The Golden Apples

After a quick look at the citrus fruit market, OPA decided that this year's bumper crop was more than enough to meet demand. So last week it removed citrus ceilings until Jan. 13. The effect was like jabbing a grapefruit: instantly citrus prices squirted skyhigh all over the U.S. Example: in Seattle, lemons went up within two hours from the ceiling of $5.76 a crate to $9.50. Grapefruit went up $1.25 a crate. Oranges jumped from $4.63 to $7.50 a crate.

Quickly the trouble spread. In Chicago, irate restaurateurs and hotelmen acidly asked OPA: how could they go on serving fruit and juices at ceiling prices? Indignant housewives went on strike, began serving prunes for breakfast. Moaned one Detroit retailer, watching his fruit rot on the shelves: "It's terrible. The customers won't buy it."

At week's end, chiefly because of public resentment, citrus prices were already dropping. OPA ruefully admitted that maybe ceilings had been lifted too soon. But it was confident that the new crop in December would bring prices down to normal.

This confidence might be misplaced. When ceilings on other articles had been removed, prices had gone up, often stayed there. Samples:

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.