The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-07-05
Truman


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orator, proportionate boosts on other
appliances; "a clothing prices which
are already at the highest peak In
history, would receive an immediate
bump Of Is per cent at the manufac-
turers' level. Clothing price increases
alone would cost the consuming public
more than SO billion during the next
year-or approximately s21 per person
DIETER than 800 per average family
of five for the next twelve months).
Approval of the bill with it's provisions
for removal Of meat and meat products
from OPA control and the dropping OF
subsidies on meat (both of which were
advocated by Sen. Wheeler) would add
at least another $125 annually to the
average family's cost of living. 81
Base steel prices would jump from 81
to So per ton; (6) Farm machinery
would Immediately cost Americas
farmers an additional 10 per cent.
Taft Amendment Opens Way For
Further Price Increases
Harmful as would be the effect of
the inflationary immediate price in
creases noted above on the American
economy, the President stated that
those were only the beginning, under
the Taft amendment. Such allowable
price increases as would have been
permitted by the vetoed legislation,
would have indirectly forced constant
ly increasing prices throughout the
economy For instance: the law would
have left the way open for car manu-
facturers to Immediately jump prices
approximately $3.50. However, the law
would have also permitted tire manu-
facturers, safety glass firms, access
series suppliers, etc., to add ubstan-
tial increaes on the products they sold
automobile manufacturers. These in
creases, in turn, under the law, would
also be passed on to the consuming
public, and so the vicious price spiral
would go increasingly higher at an
ever increasing pace until the infla-
tionary bubble finally burst and the ma
ton was dumped into the deep abyss
of economic prostration.
ffOdfu discourage hdtHCT nan
Accelerate Production
Pointing to the age old truism of
Americas private enterprise system
never sell this week those goods which
if you hold back until next week you
may receive a substantially higher
return on-Mr Truman said that the
Taft amendment, instead of encour-
aging an expanding production of
gods would actually accelerate the
sit down" strike that industry has
been carrying on since the wars end
In this connection, he pointed out that
he had instructed Attorney General
Tom Clark to conduct immediate in
vestigations of shortages to determine
if there was criminal liability on the
part of manufacturers, and in instan-
ces where such liability was determin-
ed for the Department of Justice to
take appropriate action
Emphasizing further the vicious
ness of the amendment Senator Taft
had authored (Which would provide
with the same margin
of profits as in 1941) the President
stated that the profit margin of manu-
facturers in 1941 was higher than in
any of the five years preceding 1941,
and the war years, and was so per
cent higher than in the boom year of
1929. With the increased volume of
to be done not only with the
American public, but with the other
nations of the world, the permitting
Of the same profit margin as in 1941
would create utterly fantastic profits
and would be major factor in hurl-
ng the nation into another chaotic de-
preston.
Vetoed Bill Would Have Brought
New Worker Unrest
The proposed bill, because of the
absence of any safeguards to hold
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