The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-06-18

CTlpuC.On LueEe'
 fore redu:e themselves to taking
 these surpluses and shortages anc finding ways to divide them Up sC
 that everyone has enough to get bJ on.
 There are no rules for this mat ter of distribution. The only rult
 of thumb has been that nothing
 was ever distributed to anyone un-
 less 1t was profitable to do so.
 No one government agency has
 ever concerned itself with the over-
 all aspects of distribution. Even l TNEC-the Temporary National
 Econdmic committee, which SUD-
 posedly dug into every phase of con-
 temporary economics-waS woefully
 weak in its studies of this subject.
 Tn this wartime controlled econ- omy, there are half a dozen govern ment agencies concerning them selves with some phase of distri- button. though no one has general, co-ordinat'ng supervision, and 1t would probably be too big a job for anyone to tackle.
 PRODUCTION IS EASY
 The new Food Requirements com. mittee, set up under Secretary of Agriculture Wickard, has the prob- lem of seeing that there is enough food produced for the United States and the United Nations, too, but its responsibility stops there. Produc- tion, however, isn't the problem. All that has to be done to get produc- tion ts tell the farmers to produce and guarantee them a price, both of which have been done.
 Thus, though the law says there must be 55 million acres allotted for the production of wheat, pres ent surpluses are so great that the country could get by next year If only q million acres were planted. Similarly, there may be vast surpluses of pork, cheese and other food products. The prob lem of storing these surpluseS, of transporting them to market, Is thus primary worry.
 Agricultural Marketine Admin. istration has gained 8 little expe- rieTce in the problems of distrilu- tion through its programs for huy- ing up surpluSeS of some com modities and distributing them through the food stam plan, but this is an artificial and rudimen- tary approach to the problem. IN MIDDLE
 The civilian interests in this mat ter are supposedly looked after by the Consumers Division of the Of- flee of Price Administration. It Is an advisory organization, purely, but It's advice carries weight in the of decisions which OPA hands down as to what shall be ra- tioned, and when and how. There Is foreseen no necessity to ration clothing this year, no need to housing, no shortage of essential foods. Where shortages develop, as possibly in coffee and lea, rationing will have to be ap- pied for equitable distribution.
 Caught in the middle of all this of distribution are the agencies governing transportation, the War Shipping Administration, allotting space for exports and i'm. ports, and the Office of Defense Transportation, co-ord!nating the movement of goods at-home. With shortages of all transport facili- ties, with normal sources of sup ply cut of, with extra loads of troops ans war supplies to carry, theirs is the job of trying to fa- cilitate the distribution of such goods as there are.
 Maybe, out of all the experience gained in meeting these wartime problems of distribution, enough knowledge will be acquired to lick dat ol' debbil distribution as called for by Point Four of the Atlantic Charter. ito further the enjoy nent by all states of access
 to, the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity"