Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1943-05-07

SiSiS III Juob yCdls
Just so Deputy Price Admin
istrator Kenneth Galbraith still
says, "When dollar and cents
ceilings are established"
1t used to be, when the pro-
posed new regulation supplant-
ing General Maximum Price
Regulation was to have gone in
to eject on May l, that he set
June 10 as the date on which
dollar and cents ceilings could
be achieved.
Since the new overall grocery
regulation BORDERING grocers to
recalculate prices weekly by add
ing fixed margins to costs) has
not been heard from since it was
sent to Economic Sterilization
Director James F. Byrnes' desk
over the weekend, it probably
won't go into effect until late in
May, or at the earliest, May 20.
And dollars and cents ceiling are
at least a year away, say law
years within OPA who are OPP
posed to Galbraith's plan and
would refigure weekly only
perishable and seasonable items.
LEG PULLING
"You aren't trying to pull my
leg in maintaining still that
there will be dollars and cents
prices?" | asked Galbraith.
/ don't pull anyone's leg"
he said. "The margin system
never was intended to be any
thing but an interim measure.
There's a good possibility of be-
ing able to publish 500 of the
prices for 500 of the people
in metropolitan areas-within
six weeks after margin regula-
tion goes into effect.
an other words, publish prices
of five canned fruits, five canned
vegetables, five fresh vegetables,
butter, eggs, poultry, family
flour, condensed and evaporated
milk, meat and vegetable short
ening. Soap has a special regu-
lation which will be issued in the
next few days"
DEPRESSING POINTS
"And so long as Food Admin
istrator Chester Davis refuses to
sign the order on his desk now
giving OPA permission to place
ceilings on prices to farmers for
livestock, cotton, wheat for flour.
poultry, apples, etc., can't those
wholesale prices keep on going
up in many items?"
81 wish you'd quit bringing up
these depressing points," he said.
Galbraith took a pencil and
drew little rectangles for whole
salers, and others for retailers.
They all have different prices
for a can Of milk now, but under
his regulation the wholesale price
could be brought to a uniform
price, and then the retailers
price could be rounded Off" 1t
all looked very pretty to me.
But-get load of this, and it
doesn't come from labor, but an
OPA attorney:
Selling margin markups to
the public as dollars and cents
ceilings is a hoax. We won't have
dollars and cents ceilinLs for a
year--if we're lucky.
"All the field price instruc-
tions that have gone out are that
dollars and cents prices will ap-
ply officially only to the little in
dependents. Other stores will op-
crate under margins and con-
tinue to recheck their prices
every week.
"It's the way the chains op-
crate now. Charles Fleischer
(former A & P official, now in
OPA) likes the new regulation.
DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
"Galbraith's own men estimate
they can put dollar and cents
prices on only 20 per cent of all
foods. Why? Because. the little
retailers buy mostly from whole
salers and there are thousands
of brands. In Washington, 80
brands of corn are sold.
"When he says five canned
vegetables, he means about five
national brands. When he says
interim period, he means years
interim-at least, we think that's
what it would mean"
BY this time | was completely
mixed up. 1t didn't make sense.
The Presidents order was clear.
But instead of rolling b ck
prices, OPA seems to be rolling
them up. Wages are frozen to
parallel the May, 1912, cost of
living, but price control is just
around the corner, perpetually.