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Show BIG AND LITTLE PROFITEERS. WIIEN the secret service uncovered foodstuffs and supplies j amounting in value to some seventy odd millions of dollars, that were cached somewhere in New York, a popular wave of indignation swept over the country. Whether these commodities were intended for German or home consumption does not matter; the fact remains that it constitutes a plain case of wholesale profiteering that disturbs normal market conditions and deserves the most severe punishment. Think of the size of this one cache: Enough supplies were stored away to grub-stake the entire population of Utah for a period of one year, allowing approximately $150 for every man, woman and child in the state. But while this particular case of profiteering is staggering in its proportions, we should bear in mind that the little profiteers are just as vicious as the big ones. Also, we cannot afford to lose sight of the fact that there are all sorts and conditions of profiteering, as well as sizes, and that it is not necessary to search far to find them. In such matters the trouble with us is that we see better at a distance than we do at short range. We experience no difficulty in detecting the profiteering that is going on among the cotton growers of the South, or the. wool merchants of the East, or the jgrain speculators of the Middle West. And the farther away we find the profiteers the louder we yell. But what about the profiteering that is going on around us, much of which we are either a party to or encourage indirectly? The storage stor-age of foodstuffs and fuel beyond all reasonable needs may, in normal times, be construed as a wise provision against the proverbial rainy day, but if such precaution taken in the aggregate tends to disturb market conditions, then it is a mild form of profiteering. We still continue to eat lamb and veal with extreme satisfaction our only scruples being confined to our ability to pay the price and we forget altogether that the slaughter of lambs, calves and brood stock for food purposes is one of the worst forms of profiteering. And what about farmers and others who are storing supplies and products which they cannot possibly hope to utilize themselves ; are not such as these profiteers of the worst type? Some one has proposed that there be formed a loyal detective league, each citizen constituting himself a committee of one to apprehend appre-hend the wanton destruction of foodstuffs, supplies and property. It is a good idea, providing the scope of the proposed enterprise is extended ex-tended to include all forms of profiteering that one might find next door or across lots. There is an old adage that each man sins according accord-ing to his capacity and if a truthful roll of the profiteers were read some of those who talk the loudest would find consideiable surprise and shame in store for themselves. In other words, a little profiteer is just as bad as a big one. H Some wag wants to know if it "wouldn't be a relief if some patriotic patri-otic labor union would demand the right to work ten hours per day on war supplies in order to help the country in time of need." Perhaps the best basis of peace now is for the German ruling oligarchy oli-garchy to retire from Germany and govern R i.bia. The German people peo-ple will be well rid of them and it looks as though the Russian radical is enamored of kaiserism anyway. Pendleton Tribune. |