Shakedown II

The economic machinery of peace needed even more tinkering than that of war. Built of odds & ends of free enterprise and New Dealism, held together with charity and hope, the weird and wonderful machine wobbled on. Washington's economic handymen worked their heads off, hoping that the whole contraption could be saved from an inflation boom & bust.

Last week they were haunted by the sight of one sad wreck: the meat industry. They had put on ceilings, passed out subsidies and wage boosts, seized strike-bound plants. And what had happened? Black markets were so prevalent and so much in the open that they had almost begun to look white.

Before the Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee appeared Cattleman W. D. Farr of Greeley, Colo. Disdainful of OPA penalties which make a violator liable to fines three times his total overcharge. Farr admitted that feeders sold above OPA prices: "Almost all the cattle arriving at the market at the present time are selling above the compliance range. If we were not able to get this black-market price we would be losing $5 to $10 per head on every animal we are feeding."

From all around the pasture came the same angry bleats. Said Howard Vaughn, president of the California Wool Growers Association: "One insurmountable object is a Government which changes the rules every June and keeps talking about what it will do next in all the months between. If we are ever to get increased production we must have the confidence that government will not upset our plans and we must have some degree of certainty of profits."

A Little Patience. The economic handymen had answers. Reconversion Director John W. Snyder had reported that production of civilian goods was the highest in history ($150 billion a year). Was there still a clothing shortage? Stabilization Director Chester Bowles asked only for a little patience and fortitude. The clothing shortage, said he, would be a "lot better" by mid-July.

All danger of runaway inflation, they said to an anxious and puzzled nation, would be over by June 1947. Meanwhile, all that was needed was a little more reconversion patchwork. They got help from some Congressmen. The House will begin consideration of a bill to extend Paul Porter's OPA for another year, and authorize $2 billion for consumer subsidies. The Senate gave Housing Expediter Wilson W. Wyatt $600 million to pass out in premiums for building materials.

In the midst of prayers and pressures the furious tinkering went on. U.S. citizens had no idea where they were headed--for a safe landing or a bust. All they knew was that it was almost impossible to buy a shirt. or a steak at ceiling prices, or rent a house.

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