The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1943-10-01
FACING
The
FACTS
With PHILIP PEARL


There was time when the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the Department
of Labor commanded respect. It's sur
veys were apparently well organized,
it's work was thorough and it's findings
were authoritative.
But nowadays the reports of this
Government agency are mockery of
the facts. And the tragic part of it is
that the Governments policy with re-
gard to price control is based on such
obviously inaccurate and uninformed
reports.
For instance, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics says that the cost of living
is now only 4.5 per cent above what
it was last September. The Office of
Price Administration therefore jubil-
anty announces that if and when it
reduces prices by As per cent, the cost
of living will be brought back into
equitable relationship with wages.
To our way of thinking, great and
hitherto undisclosed source of syn
thetic rubber can be found in statis-
tics. Anyone familiar with handling
them can make the figures stretch to
cover any given situation. Even casual
examination of the figures put out by
the BIS and the OPA shows how eles-
tic they are.
Magical Figures
AS the adage says, "the proof of
the pudding is in the eating" We eat
right here in the District Of Columbia.
We buy our food here. And we are
paying for it, through the nose
But the OPA tells us that the cost
of living has gone up only per cent
during the past year in the District of
Columbia. The figure is even broken
down into separate commodities. We
confess we read this announcement
with astonishment. But when it was
stated that the price of meat had
gone up only one-half of one per cent
in the District of Columbia in the past
year, we hit the ceiling. That figure
proves the BIS and the OPA experts
qualified for their jobs not by learn
ing arithmetic but prestidigitation
Nothing but sheer magic could
make it appear that the price of meat
in any community in the United States
has gone up only one-half of one per
cent in the past year.
Any child who has ever gone mar
keting for his mother knows better
than that.
Unfortunately, we do not have the
facilities for making survey of every
butcher shop even within the narrow
limits of the District Of Columbia
We can only testify as to prices we
have actually paid to our own meat
market-and we hope the owner will
not be offended because we can't af-
ford to get in wrong with the butcher
these days Nevertheless, the facts are
that the meat prices we are now pay
ing are 20 per cent above what they
were year ago, rollbacks and all.
But today the price you pay for
meat is only surface indication of
the real increase. For instance, cuts of
meat have been "upgraded" In other
words, plain, ordinary hamburger of
bygone years now goes under fan
cier name at much fancier price.
Bone In, Fat On
Even that doesn't tell the whole
story. Once upon time, when we
purchased meat, the butcher would re-
move the excess fat and the bones be-
fore weighing it. Today we pay for it
practically on the hoof, bone in and
fat on. This alone represents a 10 to
20 per cent increase in price.
The big question in our minds is
this-do the BIS and the OPA take
any of these facts into consideration
when they prepare their price figures
for publication? Are they relying
merely on theoretical ceiling" prices
or are they attempting to find out
realistically what the people of our
country are actually paying for food
at their neighborhood stores?
We can't believe that these Govern
ment agencies are doing a realistic
job because their figures just don't
add up with the facts.
Therefore, we feel the time has
come for thorough reorganization of
the price-testing machinery of the
Bureau of Labor Statistics and the
Office of Price Administration. We'd