The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1943-02-23
LIGHT
ksIieriss kulss Due
For Revision
Try II Guinea
Pigs First
Africa To Tighten
Gss Rules
Roosevelf-lewis
Near Showdown
BY RAY TUCKER

ny mi l11hEzh
WAsHINGToN-The rationinr
OF canned goods which starts on
March LIST will be subject TO radi-
cal revision as soon as the office
OF price administration has had an
opportunity to gauge its influence
on American eating and buying
habits. So far rules have been
mainly based on guesswork.
Changes. with short or no no.
hce. will also be made concerning
curbs on gasoline. shoes and COM
modities soon to be brought un-
der federal control. Although the
fixers are not advertising IT. the
experience gained under nation
wide regulation viii determine
whether the system should be
more drastic or more leberaL
Prentiss Browns agency,
for instance, has been blamed
for not giving consideration
% the volume Of foodstuffs
put I'm the home. Fact IN that
he tried to allow for this sup
ply, thus making more COM
mercial products available to
urban dwellers, but the ar
rangement did not prove FEAST
BILE.
Placing restrictions on edibles
may have the same effect as did
prohibition, when folks who never
guzzled took to drinking In de-
fisnce or out of cussedness.
Household preservers may be
tempted TO become competitors.
oPA-ers admit off the record
that they CROPPED in the dark when
they fixed the ration book value
Of various items. Nobody knows
whether twelve ounces OF peaches
should require more points than
twelve ounces of corn, or vice
versa. On this vital question de-
cisions are purely arbitrary for
lack of supporting data.
Our tastes may be altered by
the impact of RECOMMENDATION. In
short, for a while the American
people win serve as guinea pigs
for the autocrats of the breakfast,
luncheon and dinner tables.
Tho 'BrownIes"-as they
now call the price administra-
tors-are quietly planning
revolutionary reform Of gaso-
line sale rules In the seven
teen Eastern states and the
District Of Columbia. An un-
pleasant surprise IL In the off
ing for many Of the seven mil
lion car uaers In this area.
1t Is no exaggeration to say that
their movements in so far as they
relate to consumption Of fuel wiz
be blueprinted from the time of
arising to going to bed. Stiff
penalties for false statements will
be provided and enforced.
Projected military opera
lions not . bureaucraf's
whim-necessItate these hard
ships. 1t In not generally
known that the emergency
call from the North African
front almost showed every
machine OF the road. For
time II seemed as n the de-
mand for fuel for planes. land
battlcwagons and ships would
even force the government to
drain the tanks at corner sta
lions. We don't inland to be
caught short again when we
invade q country.
Franklin d. Roosevelt Is girding
Dor a final showdown with his
erstwhile friend, John L. Lewis.
Their forthcoming battle concern
ong the demand Of the United Aine
Workers for an April increase of
kwo dollars . day may flare into
khs most sensational spectacle IN
the recent history of labor and
politics.
Aside from the economic issue
involved, these two men have
many old and deep scores to set
lie. John L. Is convinced that the
president wants to destroy him as
q power among the workers in
anticipation Of a reelection try.
He Is resolutely against bowling to
the White House. When Economic
Adviser James F. Byrnes. Price
Administrators Prentiss Brown and
Secretary wickard warn that his
program means another upward
spiraling Of the cost Of living, the
bose of the coal diggers growls,
Limitation is already here"
The outcome viii greatly in
fluence the whole question of
wages. prices, war expenses,
etc. Awaiting the windup are
the millions of members of
william Green's ALL and
Philip Murrsy's CLIO. Many
independent unions are hold
ing their grievances In abey-
ance pending the determine
tion of the clash between the
president and the only laborite
he has failed TO capture or
captivnte. The decision In
the man-to-man tournament
may have . vital effect on
every Americans pocietbook
and pay envelope.
The U. s. aircraft carrier Hor-
net was q doomed ship from the
moment the japanese discovered
that Jimmy Doolittle's daring