The Wilmington morning star., 1943-06-01
Washington
Column
By PETER EDISON

| AAoOAN
The question to decide is whether the pro-
posed Office of Price Administration roll
backs" on the prices of foodstuffs will en-
courage production of those foodstuffs, or not.
Since the Presidents great ''hold the line
gesture of April 8, OPA has proposed roll
backs of 10 per cent on the prices OF meats,
butter and coffee. Aside from the fixing OF
lot of dollars -and-cents ceilings on specific
food products at retail level, these three pro-
posed roll-backs are the sum total ana tne
net result of nearly two months OF effort TO
reduce the cost of living SO as to stave oft
demands for wage increases. And it IS Woe
fully Inadequate and inconsequentlaL.
The specific dollars -and-cents price ceilings
ON food prices in some 100 metropolitan areas,
while easy for the housewife to understand,
seem to have forced many OF the grocerS IN
those areas into the position Of being caught
in such a squeeze that they are screaming
about being forced to close down.
| One of the larger grocery chains actually
did threaten to close down for several days
over the Memorial Day holiday, to avoid runs
on its stocks of goods for which ration stamps
were expiring on May 30 Expiration date
| for the stamps was extended another week
| by a rush OPA order to avoid that catastro-
phe, but the squeeze on the retailers still
exists, the margin between tn e wholesale
prices at which they can buy and the retail
| prices at which they can sell being so narrow.
| Then this roll-back business on meats, but
ter and coffee. The 10 per cent rollback on
these three items would, it was figured by
the economists, reduce the family food bill
| by per cent, reduce the cost of living by
/ per cent. The saving might be as much
as ST per person per year. You should be
| thankful for even these small favors. but
wait a minute.
| When there isn't normal supply of meat
available, at any price, what good does 1t
do to roll back the price? You save money
on meat when there isn't any meat to buy,
but you don't save any more-even it the
price is rolled back-on the meat that isn't
there. The primary problem is to get more
meat for you to buy. Will cutting the price,
and then paying subsidy to the meat pack
er eventually mean that the livestock grower
will get a few cents more per pound, thus
encouraging them to raise more meat anil
mails? The answer isn't yet known. 1t is not
even known how the roll-back subsidy is to
be paid, the mechanics Of it.
| Take butter. The mere threat of 4 or
5 cents per pound rou-back in the price OF
butter has caused the creameries to unload
| their stocks to the government at prevailing
prices. If this movement of inventory butter
stocks to the Army and Lend Lease pur-
chasers goes on, it might cause temporary
shortage of butter for civilian consumers un-
til the wise guys in government figure how
this roll-back subsidy is going to work, and
| the creameries and the dairymen learn how
this subsidy is going to roll back TO them
in sum sufficient to encourage them TO milk
more cows make more butter, and build up
butter stocks again.
| OF one thing you can be sure. A roll-back
on the price of coffee isn't going to get you
any more coffee, no matter how the SUBSIDY
is paid or who gets it. The problem there
isn't one of price but of shipping space.
| DGPlnS
that the roll-back idea coffee, butter and
meat at any rate, is apt to be bust
| Previous to the roll-back orders on these
| three commodities, subsidies had been paid
| to cover increased costs of insurance and war
time transportation on coffee and sugar I'M
ports. These subsidies you can understand,
because they cover an added emergency cost
| which it was desired to keep consumers from
paying Only other foodstuff under subsidy
was cheddar cheese. Cheese makers are paid
a subsidy of 3 3-4 cents per pound to encour-
age them to buy more milk for cheese pro-
duction. But the subsidy hasn't worked, and
production of cheese is now "a per cent be-
low what it was a year ago.
Il If the proposed subsidies on meat and but.
ter don't work any better than they have on
cheese, it's going to be too bad.
When we have settled with enemy number
one. we will go to the aid of the gallant Anzacs
and Americans in the east and purge the
world there also of human rattlesnakes which
: have brought SO much misery to mankind. -
British Undersecretary OF War Lord Croft
Tunisia will offer the first proving ground ot
rehabiitating an area actually deva stated and
plundered by Germans What will happen there
may determine the pattern of relief efforts in
other countries liberated by our forces, ,-Dr
Joseph J. Schwartz chairman Eurona.n .,,ao'
utive council OF the Joint Distribution Co~,
7 rnittee.