The Government's Week

To many a hard-working businessman, scornful of boondoggling, the letters WPA mean We Putter Away. Last week the Works Progress Administration ceased preliminary puttering, began work on a project to delight every manufacturer and merchant in the land. Businessmen have been increasingly confused by 44 Federal and State fair-trade laws, by a jungle of anti-price-discrimination statutes. Governmental agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission have wondered just how much these 20th Century laws have improved or hampered trade, how much they have raised the cost of living. In April, WPA announced that it would find out, through a marketing laws survey, since estimated to require two years and $2,000,000. Last week it set about establishing offices in 200 cities from which to interview businessmen and consumers, spy on prices in their native haunts.

The work will have two aims. A legal division will for the first time summarize in one book all State and Federal antitrust laws, fair-trade laws, laws on advertising, on trademarks, on chain stores, on co-operative marketing. An economic division will try to find what effects these laws have upon consumer costs, distribution, chain-store growth, etc. In charge is lean Augustus Heath Martin Jr., who was successively sales-promotion and wholesale manager for Chrysler and Willys-Overland and southeastern manager for Union Bag & Paper Corp., joined the Administration as coordinator for the National Bituminous Coal Commission. He first expressed his talent for puttering by designing an early motorcycle.

Last week the U. S. Government also did the following for and to U. S. Business:

P:Tossed a crumb to the starving railroads. Turning down a petition for a 10% rise in Pullman rates as "unreasonable," the Interstate Commerce Commission did consent to a 5% rise. This gave eastern roads new hope that ICC may look favorably on their renewed petition for higher coach passenger fares. Meanwhile last week, the railroad unions agreed to discuss the proposed 15% wage cut at a meeting July 20 and Class I roads as a group reported a net loss of $25,000,000 in May.

P:Agreed to lend $5,800,000 through RFC to help eliminate competition between private utilities and Government power projects. Knoxville, Tenn. will use the money, first such RFC loan, to purchase the local power system of Tennessee Public Service Co. as arranged six weeks ago (TIME, May 30).

P:Agreed to consider defense testimony from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in defense of monopolistic practices. After a three-year investigation at a cost of $1,500,000, Federal Communications Commissioner Paul Walker three months ago submitted to Congress his preliminary report on A. T. & T., suggesting among other things a 25% cut in telephone rates (TIME, April 11). A. T. & T. claimed that it had been refused the right to cross-examine witnesses and offer a prepared defense. Last week. FCC agreed to consider such defense before submitting its final report to Congress.

Most exuberant metaphormix born of last week's continued market rise was voiced by Secretary of Commerce "Uncle Danny" Roper: "Now is the time for business to set its sail to the forward current and prepare for participation in the now forming upward swing."

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