, and in the !L , case of unlicensed dealers, supplies will be withheld. fr That is one of the most sensible rulings we have 'heard from a j i Food Commissioner in any state, with no chance for anything but a I l square deal for the dealers and the public alike. . v If more Federal Food Commissioners and Commissioners of Public Economy wduld spend a little time studying the real needs of their k own communities, there would be more saving, more real economy ' and less hysteria in connection with practical results, than we are now enjoying. J ' fr "" For instance, we understand that Paris, France ; New York, y f Jt Washington, and Chicago, U. S. A., are really closer tp the war zones than Salt Lake City, and yet, if we are correctly informed, and we fe f have no reason to believe otherwise, no orders are being enforced in fjljf'' those cities which would tend to curtail legitimate business even up HHfc '4 f to one o'clock at night. W We fully realize the importance of Salt Lake City during the I war, especially inasmuch as it has contributed more than its quota of J men and money, and weknow of nothing its citizens, personally or J collectively, will not do to aid in every way to affect favorably the "A . ultimate result, but merely as a suggestion, we wonder if it would not Jj - v be just as well for Commissioner Jensen, whose curds and whey in H I Idaho are ,as we understand it, not entirely distributed to take a $a 7 little tip from those longer and more experienced in war economies ji, in bigger cities, and allow some of the more important, needed estab- J . lishments to stay open long enough for the graveyard shift to fortify I 4 1 their systems, and save that much man power for the remainder of v! the night. 1 s i , , THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. TV T 'ticket ever nominated by the Republicans of Salt Lake county i i L has been a better one than the one named by the party in con- 1 vention on Wednesday in the Hippodrome theatre. Geographically it ') K is all right for all sections of the country are recognized. The plat- " j ( form adopted has the ring that always characterizes Republican plat- ". forms. ) I The convention was like an old fashioned love feast. There was 'jf a get-together feeling manifest in every move made by the gathering. 5$ Old timers who had left the party four years ago were back again in f fS' the harness and they came back to work again with old friends whom '! yfi tney know they can tie to. U " v It was a most representative body. It was a most determined '1 ( body of men and women who had gathered for a purpose and that j 1 was to assure all that the party in Utah which it represented was for ; every move that had been or that will be made, by the government to j bring about a victory in the world-war and to assure the peace of the I world. I ! In giving this notice there was some very plain talk indulged in. H The temporary chairman called a spade a spade. There was no beat- H ing behind the bush. Names and dates were given. Facts about which w there can be no controversy were detailed. H Chairman Jenson called attention to the fact that "the prin- H ciples represented by the allies prior to the entry of the United m States into the war. are identically the, same principles that we H are striving for now, Germany, prior to the entry of the United fl States into the war, 'represented barbarism, butchery, rape, murder and all that is vicious in the world. It stood for autocracy, despotism and tyranny. It stood for those principles before the United States M entered the war and it stands for them now. The United States did M not change the object, nor the purposes nor the ambitions of the Ger- )H man kaiser and his associated cutthroats. They were the same in ufl 1917 as they were in 1914 and they are the same today as they were in 1914. No Republican was ever in sympathy with the kaiser. H "The last legislature passed a prohibition bill. The sheriff of Salt M Lake county has been interviewed by the press a number of times as !M to the result of that legislation on the increase or decrease in the com- mission of crimes in this county and he has invariably been quoted as H saying that it has materially decreased crimes. We will all concede JM that his statement is true. It is born out of the fact that the county M jail has about one-third less prisoners confined than it had prior to that legislation. It is also shown in the records of criminal courts fl that there are not nearly the number of prosecutions there were, barring violations of the liquor law." H There was a wonderful amount of enthusiasm and perfect har- mony among the delegates. And this enthusiasm and harmony was H not alone in reference to local and state conditions but extended to H national affairs. The victorious drives of the allies were a cause for H rejoicing. The chairman reflected the spirit of the delegates in his H happy references to hopes for an early end to the war and in his M spoken evidence of the feeling of everyone that the primary duty of the American citizen on the international crisis is to forget in that M respect all political matter and to strive industriously to aid our boys H in the trenches make the march to Berlin at the earliest possible date. H "H fl THAT'S THE STUFF. M ACCORDING to the dispatches, the striking machinists at Bridge- port, Conn., were notified recently by President Wilson, that un- H less they returned to work and would abide by the decision of the jM War Labor Board, that they would be barred from employment for a H year, and the draft boards would be instructed to reject any claim of I exemption from military service based upon their alleged usefulness I in war production. Referring to the strikers, it would seem that those who are dis- satisfied constitute only ten per cent of the workers involved, over ninety per cent of the workers affected, according to the president's : I letter, having accepted the decision of an arbiter, the members of the board not being able to reach a unanimous conclusion. In the course wM of his letter the president said : "Whatever the merits of the issue, it ml is closed by the award. Your strike against it is a breach of faith II calculated to reflect on the sincerity of national organized labor in M proclaiming its acceptance of the principles and machinery of the Na- I tional War Labor Board. I "If such disregard of the solemn adjudication of a tribunal to (I which both parties submitted their claims be temporized with, agree- M ments become mere scraps of paper. If errors creep into awards the m proper remedy is submission to the award with an application for re- im hearing to the tribunal, But to strike against the award is dis- M loyalty and dishonor, III tl Am B . "The Smith & Wesson company of Springfield, engaged in-gov- B eminent work, has refused to accept the mediation of the national B war labor board and has flaunted its refusal of the decision approved B by presidential proclamation. With my consent the war department B has taken over the plant and business of the company to secure con- B i tinuity in production and to prevent industrial disturbance." B The action of the president in dealing with these strikers, has B i met with the general approval of loyal Americans throughout the B country, whether they are employed or employers. B The president's action in calling to time the dissatisfied and belli- B gerent minority, it is to be hoped will have its effect on any others B who may imagine they are not being fairly treated under conditions B more favorable to the laboring man than at any time in history, not B only in this country, but in the world. B Never before in this or any other country, has the laboring man B enjoyed such blessings, and if, because of the influence of agitators', B or the more usual cause of strikes, which is the alienation from heart fl to heart of the employer and the employee, it is high time for both B to put aside any personal arguments, petty feelings or fancied wrongs, B and work together for the common good. If that cannot be done it is B up to the properly constituted authority, under present conditions, B to tell either side what can and will be done, and if necessary to use B sufficient force to carry it out. B Complaining workers who are dissatisfied latterly because of the B propaganda of cheap attorneys with blackmailing minds, who, under B the guise of socialism, make them dissatisfied, would do well to re- B fleet on what is happening "over there". B r Thousands of men with no thought of their own, when country B is to be considered first, with no thought of self, and with their only B objective the freedom of the world and the protection of those they B left behind are battling in the trenches for $30 a month. If they es- B cape the fate of so many in No Man's Land, they will have something B to say when they come b&ck, and the men at home who are making it B harder for the country and the men "over there", by attempting to B put a brake on the progress of the necessary industries in this coun- B" try during the war, are going to suffer through the law of compensa- B tion in a way that will make them regret any hinderance their B thoughtless acts will be responsible for at the present time. H H THE COAL SITUATION. THE coal question is largely a matter of figures. That is, Italy produces no coal and turned to England to get it. France pro- B duced, in normal times, less than she used. Then she lost part of her B mines and turned to England to get the balance. Those countries H which produced food for England needed coal to carry their food to B tidewater and, naturally, turned to England to get it. B Then England, making the identical mistake that America is now B duplicating with so much sagacity, drafted her coal miners into the B army and began to lose coal production at the very moment when the B' call upon her was the greatest. B England, having no other place to go, has turned to America for H; coal. We must produce it or the world is going to run short. B It becomes, then, a simple matter of figures to tell what the coal B situation really is. Those figures concern themselves with: How B much does the world need? How much is America producing? What B is the difference? That difference between supply and demand will B tell the coal situation better than could be done in a volume. B We have not the complete coal budget of the world. Neither B have we a dependable record of American supply because it is going B up sharply one week and falling precipitately the next. However, we B , can come pretty close to it. m The American budget calls for about 2,400,00 tons a day of all B kinds of coal anthracite and bituminous combined. The production B of bituminous has twice been up to 2,100,000 tons a day and the pro- w duction of anthracite is pretty steadily at better than 300,000,000 tons H a day. Therefore, on two occasions the daily production of coal has B equaled the budget. Most of the time we have fallen short of the B American budget alone. We have a sizable deficit of coal staring us B?' in the face unless it happens that the budget figures are wiong. BB This takes no account whatever of the foreign demand. This ( will measure easily 300,000 tons a day. Some of it will go to Europe direct. Other tonnages will go to South America to move the crops to save us the annoyance of having to supply much larger quantities of food. So, at our best, we are short by 300,000 tons a day of meeting the demand upon us for coal. Those are the figures. They are ugly. But balance sheets, which show in red, are never pleasant sights. We must look at this one squarely because it may mean that we will$iave to default in some of our serious war obligations obligations to supply sup-ply material to men who are 'fighting at the front ! The Mining "Congress Journal. ' 1 r t l vh t " GENSERIC AND THE KAISER A PARALLEL. Jl GENSERIC, as Crown Prince, was early initiated into the plan for 1f world conquest and cultivated assiduously the arts by which he could encourage the pacifism of his neighbors whilst concealing his ' own program of military efficiency. Genseric and his Vandals were all Christians at least in name. Military Germany honors in this great Vandal of Potsdam a soldier sol-dier who would have applauded the murder of Edith Cavell or the sinking of the Lusitania in other words, who conducted war as a worthy ancestor of the Hohertzollern spirit. The pacifists and pro-Germans of England gave S colonial empire to Prussia and in so doing have earned the ingratitude not to say contempt of the Hohenzollerns ! And it was somewhat thus fifteen centuries ago when Genseric embarked for Morocco. In each case ,, the Vandals occupied Africa without firing a shot though their landing land-ing was the prelude to years of bloodshed. Like the Kaiser of today, Genseric prepared for THE DAY when he might safely drop the mask of friendship, tear up his treaties as so many scraps of paper and march an army to the conquest of Carthage Carth-age and then Rome. Genseric shared the good fortune of William II all his schemes worked out as though on the field of Autumn maneuvers. Through his spies Genseric was able in the cities of Northern Africa to plunder with thoroughness surpassed only by his descendants descend-ants under William II. Genseric signed peace treaties in order that the Roman pacifists might have another excuse for delaying active war measures. Genseric was a pious man, after the Potsdam pattern, and between be-tween his plundering raids he cheerfully subscribed to treaties of amity and promises of future'fidelity. Frederic II was singularly like William II and Genseric in that all three were famed for the craft with which they cultivated pacifism in every country but their own. Each in turn raided first and declared war afterwards. Each was a Vandal in blood, yet each masked himself him-self in the insignia of civilized monarchy. I We shall have raids from the Baltic so long as the spirit of Genseric Gen-seric rules in those prolific regions. ' The rule of William II is today no more humane in the colonial world than it was fifteen centuries ago under his Vandal avatar, Genseric. (From "Genseric," by Poultney Bigelow.) K 5T -f T AS TO CREELISM. ONE thousand copies of the volume entitled "Two Thousand Ques- ' tions and Answers About the War," indorsed and lauded by George H. Creel, were circulated before the National Security league got hold of the book, had it carefully examined, and discovered it to be "a masterpiece of German propaganda." The company handling the book then withdrew it from circulation. The author's name did not appear in the volume. As the examiner declared, "Indorsed by the chairman of the Committee on Public Information it becomes a menace to the American morale, and as no author's name is given no one is made to appear responsible but the writer of the introduction" (Creel). Can Mr. Creel enlighten the public as to the disposition of the 1,000 volumes which were circulated? |