Evening star., 1946-07-03
Price Of Milk
|sUp3Cents;
Meat toFoI|ow
Supply Of Beef,
Pork and Poultry
Due to Increase

Washington area today as retail
food dealers, restaurants and con-
sumers anticipated higher costs of
beef, pork and poultry when a prom
ised great increase in the meat
supply develops here in the next few
days.
Reporting that the meat supply
already on the way will kill the black
market and approach the point of
prewar plenty, an official of the
meat division of the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association declared
that temporarily higher wholesale
prices on some kinds of meat grad
ually will be stabilized to approx
mate former OPA ceilings.
Retail prices of chickens have
increased from 10 to IL cents q
pound in most meat stores at the
Arcade Market, with one reported
instance of a dealer charging 10
cents a pound. One market mana
ger reported he is charging 81 cents
a pound, because the wholesale
price went up this week to So cents
as compared with Al cents he paid
last week
Beef Prices Mount.
He declared that he knew of
another dealer at the Arcade Mar
ket, who was charging 10 cents.
Wholesalers have raised the price
OF beef 7 or cents a pound, a trend
that will be reflected almost immedi-
ately in the housewives pocketbook
and poultry has gone up about 10
cents a pound wholesale, Joseph B
Danzanski, counsel for the associa-
tion's meat division, said.
"As supplies increase, the industry
will adjust itself and prices will
come back approximately to the
OPA ceilings if Congress holds off a
week from installing another ver-
sion of OPA or renews the life Of
that agency" he asserted.
How soon such increases would
affect the hold-the- line policy of
restaurants was a question officials
OF the Restaurant Association of
Washington said they could not an
swer. They said eating places here
have conformed to previous cell
ing prices on practically all items,
but that ''of course this NAV not
be possible if higher prices have
to be paid to suppliers
Glass of Milk Still S Cents.
For the time being most of the
larger restaurants and drug stores
will continue to charge only 5 cents
for a half-pint glass of milk. al
though today's milk price increase
requires them to pay that much for
a half pint, a restaurant association
officer said. This is in addition to
a l-cent bottle charge" which
must be paid for every bottle broken.
Previously, the cost per half pint
to restaurants and drug stores was
Ak cents plus the 1-cent bottle
charge.
Thomas N. Beavers, president of
Peoples Drug Stores, said his COM
pany would absorb the loss" and
not change the scents a glass cost
to the consumer. He added that
"of course we couldn't go on forever
doing that"
Robert j. Wilson, secretary of the
restaurant association, reported that
this policy seems likely to be fol-
lowed by the larger restaurants and
other places where milk is served
In glasses. He said he believed some
OF the smaller establishments will
be obliged to charge more If they
are not doing SO already.
The milk price increase went into
effect this morning after dairies
decided to accept the move of the
Maryland & Virginia Milk Pro-
ducers' Association to raise the price
to the amount of the consumer
subsidy" which ended with OPA.
In the case of the producers that
amount was equivalent to 2 cents
a quart. The additional 1-cent
raise was to compensate the diaries
for the loss of subsidies which had
been paid to them, it was explained.
Subsidies Explained.
Mr.. Derrick and others explained
that subsidies to farmers averaged
from rs to 80 cents a hundred
weight. BY the end of this year the
authorized subsidy would have ex-
ceeded 81, so that 80 cents would be
about the average for the period.
The 2 cents was estimated to COM
pensate the producers for the lost
subsidy in that amount, but has
been calculated to be between 7 and
Is cents above the former subsidy.
The subsidy previously paid to
dairies was 43 cents a hundred
weight. The price increase effective
today, it was explained, will bring
about 46 cents more hundred
weight.
Meanwhile, as retail food and
other stores in general were reported
to be holding to price ceilings, or
below, on present stocks, consumer
groups planned a mass meeting at
$50 pm. tomorrow at the Sylvan
Theater. on the Washington Monu-
ment grounds, under sponsorship of
the Emergency Price Control Com
mittee.
The committee, with which Is
organizations are affiliated, an
nounced late yesterday that it had
postponed the parade planned as q
demonstration in favor of price
control legislation. Tomorrow's
meeting will be an hour before the
official July 4 celebration at the
Monument Grounds.
Merchants Holding Line.
Local merchants, in the opinion
Of officials of business association
officials, are uniformly" holding the
line and will continue to do so on
all goods they have on their shelves
and counters. They said they could
not predict the retail price trend
in department stores and speciality
shops if prices rise at the manu-
facturer level, although they saw
no present indication that such in
creases are likely in the near future.
The General Electric Supply Co.
was among several concerns which
Informed the pubic today that it
has been notified by it's home Offices
that present price law status is no
justification for immediate price
changes"
Silver Spring Residents