Evening star., 1942-09-15
iable Farm Prices
And Wages Vital,
Henderson Warns
! Fear of s2,o3e, ,ooo, 900
! Rise in Cost of Living
/ Voiced at Hearing
Continued From First Page.)

uuired by the war program. Allow
ing for such adjustments as that,
/, the total increase in the price OF
| farm commodities under section 3
/ (the present 10 per cent of parity
rulel would be two to three times
greater than the S2,036 900 900, Such
/ increases would, of course, make
! price control impossible"
40Per Cent of Food Exempt.
| The items which he is unable to
| control under present law repre-
| sent 40 per cent of the entire food
| budget of an average family, Mr..
| Henderson testified.
| "As specific instances Of what l
/ mean" he said, take the rise in
/ butter prices of 8 per cent during
(, one month, July IS to August Is
| During the same month egg prices
| advanced IL per cent and roasting
chickens 51a per cent. 1t should
| be noted, that these increases were
! much larger than the usual seasonal
advances. Since August Is, the
daily market reports show that the
uncontrolled food prices have con-
7 tfaued the upward swing"
rThe Administrations position is
that it cannot keep the general price
lxvel from rising as long as the pres
eht law prevents ceilings on basic
farm crops until they have reached
t10 per cent of parity, or other def
lite levels specified in the law.
! Mr.. Henderson said new COM
nlcation has entered the picture,
with competition developing be
Tween farmers producing commod-
Aties subject to price control and
Ahose whose products are not con-
hrolled. 1t is competition for labor
Hnd materials which finds the
sfarmer whose products are under
rcontrol complaining with justiflca-
! ton that he is the victim OF dis
Ecrimination, that he has controls
Simposed on him but his. neighbor
%x4pes not"
sThe opening of the hearings found
, tie House and Senate confronted
M sharply different bills, with the
Senate measure generally regarded
Is expressing what the President
Eants. The House bill is far more
advantageous to the farmers, around
fhom the fight over new legislation
kenters.
Grants Broad Powers.
4 The Senate bill directs Mr.. Roose-
kelt to stabilize wages, prices and
bother factors affecting the cost of liv-
Eng at the August IS level, as far
sas that is practicable, but with
,fbroad power to permit him to de-
a part from that date to correct gross
sinequities.
, On the House side the Banking
Committee was. marking time until
tomorrow morning on the bill intro
fduced late yesterday by Chairman
Steagall, which would give the farm
er much greater price protection than
the Senate measure. The House bill
also seeks to tie farm prices def
ri1tely to industrial wage levels by
requiring the President to main
tain a fair relationship between
the two groups.
1.-Two Advantages for Farmers.
&Ehe House bill contains two dis
tinct advantages for the farmer
that are not in the Senate bill,
namely:
/. Requires for the first time that
arm-labor costs be taken into ac-
count as one factor in keeping
farm prices on a parity with in
oustry as compared with the 1910
to 1914 base period.
2. Places floor under farm
prices as well as ceiling by di-
recting the Secretary of Agriculture
to make loans, purchases or carry
on other operations necessary to
support farm prices at not less than
100 per cent of parity and to con-
tinue this policy for three years
after the war. Loans for this pur-
pose could be made up to 100 per
cent of the parity price.
Provides No Floor for Wages.
The House bill, however, provides
no such floor under industrial
wages. The Senators did not at
tempt to write a floor" as well as
a. ceiling into their bill, recognizing
the difficulty of devising a floor
under wages. While they expect te
consider some, general declaration
of-policy on The question of floor
provision. they point out that this
is not an urgent matter. since the
need for minimum price or wage
levels is not expected to arise unit
after the war.
While both the House and Senate
bills seek to make 100 per cent OF
parity the standard for agriculture
instead of Ito per cent. they ap.
proach the change in different ways
Mr.. Steagall's bill, for example, doe!
not repeal any of the present law
but merely tells the President HI
may set aside the present farm
price safeguards, provided he doe
not go below parity, or the highes
price reached by commodity thu
tar in 1912
Mr.. Steagall admitted the re
-6uirement that farm labor costs b,
considered as factor in determin
mng parity will have the effect o
increasing farm prices. He con
tended, however, that with labo
being drawn away from farms botl
by the draft and the lure of bette
wages in war plants. it is essentia
TO encourage production of the basi
food supplies.
1T Postwar Loans to Farmers.
In defense of his floor provision
to insure parity prices with 100 pc
cent of parity loans for three year
after the war Mr. Steagall point
out that the President said in hi
message that such a safeguar
should be provided to prevent to
sharp a decline after the war. Th
House chairman said he did no
understand that the President j
committed to any particular loa
figure for ~lsis purpose.
Under present. law, loans on basi
farm commodities are made up t
o5 per cent of parity. The Senat
two months ago passed q bill rails
ing the loan limit to 100 per cent c
parity, but it was left unfinished i
Ybo IJc,,co JtIri,,u tho ciIt,1 NOR rpaeS