Imperial Valley press., 1943-03-04
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BY Congressman John Phillips

By congressman JOnn fnlilipS
What is this tnlng colled 'infla-
liCn?" Yes, I know that when you
60 to the store and what you want
costs NOE than you can afford
pelhaps more than ycu have tc
spend. that's initiation. And Wher
the price is so much this week
and so much plus so much next
week. Traits initiation. In reality
these are surface indications.
Initiation is the result of too fCT
things TO buy for too much none.
to spend. When the nation ia ke.
irs factories to produce war ma
tei ial instead of autos, and radios
and clothing; and when fields are
given to rubber or to airportS OF
dirigible bases. instead of food, ano
when administrative agencies OF
government delay decisions beyond
planting time, and fail to recognize
needs for equipment and labor
while at the same time many men
and women are earning, in wal IN
dustries. more than they earned
before, then no social theory and
10 economic platitude will escape
he incontrovertible fact that in
flation is not merely imminent
but is here.
INITIATION STARTS
When one group of workers in
sists that each rise in prices must
Of necessity mean a rise in wages,
.hon you have started the in
laticn spiral under which the buy
er insists that his pay go up be-
cause the prices of things he buys
went up, upon which the seller or
the grower insists upon higher
prices because wages went up.
There is no end to that spiral eX-
cept collapse.
Who suffers by initiation? Those
on fixed incomes suffer first the
school teachers, the men and wo-
men on pensions and annuities;
workers on salaries and on wages
which are not elastic enough to
change with rising prices; all the
9re9t middle class of the nation
FEEL BLOW
Next come the men and the
women who wo.k with their hands
and who now have a fatal conf
dercc that increases in their own
pay scales will protect them. Some
where's in there the farmers take
the blow, but they at least would
still be eating temporarily, even
though they would face a future
Of mass foreclosures and readjust-
ment.
What is the Outcome? A COM
nunal system under which we bar
ter what we have for what the
other fellow has? A complete col
lapse of the nations financial in
,Cgrity? The substitution OF scme
alternate kind of currency, as Ger
many substituted the Reichmark,
aid The travei-mark, and the trade
mark, fo.' the old mark? The col
larse of the Republic and the sub
gtitution Of some form CT national
socialism? CT the intelligent CO.
ordination ROW of the known meth
eds to prevent, or at least con-
trol initiation?
ANSWERS AXE:
The answers at the moment are:
We will have 10 have the amount
oi initiation now evident. We need
nave no more. 10 sa' that the
farmer is to be charged with in
tlatlon because he asks the price of
Production, instead Of an incentive
payment" which the secretary says
was simply new term contrived
to make ii sound little better
than subsidy" is to miss the point
entirely That initiation is already
here, and to ask the farmer to
stand in line for q handout, in
stead Of the honest admission that
We missed the Loaf, but Will try not
C Hiss This one, IS no cure.
AN AVOID ISSUE
We can avoid an issue By eva
sion, or we can meet it squarely.
r. mil. is TO be pegged at an Oc-
tober price, then peg the consti-
tuent costs to correspond. If our
lard is 10 be taken for gua,'ule in
stead of food, then let US under
stand that in the war pi,ture gu y
ule is the more important on land
specially and exclusively adapted
to the other products. If we are
told we will have machines TO har-
vest wheat. Or flax, and the ma
chimes are not even being made in
The factories, then let US know that
this is due to war necessities, and
not merely, as it would otherwise
scGm, to lack Of coordina ton, and
Q the bungling of youthful ard
inexperienced administrators in
Jobs uDon which the food of the
nation depends. Then let us, if
possible, siphon off scme of this
excess buying power. either to pay
The costs of the war, or to be set
aside for future needs.
Three members of the California
delegation finally got hearing
with the President en- the meat
situation. The most important re-
suit, otke" than his immediate in
terest, VS. his statement that he
had no previous personal knowledge
OF is seriousness.