PROFITEERING
Follette, Robert M. La
PROFITEERING An Editorial by ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE CRITICISM of the government at Wash-ington is becoming very keen these days. The Congressional campaign is on, and the presidential election...
...The war necessities of the foreign nations were immediately seized upon by the greit American combinations to enormously advance prices abroad, and at the same time to exact these war prices from our own people, through 1914, '15 and '16 while we were still at peace...
...5.10 4.20 Barrels, for apples, each...
...Look at the result as measured in the profits of a few of these corporation for the year 1916, which I take the space to present...
...duPont Powder Co...
...k From the Monthly Crop Report...
...What does it mean to a nation to permit an industrial system where the "average earnings in the large majority of families are insufficient to insure a proper standard of life...
...Thus our people were made the victims of higher prices in 1914 than in 1913...
...The Congressional campaign is on, and the presidential election looms in the offing...
...76,581,729, over 1,400 per cent...
...the nation, in peace or in war...
...6.60 5.50 Rubber boots, pair...
...47 .36 Churns, each...
...3,025,942, over 200 per cent...
...It is a system that saps the man-power and impairs the efficiency of...
...1.25 1.05 Screw hooks, box...
...48.00 38.90 Salt, for stock, bbl...
...91 .70 Rope, hemp, lb...
...Sympathy for the "supreme struggle which the Allies were making to preserve civilization" did not at that time to appeal to our trust patriots as to cause them to abate in the slightest degree their power to exact the last dollar in exorbitant prices from the Allies, even in the greatest financial distress...
...But there is another and a very ugly side to this situation...
...145 .129 Buggies, each...
...Bethlehem Steel Corporation, $40,518,860, over 1,300 per cent...
...Let the official figures as prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Labor answer...
...Experience has taught us the utter futility of appeals to the bosses of our system upo.« the humane side, they have been equally indifferent to the mass of facts-and arguments showing the relation of disease and high death to scant or bare living wage...
...2.89 2.20 Paint brushes, each...
...higher prices in 1915 than in 1914...
...Food is being subjected to a mixing process with substitutes and counterfeits of lower nutritive value...
...231 .1) Coal, ton...
...12.15 9.75 Lard, pound...
...69.00 65.50 Wagons, double, each...
...The industrial autocracy which has been permitted to control markets has made the public pay dearly for every advance in wages...
...The result was inevitable...
...19.60 14.60 Manurcspreaders, each...
...30 .20 Twine, binder, lb...
...80.10 68.80 Grindstones, each...
...But the larger license accorded the critic in campaign time is more than counterbalanced by the liberal discount on all criticism which may at such a time be suspected of being inspired or colored by political bias, or ulterior motives...
...American Agricultural Chemical Co., $2,969,918, over 100 per cent...
...2.30 2.00 Scythes, each...
...On cross-examination before the Commerce Committee, George J. Baldwin, vice-president of the American International Company, testified that he was not interested in Government contracts for money: Senator Johnson...
...8.20 6.80 Lumber, 1-inch, 100ft...
...15 1917-per cent of Article 1916 1917 1916 Sirloin Steak, lb.......$0,257 $0,287 111.7 Round steak, lb...
...67 .53 Harrows, each...
...10.',.00 84.00 Wheelbarrows, each...
...To meet its hourly increasing responsibilities the administration must plan and execute with a concentration of mind and singleness of purpose that tests human energy to the last limit...
...American Beet Sugar Co., $4,880,027, over 250 per cent...
...4.16 3.35 Halters, each...
...65.00 63.00 Picks, each...
...American Hide and Leather Co., $1,309,082, over 250 per cent...
...This firm of Holbrook, Cabot and Rollins had a contract for piers at the round figure of $1,600,000, the profits not stated, but they received the snug sum of $260,000 as "rent" for their equipment used presumably for building the piers, "rental fee paid by the Government...
...4.80 3.CO Carbolic acid, crude, lb...
...1.27 .95 Gloves, pair...
...58 .47 Brooms, each...
...It mens that the vital forces are undermined in the family...
...The American International Corporation then promptly sublet the building of the ship yard and ships to another corporation organized for that purpose, which is called the American International Shipbuilding Company— the net result of all this scheming being to put a prospective profit of six million dollars into the pockets of these "patriots," who had not invested a dollar of their own money, and who were not called upon to use their time or their credit or to take the risk of losing so much as a copper cent...
...The Democratic administration was distinctly pledged:— (1) "To vigorously enforce the criminal as well as the civil law against trust officials...
...While every public official should at all times welcome a candid review of official acts any adverse comment to be effective must take into account all existing conditions...
...And to our everlasting shame it must be confessed that the commercial depravity of selfish interests is so base as to make it necessary for the government,—even at the expense of the higest administrative effiici-ency to guard it self every moment of time against the greed and knavery of "100 per cent patriots,"—not "pro-Germans," but plain American war-hogs, wallowing in war profits at the expense of the overburdened taxpayers of the country...
...75 -53 Linseed oil, gallon...
...83 .64 Stoves, each...
...20.75 16.50 Raincoats, each...
...Central Leather Co., $12,016,398, over 350 per cent...
...And the prices of 1913 were higher than in 1912, when the Democrats carried the country on the paramount issue of the "High Cost of Living...
...The unlawful control of prices by trusts and combinations began and was consummated under the Roosevelt and Taft administrations...
...Their answer in practice has always been, "to the scrap heap with the broken in health and disabled...
...1.10 .85 Nails, 1001b...
...It means physical disability, impaired constitution, under-nourished mothers, unhealthy and "diseased children...
...44 .32 Wooden buckets, each...
...2) "To enact such legislation as will make it impossible for private monopoly to exist in the United States...
...1.48 1.12 Barb wire, 100 pounds...
...6.20 4.60 Steel wire, 1001b...
...Munitions of war are being manufactured, merchant ship and naval auxiliaries constructed upon a vast and unprecedented scale...
...63 .45 Wooden washtubs, each...
...1.15 .90 Hatchets, each..............96 .70 Lanterns, each...
...53 .42 Axle grease, box...
...The prices are taken from the Monthly Review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol...
...On this issue more than any other, the Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives in 1910, and of the United States Senate and the Presidency in 1912...
...1.00 .80 Pincers, each...
...6.60 4.20 Portland cement, 100 lb---- 1.05 .80 Paris green, lb..............61 .43 J!ardeaux mixture, gal...
...l>iited States Steel Corporation $207,945,-953, over 300 per cent...
...605 .50 Corn knives, each...
...As suggestive of the toll taken by the subsidiary companies and sub-contractors, another witness testified that Stone and Webster, a patriotic firm of Boston, made a neat little profit of $333,000 on a million dollar contract...
...American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co., $9,-110,584, about 4,500 per cent...
...Vi, April, 1918, Number 4, page 138: Arerage price Feb...
...E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co...
...19.25 16.50 Shovels, each...
...70 .55 Copperas, lb...
...24.70 19.00 Sprayers, hand, each...
...The cost of living increased until it over-topped all other issues in the elections of 1908, '10 and '12...
...Millions of men are being drafted, equipped and transported thousands of miles from their base of supplies...
...Inferior material is being worked into the manufacture of hardware, furniture, shoes and all products of leather, clothing and all forms of textiles...
...of New York,'$20,425,510, over 100 per cent...
...Why then has your corporation from six to seven million dollars of profit coming to you directly, and much more to the subsidiaries and sub-contractors...
...There is a marked decline in tha quality of the commodities found at every market place...
...Anaconda Copper Co., $47,151,795, over 400 per cent...
...315 .21 Sacks, grain, each...
...65 .45 Dinner plates, V4 dozen...
...It was during this period that the greed of our great combinations, squeezing the Allies who were our principal customers, earned for us the reputation of being a "money grabbing nation...
...13 .105 Lime, bbl...
...Prices Articles 19l7 '1916 Coal oil, gallon...
...95 .87 Fruit jars, dozen...
...22.00 17.00 Horse blankets, each...
...Wages have risen since the data for the above studies were gathered, but the rate of increase of the cost of food and other necessaries has measurably outrun the rise of the wage schedule...
...1-50 1.10 Paint, mixed, gallon...
...Because you cannot keep a corporation alive on patriotism...
...Tha net result to the wage earner being that he lost through the higher cost of living much more than any gain in wages...
...3.10 2.2) Shingles, 1,000...
...and still higher prices in 1916 than ever before...
...275 .23 Coffee, pound...............27 .258 Flour, barrel...
...They exacted prices from the consumer that taxed people of moderate means to the extreme limit of their purchasing power and menaced the very existence of the home life of the poor...
...Labor has been forced to struggle through all of this period of higher and higher prices for wages which would make a bare existence possible...
...It is to the credit of the Administration, that after we entered the war and its powers were enlarged, they were used to some measure at least to protect the Allies against unlimited extortion in their purchases from our trusts...
...43 .33 Fertilizer, commercial, ton .. 32.00 27.00 Bone meal, ton...
...80 .53 Dish pans, tin, each...
...Standard Oil Co...
...Armour and Co., $15,393,358, over 350 per cent...
...4.70 4.25 Shirts, flannel, each...
...2.35 1.75 Shoes, pair...
...5.75 4.25 Padlocks, each.............43 .31 Pitchforks, each...
...10 .082 Tobacco, plug, pound...
...3.50 2.70 Cream separators, each...
...Another sample case is that of the high elass firm of Holbrook, Cabot and Rollins— also of Boston...
...8.70 2.80 Calico, yard................123 .084 Muslin, yard ...............177 .116 Sheeting, yard...
...A member of this firm is vice-president of the American International Shipbuilding Corporation which is a subsidiary of the American International Company,—all beautifully interlocked...
...4.60 Wire fence, rod...
...Stone is one of the directors of the American International Company...
...82 .62 Saws, buck, each...
...6.30...
...Baldwin...
...But here, whow the power to "enforce the criminal as well as the civil law against trust officials" was ample, here where the public could have been given "substantial relief" from "the High Cost of Living" by "breaking up criminal commercial conspiracy," here where if further legislation were needed, it could have been had for the asking, here at home the masters of our markets, unhindered were allowed in 1914, '15 and '16 to force our people to pay practically the war prices of Great Britain and France...
...I submit further the average prices of certain staple foods on the 15th of February sn 1916 as compared with the prices on the sair..-articles February 15, 1917, together with ts« percentage of increase in cost to the consum...
...Prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture...
...62.00 44.00 Wagons, single, each...
...The names of such ardent patriots as Rockefeller, Armour, Lovett, Corey, Ryan, du Pont, Vail and Vanderlip, directors of The American International Corporation, one of the contracting corporations, ought to be a guarantee that they would "do their bit,"—the government and everything else in Bight...
...Of the contract which these dollar scarred worthies made, the New York American said: "The government was to provide them with all the money needed to build the Hog Island ship yard and the ships, and the government was to take over the product of the loan as full payment, and allow these self-sacrificing patriots a profit estimated at six million dollars...
...Senator Vardamann, a member of one of the investigating committees, said in the course of debate in the Senate touching operations under one of these contracts: "It is a long story of disloyalty and greed for gain which the Commerce Committee I hope will bring to the attention of the American people...
...But there is another form of profiteering which is devouring the substance of the poor and undermining the public health...
...1.07 .81 Plows, each...
...Barrett Co., (American Coal Products Co...
...It will be observed that tha parent company regards it as good business to keep the profits in the "family...
...For several years prior to the European War the dominant question in this country was the "High Cost of Living...
...But they are principally due to the unrestrained greed of the profiteers...
...An article published in the Medical Record, February 23, 1918, is authority for the statement that: " It is undoubtedly true, as the various careful studies of workingmen's budgets and standards of living show, that the average earnings in the large majority of faimlies are insufficient to insure a proper standard of life...
...Thero are nlentv of men to take their places...
...American Steel Foundries Co., $2,900,018, nearly GOO per cent...
...1.41 1.20 Saddles, each...
...Unrestrained by an honest, thorough-going enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, these criminal organizations increased in power and multiplied enormously in numbers...
...155.00 123.00 Mowers, each...
...1.52 1.10 Overalls, pair...
...1.85 1.60 ^Slks, 3-inch, 100 ft...
...The higher war time prices which the people are paying in order to live at the present moment, are super-imposed upon an iniquitous price level, which the trusts and combinations had fastened upon the public before the war began in 1914...
...33 .23 Axes, each...
...It is vital therefore to a fair consideration of the enormous profits, which the trusts and combinations are taking out of the people at this time, to bear constantly in mind the fact that prices were grossly extortionate, before we entered the war...
...God save the Government, and prevail on the profiteers to ease up a little on their "patriotism" just before the next contracts are made...
...162 | .143 Gasoline, gallon...
...3) To give the public "substantial reBief from the "high cost of living" by breaking up criminal commercial conspiracies...
...5.40 4.25 Dung forks, each...
...1.20 .92 Lamps, each...
...The investigations conducted by the Senate Committees on Manugactures, Military Affairs and Commerce, have thrown the searchlight on limited areas of the great field in which so many of the aggregations of corporate power are "serving the country" In various contract relations with the government...
...228 .260 114 0 Eggs, dozen ...........349 .506 144.9 Butter, lb..............378 .469 124.0 Cheese, lb..............248 .315 127.0 Milk, suart ...........089 .100 .112.3 Bread, 16 oz............062 .071 114.5 Flour, lb................041 .056 136.5 Corn Meal, lb..........033 .041 123.G Potatoes, lb.............025 .051 204.0 Beans, navy............092 .149 161.8 Sugar, lb..............068 .081 119.1 Coffee, lb...............299 .299 These increasing prices may be in part attributed to inflation...
...2.75 2.25 Jumpers, each...
...in short there is more or less "shoddy" in nearly everything the consumer must buy...
...94.00 80.00 Buggy whips, each...
...75 .61 Sulphur, lb..................106 -095 Baskets 1/2 bushel, each ---- .55 .43 Milk cans, 10 gallon, each .. 4.50 8.10 Milk pails, each...
...34.00 25.00 Tedders, each...
...Mr...
...What has happened as to the cost of living ¦ince we entered the war...
...1.54 1.14 Men's suits, each...
...2.30 1.7...
...66 .50 Shotguns, each...
...For the past year the administration has been engaged upon the greatest and most exacting problems ever undertaken by government...
...19.50 14.25 Cultivators, each...
...1.52 1.20 Harness, each...
...37.00 29.00 Tin pails, each...
...3.65 2.90 Hoes, each...
...298 .199 Starch, pound...............101 .075 Sugar, pound...
...Think of these profits to which the toiling millions of this country were forced to contribute in higher prices, because the trusts were selling everything at robber rates to the unfortunate Allies which it was possible to find ships to carry abroad...
...This condition has existed for years...
...1.22 .95 Staples 100 lb...
...1.25 .95 Hats, felt, each...
...95 .60 Kitchen chairs, each...
...That the Democrats failed to redeem these pledges is attested by the fact that when the European War came in 1914, it found us with all of the great trusts and combinations still in control of the American markets, and the cost of living higher than ever before...
...The war profits of those given are for 1916 together with the percentage of such war profits above the average profits for 1911, 1912 and 1913...
Vol. 10 • May 1918 • No. 5
