Evening star., 1942-12-21
Small Business Report

The report of the House Small
Business Committee, calling atten-
ton to the plight OF retailers and
other small business groups under
OPA regulations, is a timely and
important document.
This House group, after a careful
study of the problem, makes three
principal complaints. Cd That the
agency created by Congress to aid
the small businessman has failed to
function satisfactorily, primarily be-
cause of poor management. ca That
the small business structure has been
seriously undermined and is ap-
preaching the point of collapse as a
result of OPA policies which have
subjected retailers unnecessarily to
price squeezes and which have
brought about inequitable distribu-
ton of merchandise. 90 Insistence
upon the preparation of needless re-
ports and the unnecessary complexity
and multiplicity of regulations.
All Of this, in the committees judg-
ment, amounts to bureaucracy run
riot and, unless corrective measures
are speedily taken, this factor alone
(excess of red tape) will close the
doors Of thousands of businesses
which otherwise might remain open"
According to the views expressed in
the report, these conditions can and
should be corrected by the executive
directors under the existing law"
Unless this. is done, however, the
committee adds, it is proposed to
"offer legislation at the beginning of
the Seventy eighth Congress to
compel their correction in order to
avert the destruction of independent
small business-and with it, the
middle class-in this country"
1t is to be hoped that the successor
to Leon Henderson as OPA admins
traitor will give serious attention to
these complaints. 1t has been said on
behalf of OPA that a certain amount
of red tape and economic pressure on
retailers is inevitable. and this un-
doubtedly is true But because some
of this is unavoidable, it by no means
follows that 1t needs to be carried
to the point revealed in the COM
mittee report. On the face of the
available evidence it seems clear
enough that Mr.. Henderson, in
clamping on his retail price ceilings,
assumed that Congress would pro-
vide subsidies to enable him to main
tain the ceilings without running
those affected by them. When the
subsidies were not Forthcoming, how
ever, no adequate steps were taken
to rescue the retailers from the
squeeze resulting from the pressure
of rising wholesale costs and operat-
ing expenses against the inf1exible
retail ceilings. This has BROUGHT
forth the protest which OPA has
largely ignored, and which. unfor-
tunately, have been treated by some
officials as nothing more than a
manifestation of shabby politics.
This attitude reflects a most regret
table misconception of the real nature
of the dissatisfaction with OPA, and
it is to be hoped that the new price
administrator will not fall into this
error.
In a letter to the Senate Small
Business Committee. which has been
conducting it's own study of the
problem. Donald Nelson, chairman of
the War Production Board, has said
that If we are to win the peace as
well as the war" the principle of
Independent enterprise-small busi-
ness-"must not only survive but also
become a stronger, more effective
force in our economic life" If the
OPA, under it's new management, is
imbued with comparable concern
for the small businessman, it may
expect to enjoy greater measure of