Evening star., 1945-01-01
Vinson Due 10 Decide
Within Few Days on
Cattle Price CeiIinu
BY GOULD LINCOLN.


Economical Sterilization Director
yinson is expected to decide within
. few days whether ceiling price
Is to be placed upon cattle. He is
acting as arbiter in a controversy
between the OPA, which is urging
the ceiling price, and the War Food
Administration, which is opposing
It.
Involved in the problem are the
requirements of the Army and the
Navy and the civilian population for
meat, the prices which are to be
paid the producers and the process
sors, and the prices which must be
paid by the ultimate consumers
and the black market.
Senator O'Mahoney, Democrat, of
Wyoming has taken the lead in
bringing to Judge Wilson'S atten-
tion the case of the cattle raisers. In
his opinion establishment of cell
ing on cattle prices is not only i'm
practicable but also unfair to the
producers.
Asks Better Administration.
He said yesterday that the solution
Is to be found In better admins
tration Of the subsidy program
which has run into hundreds of mil
lions of dollars. These subsidies are
paid to the packers to enable them
to pay for the cattle and at the
same time to sell to wholesalers and
retailers the meat which in turn is
sold to the consumers, at ceiling
prices.
1.-The War Food Administration, T"
he said, has stimulated increased
production of meat animals pri-
raarily for the purpose of making
certain that the armed forces have
meat. What is left after they have
been supplied is available for dis
tribution to civilian consumers"
From 40 to so per cent of all the
good meat produced in the United
States is set aside for the armed
forces. The farmers and ranchers
have responded to VIA demands
for increased production SO that in
1914 approximately 33,900,000 beef
animals were sent to the block, about
10000, 900 more than in 1940 Next
year the VITA wants to see IS ,000,-
900 60 to market.
Demand for Best Grade.
'The Shortage Of meat in the large
civilian consuming centers," Senator
O'Mahoney continued, "fs due to the
fact that there is an extraordi-
narily high demand for high class
beef-due to the fact people have
SO much money. This demand has
produced black market
- Officers of the OPA have told me
that they know who the black mar
ket operators are, but they also say
they find it difficult to induce re-
tailers to testify against them.
Despite this reluctance, however.
the OPA enforcement agents have
good record in the prosecution
of black market operators. In the
present year, $500 cases were
brought against wholesalers and
slaughterers for violations of the
regulations. In SO per cent of the
cases, the OPA got judgment. Yet
1t has been unable to suppress the
black market"
He said the OPA in 10 months
ending in October collected in fines
from professors accused of violating
all types of price regulations a total
of $15,014,799, including those on
meat. This is more than the entire
cost of OPA enforcement for 1914.
None of those fines were assessed
against the growers of meat ami
mails. ..
Reply to Demands. '-
To the demand from consuming
centers for a ceiling upon live ami
mails, the producers reply Chat it is
impossible to judge the meat value
of livestock until after they have
been slaughtered. So the OPA now
says it does not want to put a cell
ing upon individual animals on the
hoof, but an overall ceiling to be en-
forced through a complicated sys-
tenn of averages in the purchasing
accounts of the packers.
In defense of the cattle producers
OCldIOl ~ MdliOliCS Sdlo IllC 1CC0
lots of the corn belt were stocked
with lean animals Immediately after
Mr.. Vinson, earlier in the year, re-
fused the request of the OPA for
q ceiling on live animals
Nov, before the process of feed
Ing has been completed" said Sena-
tor O'Mahoney, "the OPA wishes to
change the rules. The result will
be that cattle feeders, in self-pro-
lection, will have to iquidate their
animals. They will go to the block
before they have reached their full
weight, with a sacrifice of 200 to
400 pounds of meat per animal.
This means that the total avail
able supply of meat will be reduced
and the consumers, retailers and the
butchers who are now calling for
a ceiling on live animals will defeat
their own purpose Such a pro-
gram can only result in reducing
the overall supplies of meat and in
the black market from
the retail and wholesale trade into
the cattle trade where it does not