The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-05-05


 control and from time to time some of the Canadian price ofn- cials came to Washington for con- situations.
 On March 3l, opA took its first steps to consult with representatives of the retail trade. Between April l and April 27, there were from l2 to 90 merchants of national stand- ing in Washington for Q day or more. Their work finally was dele- gated to Q committee of seven, with Fred Lazarus, Jr., of Columbus, O., i as its chairman. They stayed on the job until the order was issued. La- zarus, as head of the Retailers Ad- vieory Committee, had played Q leading role throughout the defense period, conducting an educational campaign against imitation, scare advertising, reduction of quality in merchandise and similar measures, but in the consultations with OPA he and all the retailers called in acted only aS individuals giving their counsel on various lines in which each was an authority. All meetings were secret, and admission was closely checked by OPA.
 HENDERSON
 OVERRULED
 From time to time, these retailers gave written memoranda to OPA outlining their views. At the begin ming of the conferences on April 1, assurance was given that the price freezing order would cover all phases of the national economy in- cluding agricultural products and wages. Some place along the line, those two items were dropped from consideration. Who gave the order, or why, is a mystery. It was known that Leon Henderson favored and fought for an across -the-boards freeze that would include wages and farm products, but somewhere in the, top policy councils of the government, Henderson was over- ruled. The retailers stressed that anything short of an overall freeze would be explosive. It did no good. That was their principal setback.
 The way the retailers express their viewpoint is that you can't control the fiod waters of the Mis- sissippi by putting a roof over the Gulf of Mexico. FlodS have to be managed at the source, dams must be thrown across the tributaries, and back up in the hills there must be lot of catch-basins.
 The national economy is pie tured as being much like that. Price control must start back where the goods originate, with raw materials and wages. Those are the catch-basins of the eco- homie system in the view of the retailers.
 FEAR BLACK
 MARKETS
 As to the consequences of failing to take into consideration this catch -basin theory. the retailers are rather pessimistic. Frankly, they fear black markets and a re- turn of the lawIess spirit of the prohibition era. Any such deyel- Opments at this time would natur- ally jeOpardize war measures, cre- ating for the soldiers in the field what Lincoln called fire behind the lines"
 The second point which the re- tailers question is on the matter of lag" Under normal trading conditions. there is Q lapse of time, or larg, between production Of raw materials and Inanufac- turing. between manufacturing and Wholesaling, between whole- sailing and retailing, and between retailing and buying by the ulti- mate consumer. In simple terms, the shirt you buy this week was raw cotton last summer. The ay- craze leg on some 1900 non-fo0d items is about two and s half months,
 When prices are rising rapidly, the merchant often has to pay more for new goods than he gets for what be sells to the public OR hts shelves, And when prices at aI levels gre frozen ct appT0xis inafely the same dste, the retailer stands . good chance of getting caught Co the log. Merchants who have kept prices down. pricing their goods ct cost instead Of at EepIaeement value, suffer the most under such circumstances,
 The remedy suggested for this ls 6 system Of "F0ll-backg"-nakS Ing the wholesaler and the manu, saetuFeF take lower prices. How the manufactures can do this iD the face of advancing raw Hsstes