Evening star., 1942-11-28


which their customers could under
stand. Otherwise, to make these
scarce products 60 as far as pos
sible, they'd have to do their own
rationing or else let some demand
ing customers have lot and others
a little, which wouldn't add to their
stock of good will.
A further effect of rationing which
may come as a surprise to many.
as it did to this chronicler, is that
it positively is helping a great many
retailers, according to OPA.
Gets Equitable Share.
Under rationing, the little mer-
chant is assured of his equitable
share of the products. Otherwise he
might be squeezed out by stronger
competitor, who was able to corner
available supplies for that locality.
Louis H. Harris, chairman of the
OPA Industry Council, explained
how the interests of the small mer-
chant are being safeguarded as ra-
tioning is spread to more and more
goods.
A system of inventory control as
sureS that the little businessman
won't be any worse off than
competitor who may have stocked
up and boarded. If he is d food
dealer, he will get an initial alot-
ment of, say, coffee, based on the
estimated needs of his customers
under rationing AS he turns in
their ration coupons. he will re-
ceive more coffee, up to a certain
point. But if this grocer has
larger stock than the local ration
ing authorities regard as necessary,
a certain number of his coupons will
be cancelled until his inventory
reaches the size of competitors who
have businesses of comparable size.
OPA Wants Convenient Outlets.
The policy of OPA, Mr.. Harris
explained, is to see that rationed
goods are spread among all outlets,
large and small, so that the con-
sumer can go to the corner store
to present his coupons. The Gov
ernment does not want families liv-
ing, say, in the country, to have to
use up tires and burn gas to 20
miles for their goods because the
crossroads store can't get them.
Decentralization of the rationing
administration, he also pointed out,
enables small dealers to get infor-
nation and consideration close to
hand, without having to write to
Washington or come here.
One advantage of a complete
spread of rationed products to all
sections of the country and all
merchants is Illustrated by the ex-
perlence OF Eastern States and the
District when gasoline rationing
first went into effect in this region.
There was no particular effort to
divide supplies equitably, and. as a
consequence, some service stations
had plenty of gas, others had none
Long queues of motorists waited in
front OF some stations for their gas
and perhaps had driven miles to
get In line.
Little Business Consulted.
The little merchants were repre-
sented when policies of the war
economy were formed in Washing
ton. They were consulted. Not
that this solved all their prob
lens. but at least OPA, along with
other agencies, had them in mind
from the first and tried to cushion
the impact of unprecedented trade
practices on these independent dis
tributors.
A special provision was made for
dealers who were caught with large
inventories Of tires and tubes when
the critical situation of these COM
modities developed. 1t was realized
that many of the smaller vendors
would be unable to dispose of these
stocks because of rationing and de-
creased demands and could not af-
ford to carry them.
Arrangements were made, with
congressional approval, for any
dealer unable to carry these tires
and tubes to return them to his dis
tributor at cost price, plus 10 per
cent as handling charge. But this
was up to each dealer. II he felt he
would rather hold the tires, he could
do so.
The Senate Small Business Com
mittee, in this connection, presented
bill, which Congress approved.