Evening star., 1946-02-03
Next Five Months Critical
In Fight Against Initiation
OPA Director Bowles Cites Factors Which Might
Cause Disaster if Need for Price Control
Is Not Realized
By Raym ond p. Brandt

traitor Chester Bowles believes.
Whether we shall have boom and
bust, as after World War I, or a sus-
tanned prosperity. which is within our
grasp, is the question he is putting up
to Congress and the country.
The next six months" he told the
writer, will be the most critical of the
reconversion period. We are now at
the same crossroads we faced after the
1918 armistice when we foundered into
boom and collapse that delayed
rfconversion for years.
This time there are two big differ
Snces People are more determined to
avoid postwar imitation. But imitation
ary pressures are far greater. 1t is just
a question of which of those forces is
going to win out.
will we move ahead toward our main
goal of expanded production, steady
joEs and good farm markets? Or will
We let imitation destroy jobs and mar
kets and bankrupt farms and businesses
as it did after the last war? Every one
S>the consumer, the farmer, the busi-
nessman and the worker-has a tre-
mendous stake in this decision"
Easy to Talk To.
BowleS is an easy person to talk to.
He has a slight New England tang to
his speech, modified by Choate School
and Yale and tendency to slur some
words. Like the first OPA administra-
TOT, rough-and- tumble Leon Henderson,
he pulls no punches and gives direct
answers. Like his immediate predeces-
sor, former Senator Prentiss Brown of
Michigan, he gets along with Congress
and admits probable mistakes in indi-
vidual cases.
Instead of sitting at his desk during
discussion, he likes to lounge in an over
stuffed chair or sofa in corner of his
Office, where he can stretch his long legs,
showing his scuffed up shoes. He talks
earnestly, but he has sense of wit and
humor that lights up his long, whopper-
IaWed face.
A former big-time advertising execu-
tive, he has something his predecessors
lacked in the thankless job of stabiliz-
ing prices. He knows public opinion and
he knows how to win the public's sup
port. Perhaps because of this ability
and the fear of the country of repeti-
ton of 1918-1921-a recent poll showed
that 70 per cent of the persons inter
viewed disapproved removal of all price
ceilings now; 81 per cent would approve
such action and per cent had no opin-
ion.
Senator Kenneth Wherry (Repub-
lican) of Nebraska, one of the OPA's
most vocal critics, has called him "the
greatest salesman in America"
Unmoved by Pressures.
Above all, he is not afraid of vociferous
minority groups, such as the National
Association of Manufacturers, the Ma
tional Retail Dry Goods Association, the
organized automobile dealers and the
Association of Real Estate Boards, which
have tried to high-pressure him and
Congress for their own ends. Perhaps
no official in Washington has been sub
jected to so many pressures and attacks
but wisely he does not pose as martyr
Most martyrs are dead" ne says ut
Most of the decorations in his Office
are graphs and pictograms comparing
the price and savings trends of World
War I and World War IL He is proud
Of the record during the war and does
not want it wiped out by self-seeking
groups.
Among the most Furnishing blows of
fN 1,1 1F
said, "is the devastating effect of inf1a-
ton. While prices are soaring it de-
stroys value of savings deposits, bonds
and insurance policies and puts pen
sioners, disabled veterans, people living
on annuities and white-collar workers
in tragic squeeze. When the bottom
drops out of the prices it causes business
failures, property losses, unemployment,
crushing drops in labor and farm income
and farm foreclosures.
Cites Loss in Dollar Value.
During all three of our previous major
wars the value of the dollar has fallen
sharply as result of rising prices. In
the Revolutionary War the value of the
dollar fell to 33 cents. During the Civil
War it fell to A cents; in the period of
World War I it went down to 40 cents.
But at the end of World War 1.-THE
greatest war of all-the dollar was worth
rs cents as compared with its 1889 pur-
chasing power. Almost all of the de-
creases in buying power of the dollar
during World War II took place before
the 'hold-the-line' order was issued in
April, 1943."
Bowles used the next five months as
the danger period because the OPA law
expires June 80. He had asked for a
years extension but Congress would ap-
prove only six months after the first of
the year. 1t is quite probable that he
will ask for some specific extensions
after June 80 Should all controls be
removed-as the NAM and Senator
Robert A. Taft, Republican. of Ohio
have demanded-it is likely that some
producers and distributors will hold
goods off the market in the late spring
to get higher prices in July.
ut is very important" Bowles said,
"that the whole country be given as
surances now that prices are going to be
held stable. People must know that their
earnings and savings are going to be
protected. Businessmen must be able
to plan both production and delivery
schedules with confidence. Materials
must flow steadily to factories instead of
being held for higher prices.
> Savings Equal Two-Year Spending.
Fright now think it is urgently i'm
portant that all of us have really clear
understanding of the size of the infla-