The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 15, 1918, Page 11

_all inside, the customers stand in line ‘are not alone. ~‘their will on the future of France. finally won out. Today it is a- tourt- martial offense to: bring a drop: ‘of liquor on a - government reservation. What is a canteen, then? In the first place, it is a long, narrow build- ing, not like an ordinary store, be- cause a customer: never gets inside. The clerks, all enlisted men wearing uniforms, and the stock of goods are outside, make thelr purchases and go away. 5 THE SOLDIERS” OWN STORE What do they sell? The Leader hasn’t enough room to name all the goods they handle, but just for a sample, here are a few things: can- dles, candy, canned meat, chevrons, hat cords, buckets, ice cream, basins, ginger ale, ivory soap, cigarets, tow- els, stationery, fruit, shoe polish, tooth brushes—in fact, pretty nearly every- thing that a normal man would be likely to want, around camp, under any circumstances. "A canteen is different from an or- dinary store. It doesn’t advertise.; It doesn’t have special sales. It doesn’t even have an electric to get. _sign, just a small, painted board with the word -“Canteen” on it. The clerks don’t urge you to.buy, they don’t ask “Is that all?” after-you have made some purchase. Quite the contrary. Generally you have to look quite a while before you find the canteen and then stand in line and scrap with half a hundred other soldiers, who also want to get there first, to get a chance to spend your money. : But of all the things that a canteen sells, the most popular is ice cream. Any time during the’ day you will find a line of anywhere from a dozen ‘to a hundred men in front of the ice cream coun- ter. They sell the most generous cone I ever saw - for 5 cents, or you can bring your cup and get 10 or 15 or 20 cents worth. But in spite of the ice cream cotmter being the Labor Lines Up for Public Ownership The other side of the canteen. thing else is sold. The saving of co-operation is thus demonstrated. a central warehouse where all supplies are sold. All goods are secured at lowest wholesale rate, considerably lower than one store alone would be able What a fine example of working together for the common good! most popular with the customers, it isn’t so with the clerks. I met a soldier the other day. He could hardly raise his right arm. “I-was assigned to canteen duty yesterday," he explained. “Like a dub, I got on the ice cream freezer. Say, just try dlggmg that stuff up and filling cones for a few hours if you want to know what work is. I'd rather drill with a gun eight hours any time than spend two on the freezer.” All of this is getting to why we are eating so much better now. I asked the mess sergeant why it was that the grub had picked up so. “Look here,” he said. And he showed me an entry on his books that read: “From post exchange, for May, $528.” I went down to see the full report of the post exchange and here are a few things that I found: The net profit for May on five canteens and the Here tobacco, soap, food and almost every- SHUP 3 \ ‘ among the dxfferent compames, on the basis of the enlisted strength of each, it gave a little more than $2 for each enlisted man in the camp, to be added to the company mess fund, working out to $528 for our company of 250- odd men. SOLDIERS ARE LEARNING CO-OPERATION _ The profit on the canteens amounted to 27% per cent. I spoke before of the generous helpings of ice cream. The prices of other things that the canteen sells are the normal prices, generally lower rather than higher than the prices in private stores, and considerably lower than the prices in private stores in southern cities and towns adjacent to army camps. Most of these private merchants believe in making hay while the sun shines, and prices have taken a sharp advance, especially when a man in uniform comes in the door. The profit on the barber shop amounted to 25 per cent. In addition the laundry agency gets a commission of 20 per cent and the cleaning agency a commis- sion of 25 per cent. As these agencies were in oper- ation only a part of a month they were not included in the report just made, and will be added next month, when our contribution from the post ex- change fund ought to be considerably larger than $528. How is the post exchange system able to sell at reasonable prices, give big helpings and still show such an enormous profit? Well, while profit is an object, it is not private profit. The main object is service; the profit is the customer’s. If he doesn’t get all the advantage of it at the time he buys, he gets the rest of it at the end of the month and during all the next month at each meal. The canteens are all handled through a central system. There is one supply warehouse where all (Continued on page 22) There is Principles of the Nonpartisan League on Control of Natural Resources by ‘ the People Are Indorsed by New Jersey Unions OM many quarters of the world come reports showing that all those who believe in democracy “are rallying around- the prin- ciples-so clearly enunciated by the organized farmers of the Northwest—a war against au- tocracy for democracy as set forth by President Wilson, and for these principles alone; internal affairs’directed to the good of the common ‘people rather than the special interests. _The farmers of the Northwest would stand on this program even if the whole world were set in the mold of international and industrial autocracy, because the program ‘is right. But happily they The great Labor party of England ‘has ‘spoken for the same things, rallying behind our president as the -leader of the democracy of ‘the world; the strongest party in Australia, that represeritmg the farmers and labor organizations, ~-has likewise spoken. -In France the man who. holds the reins of power is a lifelong fighter for democ- racy everywhere and those believing in industrial democracy at home are strong:enough to impress Even in: the central powers, where autocracy at home looked to.a foreign struggle as a means of: stemmmg the: ; 'nsmg tide of democracy, autocracy is playing its .. last cards and is nearer final extlnctxon than we think. ; 5 'WHAT ALL ~ LIBERALS WANT N i There-is; in fact, no other thought than that de- - mocracy must win abroad and at home in. the minds of the farmers and workers of America, whether orgamzed or unorgamzed. evidence of this is found in the action taken by “'the state convention of the New Jersey State Fed- - eration’ of Labor, with 500 delegates representing 57 ‘organized trades. It went on record for the utilities, for a war tax program that would reduce The latest - 3 "‘".j-public ownership of railroads and other public the amount of bonds to! the Jowest pmtlcable' g : t of the war - L profits, increasing the income tax upon large in- comes and levying an inheritance tax to take a much larger share of the great inherited fortunes. “We indorse the principle,” declared the conven- tion, “that the great natural resources were created by the Creator for the benefit of all the people, * and therefore indorse the principle that all of these natural resources, such as coal, iron and copper mines, and oil wells, forests, etc., should be owned by the government -and either operated by the government or opened up to private use under conditions which will afford all competitors equal- ity of access to these natural resources, which are the foundation of our most. essential industries.” THE DUTY OF THOSE AT HOME Labor in New Jersey is well aware that.now is the time for democracy at home to protect itself against those who would destroy what we have - Not a week passes that the magazines do not have some complimentary ref- erence to the great farmers’ organi- zafion. The author of an article on the . Australian Labor party in The Public - refers to the National Nonpartisan - league as perhaps the beginning of an . American Labor party. 1In the Single Tax Review is a concise discussion of the League’s activity in Minnesota. In. the New York Headgear Worker and in the Seattle Union Record, the North- ~west’s new independent dally, is an ar- ticle showing how union labor in the - Northwest is joining hands with the - farmers. It has particular reference to the report of the Railroad brother- hood which called for co-operation be- - tween producers, and indorsed state S ownershlp of flour mills and ) packmg houses.v 6 while we are all absorbed in the world struggle, for it makes the following appeal to the common people everywhere to join hands against these internal enemies: . “Our democratic institutions can only be pre- served by constant vigilance, and in this hour, when the senses of our people are distracted by the ex- citement attendant on the incomprehensible cata- clysm of the war, the task of maintaining our demo- cratic institutions at home falls with ' increased emphasis on those who remained at home. While our valiant brothers are facing danger and death to defend democracy abroad, we are under solemn duty to them, to ourselves and to posterity to see to it that it is in no way diminished here. “Qur appeal, therefore, is to all men and women, whether they be a part of organized labor or apart from it, to undertake with us the great task that this hour casts upon us. Labor today has a broader vision than in the past, and looks not only ~.to the welfare of its own members, but to the es- tablishment of the principles of justice and equal- ity of opportunity for all people everywhere. We heartily commend to the careful consideration of " all people, especially every producer by hand or ~brain that may not be in the ranks of organized labor, such as the clerk, the teacher, the doctor, the minister of religion, the average retail shop- .~keeper and’ trader, and all the mass of those living ~on small incomes, the program adopted by this convention.” This outstanding declaration gwes a new dlgnfl;y to the great labor movement in thig state, and, with broadened vision and warm sym- pathy, dedicates it to a nobler service throughout : the world. “We believe the time has come for organized . labor to make ‘its influence felt in matters of na-. ‘' tional and state legislation which affect the inter- ests of organized labor, and also in such matters i which. affect the interest of all those' people out- - : side of organized labor who by labor of hand or . brain: or the: legitimate employment ' of capital " without - any: ‘monopoly: or. other privilege, ‘con= i« tribute to ' the prodnctlon of the wealth of the : country.” at [ w :“v 1