Evening star., 1942-01-18
Agriculture Ceiling
Still Chief Obstacle
To Price Bill Accord
House-Senote Conferees
Hope for Agreement
By Wednesday
By GOULD LINCOLN.

BY GOULD L1NCOLN.
Conferees of the House and Sen
ate continued during the week end
to struggle over the controversial
price control bill with the problem
of farm prices still the major issue.
They hope to be able to reach an
agreement on compromise bill by
Tuesday or Wednesday.
Notwithstanding the efforts Of the
President and others to eliminate
the OMahoney amendment, which
1t has been charged will cause rs
per cent increase In foodstuffs. and
give the go" signal for increases
in industrial wages and prices Of
manufactured goods. representatives
of agricultural States In Congress
are sticking to demands that
ceiling" sufficiently high be estab-
lished for farm products to give the
farmers fair treatment in view Of
the fact there is nothing in the bill
to control industrial wages.
1t has been suggested in some
quarters that the OMahoney
amendment will be thrown out, and
the Bankhead amendment, which
gives the Secretary of Agriculture
the final say on fixing farm prices.
will be retained, as q compromise
The conferees insist, however, that
no decision has been reached In the
matter.
Brown Tries to Allay Fears.
Senator Brown, Democrat. of
Michigan, chairman of the confer
ence committee for the Senate.
sought yesterday to quiet fears of
house and hotel owners over pro-
visions in the bill relating to con-
troll Of rents. Protests have been
received in increasing numbers from
landlords, who fear that the pro-
posed price control administration
will crack down on them arbitrarily.
mo one need fear a breakdown"
said Senator Brown, unless he
wants to proflteer." He gave five
reasons why there should be no
alarm. First, he said. the Federal
price control administration would
not step in unless the local agen-
cies and State agencies failed to act
to prevent profiteering in rents. as
they have, for instance, in the Dis
trict Of Columbia. Second, local
and State agencies would be asked
by the price control administration
to deal with rents, and the Federal
officials would act only If the local
agencies failed to act within so
days. Third, definite standard.
probably as of April l, 1941, was
fixed as basis for rents. Fourth,
increases in taxes and other costs
would be taken into consideration
in rent fixing. Fifth. the price con-
troll officials would have to consult
with local authorities on all orders
issued dealing with rents.
Four Major Issues Involved.
Further. he said, the bill limits
control of rents to defense rental
areas" where the war program has
caused or threatens to cause a rise
in rents.
Although four major problems re-
main to be dealt with, including
agricultural prices, it is believed
they will all fall into pattern, once
an agreement on farm price ceilings
satisfactory to the farmers can be
reached.
These issues are, in addition to
agricultural prices, the licensing
provision adopted by the Senate and
rejected by the House; the House
provision calling for an independent
five man board Of review with power
to revoke price ceilings fixed by the
administrator, and commodity pur-
chases as a means of preventing
inflated prices. The House author
tied Government purchases of do
mestic commodities alone. The
Senate included all commodities
The licensing provision is designed
to enforce the orders Of the price
control administration.
If the farmers can be satisfied
that their price ceilings under the
law will be sufficiently high, they
will not be concerned particularly
over who fixes prices or the licens-
ing provision. The House bill pro-
vides for ITO per cent of parity"
Parity has been defined as the
price at which the Agriculture De-
partment figures that farm prod
uct has tina same purchasing power,
in terms of industrial products,
that it had in the period of 1909
1914.
O'Mahoney Calls Amendment Just.
The O'Mahoney amendment
adopted by the Senate raises the
farm price ceiling to 120 per cent
Of parity. There is the provision
that the farm price ceilings shall
not 60 below an average of farm
prices from 1919 to 1929-known
as the Brown amendment, first
adopted in the House and then in
serted in the O'Mahoney amend
ment. Some Of the conferees are
insisting that this provision. having
been carried in both House and
Senate, must stay in the bill
Senator O'Mahoney said yester-
day that his amendment had been
prepared at conference of num-
ber of farm organizations, and that
he had sponsored it at their request.
He insisted that the amendment Is
only just to the farmers.
"The fight against the so-called
wage parity amendment is all based