The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-09

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 the crash.
 This sounds noble in purpose fl ever anything did but the OPACS theory has run into the hard cold fact that the business conception ot keeping prices down is to keep them down on everything except the par ticular animal, vegetable or mineral kingdom items which the fellow you're dealing with happens to be intcrested in.
 When the idea for OPACS was first announced by the President last April, it was thought that its pur- poses were so meritorious thert would be no trouble securing co-op- eratton of manufacturer and merch- ant. Consequently, the agency was set up by executive order and with out legislative authority. The only enforcement given Henderson fol his price fixing decrees was the power of publicity. When some firm wouldn't conform, as one auto com pany behaved on the recent price rise order, publication of the act was supposed to make the company ster back into line. It didn't work.
 WISE BOYS SHARPEN
 THEIR PENCILS
 Then some of the smart gentry began to figure ways to beat Hem derson's schedule of prices. Records were falsifled. Bills of sale were made out for larger quantities than were actually delivered. Phony freight rates were charged. Dealers were designated as buyers agents emitting them to commissions which ran the prices above the ceiling. Lower quality materials were sold at higher quality prices. Machine tools, instead of being sold, were leased at rates which returned spectators more than purchase prices.
 Better business and fair trade simply went right out of the window in other words, in the competitive demand for materials and the lure of sellers to make the most profit possible.
 There are a few government econ- omists and thinkers in Washington who say that what the country needs is a good inflationary boom. Let prices rise, they argue. Let's have a good old imitation such as Germany had after the last war. The middle classes may suffer, but it's the only way the government can pay of its debts with cheap money, and in that manner get the country out of the hole. This idea Is held by so few men that they talked about 1t only in private.
 Prevailing opinion, however, fol- lows the Baruch school of thought, based on experiences of the last war, which holds that prices must be kept down. Voluntary co-opera- ton failing, the only alternative Is price control legislation, and if that comes, 1t can eventually mean frozen prices on everything, just as Ger many now has.
 COOL FEELERs ON
 FROZEN PRICES
 There have been some feelers on price control legislation. Henderson's s ofiice says 1t will not recommend specific legislation, leaving that job to Congress, though OPACS lawyers have done all necessary research There has been rumors that the President would soon make 8 re- quest for such legislation.
 Here the idea runs smack dab into a little ohstructionist group which will fight with billy and brickbat against any form of price control legislation. Notice of this was served on Henderson a month ago when he appeared before the Senate Agri- culture Committee. Henderson had just put ceiling on combed cotton yarn in which there had been un- justified speculative activity. Chair man Cotton Ed Smith of Lynch burg, S.~C., John H Bankhead II of Jasper, Ala, and Elmer Thomas of Medicine Park, Okla, all saw red and they're still mad. Hold down the price of any cotton products? Over their dead bodies. To keep the price of cotton down is bolshevism. The battle will go on from here It will be the battle of the buyers who want prices kept down, and the sellers who want prices up.
 WASHINGTON
 DUST STORM
 Fidelity! BraveryI Integrityl" is the motto of the Federal Bureau oi Investigation. Both have the initials FBI. Up to June 1, California had more defense contracts thar any other state, = SIT billion worth South Dakota had least, $l.1 million The German-U. s Mixed Claims Commissions, set ur in 1922 to handle international war damages. is just winding up it's af- fairs nearly 19 years later, and just in time, apparently, to make way for new commission of the same kind By August 1, one-third of U S. airlines' commercial fleets of 3e5 planes will have been turned over to the government for aid tc Britain. New passport regulations requiring Americans to get passports before they can come home, may be issued soon Canadian and Mexican borders will be kept as free as possible.