The midland journal., 1945-09-28
LOOKING
AHEAD
" GEORGE S. BENSON
\ presideAf--Hardihg college
Searty. Arkansas
Waiting Contest

Hard as 1t may be to get died
in the wool bureaucrat thinking
about winter problems In the sum-
mer time, unless something unusual
happens, cold weather will come
again. One of these days school
bell will ring, a boy will come down
the street bouncing a football and
after that 1t won't be long. More
over winter calls for a lot Of things
that are scarce now.
Let's take shoes as down-to-
earth illustration. Which is better
for keeping a boys feet off the
frosty ground, a 1912 price ceiling
or pair of good heavy brogues
with wool socks in them? That's the
problem before the American peo-
pie, with school bells only few
days away. Getting into production
on civilian goods is what the OPA
is currently bungling.
Hold That Price
The OPA's war job was to keep
prices of needful things from sky
rocketing - noble work requiring
some stiff rules. But today, with the
war won and war business slack,
OPA is still making rules. One of
them says: Manufacturers may
make things for civilians provided
they sell at 1912 prices. There's the
rub, for factory owners now ready
to start reconverting, making jobs
safe for their employees.
The 1912 price rule stops them; !;
nothing else. Workers want their
jobs to last. Most civilians have
saved some money and want to buy
new things. Industry is anxious to
serve them but very few factories
can operate at 1912 prices. Mate
rials cost more now and labor costs
more also. There is only one thing a
manufacturer can do, namely, beg
OPA for special permission to price
up and 60 to work.
Mail Bags Full
The OPA, if you remember, Is IA
NOUS for leaving no stone unturned,
and all that sort of thing. 1t is ru-
mored that some men in the bureau
have their own private opinions
about business people anyhow. Be-
fore they grant any firm special
leave to change price, they in
vestigate. That's all right, but appli-
cations to reconvert are coming in
fast, more than 500 day.
The bureau will never wind up Its
red tape in time. The only possi-
BILE way out of trouble is to make a
reasonable rule for all industry to
follow, let whistles blow at 800
a. m. and ask questions later. Will
they do it? Who knows? Employees
and customers would probably cheer
loudly for any employer who kept his
payroll alive and said "Ph-f-v-v-ut'
to the OPA, but its dangerous.
Formula for Panic
Most business men are conserva-
tive. They are likely to wait exact
ly as long as the OPA says wait. Un-
able to do business on 1912 prices,
they may pull fires from under their
boilers and lay off the crew. Then
the waiting contest starts. Bureaus
will wait on Investigations; employ
ers will wait on bureaus; workers
will wait on employers and you and
I will wait for everything.
Idle workers in the soup-line (;
farmers without markets let crops
rot in the field. An ugly picture.
The way to avoid it is to let indus
try convert, sell its products to peo-
pie with money and pay the men
who work. Imitation can be pre-
vented without starting panic, il
OPA will adopt a workable rule soon
enough. But bureaus are usually
more interested in rules than in
reasons-warts on the nose Of prog
ress; bunions on the toe of time.