Evening star., 1946-02-03

BuC LnlS Time preSSureS carried over
from the war are far greater than in
1918. Wartime savings of the public
alone total $145, 900 ,000 900, which is
equal to total consumer expenditures in
our two most prosperous prewar years.
Currency in circulation is up $40, ,000,-
100000 since the war began and balances
in checking accounts in banks are up
SAL 1000, 100000. Don't forget that mill
tary expenditures for the first year after
vi day are estimated at SAL 900 900 900
or $4,000 000,0 900 more than the total ex-
penditures for World War I, which
brought about such disastrous infla-
ton and collapse"
With these tremendous pressures at
work to initiate our economy, Mr.. Bowles
is particularly fearful about two fields
in which prices are rising to a point
where they threaten the whole balance
of American living. These are in real
estate and the stock market.
Would Stabilize Real Estate Prices.
He is an ardent advocate of the ad-
ministration bill of Representative
Wright Patman, Democrat, of Texas to
stabilize real estate prices. He is fear
full that the imitation already so evident
in this field will spread to the presently
stabilized areas and that it will hold
up the desperately needed housing pro-
gram for veterans and others,
Testifying before the House Banking
and Currency Committee in support of
the Patman bill, Mr.. Bowles compared
conditions today with those after World
War I.
THE danger signs are already fright
eningly clear" he said. Construction
costs have increased more than 30 per
cent since the beginning of the war in
1899. Anybody who has tried to build
or buy home during recent months
knows that prices are sweeping higher
and higher every day. Evictions of ten
ants resulting from home sales provide
another inflationary danger signal. On
the basis of eight months experience it
Is estimated that such evictions in 1945
will total 225 900 as compared with only
73,509 in 1943.
"If we fail to plug this dangerous hole
in the stabilization dixie once and for
all, we must be prepared to face the
same crippling building boom and col
lapse which occurred at just about this
time after the last war. There was
great accumulated demand for housing
after the last armistice, too. Early in
1919 a vigorous building boom began.
But in one year building costs skyrock-
eted 40 to so per cent above 1918. And
within one year the boom collapsed.
Runaway prices had dried up the mar
ket.
Many Suffered, Few Gained.
During the boom and collapse proc
ess, some buyers dug far too deep into
their pockets to pay high prices and
lived to regret it later. Thousands OF
others could not buy at all and thus
failed to get the homes they badly
needed and would gladly have bought
at prices within their reach. The build
ing industry was robbed of its long
range market. 1t failed to make the
contribution it might otherwise have
made to sustained, high-level economy.
When the collapse came, thousands of
gained and many suffered. There was
long-term aftermath of mortgaged
foreclosures and economic maladjust-
ments which contributed heavily to the
crash of 1929"
Bowles is so convinced of the right
eousness of his cause that he scorns
appeasement of his opponents, the most
notable of whom are the National
Association of Manufacturers, the Ma
tional Retail Dry Goods Association
and the Association of Real Estate
Boards.
He welcomed an invitation to speak
before the annual meeting of the NAM
so he could tell the members to their
faces what he thought of the organ
ization's efforts to break down price
controls.
Calling names, he told the meeting
in the Waldorf Hotel:
Before Congress 18 months ago and
again last spring NAM officials advo-
Gated amendments to the OPA Act
which in my opinion would have made
effective price control absolutely i'm
possible
Points to Huge Saving.
But for the sake of clarifying the
point, let's accept the view of those who
claimed that these changes would have
increased prices only 10 per cent each
year. Even though we accept this view
point, the result would have been a
$50, 900 ,000, 900 increase in the cost Of
fighting the war-a sum only $4,000, ,000,-
900 less than the cost of the entire
World War I. At the same time, Mr..
and Mrs. Long Suffering American
Consumer would have found 36,000,-
100000 added to their cost of living.
In other words, even relying on the
most optimistic estimates put forward
by the proponents of the NAM-sponsored
amendments, the Nation has already
saved $66,0OO,0OO,O00 by not taking your
leaders advice.
'The stock market had been booming
merrily along AS in 1929 taxi drivers,
BARRIERS and elevator boys are providing
inside information on just what selec-
tions are apt to rise the fastest. The
dopesheets coming from Wall Street
anticipate higher and higher prices.
The real estate market is starting to
skyrocket.
What, under such circumstances,
would happen to prices if the Nation
now accepted the advice which Mr..
Robert w. Wason, chairman of the NAM
Reconversion Council, and Mrs. John
Airey, chairman of the NAM War Con-