Evening star., 1941-11-11

Nations relative position in world
commerce.
II we could divorce ourselves en-
tirely from world commerce, II
would be immaterial whether we
had high or low price structure,
provided we had proper balances be-
tween various segments of our So
ciety. BY this I am not advocating
low standard Of living. Whit
am saying is that high price struc-
ture does not necessarily mean a
high standard of living. The con-
verse might be true. A country with
a high price structure suffers a dis
advantage in world trade.
Must Continue World Trade.
We cannot. and certainly agricul-
ture has no desire to, sever our COM
mercial relations with other nations
of the world. The American farmer
will suffer greatly in continuing to
compete for the sale OF his commod-
tiles In the world markets with
farmers Of other countries who can
buy the things, which ,ven the
farmer aspires to have aud enjoy,
from low-price commercial struc-
ture.
During the World War, the price
structure of our industrial and COM
mercial life took an inflationary rise.
When the collapse came, agricul-
tural commodities were first to fall
and fell the farthest. The prices Of
the things which the farmer needed
did not fall correspondingly.
Perhaps agriculture would have
more immediate prosperity If no
price control law was enacted. but
In the long run the imitation would
worSen his lot.
Another imitation would again
raise our price structure, and the
rise would perhaps be greater than
that of the World War period. with
the result of Cd greater disparity
and unbalance between our eco
nomic groups and (2) a worsening
OF our outlook for successful COM
petition in world commerce. Would
this be good for the farmer? I can
think OF nothing more disastrous
10 the fundamentals of his welfare.
The all-important thing to the
farmer is not how high we will place
his ceiling. not by long shot, but
rather 1t is that the ceiling apply
generally to all major parts of our
economy to the end that he will not
finally suffer more disparity than is
now his unhappy lot.
The administration bill, as intro
duced and as reported, places no
ceiling on executive salary increases
or any limitation upon the exorbi-
tant profits being made out of ma
tlonal defense contracts. The rec
ords show that corporal ton execu-
tive salary increases and profits
from national defense contracts have
been scandalous. The bill which I
propose as a substitute would limit
profits which could be made from
national defense contracts to 8 per
cent Of the cost of performance
place ceiling on rents and salary
increases.
Straight Ceiling Essential.
1t would not be fair to place a
ceiling over wages. but leave execu-
tive salaries, profits, rents and the
wage earners' cost of living free to
skyrocket. 1t would not be fair to
place ceiling over the prices of the
farmers products-the farmers wage
but leave wages. profits and the
price of things which the farmer
has to buy free to rise.
The only fair and effective way to
control prices and to prevent IN
flation is to apply controls by law
to all segments of our economy
straight across the board. II the
catastrophe of initiation is to be
averted. and surely democracy is
not impotent to do so. the problem
must be approached in a spirit Of
fairness.
A law so comprehensive as price