Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1945-01-16
BEHIND
THE NEWS
By Paul
MaIlon

WASHINGTON, Jan. ia
w New York economist is out
with a pamphlet saying no IN
flation is coming.
His point, as i get II, is that
prices are fixed by the law OF
supply and demand, regardless
of the government, ere 1T,
money or anything else. AS the
production capacity of the coun-
try in farming as well as manu-
featuring has been greatly In
creased during the war, supplies
will increase and there cannot
be imitation.
This is a new viewpoint be-
coming popular now and aired
in many front-paged speeches
predicting deflation.
Well now, let us see. ECO
nomists are nose-led by statls-
tics. All their conclusions
spring from figures. Let US
look behind the figures a little,
not for obscure facts, but to
those which are known and
obvious to every adult alive
today.
YOU walk into a restaurant
i and see a price ceiling list
hanging on the door. That
price list will tell you prices
have not increased much the
past few years. The dollar din
ner, say, is now only SIPS.
But your senses will tell you
a far different story. The por-
tons on the. dinner have been
cut possibly in half. Far
cheaper foods have been substi-
tuted. The quality has deteri-
grated from so to 100 per cent.
There is no butter served, or no
ketchup.
You get paper napkin.
There is no tablecloth. The
service is less than half what 1t
was on the old dollar dinner, as
help is not available.
Actually what you get in that
dinner for SIPS is less than half
what you formerly got for 81.
Is this not a new type of in
flation, yet undetected by the
economists who follow Stats
tics? Is this not hidden infla-
ton? Are you not really get
ting the old 60-cent dinner for
SIPS and therefore has not the
price been increased 100 per
cent or more, instead of the Is
per cent shown on the ceiling
chart at the door and in the
government statistics? l think
this is undeniable.
MY FATHER could buy for
IVA his dollar 20 loaves of bread.
! can buy eight. This is a meas
ure of initiation, but is it all?
The bread buy has deteriorated
in quality, say SO per cent. Is
not the concealed imitation
greater than the statistical one :?
The same situation is notice
able in all necessities of life, in
some more than others. The
price of gasoline has not been
increased, but the quality dete-
rioration actually represents a
tremendous price increase of so
per cent or more. In meats,
foods, liquors, cigarets, the same
process of concealed initiation is
at work.
Indeed, il is apparent even in
services, as well as goods. You
get far less work or greatly in
ferior work for the limited wage
increases with more vacations
and other allowances including
acceptable absenteeiSm) so that
wage statistics no longer ac-
tually represent any comparison
with old standards, but a dou-
bling and trebling of wages, not
shown in statistics.
THERE is another wide open
Il avenue of concealed inf1a-
tion-the black market. What
is the Importance of a national
statistic showing no increase in
the price of certain goods in
open trade, when such goods
are not available in open trade
but can be purchased only
secretly at double the face price
under the counter? Is this
practice not common at every
crossroads in the land?
No imitation coming, Ell? A
considerable initiation is already
here. A true imitation by which
the value of the dollar is effec-
lively being reduced. When and
If business competition is re-
stored after the war, some of
this hidden imitation will be
Sponged away, but the govern
ment is committed TO a high
price-high wage postwar policy
which means considerable war
initiation must continue.
Nothing will be accomplished
by pretending this situation
does not exist or is not i'm
portant. No problem was ever
met that way.
Furthermore, the history of
previous mutations in Europe
shows the people generally do
not know they are in an infla-
ton until they can look back on
II and see in retrospect what
happened.
In my opinion, the only thing
that can break the process now
or after the war is the restora-
ton of sound values. Prices,
wages and all the other statis-