Evening star., 1941-11-25

tions that such elements of Amer
lean economic life as advertising
face a trying future.
Leon Henderson, the administra-
tor of the Office Of Price Control,
calne to Washington with the N. r..
A. and rose to New Deal stardom at
the w. P. A.
The Women's division of the DEM
ocratic National Committee grad
uated Miss Harriet Elliott, asso-
ciate administrator and director of
consumer services. Her hope is that
her consumers division of o. P. A.
will become an autonomous bureau.
She has proposed to the Budget
Bureau that her division be cut
away from Leon Henderson's larger
organization and be allowed to swim
for itself in the great pond of the
Governments special defense estab-
lishment.
Further Changes in Prospect.
In its seven months of life the
o. P. A. has experienced but one
mutation. 1t began April II as the
Office of Price Administration and
Civilian Supply. 1t was halved on
August % into the Office of Price
Administration, distinct bureau
within the o. E. NJ. and the Divi-
sion of Civilian Supply, just an arm
of o. P. M. Further changes are
in prospect. however, that would
both cut off an arm of o. P. A
Miss Elliotts idea-and expand its
pay roll-now LOO, with a budget
of $4,100000 for the current fiscal
year-threefold.
If the Elliott Separatist movement
is successful, the o. P. A. would lose
about $50 workers from its pay roll,
the size of the consumers division.
But if the price bill passes that has
been before Congress since the days
when o. P. A. was still o. P A. c. S.,
the o. P. A. expects to need at least
three times the men and three times
the money it uses today, for o. P. A.
would administer the price law.
The executive order which gave
birth to o. P. A. charges the ad-
ministrator with two duties, the pre-
vention of initiation, through price
control, and the protection Of con-
sumner interests
Variety of Jobs for Miss Elliott.
Miss Elliott was astonished to find
mention of her division omitted from
the orders of last August for the
reorganization of the defense agen-
cies, which whitfield down o. P. A.
from o. P. A. c. S. That omission
is said to be one of the factors in
her desire for autonomy. She fears
the consumer will be forgotten
Meanwhile, mentioned or unmen-
toned, she carries on a variety OF
jobs. She has not forgotten the
consumer, and what she does seems
more pregnant with meaning for
American customs than any other
phase of o. P. A.
The o. P A. operations division
advises o. P. M. on the question OF
buying war materials in a manner
that will at once serve to produce
the required arms, hold the price low
fer the Government and the citizen
and keep the maximum number OF
articles of our complex existence
available for the civilian consumer
Zippers and cellophane are gone
The o. P. A. could not save them
from the demands Of defense. Blu,
radios and wrapping paper are still
available, and o. P. A. hopes tc
keep them so.
Atmosphere Is New Dealish.
The o. P. A. goes about it's duties
in Temporary Building D. a new
whitish, block-long, two-story struc'
ture planted on the edge of the
Mall along Independence avenue
S.W. between Fourth and Fifth
streets. 1t is across the street from
the o. P. Ms Social Security Build
ing. The atmosphere is New Deal
ish. The manner of the workers
suggests their feeling that they have
great mission in life. They speak
with ardor and as though they are
accustomed to defend their purpose
Fundamentally, the job at o. P. A
is more difficult than o. P. Ms
because the task is not clearcut
o. P. A. dispenses preventive medi.
cine, hoping it will prevent. O. P. M
organizes American industrial life tt
produce arms. 1t is trying to cure
an ailment. to meet an obvious
problem. The World War left u.
with a lesson of how the civilian
suffers through wartime industria
dislocation. o. P. A. hopes to fore
stall the suffering.
The work of the o. P. A. touches
everybody in America, since we are
all consumers. The ONCE of Civil
ian Defense, too, which is in senst
a rival defense agency, Is undertak'
ing a consumer-appea program
which conflicts in part with tht
o. P. A. program. One of the job!
being done now by Miss Elliott!
office is to set up a catalogue o.
standards and grades for consumer
goods, to be accompanied by a re-
duction in number of styles.
Its Objective.
'If the standards are bad, tech
nically unsatisfactory, vague O.
otherwise imperfect, but still clearl.
better than nothing at ALL the con
sumner division will still be in favo
of their use" DR.. Robert A. Brady
chief of the standards section il
the consumers division, has toll
his colleagues. His memorandum
began:
The standards and consume
needs work of the consumer di
vision has been undertaken to de
velop the use of standards, grade
and Notwithstanding labels tina
will effectively assist the defens
program by providing aids for tn
more adequate protection of con
sumner interests"
While the consumer division il
its present state lacks authorit
to enforce its standards, 1t ha
been o. P. A. practice to set u
a scale of standards when it put
ceilings on prices. The consumer!
division might be in position t
seek more real authority if it be
comes an individual bureau, bu
for the present it satisfies itself wit
a public-opinion-arousing campaig
in order to realize its aims,