The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-08-04

what difference does a f1ve-cent in-
 crease in the price of butter make? /?
 Sixty cents year One drink and
 the whole thing goes down his gull let.
 A four cents pound increase in
 the price of meat means only 6 a year to the average consumer, and what's that when women fight each other for the chance to pay SIP for a strap ever dainty, bulging instep and runover heel?
 You can't dispute those facts and figures, but like a lot of other so- called statistics, they lead to a false conclusion. Increase in prices on any one item may not make much difference but when you add them all up, what you have is in- f1ation.
 The clouds of inflationary threats on the cost of living horizon today are numerous. Every place you look you see thunderhead, filled with increased cost of living lightning In addition to the simple examples mentioned above, you must consider these:
 INITIATION THREAT
 The demand for a 35 cents per barrel increase in the price of crude oil - less than a cent gallon-is 1 definitely inf1ationary in that any increase in the price of crude means eventually an increase in the price of gas and oil Sooner or later that l would mean that rates of bus and truck lines might have to be raised. An increase in the fuel oil price would mean some rents might have | to go up.
 The price of coal was raised 50 cents ton some months ago to al- ] low an increase in wages to miners ! working a sixth day, but now there is an additional inflationary threat in the United Mine Workers pro- posed agreement with the Illinois coal operators, calling for a $3 a day increase in wages, contingent upon an OPA approval for an increase in the price of coal to cover the wage increase. If approved, that, too, might exert pressure to have rents | increased.
 Tn almost every war production area, the landlords pressure to get rents raised is a potent inflationary threat. Here OPA has done real job of doWn-holding, the general average rise in rents for the entire country being only 35 per cent higher now than in mid-Aug$ust of 1859. Offhand, that might seem to be sufficient reason to give the landlords their share of the higher price levels, but once the rent rates start getting out of control the en- tire cost of living index goes up by leaps and bounds, rent being such a major item in everyone's budget. CORN RISE
 Before Congress went home on vacation, consideration was given to authorize increases in the price Of corn and of poultry. Neither proposal got through but they are still a threat and may be brought up again when Congress comes back to Washington.
 The accumulated savings of indi- 'AAetoAo anu Duo1IlCoS 1lIIIlS, dII1OuIlC- Ing to $50 million at the end of 1942, may be $100 million by the end of 1943, and these liquid assets constitute potential purchasing power of definite inflationary dan ger, as they tend to force up prices on the reduced quantity of goods available for purchase.
 The continued pressure of labor to get higher wages, if the cost of living is not held down, is the most dangerous inf1ationary threat of all. The whole battle against infla- ton, in fact, is a battle to keep down the cost of living index so wages won't have to be raised, roll ing back prices by better enforce ment and new specific ceilings, such as on fresh fruits and vegetables, to get all the way or most all of the way back to September IS, 1922 levels.