Monday, Jan. 14, 1946

Frustration

Any kind of merchandise at fair prices, especially clothing, is a rarity in rackety-rax Rome. So is Swiss-born George Bloch. Last week the combination produced a riot on the Corso Umberto I.

Two years ago Shopkeeper Bloch had put up a sign: "This firm has closed its doors because it cannot get goods at proper prices. Rather than go to the black market, we retire temporarily from business." Just before Christmas he put up a new sign: "We open Jan. 2. All goods at prewar prices until we are sold out. . . . Please buy as little as you can--think of others."

In the mob that milled into the Corso Umberto I were many who had foregone New Year's festivities in favor of a new shirt or a pair of cotton drawers. Carabinieri, forming a half hedgehog around the store, issued numbered admission tickets. Vulturous black marketeers swooped on the scene to hawk phony tickets at $8 apiece.

In a few hours the store was sold out. Among those who had waited futilely, frustration grew ungovernable. "The SS are back!" they screamed as the taut police finally dispersed them with flailing batons.

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