The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 23, 1918, Page 5

the grossest profiteering, not because of the war opportunity, but because it has always n so. The advanced cost of pig iron does not' seem to have' the slightest thing to.do with these prices. It is not even a matter of conscience. It is Just " “nerve”—iron mnerve at that. This may be seen in that one manufacturer of farm machinery charges two or three times as much for substan- tially the same repair part as does another manu- facturer of the same general class as to product and size of plant. Let me prove it. A maker of tractors now makes these charges for repairs—we have. paid them this summer: A chst iron pinion weighing 18% pounds, $9.20. 'That is $1,000 a ton. When~ the same pinion is changed to cast steel, milled,: ~at an added cost of not. qver $2.20, the price is doubled, $7 -clear added profit being taken just because of change in the material. : A cast iron pipe elbow weighing '12 ounces costs $1.15. - That is about $3,000 a ton. i " A set of 12 cast iron cylinder rings weighing two pounds (which a local garage, even, will make for $3.60) costs from the manufacturer of the traetor $10.35. That is $10,000 a ton. Reference was made in the article to the fact -GOSH THEV'RE GETTING WISE Tome! YOUI® INTERESTS ARE SAFE IN HiS. HANDS THE 100% AMERICAN _ LOOK BT mE AND FORGET - _THE LEAGUE ' If anybody ever saw a ‘quick-change impersqi#tor who bould\‘, find more disguises than the old-gang politician has in the last .two years, the Leader would like to hear of him. Cartoonist Foss that the American ’i[ai-vester ‘company—I suppose the International Harvester company was meant— has its own supply of pig iron and therefore has- an insurmountable advantage over smaller manu- facturers. Give the pig iron to some manufactur- ers of farm machinery, deduct its entire cost, and it would make no .appreciable differencé in their charges for repairs. Beyond a doubt the International Harvester company- charges enough for its repairs, but at any rate they (along with a féw others) had the stuff on hand when needed this year, not because they are bigger or can get pig iron cheaper than others, -but because they were willing. themselves * to pay the express charges from the factory to the extent of many thousand dollars for the Fargo . house alone, I am told, rather than leave the farm- ers in the lurch for want of them. A sense of justice leads me to say this, and I believe that in doing so I express the sentiments of thousands of farmers who like myself have be- come too familiar with the rubber stamp bearing the legend, “Ordered from the factory direct,”—at the farmers’ expense. The express charges are, of course, nothing to us as compared with the.in- tolerable - delays, especially in this trying year. { { . {x | > il AT LAST WE HAVE PROTECTION : ;nuuuum'.lilliill.'!umun.{ \ [ - politicians. . ¥ sass RS Let it not be overlookeéd that my main point is the exorbitant charges made by some manufactur- ers for repair parts..” And let us keep at it till _ these prices come within the range of decent mer- chandising. ~ L{kes Leader Edi‘torialg Bismarck, N. D. " DATUS C. SMITH. Editor Non\phrtisan Leader: I have just read your, editorials in the last issue of ‘the Leader and think they ‘are fine. 'I hope that other papers will copy them. Well, our victory in North Dakota may help the cause in many_other states two years hence and give the poor working- man a chance to get ahead. There is a bunch of sore prune-peddlers in North Dakota now, believe me, and they don’t know where they are at. You probably have heard how we shot _it at them every chance we got and especially when they attended our meetings. i You are just doing fine, and I hope you will con- tinue the good work. CARL R. KOSITZKY. | s THE CHAMPION QUICK-CHANGE ARTIST Coit l WILL EMANCIPATE YOU FROM THE LEAGUE MENACE JUST as LINCOLN wouLD EXPRESS . HIMSELF SOLDIER '(NSURANCE HAIL INSURANCE SOCIAL INSLURANCE INTELLIGENT BUSINESS GROUP by the kept press aé being the reai thing: As fast as the League 3 exposed one, another was hit upon to fool the public. Nothing was considered too sacred to cover the exposed flanks of the .old-gang “here shows just a few of many disguises. in which the politicians : : d government, the memory of Lincoln, the flag > have appfia r;d ‘before the public and his characterization is ac- ach one of.‘ thesgibogus‘jbrgani_gat_ions hag been hera!ded:._ | PAGE FIVE =~~~ the shameless pretense.of the autocrats at home-~ = - = gt of the nation, our war in Europe—all these have been used to cover i