Evening star., 1942-01-23
Favors Allowing Mr.. Henderson
To Control Food Prices.

To Control Food Prices.
To the Editor Of The Star:
The Star Is to be congratulated on
Gould Lincolns analysis of the difficulty
confronting conferees Of the House and
Senate in reaching final decision over
the highly controversial issue Of an agri-
cultural ceiling" in the price control
bill. Shall plenary power to make final
decisions in respect to food prices be
vested in Price Control Administrator
Leon Henderson or Secretary of Agri-
culture Claude R. Wickard? With OBJ
jective clarity Mr.. Lincoln indicates that
under the smoke screen Of equivocal de-
bate over the "parity-index' control
mechanism, two powerful administrative
agencies are slugging it out for the in
vestiture of final, plenary authority to
dictate and regulate food prices for
every category Of consumer, producer
and distributor. While 1t was intimated
in previous editorials of The Star that
the delegation Of such plenary authority
to Mr.. Henderson would be in consistent
conformity with our Presidents an
nounced policy of single-man leadership
and administrative control, nevertheless
there has been disposition on the part
of certain determined legislators to sup
plant Mr.. Henderson's impartial realism,
with control by an agency traditionally
responsive or sympathetic to political
persuasions and expediency.
Ordinarily a failure on the part OF
Congress to make its enactments con-
President would be but proper exercise
Of its political independence and SOW
ereign prerogative, but with our Nation
at total war against ruthless aggreSsors
it would appear some reasonable con-
cession could be made to the compulsions
of the master plan of our Commander in
Chief. When you bear in mind that the
Department Of Agriculture in the past,
consistently has protected the vested in
terest Of the farmer through such ad-
ministrative agencies as the A. A. A.
soil conservation programs, crop control
and processing taxes, you honestly doubt
II 1t possesses that judicial, non-partiSan
attitude, prerequisite to such q radical
change of character and purpose, in
herent in the effective administration
of food price control. On the other hand
while Mr. Henderson's tough-minded
realism and economic prescience has been
painful and disturbing, it has neverthe-
less had the merit of being dependable
and reasonably accurate.
One other argument could be ad-
vanced, persuasive of the wisdom of con-
ferring this plenary administrative au-
thority in the hands of Mr.. Henderson.
We are now engaged in total war in the
political, economic, military and ideologi-
cal sense. Freedom from want" is the
third of the four freedoms the President
has declared to be the goal and guar
antee of democracy to all people, friend
and enemy alike. That freedom from
want is measured by the ability Of the
poorest continuously and dependably to
obtain food, shelter, clothing and medical
care. In the absence Of mechanism
of complete socialization, this freedom
from want can be implemented only by
compelling the costs of vital necessities
to keep within reach Of all who through
the contribution of their labor have
earned valid title to its assured and
continuous provision. To insure this
involves the creation Of an administrative