Evening star., 1943-04-04
Bait Offers Proposal
To Speed Postwar
Civilian Goods
WPB Chief Advocates
Rene9otiutin9 Deals
Made by Government

Renegotiation of Government
war contracts when peace comes
was suggested last night by William
L. Bait. vice chairman of the Wal
Production Board, as one means o1
speeding the return of invested
capital into production of civilian
goods.
forum OF the Research Institute OF
America, he said that the Govern
ment cannot be expected to con-
tinue spending money after the
war for goods that for the most
part will only gather dust in store
rooms"
Pointing out that some labor and
industry groups will suffer severe
hardships unless contracts on which
work has already begun are COM
pleted, he proposed the renegotia-
ton of all outstanding contracts 'as
q middle ground solution" to the
problem
Question of Profits.
Such renegotiation. he explained,
should make the profits to be real
lied 80 unattractive to invested
capital that no one will want to keep
plant operating a.single day longer
than necessary to clean up the war
work and get back to the business
Of producing civilian goods"
Predicting an international scram-
BILE for raw materials when peace
comes, Mr.. Bait expressed the view
that the Government must exercise
some form of control over industry
for long time thereafter.
Business by itself cannot solve
the postwar unemployment prob
lem. he said. adding that recon-
version to a peacetime basis would
demand the cooperation of Gov
ernment. and our three great eco
nomic groups-industry, labor and
agriculture.
I'VE cannot wait until the en-
emy has been buried before draw
ing the plans for victory on the
economic front" he warned. 1--WE
must go to the peace table with
OUR blueprints carefully drawn and
backed up by the will of our citi-
zens. A healthy world won't just
happen when the war is over. We
must give to peace the same all
out effort we are giving to war"
Private industry must be en-
couraged to participate in the in
dustrial opportunities of tomorrow.
Mr.. Bait continued expressing the
view that one of the good by-prod-
ucts of the war" may be the DEM
onstration that private capitalism
is the best system for majority of
the people who live under it."
International control of raw ma
terials probably will be necessary
after the war, Mr.. Bait said. to pre-
vent runaway prices and undue ad-
vantage to firms possessing or hav-
ing access to adequate foreign
exchange.
On postwar planning he said.
Government must establish the
rules of the game and serve as i'm
partial referee. An alert and active
government. supported by the joint
efforts of industry, labor and agri-
culture, can nurse us quickly back
to good health no matter how badly
wounded the war may leave us"
If America is to avoid being forced
into another world conflict, he said,
1--WE must avoid the pitfalls of eco
nomic Illustration and mass unem-
ployment."
Survey Made Public.
Preceding Mr.. Bats address. the
Research Institute made public an
analysis Of its survey Of 10000 in
dustrial executives and businessmen.
which disclosed that unemployment
loomed as the number one postwar
economic problem
All companies, the survey re-
vealed, placed the National Labor
Relations Act as the most serious
Government imposed impeachment
to postwar readjustment.
The Army. Navy and Maritime
Commission announced yesterday a
statement of principles which each
will use in renegotiating contracts
to prevent excessive profits. Adop-
ton of these principles. officials
said, would remedy complaints from
the Senate's Truman committee and
others about the varying methods
Of these agencies.
Reasonable profits in every case
will determine with reference to
the particular performance factors
present without limitation or re-
striction by any fixed formula with
respect to rate Of profits or other
wise" the statement said in part.
1t should not be assumed, it con-
tinued, that under war conditions.
a contractor is entitled to as great
a margin of profit as that obtained
under competitive conditions in
normal times"