Evening star., 1941-12-19
Senate Controversy
On Price-Contro| Bill
To Flare Next Year
Bunking Subcommittee
Restores Teeth Which
House Had Extracted
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press.
Sure-flre Senate controversy at
the start of the new year was
promised today over a strong war
time price control bill which turned
up with a full set of enforcement
teeth to replace the ones previously
extracted by the House.
Given tentative approval by a
Senate Banking Subcommittee yes
erday was a measure to license an
estimated 100000 retailers and
wholesalers, set up a single price
administrator, and put a tighter
rein on farm prices.
Although final recommendation
on the touchy farm product price
question remained for another sub
committee hearing January 2, the
proposal struck sparks from Senator
Russell, Democrat, of Georgia. who
promised that real fight" would
be made by friends of the farmer"
in both Senate and House.
And Senator Taft, Republican, of
Ohio baked at the plan to center
price-flxing powers in one man
who presumably would be Leon
Henderson, now price administrator.
Senator Taft said he would ask for
board to administer the law.
Disputes After Holidays.
The disputes will not come until
after the holidays, for Senator
Brown, Democrat. of Michigan,
chairman of the subcommittee, said
the completed draft would not reach
the Senate floor until January S.
The one-man control provision
superseded House e-approved plan
for a five-member board. A section
rejected by the House, providing
that persons who pay more than the
legal price for any commodity might
sue to recover triple the overcharge,
was restored by the Senate Subcom-
mittee.
I'VE have much stronger bill
than the one passed by the House"
Senator Brown said, adding that he
expected the Senate to approve most
of the provisions, including the
licensing of businesses affected by
price ceilings which Mr.. Henderson
advocated as the simplest method of
price-ceiling enforcement.
Former President Hoover and
numerous trade groups have opposed
any general licensing policy. Mr..
Hoover said the power to suspend
or revoke licenses would give off,
cials life and death" control over
business.
Court Action Required.
Senator Brown said he believed
this danger had been eliminated
through a provision requiring the
price administrator to bring court
action to suspend a license to do
business and limiting this action to
second-offense cases.
The House struck all license provi--
sions from the bill while the Senate
Subcommittee refused request of
Mr.. Henderson for the right to act
without appealing to courts.
Protests that House provisions
covering farm prices would permit
the cost of living to soar caused the
Senate subcommittee to revise this
section of the House measure.
The House voted to prohibit con-
trolls on farm products until prices
reached the highest of these three
alternatives: Average market prices
on october l; ITO per cent Of parity
prices determined by the Agriculture
Department.: or market price aver
ages from 1919-1929.
The Senate group accepted the
October l limitation yesterday, but
knocked out the 1919-1929 average
Senator Brown said the group was
undecided about even parity or ITO
per cent of parity for the second
alternative. A parity price is one
computed to give farm product the
same relative purchasing power it
had in the period 19O9-1914. The
House approved increases of 10 per
cent above that level before controls
could apply.