The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-10-16
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lap of Congress at the present time is
the price control bill. About the only
thing absolutely certain on this whole
problem of price control and stopping
imitation are that whoever administers
the program is bound to be crucified
no matter how good a job he does,
and that the whole thing is political
pain in ten neck, inasmuch as Con-
greSs is sure to be lambaSted no mat
ter what kind of bill is passed,
but probably would be worse off if it
did nothing and we really got imitation.
I have been studying all the infor-
nation about the problem which
could obtain and it seems to me that
the Brookings Institution report on the
subject reveals some strange facts.
From August, 1889, to August, 1941,
increases in farm prices led the up
ward price trend increasing As per
cent. Food prices went up 81 per
cent and textiles, 20 per cent. Build
ing materials also showed substantial
increase of IS per cent and chemicals
and allied products, which one would
expect to be tied in closely to defense,
increased Is per cent. But then prices
of metals and metal products, at the
very heart of defense production, in
creased only So per cent.
The law of supply and demand does
not seem to have hal very much to
10 x,,;fl, what hoe baryooad Albumin
UNI, for instance, where our shortage
is most acute, has actually been re-
duced several cents pound, while the
largest increase, in farm products, is
in the face of large SURPRISES.
Leon Henderson's answer is that his
Office has concentrated and been most
effective in holding down metal prices
and prices in similar fields. The Brook
ings Institution report concludes that
major reason for the greater in
crease in prices of farm products has
been government policies aimed at
bringing these prices up to parity
and, we might add, succeeding.
Then there are the figures on wages,
cost of living and profits. The Brook
ings report shows that profits of g.
500 corporations, representing 80 per
cent of all corporations, increased 10
per cent in 1910 over 1885, Figures
for 1941 were incomplete, but indi-
Gated slight additional increase. How
ever, the report found strong indica-
tons that profits began to taper off
the first half of this year and that
with higher taxes, little increase is
indicated from here on. Gross profits
of course, increased much more, but
the excess profits tax cut them down
heavily.
The report shows an increase of 16
per cent in average wages in the two
year period, with corresponding in
crease of slightly under z per cent
in the cost of living. In other words,
wages seem to have kept ahead of
living costs, but of course retail prices
have been increasing sharply the past
two months.
Onother difficulty in the picture is
that it is not at all uniform. Wage
increases are spotty-some industries
showing much larger increases than
others and some remaining stationary.
Likewise, business profits have not in
creased uniformly. Concerns with
large defense orders have increased
much more, and businesses with no
defense orders may show no increase
at all or even losses.
The danger, in any rigid freezing OF
prices, is that it would freeze all the