U.S. Price Control Is “Bureaucracy Run Riot”

Northern Advocate, 19 December 1942, Page 8

U.S. Price Control Is “Bureaucracy Run Riot”

Received 11 a.m.)

WASHINGTON, December 18.

A preliminary report of the House of Representatives Committee after a year’s investigation of small business problems, blamed the Office of Price Administration policies for the threatened break-down on the home front, and asserted that the consumer goods distribution system was seriously undermined and weakened. “A collapse, gravely imperilling the entire war effort, would appear inevitable unless these policies are speedily corrected. Two factors, price squeezing and inequitable distribution must be adjusted in order to prevent the closing of thousands of business doors.”

The report characterised the entire system as “beaureacracy run riot.” Asked whether the resignation of the Price Administrator (Mr. Leon Henderson) might lead to voluntary rationing, replacing drastic compulsion, Mr. Roosevelt replied that rationing machinery was constantly being overhauled and revised, and he did not know what further rationing changes might be forthcoming. Without amplification, Mr. Roosevelt negatively answered a question as to whether planning was a recommendation for extensive social security legislation.