Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1919 — STATE NEWS ITEMS [ARTICLE]

STATE NEWS ITEMS

The Doings of Hoosierdom Reported by Wire. PUSH WAR ON • PROFITEERS U. 8. District Attorney and Marion County Prosecutor Join Forces in Investigating Hoarding and Price-Fixing in State. Indianapolis, Aug. 15. —Plans for complete co-operation between the offices of the United States district attorney and the Marlon county prosecutor In Investigating alleged food hoarding, price-fixing and profiteering ■were made at a conference beween L. Ert Slack, district attorney, and Claris Adams, county prosecutor. An agreement was reached that all evidence gathered through either office would be available for both in order to do away as nearly as possible with the duplication of effort Prosecutor Adams will begin grand jury Investigations on various lines, turning over to District Attorney Slack any Information he may obtain which may prove useful In obtaining prosecution tn federal court for the hoarding of foodstuffs, conspiracy In restraint of trade, unfair competition und violation ofliie anti-trust laws. All evidence gathered by Mr. Slack which will obtain In the prosecution of cases other than on federal charges will be placed at Mr. Adams’ disposal and grand jury action on the cases will follow as quickly as possible. A number have been subpoenaed to appear before the Marion county grand jury. It ig understood that the majority of the men called upon to appear are wholesale and retail grocers. They have not been subpoenaed, it was said, because of suspected profiteering, but for the purpose of acquainting the grand jury with the general situation in Indianapolis in regard to the methods of distribution and price-fixing by ' wholesalers, retailers and commission merchants. Both legal and moral responsibility for high prices in Marlon county will be fixed by the grand jury, according to Mr. Adams. If criminal action cannot be shown in the workings of profiteers, he said, at least scathing denunciation can be givtwi those who have helped to boost prices. The contents of two letters received from Indianapolis citizens will be investigated by the prosecutor and if law violations are uncovered they will be given the widest publicity, he said. Mr. Adams has been unable to find any statute on which property owners demanding high rents can be prosecuted. It is understood that Mr. Slack is hot on the trail of a number of wholesale dealers In staple food products, who have served notice on brokers of such products that they would withdraw’ their accounts if the brokers persisted In selling to other wholesaler dealers who were underselling them. Although Mr. Slack refused to discuss the matter, it Is known that a number of complaints of such practices have reached him, and that he held conferences with a number ■of wholesale und retail grocers and brokers.

Housewives Fight H. C. of I Indianapolis, Aug. 15. —At a massmeeting of housewives which packed the auditorium of the public library to its capacity and during which charges of profiteering were made against commission men of Indianapolis and charges of false advertising and violations of the child labor law against stand holders In the city market, an organization to be known as the Indianapolis Housewife’s league was formed. The purpose of the league will be primarily to conduct an educational campaign for saner purchasing among housekeepers of Indianapolis. It is likely, however, that an investigation committee will be named, which will have as its duty the investigation of all charges made against commission men, railroads and standholders at the market. The following officers were elected: Mrs. W. H. Hart, president; Mrs. Thomas J. Milan, vice president; Mrs. Herberdt Rice, secretary, and Mrs.. W. A. Powers, treasurer. Those W’ho were most active in the formation of the organization declared that they expected before the end of the present year to have every housewife in Indianapolis enlisted In the fight against higher prices.

Prisoner Wounds Deputy. New Albany, Aug. 15. —WlHlam Engle, acting deputy sheriff of Vanderburg county, was believed dying here as a result of bullet wounds inflicted by John Cole, convicted prisoner, in a dash for liberty. Cole used a weapon passed to him by a woman said tb be his wife and, forcing a negro to whom he was handcuffed to run with him, fled several blocks before surrendering. The woman is held here. Engle and Charles Ruhl, deputy sheriff, were taking the prlscuiers to the state reformatory at Jeffersonville. The shooting occurred in a traction station. Dream May Be Fatal to Girl. Lafayette, Aug. 15.—Fred Haller’s dream that the house was afire and the walls collapsing nearly cost the life of his sister Lettha, twenty-one. Aroused by the cries of her eighteen-year-old brother, who slept in an adjoining room at their home at Colburn, she rushed to him. The young woman seized him as he plunged from a window and was carried with him. She suffered internal injuries and severe bruises in the 16-foot drop. The youth was unhurt.