The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-09-07
CONGRESS Writes Workable Home Front
Controls Bill; Truman Gets Wide Power
BY ALvAINE HAMILTON

Dy ALN A1INE t1A WI IL yin
Washington LPA) A home
front controls bill, which Demo-
cratic leaders think is workable" +,
has finally been written by Con-
gress. 1t is the result of six weeks
of haggling under chaotic condi-
tions, during which numerous at
tempts were made to re-write the
intricate bill on the floors of House
and Senate.
President Truman has been Civ
EN- powers to control prices and
wages-powers which he did not
include in his July 9th request
growing out of Korean war de-
mands. He can control prices of
Individual commodities-like rubber
tires or passenger cars or steel
springs-or he can place controls
over whole groups of commodities,
or if necessary over the whole
range of wholesale or retail prices.
Wages would have to be stabi
ized by the President in each in
dustry for which he established
price ceilings. Wage raises could be
prohibited on Presidential order,
if he believed they would result in
Tan increase in the price ceiling or
impose undue burden under the
price ceiling" I'm view of the sky
high profits being coined by nearly
every industry, it will be hard to
prove that a burden" would re-
suit from wage boosts now being
demanded by the unions.)
The only hard d-and-fast order to
the President, outside the one tie
ing price controls to wage controls,
is that he must establish general
anti-inflation controls whenever he
has set ceilings on materials and
services comprising a substantial
part of all sales at retail and ma
terially affecting the cost of liv-
ing"
Pro-labor members of the Senate
House conference committee which
wrote the wage-price section be-
hind closed doors during a week of
day -and-night meetings, managed
to block much more stringent
wage price ties that would have re-
suited in a virtual freeze of wages.
They also stopped a proposal that
a farm-industry-labor-publ advis-
ory board would have to be con
suited before the President could
take any stabilizing actions. This
latter was Objectionable because it,
would have allowed farm spokes-
men to pass on wage controls, and
labor spokesmen to pass on farm
prices.
The President is empowered toI
set up a 1850 equivalent of thel
War Labor Board, and to call con-
ferences of labor, management,
government and such others as heI
may designate. Both the govern
ment and the CONFERENCE.-THE ma
chinery would be intended to en-
courage peaceful settlement off
labor-management disputes which
might otherwise interrupt vital de-
fense activities. There is a specific
provision that no actions can bel
taken contrary to the Taft Hartley
law.
The Senate-House conferee 81
knocked out, before final passage.
the amendment written into the
bill on the Senate floor by Senator's
John Bricker Or, Ohio) and Ken
meth Wherry OR, Nebr.). This
would have compelled President
Truman to put controls over the
whole economy all at once. This,
it was pointed out, would have re-
quired recruiting at least 30,C00l
employees for a brand new control
agency, and would have cost at
least $3.50 100000 year.
The new bill exempts large parts
Of the average family's cost-of-liv-
ing from controls. 1t does not con-
troll rents, the cost of medical SER
vices, the price Of old houses,
rates, insurance,
recreation and reading matter.
Even more serious, the cost of
food, which takes 40 cents out of
every average wage-earner's dollarl
will probably continue to rise even
If the provisions of the controls bill
are applied. The controls over agri-
cultural prices were written by the
farm bloc to provide the highest
possible prices to farmers, and
these would be reflected right up
the line to the grocery store. Spec
ial protection for the profits of to-
bacco growers, and dairy producers
were also written into the bill,
it likely that prices for
meat, cigarettes and milk will bel