The Wilmington morning star., 1946-10-15
Truman Speech Text

Ito expire on June 80, 1916. AS long
On as nine months before it ex-
pired / urged the Congress to ex-
tend it right away in order to pro
|tect our people and prevent rum
OILS imitation. Four times more IN
the spring of 1916, I urged the Con-
gress to act promptly. Each time
the Congress failed, and it con-
tinued to delay taking action I'M
til the very day the act expired.
Then. at the eleventh hour, me
passed a bill which l
could not sign-mainly because OF
the Taft and Wherry PROTECTING
amendments. In the interest of the
people-to prevent a legallzed run
awav inflatioin-I had to veto that
bill.
Prices Soar
Price control therefore expired
on June 30. For weeks we ~were
left with no controls while the
same few men in the Congress
again debated how they could do
~lip-service to an anti-inflation pro-
gram and still scuttle price con-
trolslhow they could pass a So
called price control law ana, at
the same time. take care OF the
special interests they wanted to
enrich. Prices naturally scared dur
ing all this delay. The Congress
finally passed a bill which became
law on July Is. Even in this second
bill. the same Congressional group
stripped the OPA of the power
necessary for effective price con-
troll. l signed this bill because IL
was perfectly clear that the Con-
e would do no better.
In this second bill-and this is
very important-the Congress oil
rected the removal of price con-
trolls on meat, and provided that
they could not be restored oelore
August 20.
On August 20, the Price Decon-
troll board, after q hearing SHOW
.ng the necessity for price ceilings,
restored controls on meat. But al
most two months had gone by, dur
ing which time meat had remain
ed free from all price regulation.
This lag of two months was the d.
rect result of the failure OF the
to pass a proper price
control bill in due time, as l had
so often urged.
During this period, selfish men
rushed unfattened cattle to the
houses in order to get
in under the wire and make high
profits. That inevitably caused a
shortage later. If price control had
been enacted by the Congress IN
time-if this lag of two months had
not occurred-this wasteful slaugh-
ter of unfattened cattle would not
have taken place.
With Reluctance
When I signed this second OPA
bill which the Congress had passed,
1 stated that I did so with reluct-
ance. I said further that it fell far
short of what I had hoped for, but
that a wholehearted effort would
be made to make the law work.
I have made that effort. I have
tried honestly and sincerely to ad-
minister this feeble law. All the
government agencies have made
the same vigorous effort. From the
outset, however, the very forces
responsible for the weakening Of
the law in the Congress have de-
manded the lifting of V e the in
adequate controls which the Con-
gress had enacted. Besides, many
members of the Congress and many
candidates have pledged them
selves to vote for the removal of
price controls as soon as the new
Congress meets.
AS a result, many business men
have held on to the products they
would normally sell, gambling on
the possibility of the release of
price control and the opportunity
Tor greater profits. This has been
cOnsDiclJOuS1v true in the caSe of