Evening star., 1950-07-30
Price Controls Urged
To Stop Initiation
Writer Approves Borueh
Plea for Ceilings
By Frank R. Kent

Faced with peril such as now con-
fronts this country. it seems incredible
that the facts presented on Wednesday
by B. M. Baruch to the Senate Banking
and Currency Committee could be passed
over or ignored. No more solemn warn
ing and none more solidly based has ever
been given to this Nation in a great
crisis.
And yet all Mr. Baruch did was to re-
peat, in substance, the recommendations
he made in 1941 and upon which action
was inexcuSably delayed for two years
land even then feebly taken) during
which time prices of all kinds had run
wild and an imitation permitted that
added hundred billion to the cost of
the war, needlessly prolonged the conflict
and unnecessarily increased the toll of
dead and wounded" At that time, asked
for his advice, Mr.. Baruch laid down
facts which never have been questioned
and made arguments which never have
been disputed
Now nine years later responding to
another request, this man, who no one
has ever suggested had either personal
or political ak to grind, again urges
the entire economy, overall prices, wages,
rents, fees ETC., with high enough taxes
to prevent profiteering and to pay all
defense costs. with an all-embracing ef-
fective system of prioritieS." In brief, he
again insists there is no way to avert in
fiation except by immediate dealing with
the factors involved altogether and all at
one time. 1t cannot be done piecemeal
Pnncoun1t OF fad
last time, or step by step, as Mr. Truman
now proposes. This time, the Baruch
recommendations have greatly gained in
weight by the record of the terrific
waste of men, money and material which
followed failure to act in 1941.
Not minimizing the drastic nature Of
an all-out mobilization, Mr.. Baruch con-
tends it is the only intelligent way to
proceed. 1t would minimize the actual
sacrifices we would have to make and re-
duce the risks of third World War by
serving notice to the world that our tre-
mendous economic potential is ready to
be exerted fully-and not partly. Before
the peace is won," he declared, 1--WE shall
have to come to this mobilization. 1t
will never be easier to do than now" OF
course, the great basic fact about the
would not face in 1941, and which Mr..
Truman is evidently not facing now. is
that all efforts to control prices-which
means inflation-become farcical if CELL
ings are not firmly placed on wages and
on food costs, which are the two big
factors in all prices.
No one denies these facts and yet Mr..
Roosevelt, in 1941. showed them aside and
10 NEr ~
dication of facing up to them.
Nine years ago, when Mr.. Roosevelt
first altogether avoided the question Of
price control, there were plenty besides
Mr.. Baruch to point out the mistake. A
year later when he finally was forced to
set up his Office of Price Administration
but gave his administrator no control
over wages, it was clear he had given
that official, Leon Henderson. an utterly
impossible job. Being an intelligent man,
Mr.. Henderson knew why. 1t was i'm
possible then to attribute the Roosevelt
refusal to grasp the wage-control prob
lem to anything other than the political
alliance existing between him and the
labor-union bosses. That refusal was
followed by innumerable strikes and
slowdowns, wage and price increases and
long delays in the production of war
material which few can have forgotten.
Today one is almost forced to ascribe
Mr.. Trumans apparent refusal to profit
by bitter and costly experience to the
same reason.
The alliance between the Democratic
administration and the Democratic
party. on the one hand, and the labor
Bosses on the other. is even tighter now
than it was under Mr.. Roosevelt. Their
attitude is more arrogant and demand
ing. The politicians regard their support
as more important So long as Mr. Tru-
man fails to meet his test. he cannot
escape the obvious conclusion as to the
reasons.