Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-06-28

tration of its powers, until said
agency has little more control over
prices than man over a skidding
car on an icy pavement.
And yet, according to recent polls,
80 per cent of the public is in favor
of holding the line" The March
survey by that reliable poller,
MORO (National Opinion Research
Center of Denver university among
other similar groups, points this out.
When the house virtually stripped
OPA of is powers late in April, let
tiers poured in supporting the agen-
cy, since then its head, Paul Por-
ter, using the publicity machine
built up by his predecessor, Stabili-
cation Director BowleS, has omit
ted no word or act to keep his side
of the arguments against ceiling
smashing before the consumer. Al
though congress is not now being
needed as heavily as it was at the
peak of the house debate, plenty of
people are still asking for OPA con-
tinuation.
At the same time, of course, anti
control forces are keeping up their
pressure, both through lobbyists of
the interested groups, and through
the paid advertising of the National
Manufacturers association, and
other industrial organizations.
But as far as any one can gauge,
the people themselves still want
price control. Nevertheless, con-
gress has managed to white it
down, and many observers, at this
writing, consider it as among the
dead already.
That is one mystery. Another was
provided in the recent move on the
part Of the President, with his emer-
gency strike bill, and on the part
of congress, with the reinforced
Case bill.
Up until the unions threatened to
tie up the railroads and ignored gov
eminent orders, there was no
chance to get any labor control
measure through congress. But the
people wanted something, and when
the President offered it, he received
response in the way of letters and
kilograms such as the White House
has not known in the memory of its
present staff, some of whom have
served there since the days of Wood
row Wilson.
Now I know that some of my
readers, like many of my listeners,
will see nothing strange in this ap-
parent indifference to the popular
will fhn or-f Of
A lot of letters l receive indicate
that great many people think con-
gress pays no attention to the voter.
This is laughably inaccurate. The
voice of the voter is the one thing
a congressman obeys. In spite of
this fact, 81 per cent of the people,
if our old friend, MORO, is right,
as it has proved to be on many &C.
casions, believe that congress de-
ponds more on its own judgment
than on public opinion.
Of course, the reason for this i'm
preston is that the organized
voters, the ones which some organ
ization controls, form the congress
mans judgment because they are
the most vocal. They make them
selves heard in person, through
their membership, and the people
whom they influence.
In the two recent questions l
have mentioned: labor control and
price control, you have two power
full Hobbies at work - the unions and
the industrial organizations, but
pulling in opposite directions.
am not saying that either is
right or wrong in the views they
express and the causes they advo-
cate. am saying that they are
active and powerful And also that
they naturally promulgate ideas in
their own interest. If these inter-
ests happen to be the publics, as
Most of the congressional Sec
retaries I know well enough to talk
with frankly support this view. Ex-
cept, of course, when some strange
political deal is involved, whereby
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