Evening star., 1946-07-06
The u. S. Price Gamble
As Viewed in Britain
What a British Editor Thinks
Of Our Battle Over OPA

Of Our Battle Over OPA
(An Editorial From the London Times.)
The last of the major controls I'M
posed on the United States by the war
came to an uneasy end on Sunday when
President Truman decided that he
could not accept the price control bill
passed by Congress. The division Of
powers devised with such care by the
founding fathers to prevent the ag-
grandizement of either the executive or
the legislature has once more resulted
in deadlock, with price control falling
between two stools. The bill which Mr..
Truman vetoed was bad bill providing
for imitation with a statute instead of
imitation without one" as the President
said. 1t is now the Presidents hope
that Congress will pass resolutions au-
thorizing the temporary extension of
price controls to allow time for a new
bill to be drafted. But the only de-
fense OF the bill just vetoed was that it
was the best to which the House and
Senate would agree, and the outlook is
not very hopeful for even a limited ex-
tension of the present powers of the
Office of Price Administration. In that
event America is embarking on a gam
bic with its price level in which the
whole world is inevitably a participant.
Violent price increases in the United
States would imperil the flow of food to
the hungry, the purchasing power Of
Americas foreign loans, and hopes for
orderly reconstruction everywhere.
The most powerful argument of the
loobies which have been waging un1e-
lent1ng war against price control has
been that artificial price ceilings we're
deprlvlng consumers of meat, butter,
shirts and other scarce commodities,
and that If only the controls were
thrown overheard there would be such
flood of production that prices would
rise only momentarily before they were
forced back to reasonable levels. This
faith in the policing power of free COM
petition would be more convincing if it
dld not come from the representatives
OF interests willing to spend hundreds of
controls in the evident expectation of
speedy profits. But. in a country with
the productive resources of the United
States. it is an argument which cannot
be dlsregarded, and holiday from con-
trolls may well fill the empty shop shelves
at price. True there are some signs
in the United States of a new caution
on the part of buyers which may temper
the coming boom. Mr.. Chester Bowles,
the late price administrator, has made
deep impression with his graphic de-
scription of the perils of imitation. Even
the legislators who Lave done price con-
troll to death would be reluctant to see
the results of their handiwork before
the November elections, now that Presi-
dent Truman has so emphatically dis
claimed responsibility.
But the great factor which seems to
have been left out of account in the
reckonings Of Congress is labor. TIE
risk is that if prices rise sharply thev
may set off another round of wage de-
mands: the industrial battles Of the
past year will have to be fought all over
again, and one more impetus will be
added to the giddy spiral of imitation
The windfalls which will be received bv
some producers and spectators with
the lifting of price ceilings will make
1t doubly difficult for the labor unions
to exercise a one-sided discipline,
Nevertheless it is still possible to hope
that, with restraint on the part of both
employers and the unions, new eoui-
llbrium can be reached. The enduring
interest of the outside world is in the
stability of the American economy. It
was the function of price control TO
keep that economy on an even keel
during the transition from war to peace
At the moment the stabilizer has been
discarded, and the test of whether
America will be able to achieve stability
without Government controls takes
, place earlier and in less favorable cir
cumstances than had been expected. It
will be watched with anxious eyes.
(urreee Eorr,I1