Evening star., 1948-12-19
Prices
Major Issue
InCongress
New Session Will Be
Under Pressure by
/ Consumers
By Chalmers M. Roberts

dSScIlUlt Ill dSIlllSCOu TWO WEEKS
from tomorrow, the problem of the
high cost of living, including such
related headaches as farm price
supports. is rapidly taking on new
proportions but with no evidence
that any handy solution is about
to appear.
A dozen agencies in the executive
branch downtown are struggling
with the imitation problem, headed
up by the Presidents Council of
Economic Advisers. Every step they
take is after a look at the latest
index figures-and especially with
an eye cooked for what Christ
mas business will be like this year.
Great Consumer Pressure
The farm problem, and it is a real
problem once again now that the
Nation is moving into a period of
production abundance, is essential
in the hands of Secretary of Agri-
culture Brannan. One high White
House adviser said last week that
Mr.. Brannan can write his own
ticket" so great is President Tru-
mans confidence in him plus the
Presidents appreciation of the elec-
tioneering job he did.
Mr.. Brannan expressed his own
feelings last Wednesday at the At
lantic City convention of the power
full American Farm Bureau Fedora
ton.
II say to you frankly that think
we ought to take a new look at the
present legislation. want to hear
lot of discussion pro and con.
I have not regarded the present act
as really firm legislation"
In speaking this way of the price
support law passed by the Eightieth
Congress last June, Secretary Bran
nan was indulging in the luxury
which he has but which the Council
of Economic Advisers does not have
time. For the present price sup
port law with its 80 per cent support
levels for the basic crops continues
through 1949 before the flexible part
Of the law, permitting lower price
supports, comes into force.
But the pressure to do something
about the high cost of living, from
the consumers standpoint, will be
tremendous the day the new Con-
gress meets. Many of the new
members we're elected after running
On platforms calling for action at
once to bring down the price of
food and other items that eat away
at both current incomes and saw
ings. President Truman, of course,
led the parade of speakers demand
ing an end to 90-cent-plus pork
chops.
Right here is one of the Difficult
ties. No longer are pork chops over
80 cents-they are down in the So
to-60-cent bracket. Still, that Is
hardly low enough to return the
succulent chop to its prewar status
of the poor mans lamb chcp. When
OPA was killed in June, 1946, the
comparable price, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 37.5
cents for the center-cut variety.
Many Sales Expected
Nevertheless, the drop in retail
meat prices, of which the fall in
pork price tags has been the most
spectacular, plus the leveling of of
the general cost of living index
maintained by BIS, has led the Gov
ernment economists into frame of
mind which worries about the pos
sibility Of the Government doing
something which would begin the
long -talked-of postwar recession.
It's a "let's not turn over the apple
cart" philosophy.
The BIS general cost-of living
figure-the consumers price index,
by its correct title-receded one-half
Of per cent in october and prob
ably will show similar, perhaps
slightly larger, drop for November
when the figures are released this
week, as can be seen from follow
ing the day-to-day movement of
prices. But what is really worry
ing a lot of economists-and prac-
tically all businessmen who deal in
consumer goods, from foods to
clothing to refrigerators and tele-
vision sets-is what will happen
after Christmas.
The general belief among econ
omistS here is that the age of big
post Christmas sales will be back,
with competition keen and price
cutting general in many lines. They
expect such clothing items as mems
shirts and some women's dresses as
we'll as many of the now-abundant
electrical goods to be featured in such
sales. The question is whether the
sales will be only the normal prewar
type which cleared out inventory
after a heavy Christmas stock or
whether they will be so severe as to
have an effect on the industries pro-
ducing the goods. Already there has
been some unemployment in these
industries. The full answer will not
be known until several weeks after
the new Congress already is in ses-
sion. 1t is possible that the problem
facing the Congressman will be one
of deflation rather than imitation, as
Senator Taft, Republican, Of Ohio
predicted last summer.
That this idea is not far fetched
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