Evening star., 1943-07-10
RoIIbuck
Continued From First Page.>

ever, usually run somewhat under
! the prices at small independent
! stores, which were used by OPA in
the ceiling price samples quoted
! above.
Prices which housewives have to
pay for fresh vegetables have been
dropping steadily here as the new
crops come in. Some grocery off,
cials said that by the time the new
OPA prices become effective the
law Of supply and demand will have
forced store prices down to the CELL
ing level or even below.
At the moment, however, the new
ceilings would result in a consider
able saving to the housewife. The
controls are designed not so much
to protect the consumer during the
time when truck crops are being
marketed locally but during the late
fall winter and spring when fresh
vegetable prices normally soar.
Some Charge 20 Cents.
Lettuce, has been selling at many
stores here at more than 20 cents
a head while cabbage was quoted
at 10 cents q pound and above. Some
housewives paid up to Is cents for
lettuce and from Is to 20 cents for
cabbage during the spring months.
Previous ceilings were based on a
temporary freeze at levels of last
1 ebruary.
OPA accomplished its rollbacks
without resorting to subsidies en-
ployed in cutting prices of meats and
butter, which brought down the
wrath of Congress on the admins
ation.
The greatest reduction in the price
OF lettuce and cabbage will be made
in the prices OF country shippers and
wholesalers. A further saving will
result from the price the retailer can
charge since his specific percentage
markup will be applied now to
commodity which costs him less.
Within a comparatively short time
OPA will roll back the prices of other
fresh vegetables as we'll as fruits.
The same procedure used in bringing
down prices of lettuce and cabbage
will be followed Some fresh foods
mentioned specifically as due for
price cuts are peas. snap beans, car
rots, apples and pears.
Ceilings at Wholesale Points.
OPA said its new ceiling prices will
reflect the highest prices reached be-
tween January l and September Is,
1910 o1it1cfe1
and seasonal differentials
The new regulation applies CELL
ings only at wholesale receiving
points. For lettuce, basing point
price is provided at Salinas. Calf,
which is the center of the lettuce in
dustry The ceiling at wholesale and
terminal markets throughout the
country is the basing point price plus
freight from Salinas. regardless of
the origin of the shipment. Thus,
in this area growers and shippers
will have a considerable competitive
advantage over California since
freight and marketing costs will be
so much less.
For cabbage, a fiat cents-a-pound
ceiling price is provided for sales to
retailers and institutions, depending
on cost of freight from the basing
point to the market where sales are
made. Lettuce sold in a particular
community will have the same CELL
ing price, regardless of point of ORR
gin. The same uniformity will ap-
ply to cabbage.
The new regulation provides
pattern which will be used by OPA
regional and district Offices in
setting community cents-a-pound
wholesale and retail ceilings for the
vegetables. These community prices.
to be announced soon, will show
some difference as between the
larger independent stores and chains
and the smaller independents.
Unusual Conditions.
Washington grocers, commenting
on the new ceilings. declared that
the recent abnormally high vegeta-
BILE prices here we're due to COM
bination of unusual conditions.
They said the ceilings on canned
goods, the rationing of canned goods
and the late winter frost which
wiped out large portion of Florida
crops were largely responsible for
the inflationary prices. They pointed
out that for several months of the
late winter and spring the East
normally obtains 40 per cent of it's
vegetables from Florida So far this
year the supply of fresh foods COM
ing to District markets is IA per
cent under normal.
by the time OPAs fresh vege-
tables 'rollbacks' take effect one
grocer predicted, 'the law of supply
and demand will have pushed prices
under their ceiling prices. This is
an effort to protect the consumer