According to press reports, the president of the Ohio Co-operative Sugar Beet Growers' Association has declared that even though the price of sugar has gone up from six cents to thirty cents per pound, the farmers and the refineries have not received a cent of that difference of twenty-four cents. He proposes, therefore, that the sugar business be taken out of the hands of the profiteers, who have nothing to do with the actual production of sugar.

We heartily agree with this suggestion, and cannot see any good reason why it should be made the subject of any debate at all. We do not think that any reasonable person will begrudge the farmer a fair return for his toil. And, of course, the privately operated refineries are also entitled to a profit: otherwise, production would have to stop. But the fact that the 2difference between thirty cents and six cents for each pound of sugar has been going into the pockets of parasites and profiteers who do not produce anything, and who hardly, even risk anything, should be sufficient to open the eyes of many to a situation that cries out for correction. This disgusting condition, which, after all, is only one of many others of the same kind, has attracted attention before, but it will continue as long as the powers that be find it convenient.

We have authorities with the power to stop this kind of thing. But they permit it to continue, and one is forced to the conclusion that they sanction the profiteering.