Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-05-24
@. P. A. Pleased
By Response 10
.PriceControI
Wall Street Anxious
Over Fute of Profits
And Dividends

BY the Associated Press.
The close of the first week of con-
trolled prices today found ofiicials
here highly gratified with the re-
suits. They reported an amazing
and encouraging degree OF COM
pliance, and said that almost all Of
the small number of violations were
due primarily to misunderstanding
and not to any Discrimination to CO.
operate.
The Office of Price Administra-
ton was deep in an educational
campaign which it estimated had al
ready reached half of the Nations
1,900,0 900 retailers, particularly the
chains and larger stores, which could
be gotten to through their trade as
sociations, through the newspapers,
the radio and mailed literature.
Entering the second phase Of the
campaign, the agency is endeavoring
to reach the small retailers, Leon
Henderson. the price administrator.
said, down to the last crossroads
store"
Crack Down" Avoided.
The week brought surprisingly
few complaints from consumers. Of
ficials said, and these were largely
given a stock answer: Go back to
your retailer and straighten it out
with him." This response was based
upon the assumption that either the
customer or the retailer had miscon-
strued the price freezing order, and
that the retailer was anxious to
comply.
The order specified that after May
10 retailers could not charge prices
in excess of the highest price
charged for specific articles during
the month of March. This meant
the erasure of the price rise since
March, which on some items had
been estimated at 3 to per cent.
Some consumers felt that the reduc-
ton in prices had been less than
that ratio and expressed disappoint-
ment.
Otherwise complaints dealt mostly
with the requirement that retailers
prominently post a list of their
ceiling prices. In stores handling q
thousand or more different articles,
this presented a tremendous physi-
cal problem. Officials were inclined
to give them time to meet the re-
quirement, and there was no in-
clination to crack down" as yet for
this or any other reason.
Wall Street Worried.
But. as the price freezing pro-
gram met its initial test, increasing
attention focused ION the diminish
ing flow Of dividend payments to
stockholders. a trend which Wall
Street financial sources associated
with the general Washington aim
for limiting profits through price
ceilings and taxes.
The considerable roll of dividend
reductions and omissions was aug
mented during the week by these
announcements:
E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co.
directors cut their common stock
dividend to 81 share from SIPS
paid in the March quarter. In 1941
the company paid SITS in each
quarter
New England Telephone & Tele-
graph Co., subsidiary of the Ameri-
can Telephone e. Telegraph Co., re-
duced its payment to $3.50 on the
common stock as against SITS paid
in previous quarters.
Public Service Co. of New Jersey,
one Of the biggest utility companies
in the East, declared a dividend Of
70 cents share on the common
stock compared with 80 cents in the
preceding quarter and IS cents a
year ago.
Johns Manville, building ma
terials concern, shaved its common
dividend to so cents from a previous
quarterly rate of rs cents.
There were many other adverse
dividend actions affecting less prom
inent companies.
AS a welcome variation In the
long procession of dividend cutting.
directors of the American Telephone
81 Telegraph voted its shareholders
the usual quarterly disbursement of
S2-25 share.
Cut Below Ceilings.
From Little Rock, Ark, came the
news that large stores were featur-
ing sales at prices below ceilings. :"
Maryland reported that grocers we're
finding canned goods a big prob
lem, and feeling that the margin Of
profit allowed by the price ceiling
was insubStantial.
In Des Moines 1t was said that
customers were paying little atten-
ton to the posted price lists, A
clerk commented that customers
aren't going to take the time to look
up these prices-they trust U.s."
West Virginia trade associations
said everything was moving along
smoothly"
In Chicago, John C. Weigel, the
midwestern o. P. A. regional director
said he was much gratified with
the public acceptance of price regu-
lations," adding:
Not only are the consumers
happy, but the retailers have been
cooperating at every step. because
they now realize that ceilings pro-
tect them. Complaints have been
relatively few. mostly arising from
MISUNDERSTANDING"
Only Two Appeal.
In Boston officials said that only
two of New England's $4,000 re-
tailers had appealed for higher
ceilings. There were no complaints
from the public in that area.
o. P. A. officials at Louisville. XIV.
said warning letter had been sent
to Is Louisville merchants who had
failed to comply in some particular.
These failures, they said, were
thought to be mostly unintentional.
New Orleans reported some con-
fusion in the stores as to the prices
on seaSonable goods and the like.
which were not sold in March, and
also concerning women's winter wear
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