Evening star., 1941-11-30
Price Control Fiosco

The legislation which passed the
House Friday in the guise Of price
control bill should deceive no one
Viewed in the most favorable li9ht,
It is a hodge -podae Of political com
promises which CannC. bo cEoocted
to prevent serious imitation and
which IN fact. may actually stimu-
late the growth of the evils it is
ostensiblr designed to prevent.
In its final form the bill imposes
no restraint on wages and salaries.
An attempt to insert such controls
was beaten by vote of l02 to 50.
This, in other words, means that
nearly tWO-thirdS Of the members
abstained from voting on this vital
issue, thereby enabling less than
fourth Of the House membership
to place one of the greatest single
cost factors beyond the reach Of any
control.
The effort to modify the favored
status given agricultural products in
the bill was beaten without taking a
recorded vote the members simply
shouting down this proposal. As a
result the price of food and other
necessities enjoying an agricultural
status may continue to riSe-aS much
as 80 per cent above their present
levels. according to some critics of
the bill
The failure Of these two forts re-
suited primarily from tn refusal Of
administration leaders TO support
them, and because Of this refusal
their subsequent protest agains- the
character of the bill in its final form
must be heavilv discounted And
yet. despite the fact that the admin
istration forces are primarily re-
sponsible for the failure of the bill
to emerge as an effective price
control measure. there is no gain
saying the fact that the coalition Of
Republicans and conservative Demo-
Gratis added the final destructive
finishing touches
This coalition succeeded in defeat
Ing the proposed licensing provisions.
which had been described as essential
to enforcement of the law, and
trimmed the powers of the admins
traitor by setting up above him a
board of review with power to re-
verse his rulings. This board,
Incidentally, is required to enforce
its own decisions through the courts.
Under normal conditions this last
provision would be meritorious but
In a period of rapid price changes it
is apt to prove so slow and cumber-
some as to defeat virtually any effort
at price control.
In the form in which it finally
passed, the bill reflects a disap-
pointing failure on the part Of the
House to measure up to its response
bilitieS. Whether it will meet a
better fate in the Senate remains to
be seen. There is reason to believe
that House leaders are banking on
the hope that the Senate will restore
some of the administration favored
provisions, and this hope may be
we'll founded. But it does not appear
at all probable that the Senate will
rectify the failure of the House to
deal squarely with the wage and
farm issues, and if this proves to be
the case the bill will not be salvaged
as an instrument for effective price
control by reinserting any of the
clauses stricken out by the House
coalition.
1t will be disastrous for the rank
and file of the people if Congress,
because Of the relatively unimpor-
tant political issues involved, finally
proves unequal to the task of passing
a real price-control law. Yet that
clearly, is the direction in which
Congress is heading, and it seems
unlikely that this trend will be re-
versed until the voters have begun
to feel the painful pinch of imitation