Ceiling Adjustments Coming

OPA last week decided to get down to brass tacks on the food price situation, promised hard-squeezed food wholesalers and retailers that "an alternative pricing method will be given [them], probably by mid-September."

Lanky, soft-spoken Kenneth Galbraith, Henderson's price man, says he has not worked out the actual formula. The idea is to narrow margins a trifle, but still allow wholesalers and retailers enough leeway to stay in business after meeting the increase in replacement costs since March. Some prices will rise sharply, others will remain unchanged. OPA estimated that the new formula would not up over-all food bills more than 2%.

Last week's announcement is a bow to the food trade which has been clamoring for ceiling adjustments rather than subsidies. OPA's hope is that its promise of profit will encourage brokers and wholesalers to contract for the fruit and vegetable packs now coming to market.

Bar checks in Alaska are no longer settled with bags of Klondike gold, but pennies are still so scarce in the Territory that last week Leon Henderson had to modify his general maximum price order, froze Alaskan prices to the nearest nickel instead of the nearest cent.

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