500 Wilmington Residents Demand Municipal Store, Restrictions on Profits, Aug. 26, 1919

From The Western Sentinel, Winston-Salem, N.C., Aug. 26, 1919

Profiteering Denounced by Wilmington Citizens

Some 500 citizens of Wilmington at a mass meeting held in the court house there Thursday night endorsed resolutions demanding that an immediate appropriation be made from the funds of the city treasury, of a sufficient amount to open, stock and conduct a municipal store, to be located in the city market house, or some other suitable place, says the Star, which adds:

Another feather of the meeting was the adoption of a resolution asking the governor to call a special session of the general assembly to pass a bill limiting the percentage of profit that may be added to the gross cost of necessary articles of food, clothing, etc., and also the percentage of profit on the investment which may enter into the rental of any residence or business property.

The chairman of the meeting, W.L. Riddle, was also instructed to send a telegram to the governor of the state, Congressman H.L. Godwin, and the two United States Senators, and the attorney-general of the United States, asking that a representative of department of justice be sent here to investigate the charges of profiteering.