Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-08

UAuLltly GIldI tHc keCnC 20. mas d
clear conscience and there never
has been, and never will be
any intent on the part OF this or
ganization to ignore or evade any
Government regulation, order or law.
when the regulations were writ
ten, it was inevitable that there
would be errors, mistakes and mis-
understandings. The very nature of
the problems and Of the compii-
Gated regulations and itnerpreta-
tons which OPA issued made the
goal, 100 per cent compliance, one
that could be and was sought but
one that could not possibly be real
ized-just as any large organiza-
ton would make mistakes in en-
deavoring to set up the intricate le-
gal and accounting machinery nee
essary to operate under the regula-
lions. We pride ourselves that we
are now much closer to our goal,
although constant changes and add
itions to the OPA rules make our
task increasingly difficult. We now
operate under more than IS differ
ent sets of OPA rules.
OPA Rebuff Charged.
"Just what regulations we have
been charged with violating do
not know. We have never been
given any bill Of, particulars. We
have been rebuffed in our requests
for the cooperation of the OPA in
eliminating similar mistakes in the
future.
Il doubt whether the public can
fully realize what the OPA regula-
lions have meant to American re-
tailers and what the cost has
been IN time, money and manpower
in the earnest endeavor to COM
ply. Store buyers of this coun-
try have been asked to become
statisticians, lawyers and account
ants, and since the majority Of
store personnel is poorly fitted
Tor such tasks and such responsible
lty, 1t was a foregone conclusion
that errors would occur and inter-
pretations would vary.
When the regulation was first
proposed, we volunteered to OPA to
throw open our entire store, as I
testing ground for the retail price,
ceiling order. We volunteered to
have the Hecht Co. used a. a guinea
pig Tor ironing out the complexi-
ties of THE ." regulations and At
tempting to- establish q simple for
mula whereby all American retailers
could comply with the order and its
interpretations. We suggested, at
that time, that such a testing pc
Rod might be most helpful to the
Government, so that compliance
could be obtained without sert-
ously disrupting the retail dis
tributive system of America, and
without creating an impossible load
on OPA of1cials in enforcement.
We have found it necessary to
establish an entire bureau, devoted
solely to the task of compliance with
OPA orders. This was q difficult
and costly procedure. Notwith-
standing all this, mistakes were
made and we are fearful must con-
tinue to be made. OPA itself has
not been free from them. From
time to time we endeavored to Sc
cure onicial interpretations from
OPA Of various points. Frequently
on a single query We received sew
eral different answers from as many
different people at OPA. Indeed,
we still do.
There are always two sides to
every question, and on this partic-
uular matter there are many sides.
We cannot view this solely as a
Hecht Co. matter. It's Implications
extend to every retailer in America
because we have done every
thing humanity possible to comply
and no organization could do
more. Beyond that, from the moral
and ethical point Of view, I can only
repeat that our intentions have al
ways been, and always will be, to
uphold the letter and the spirit of
governmental action and to play
fair with our customers. our COM