The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 23, 1917, Page 15

A Lesson From Steel Something About War Profits, From the St. Paul Daily News = (From the St. Paul Daily News) OMING at a time when the senate finance committee is pondering on ways of raising more revenue, the quarterly statement- of the TUnited States Steel corporation should be helpful. : In round numbers the net earnings for the second quarter were 144 million dollars. Corresponding figures for the same periods in 1913 and 1914 were 41 millions and 20 millions, respectively. The average quarterly earnings have ranged about 30 million dollars. After allowing for 53 millions to go to the government in the shape of an in- come tax—if it goes—the corporation still has 90 million dollars, three times the normal profit, to distribute to shareholders or return to the business. In addition ‘to normal profits, the steel corporation is now paying an ex- tra dividend of 8 per cent on the com- mon stock each quarter, or 12 per cent a year, 19 per cent in all, and this does not commence to use up the profits. Total capitalization of the organiza- " tion is, roughly, a billion and a half. This means that the net profits for the quarter, 144 millions, were about 10 per cent, or in the year the company is earning 40 per cent of its capitalization as profits that can be distributed, This 1s not intended primarily as a criticism of the steel trust. When it was organized, the stock was about 50 per cent water, but conservative finan- ciering has squeezed the water out. Since our entry into the war the steel manufacturers have been more reason- able in their dealing with the govern- ment than several other concerns but the fact remains that as a result of our own war activity and that of our allies, the company is earning net profits at the rate of about 40 per cent per year, in comparison with less than 10 per cent before the war. Other companies, no doubt, are mak- ing as much, if not more. England, in addition to extensive government con- trol, is collecting about 80 per cent of the EXCESS war profits. Yet congress hesitates. The house recommended an EIGHT per cent tax. The senate is considering taking about one-third. Look at the figures; average pre war profits, 30 millions; last quarter earn- ing 144 millions; excess 114 millions. If Mr, Smoot is as facile in comput- ing the amount that it is possible to raise by this tax as he is in finding out the ‘“staggerng total” of appropriations and estimates, we may see a tax high enough to stop inflation, lighten the cost of living and decrease the burden on the coming generation. The Crime of Market Cornering North Dakota Paper Has Something to Say About Action of the Packers (From The Minot (N, D.) Daily News) The reports from Washington Friday were that three or four of the largest packing companies of the country had attempted to corner the tomato crop on the Pacific coast and they had been caught red handed in the act. There is nothing startling in the discovery or in the act, for both are common; but the fact that this year when every ounce of energy of the entire nation has been expended in an effort to grow gardens in order that the food supply of the country may be sufficient to pre- vent hunger, such a contemptible and un-American crime “as attempting to corner one of the staple perishable vegetables for the purpose of withhold- ng the supply from the market to en- hance the price, calls for laws which will meet such acts with a sunrise fir- ing squad. Acts such as those in which this bunch of packers has been caught are what create anarchists and lead to mob laws. If the administration is not able to prevent such things, the facts should be unmasked so that the people may know that all this demand for larger food production is-nothing but a sham, and that a few men can destroy the ef- forts of millions of people because they have the combination of capital to do 80, and can wriggle their thumbs at the government with impunity. Men who even attempt to evade the responsibility imposed upon them to carry a gun and risk their lives for the defense of the nation are hunted to earth as felons, and the policy of the government in this particular is right. Men who play the traitor to the coun- try by depriving it of its food supplies are traitors in a larger sense than the one who refuses to fight. The latter does so because he wants to save his life, the most sacred obligation under heaven; the former acts from the basest and most sordid motives and peeks to destroy his country by starv- tng the people through the medium of unreasonable prices. The shirker has the highest impulses in life to support his acts; the food grafter the lowest. He has nothing but the most beastly de- sires to profit by the misery of his fellow countrymen. If the shirker is a deserter, the speculator is a trattor. Death has always been the penalty for either constructive or direct treachery, The packers have been prating about their patriotism. They have sent out to the press of the country great gobs of laudatory matter in which they sought to show that they were vwflllng to let the government use them in whatever manner it saw fit. It was all a cry of “stop thief.” They were throwing dust in the eyes of the public s0 that they might bludgeon and rob that public with impunity. The policy of fining corporations for crimes is one of the humbugs of Ameri- can jurisprudence. The corporations do not pay the fines. The public foots the bill. The prices of the commodities which the public must buy from these corporation are merely advanced suffi-. ciently to make up the amount of the fine, But if the men who are respon- sible were punished as common felons —sent to the penitentiary, or in times of such stress as the present, court- martialed and shot, there would be no repetition of the acts. These are drastic suggestions. But the times in which we live are drastic, Young men are marching on a thou- sand camp. grounds today getting ready to face death on the battle fields in order, the president says, that auto- cracy, which is but another name for despotism, may be wiped from the earth. Yet this nation with its ideals of- justice and its slogan of freedom for the oppressed, allows a despotism as bad as that of old Russia to exist. BAER’S TALK “REFRESHING” : Chicago, August 11, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Coming in on the train this morning, I read the statement of the new con- gressman, Baer. I remember that you told me about him when you were in Chicago last spring. Must take time to tell you that I think his statement which was printed in the Chicago Examiner this morning, is more repre- sentative of American public opinion than any I have seen since we entered the war. ax It is indeed refreshing, after three years of listening to the politicians of the two old parties, whose chief aim peems to be to ape the administration. FRED NIEDERHAUSER. THE TRUTH HURT The Helena Independent made @& Helena merchant “very mad” a few days ago because that paper exposed gome of the methods that were being employed in that eity to corner food products and boost the price to the consumer and at the same time com- pel other merchants who were not able or did not have long contracts at form- er prices to pay correspondingly high- er prices in order to sell at the exor- bitant price of the food speculators and then only make an ordinary profit. The irate merchant proceeded at once t¢ withdraw his patronage from the Inde- pendent because the Independent pub- lished an article that told the truth about the speculation in necessaries ot life while some business men are try- ing to take advantage of the need of the men, women and children of our own land, simply because of thelr greed for dollars.—VALLEY COUNTY (MONT.) NEWS, RIGHT YOU ARE BROTHER ‘We do not know how the lineup of the Agricultural college regents .is on Professor Ladd, but if he is disturbed by the thin-skinned, cross-eyed, freck- led-faced, bunion-toed, dirty-socked, bug-infeeted, emart-weed politicians, the atmosphere in the state campaign one year from now will blaze hell-hot for the political party responsible for the detraction and assassination of our best and most valuable institution.— NEW ROCKFORD TRANSCRIPT. ADVERTISEMENTS PAGE FIFTEEN Dr. Ferdinand King, a New York City Physician and Medical Author says: “There can be no strong, vigorous, iron men nor beautiful, healthy, rosy-cheeked women without iron—Nuxated Iron taken three times per day after meals will increase the strength and endurance of weak, nervous, run-down folks 100 per cent: in two weeks’ time in many instances. Avoid the old forms of metallic iron which may injure the teeth corrode the stomach, and thereby do more harm than good. Take only organic iron—Nuxated Iron.” druggists. It is dispensed in this city by all good T —— MR. LIVESTOCK GROWER! You Are Surely Entitled to the Full Market Value for the Livestock You Raise IF YOU DO NOT GET IT, somebody else gets the bene- fit you should have. The day is passed when business is done on sentiment, and cnly results in dollars and cents count. We want you to compare the results in dollars and cents we get for you with those received elsewhere. A comparison will convince you that “KIRK SERVICE” gets you the most money for your livestock. J. R. Kirk Commission Co., Inc. South St. Paul, Minn. Authorized Sales Agency of the American Society of Equity JOHN E.BURKE ATTORNEY AT LAW PRACTICE IN ALL COURTS : ‘,"S_P‘EC‘IA"LT'iE"S‘ SR ¢ PROBATE. LAW ESTATES OF DECEDENTS| . GUARDIANSHIPS - : TRUSTS TITLES PERFECTED SUITE 5 -TEMPLE COURT MINOT, NO.DAKOTA Cash for Cream Ship your eream direct. We pay the highest possible price always for butter fat. Cash and Can Returned Promptly We aim to give the farmers of the Northwest the best possible service in return of can and payment for cream. Write today for shiping tags, and our paying prices for butter fat. Duluth Creamery & Produce Co. Duluth,- Minnesota. AUDITING NermanMalcolm DICKINSON, N. D. / Co-operative elevator work, a specialty = r— Yo v ACCOUNTING . HotSHERMAN ==S7 PAUL MINN:=; Fourth and Sibley Streets One block from Union De- pot and Nonpartisan League Headquarters. The Hotel Sherman is the leading popular priced ho- tel in St. Paul, and caters especially to the people of the Northwest. Modern rooms, $1.00 up. Official Headquarters Equity Co-operative Ex- change. Excellent Cafe and Cafeterla, A. J. CAMERON o 7. 2 ‘2 A R N (PN SO N A O NN O S W (A ) S O S R N O D ) I S B L-------------- Give Them to Baby Too— The baby as well as the whole fam- ily will enjoy Manchester Biscuits There are many kinds of these goods, in fact, we have biscults for every occasion and all of them are good. Don’t bother to, bake all day, but use our biscuits made in a sanitary factory. Everyone likes them. Manchester Biscuit Co. FARGO, N. D. N S e S e T e R R R Mention Leader when writing adyertisers -5