Evening star., 1951-05-26
Small Stores Relieved
OF Filing Price Charts;
DeadIine Is Extended
By Froncis P. Douqlos


The Government has relieved
!, about 100000 small retailers from
filing detailed pricing charts and
permitted them to continue to
set prices under the general freeze
= Of last January.
The order, which will permit
cutting out reams of paper work,
was issued yesterday. 1t applies
to little stores, such as hardware
stores, which carry large num-
Der of items. But establishments
doing $4,000 or more year of
business and selling such big arti-
cles as furniture or luggage. must
file the pricing charts called for
by the retailers pricing regula-
ton, at least on the big goods
The order gave a one-day ex-
tension to those who must f1let
the figures. Because the due date
OF May 80 is a holiday the time
was extended to May 81. but the
Office of Price Sterilization said
+ there would be no other exten-
sion /
Steel ALLEGATIONS Barred.
There were these other develop
ments on the mobilization front
l. A House subcommittee was
told that the locomotive building
division of General Motors OBJ
tanned two emergency steel allot.
ments in March while four of its |.
competitors obtained none. Earlier
tire subcommittee had learned of
or'v one steel allotment to GIN
=. Another House group as
seted that a small clique in the
National Production Authority.
with no special knowledge of any
industry" has invited "all kinds
Of impropriety." 1t called the de
tense loan and tax incentive pro-
gram "the biggest bonanza that
ever came down the Government
pike" .
The order relieving retailers of
small goods gives them the option
Of going ahead with their price
charts and operating under the
retailers regulation of continuing
under the freeze at the December
19-January IS levels.
Applies to Hardware Stores.
The order applies to those shop
keepers who sell such articles as
notions, housewares, sports goods,
si'verware, china, glassware, jew {
elry, watches and clocks. y
The subject of steel for locomo- l
tive builders came up before the
Monopoly subcommittee of the l
House Judiciary Committee. Ie
Robert L. Glenn. head of NPA's I
railroad equipment division, told
the subcommittee that while he I
was arranging a 2.600-ton allot- S
ment Of steel for the GIN locomo- S
tive building, the iron and steel I
division. headed by Melvin w. I
Cole, provided 1000 tons Of steel {
for GIN. a
Mr.. Glenn said if he had known
OF the 1,900-ton allotment he I
would have subtracted the amount i
from the 2,600-tons. He said also
that he approved allotments of I
steel for four other locomotive q
building companies. -t e
The papers for steel for the c
four other firms were lost, the Il
subcommittee has been told and {
Q second set was prepared. This
set also was said to have been lost 5
but the committee learned yes 1
terday this was not the case.
H. B. Mccoy, assistant NPA !,
administrator, and his assistant. l.
s. Sterling McMillen, said the :
second set remained in Mr.. Nc
Coy'S office for several weeks
awaiting approval. When they
finally were approved, the sub
committee was told, they were not y
issued, because by then the need .
for the steel by the four COM
panies no longer existed due to a
new NPA locomotive program. |
The charges about the defense
loan and tax benefit program were
made by the House Executive Ex- ,
penditures Subcommittee headed Z
by Representative Hardy, Demo- =
crat, of Virginia.
Review of Tax Benefits Urged. +
The report recommended that r
Congress review the whole tax n
concession program to determine
whether it is justified in view of a
the loss in tax revenues and it's
tnflationary effects. e
Under the Defense Production
Act loans are made to companies
for expanding plants and facilities v
needed for defense production. n
The company thus expanding may
also obtain certificates of neces-
,sity, permitting it to write off a O
percentage of the cost of expan-
sion in only five years, resulting 2
in lower taxes. a
J, The subcommittee said that in p
tive months such certificates have
been issued for SIS billion worth |
of expansion, and added:
$ Businessmen have been quick t
to seize upon this opportunity to r
expand their existing facilities, ex- C
IT, \A/-IL