Evening star., 1951-01-20
Officials Rush Freeze
|0f Prices and Wages;
Johnston Takes Over
By jones Y. Newton

JUIlII9IUu Iokc9 VvcI
By james 7. Newton
The Government today pushed
ahead for a freeze Of prices ant
wages under the leadership o1
Eric Johnston, 55-year -old bust.
nessman and "czar" Of the motor
picture industry. ,
Plans were being rushed fol
issuance Of the prize freeze order
next week If some problems, de-
scribed as purely mechanical, car
be worked out by that time. The
freeze, it was understood, will be
accompanied by q rollback OF
prices at least to the January ]
level.
Mr.. Johnston took over as ad-
ministrator of the Economic Sta
bilization Agency following the
forced resignation yesterday OF
Alan Valentine, the former college
president who had spent an un-
happy 31a months in the job.
Order Being Drafted.
Charles e. Wilson, the defense
mobilization director, Immediately
began drafting for President Tru-
mans signature an executive order
rearranging the whole Federal
sterilization setup and giving Mr.
Johnston much broader authority
than MIR. Valentine had.
The presidential order was ex-
pected In q day or SO. In it Mr..
Johnston will be- made the boss of
the entire economic control part
Of the mobilization program.
The new official will have charge
not only of prices and wages, but
credit control, rents and home
financing control as well.
Mr.. Johnston, who served four
terms as president of the United
States Chamber Of Commerce, OBJ
tanned a leave Of absence as presi-
dent Of the Motion Picture Pro-
ducers Association so that he could
accept his first formal Govern
ment post. He has served many
times as an adviser and in the past
has been mentioned as a possible
Republican presidential candidate.
Wilson Favors Speed.
Mr.. Wilson's Office would like to
issue both the price and wage
freeze orders next week at the
latest, but Price Director Michael
v. Di Sale indicated that drafting
difficulties might cause some fur
ther delay.
Under the plan, prices of all
goods and services, including
foods. will be frozen while sep
arate ceiling prices are worked out
as quickly as possible on an in
dustry-by-industry basis.
The same thing would be done
in wages and salaries. They would
be frozen while the Wage Stabili-
zation Board completes its big job
of drafting a control formula.
Any formula will be flexible in
that it would allow for some up
ward adjustment Of pay and cor
rection of inequities.
Both Mr.. Di Sales price Office
and the wage board of Chairman
Cyrus S. Ching will be increased
greatly in stature by the executive
order broadening Mr.. Johnston's
authority.
Due for More Autonomy.
Each will receive. it was under
stood, a large measure of auton-
omy to act in the price and wage
fields. They will make the deci-
sions subject to supervision of Mr..
Johnston. whose job it will be to
see that actions of both fit into
overall stabilization policy.
Mr.. Di Sale was given some
authority recently by Mr.. Valen-
tine, but the wage board current
ly is serving as a purely advisory
group. This situation has caused
some board members to threaten
to quit and organized labor re-
Gently warned that it would boy
colt the board unless it was given
absolute power to make its own
decisions on wage control matters.
Mr.. Johnston told reporters he
will keep hands off the operating
job and run a small "Vinson- type
agency for policy planning.
He was referring to the World
War II Office of Economic Stapil-
ization which was set up by the
present Chief Justice Fred M.
Vinson. He had a small policy
making and co-ordinating staff of
only a dozen or so and left the
operating duties to the OPA and
the War Labor Board.
Agency Building Up Rapidly.
Mr.. Valentine had kept most of
the operating power in his own
hands. Great expansion is planned
for both control agencies, and
especially for the price Office. The
Economic Sterilization Agency
now has less than 500 employees.
but is building up rapidly. OFF,
cials foresee the need eventually
for about $4,000 price employees
alone, to be stationed here and in
field Offices over the country. Field
Offices now are being set up.
Mr.. Di Sale is known to be-
lieve that food prices, unless
checked, will shoot up 8 or 10
points by the end of February.
This in turn would add 3 or 4 per
cent to the entire cost of living,
already at an all-time high.
There were these other develop
ments yesterday:
The railroad industry asked the
Interstate Commerce Commission