The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-02-18

AAAAAo tAAC "A V VI weaving lot of stuff for drapes and davenport covers on which you are now collecting fancy prices but which are not needed in the war eff fort. We would like to suggest, there fore, that you immediately convert your looms from the weaving of pretty chintZes to the weaving of plain, everyday blue denim.
 We realize that you are weaving lot of cloth for the armed forces, but since you are making nice profits on this buSineSS-more than double what you made in any one year be- tween 1886 and 1939- you'll have to make this denim to sell at cost. That will enable the overall manufactur- CTS to turn out work clothes that will sell at no advance in ceiling price, and thus we'll be able to keep down the cost of living. This is the con- tract, and please sign here"
 "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME-" President Joe Doakes of the Joe Doakes Mfg. Co. staggers slightly then recovers, rares back in his chain and says, T ain't interested. Why should I give up the manufacture of chintzes for which there is a good demand and a nice price, just to make denimS on which the price is not so nice and the profits nil? Be- sides, you can't do this to me. It's free country, operating under the the law Of supply and demand and free enterprise system, and I don't have to do anything don't want to Of course, if you put the price up on these denims, that might be diff ferent. But what are you proposing is revolutionary state socialism or fascism."
 Here MT. Government smiles kind- ly. Things are different now. Joe. There's a war on and we can do this to you-or don't you know about Economic StabiliZation Director Fred M. Vinson's directive of Nov. 16, 1943, as amended and restated Jan. 30, 1944?"
 Never heard of it." says Joe.
 "It's very interesting" says MT. Government, "and you should broad en your reading" Then the man sets out patiently to explain. In order to assure adequate production of es- Sential civilian goods, the War Pro- duction Board is directed to make plans for the manufacture of suf- ficient quantities to make up the shortages, subject to Office of Price Administration approval of the price to prevent imitation. There exists patriotic responsibility on the part of all manufacturers of consumers goods to produce utilitarian, durable products at cost which the average consumer is able to pay" wrote Judge VinSon. Therefore, he ordered that excessive profits should be pre- vented in such manufacture, and he ruled that where profits of any man. ufacturer were less than double his 1936-39 average he could make 2 per cent on this new business, while Ii his profits were now more than double the 1936-39 profit, he'd have to make the goods at cost.
 BUSINESSMEN IN UPROAR
 This order caused more ruckuS than anything the Office of Eco homie Stabilization has done. Busi- ] ness came storming down to see Judge Vinson to know if this was to be government policy on all civilian goods production during reconver- sion and in the postwar period. Did it apply to flatirons and horsecol- lars? The pressure got so hot that Judge Vinson had to suck back part of his order, by saying it was to ap- ply only to textiles-work clothes, work gloves and stuff like that.
 WIPE textile industry advisers are dead set against the directive, saying it is no way to get production. Their argument is that OPA should roll back the prices on chintzes and other unessential fancy weave fab rics, so as to make their production unprofitable. Then raise the price on denims and work clothes and 1n- fants' wear fabrics so as to encour- age their production and relieve the shortages that way. OES and OPA say nothing doing and there, for the moment, the fight is drawn.