The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-28

"black Mafket SlJu0Clon m CO0s necticut highlighted . radio address given Anthony Arpaia, State OPA Administrator. The speech marked the first in series for the fall and winter months and will be given each Monday evening.
 The proposed changes" in gas oline rationlng were declared 'im- practical by Mir. Arpaia and he presents his reasons in his inter esting talk, which was as follows:
 The first thing I'd like to talk with you about this evening is Q right-off-the- -griddle change in your gasoline A-book I wish I could tell you that those "A" books were going to bring you more gasoline than you've been weatherlng along on for long, long time now, but I'm afraid that I can't do that yet.
 You know, the idea still persists that if OPA would increase the "A" coupon value, the whole problem of the gasoline Black Market would be solved, This is simple solution, but 1t has only one grave fault .. |. 1t wouldn't work.
 No Mysterious Pool
 I've seen a number of editorials recently in which the writers have sincerely suggested this remedy. But there is no mysterious pool which Market gasoline I'm talking about the liquid itself now there 1 sno mysterious pool which we could divert to the tanks at which you honest Connecticut driv- CTS fill up, merely by altering the value of the "A" coupon.
 I think, if we were to try to in- crease the value of our "A" cou- pons right now, we would find many of those tanks as dry as Q bone. For you can't cure the eager ness of counterfeiters and thieves to make 6 dishonest dollar a good many dishonest dollars, in fact and you can't cure the willingness of some station operators to sell gasoline without coupons if they can get 6 higher price Tor it merely by raising the value of the "A" coupon. So long as you have these two conditions present, you will have illegal drafts on the linn. tied gasoline supply. If you increase the value of the "A" coupon under these conditions, you will not have shut off the Black Market flow.
 If you have not done that, you are pretty certain to find that there will not be enough gasoline in our pumps to honor the extra gallonage in the "A" coupons. This means that some day when you drive up for gas, you won't find any. Even now, we have seen some of our stations 90 dry. What has been an occasional condi- ton now would become Q chronic one.
 hope that have made this clear to you, for 1t is certainly a matter about which most of our drivers have wondered from time to time. If lt were practically possible to increase the gallonage in the "A" books, give you my solemn word, 1t would have been done long before this. No "EXtras"
 Remember thls--we have for rat tioning only the quota that is al. loted to us by the Petroleum Ad- ministration for War. There Is nc way In which we can tap Q single extra gallon beyond that quota. The PAW quota is all the gasoline there is for civilian use-for essential war driving and trucking, for fire, police and emergency services, for doctors and ambulances, for war workers and for the little driving that the "A" book allows for personal uses.
 The Black Market draws against that quota, for there isn't any other source for 1t to draw on. It does this by counterfeit and stolen cou- pons. These are instruments much like forged checks against Q bank account. If enough forged cheeks are drawn against your bank &C., count, you won't protect the ac. count by issuing lot of valid checks against 1t, unless you can guarantee that these checks will get under the line first, and there Is no way of do- ing that.
 This is still less possible to do ir the case of millions of gasoline cou ponS. think any of those who have suggested the rise in "A" coupon value as Q cure for the Black Mar. ktt must automatically assume that there is some way to guarantee tha; all these valid "A" coupons will bC cashed in ct our gasoline stations against the quota and supply before any Black Market coupons can bC cnshed in against that supply. don't know of any way in which ii is humanly possible to assure this
 But in another sense, 1t Is pos sible to arrive ct this desirable re' sultl -. I think that those people who have suggested the immedlat, and arbitrary raising of the valu of the "A" coupons have begun . the wrong end.
 wouldn't be talking to vol about this If there was nothing 70, can do about 1t. There Is. Let's be gin with our drivers for . moment If no single driver took from tn supply more gasoline than his legal ly Issued rations entitled him tC we wouldn't have any Black Mar ket. If no driver wheeled up to pump and had his car filled tip witl gasoline for which he gave no cou pons, we wouldn't have any Blac Market. For no dealer would thel have to buy up counterfeit an stolen coupons to paste on his sheet when he turned them in for TO plenishment of his supply from hi distributor. He would have lega coupons to cover every gallon c gasoline he had sold.
 "Unthinklng People"
 If that day arrives, then we woul find that tho draft of the Biac Market on the limited gasoline sup ply was no longer being made. The that large bulk of gasoline that tn Black Market has been taking coul