The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-03-28
Price
Continued from Page D
Does Not Find Evidence


 Crute in his letter said he found no evidence to substantiate charges or dealers that thousands of mills nave been put out of business by OPA ceiling prices" According to ms statement, the firm of Dun and Bradstreet report by "57 failures in iS44 and 49 failures in l945" in the lumber and lumber products bus mess.
 The OPA chief further claimed that since l94l the OPA has granted lumber price increases totaling around per cent" and that "in spite of these increases" lumber production has diminished,
 Crute declared the important req sons for the shortage of lumber to be: CD some of the worst weather the lumber industry has ever encountered; t2) shortages of equipment, such as portable saw mills, tractors, trucks and tires; and 'S) strikes in lumber camps, which caused production losses to the tune of about a billion board feet of lumber"
 Manpower continues to be a major problem in the lumber industry he continued, because of low wages"
 No Desire to Quarrel
 Mir. Smith. a national spokesman Of the National Retail Lumber Dealers which appeared before the House Banking and Currency com mittee. emphasized in today,s re- ply that we (the lumber dealers) nave no desire to carry on a quar- rel with OPA. We feel that OPA should be examining its policies in- stead Of attacking its critics and blaming poor production on the weather
 In an address last night before the Waterbury Real Estate Board, Smith declared that more than 1000 houses could be built in the Waterbury area in one year if OPA price policies were changed"
 Crute in his letter which was prompted by recent newspaper ads sponsored by the lumber dealers asked for evidence or suggestions of the black market which now al- legedly exists"
 Noting that the advertisements have been addressed especially to veterans and to citizens who are acutely in need of homes," Crute | asked:
 Do you, as businessmen. think ! that it serves their best interests to i attempt to delude them into be- lieving that the removal of price controls would miraculously pro- duce for them the homes that they need?"
 Text Published
 The full text Of Mir. Smiths re- ply of today is as follows:
 T think that Mfr. Crute's com ments are somewhat confusing and contradictory. Answering him in de- tail would further confuse the is- sue. There are certain inescapable facts that are plain enough for anyone to see.
 These are:
 l. We do have a housing short- age.
 ?. We do have a lack of mater ials for building homes to oyer- come the shortage. Tn fact, the goy- ernment has just issued an order prohibiting most building opera tions for this very reason.
 3. OPA policies do curtail pro- auction and distort both production and distribution. MT. Crute himself points out that adjustments have been made and are being made for this very reason, which is surely evidence enough. {. The OPA has delayed eight months in making adjustments | which 1t now admits are necessary }. There is an enormous black nafket m lumber. The Civilian Production Administration itself es- imates that 50 percent of all south sFn lumber production moves in 5 he black market. T want to emphasize that we lave no desire to carry on a quar- | el with OPA. We want the nee ,sSafy lumber, millwork, flooring. interior trim, and other items need- q to build homes. We feel that the 2 )PA should be examining its pol- / eies instead of attacking its critics nd blaming poor production on the ., feather Tn all fairness, should not n n he OPA either be able to make z corrections that are admittedly c lecessary in a shorter time than . ight months. or can see that 1t d annot do it's job?" 4