Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, July 17, 1918, Page 2

S ER N e it % THE BEMIDJI PIONEER PUBLISHING 0O. G. B, CARSON ¢ ¥, . DENU™ TELEPHONE 932 Entered at the postoffice at Bemidii, Minn., as second-class matter undorna:t of Congress of March 38, 1879. i . nti 1d to annonymous contributions. Writer’s name must i be lgz%:;“tn oaxepaeflitor. but not necessarily for publication. Communications for the Weekly Pioneer ‘must reach this office not later than Tuesday of each week to insure publication in the current issue. —_— e SUBSCRIPTION RATES ARRIE BY b o . .$5.00 One year ... THE WEEKLY PIONEER i edbasia pages, taining & summery of the news of the wéek. * uv-r:‘!‘hnu&v‘::fl sent p:lmo paid to any address, for, in advauos $1.50 —_————— OFFICIAL COUNTY "AND CITY FPROCEDINGS THE PROFITEERING CHARGES. (Philadelphia Public Ledger.) The report is not mealy-mouthed and does not mince matters. It uses the words “inordinate greed and bare-faged fraud.” It talks about padded depreciation, increased salaries, new construction charged off as repairs, fictitious values on raw materials and manipulated inventories. It says that manipula- tions of the market went on “without regard to law.” It de- clares that the “packers have preyed .upon the péople uncon- scientiously”’—this in wartime, when the.people were stinting themselves on food, paying double prices for it under the im- pression that the war had caused the increase and, incidentally, giving up their best beloved to danger, wounds and death. It i§ useless to read this language and pretend that what the report alleges is an inadvertent and unintentional increase of profits. The report may be right or it may be wrong—that is what every housewife wants to know—but it certainly means to say that these men employed deliberate, dishonorable”and dishonest methods to coin the need of the plain people into swollen profits to be poured into their own bottomless pockets. There is no use trying to go on with the war in 'this way. This nation cannot be half patriot and half vampire.. The stunning effect of this report upon the whole countryside must be removed. Either the federal trade commission must be shown to have been entirely and inexcusably misled as to the nature of the facts and figures they investigated, and at once dismissed from office with a strong recommendation that they never again be employed in any capacity requiring intelligence] - and honesty, or the men whom they have so publicly pilloried should not only be compelled to disgorge their.ill-gotten gains; but should also be personally punished in such fashion as most effectively to discourage all imitators for all time. 0- . OVERDONE THRIFT. Have we heard too much talked of duty of thrift? It would almost seem so. Not of legitimate, bona fide thrift, the kind that “makes two blades of grass to grow where one grew|. before,” but of the spurious brand that seeks to transfer the dollar from your neighbor’s pocket to your own without adequate compensation to the neighbor. We have before said that high prices was a disease—a mania. High prices is also a convenient cloak for all sorts of- petty meannesses and graft. It is doubtful if the prevailing prices in half the different lines of trade in this country’ could be justified by war conditions. Yet they exist, and not only exist but keep on climbing. . We have no sympathy whatever for the capitalistic profi- teer who is caught in his effort to mulch ‘his government and- the public in these times. He deserves all that he gets and then some. The great trouble is we have confused the two terms— thrift and greed. Genuine thrift has the foundation of produc- tion or saving. ‘One must either increase production or save from waste in order to practice thrift. The piling on of extra costs to an article with every conceivable pretext is not thrift —this is greed, pure and simple, and as such is the most con- temptible kind of profiteering. Let’s not let up on the big profiteers, but while rounding them up let’s not overlook the contemptible little fellows. 0 FOOD PRICE INEQUALITIES. While the senate was discussing the injustices that have arisen because the food administration fixed the price of wheat flour and required the purchase of substitutes, the price of which was not fixed, Senator Curtis of Kansas read the follow- ing statement from one of his constituents: “My neighbors complain that in the new food schedule the prices charged for substitutes are exces- sive. Flour is $2.75, or 514 cents per pound, while the substitutes all are sold at 10 cents per pound—corn- meal 10 cents, barley flour 10 cents, etc. Now, I buy corn and get it ground at a little mill at Hartford, Kansas. I pay 15 cents per hundred for grinding. He keeps the bran and gives me 40 pounds of meal per bushel. This makes the meal cost me 31% cents per pound. A comparison with schedule prices will show that the poor poeple of this country are paying 614 cents per pound more on this article of food than it costs, or nearly 200 per cent above cost.” The system which produces higher prices for the poorer food product was criticized by several senators. 0 MUST CONSERVE HOME LABOR. The public safety commission took vigorous action last week in order to stop the diversion of labor to other sectioms of the country. It is all needed in Minnesota at this time and the commission will use drastic methods to get all possible help to the farmers who are on the eve of harvesting a splendid crop of all kinds. The Employment Office at 101 Second Street South, Min- neapo}ls, is splendidly organized to handle all demands made upon it and by its help it is expected that Minnesota farmers will be able to weather the farm labor shortage nicely. 0. We’ll make a little bet, and that is that the order of the public safety commission with reference to that Blooming Pran‘}e s?loon closing does not conflict with the United States constitution nor the laws of the state of Minnesota, and if not, those salopmsts will have one large time putting over their game on the said safety commission. O Germany was of the belief that she had put Russia to sl_eep, but the old bear is evidently turning over from being on his back, ] THE €0 % There 1s something wholesome-about the very name—“The College Girls” —and the idea that seemed to be uppermost in the mind of the arganizer of this company ‘was that they should bring to the Chautauqua the rollicking spirit of Joviality ‘and sport that lives and thrives on the college campus. Accompanying the College Girls will be Mr. Tom Murray, an entertainer who has the reputation of being a whole show by himself, and who, with the assistance of the four young ladies above mentioned, is able to put on an en- tertainment of such sparkling variety and charm as will make everybody for- get their troubles and drown their ‘cares in the full tide of merriment set in motion’ by°these brilllant entertainers. Music in all its winsome charms 'expreséed with high art and in great varlety, skits and sketches tastily staged, with plenty of fine humor sandwiched in between, make up a program of satisfying charm that everybody is bound to enjoy to the limit. 3 They are four charming girls. Their mission in life is to add zest and joy to living. Already they have won famae in their chosen vocation, but yet press Each is endowed with splendid in- dividual talents, and the program they produce is unusually rich in variety. Special and appropriate costumes are carried in abundance and no touch of art is neglected that will contribute to intensify the effects. Scotch lassies, English coquettes, character impersonators, action singers, musical sketch artists, all take their turn. Singly, in duets, quartettes, in the rapid flowing action of the play, the College Girls are there with the entertainment goods, forward toward gr8ater accomplishments. bound to please you and send you away happy. 0 LLEGE “GIRES ARE COMING WITH MUSICAL GRACE AND CHARM Four-Talented Singers and Actors, Accompanied by Tom Murray; in *'a Musical and Literary Entertainment That Just Simply Gets You With Its Bewitching Appeals. Searching. for. Franklin. } Sir John Iranpklin, the celebrated “Aretic ‘explorer, started on" his fast voyage May 17, 1845. < Thirty-nine re- fief ‘expeditions,. public and private, were sent out from England and Amer- fca in tenyearsito search for Sir John. By one of these expeditions, sent by Lady Franklin, traces ot the missing ship were found and its fate decided. your photograph. your fown WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 17, 1918 That lad of yours, over seas. . All that is humanly possible is be- ing done to see to it that he is well fed, well clothed and efficiently equipped. = Organizations like the Y. M. C. A., are looking to hig phys- jcal comfort, healthful recreation and clean- fun. If he is sick or wounded the Red Cross will provide for him with tender, loving care. _ Yet there is one thing that will bring a smile to his face and:a joy to his heart that none of these can give; that only you can give— - Hakkerup, the photographer in " Time t ~ Right now,*pack-your, pet i)ipe full of Tviie Smoke Smokes True— Chews True Too’ Satisfy your smoke appetitedBuy;a} of True Smoke today. -—pufi'-—pu_if:" You'll enjoy a rich, full-bodied man True Smoke. Then puff. Smoke forakeeps. C. 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