◆ SpookStack

APRIL 14, 1947 ET Our International OPA , Wwe there is not enough to go around, you try, if you are a realist, to divide ‘it fairly. You know that if you try to hog everything, the fellow across the sea or even the fellow in’ your own country will’ grab some- thing you need and jack up the price. So you study your needs and the needs of others and plan accordingly. And of - course you have to have such authority for this planning as the controls author- p-—-eae ~~ 1Zed* by=Title HE of the Second War Powers Act (which regulates imports, allocations and priorities) and the Ex- port Control Act (which covers ex- ports). But if you ate a fellow like Senator Robert Taft (R, Ohio) you close your eyes and go to sleep and dream of free enterprise. You wake up feeling that if only the government would: take its hands off, everything would eventually straighten itself out. Although we have shortages in our own country and al- though people are starving in other lands, you think. that if the government would stop allocating and channeling .scarce commodities all would be well. You: think that the boxcar problem ‘would solve itself. Boxcars of their own accord would find their way into the Middle West to carry wheat which can- not be transported because’ there are not enough boxcars to go around. Senator Taft was all set to kill Title II of the Second War Powers Act, which was to expire March 31, and he introduced a bill, S. 931, to that effect. This. bill would have removed controls on everything except tin, antimony, cin- chona bark, alkaloids and streptomycin, and would have extended control on these items to March 31,° 1948. Happily, by the efforts. of Senator Aiken (R, Vt.) and others, the bill as finally reported out of the joint con- ference committee was amended to in- clude the control of cordage, tractor ex- ports and transportation until June 30, 1947. There was also a general provi- sion which may be interpreted to cover the import control of fats and oils. Ap- parently Taft had to back down, because he did not oppose his amended bill on the Senate floor. . Aiken pointed out to the Senate what would happen if the government took off controls: There would be competitive bidding and contracting for available supplies, and prices would rise sharply, imposing added privations upon the countries in most ur- gent need of help, while setting in motion inflationary price spirals in our own coun- try, where a steady rise. in living costs is- already causing grave concern. While such price increases might bene- fit some speculators, they would not great- ly benefit our agricultural producers, be- cause the major portion of our grain crops which are sold off farms has already moved into trade channels, and also be- cause of inflationary production costs. Now that the law has been extended. until June 30, when the Export Control Act expires, the next job is to get both laws further extended. If they are hot, and if everything is turned over to the speculators and. private traders, people who need food most will get the least. The farmers also will suffer because they will not be able to get binder twine to harvest their crops, boxcars in which to put their grain or tin cans in which to put their vegetables. Crops will rot in the fields. Prices will go as high as a cat's back and the American farmer, 37 already suffering from inflation like the rest of us, will be left holding the bag, The effect on binder twine alone, of which there is a worldwide short- age, would ruin many wheat farmers. The US is the world’s largest importer of hard fibers, from which binder twine is-made. None is produced do- mestically. The hard fibers important to agriculture are abaca, known as ‘“Ma- nila,” agave, sisal and henequen. Re- moval of controls would mean they would be diverted from farm use into the production of more profitable items, such as wrapping twine, padding for bedding, furniture, carpet yarns and paper. Or take tin.» The US normally con- _ sumes one-half of the world’s total out- put of tin and is entirely dependent on imports. The tin supply will not exceed 75,000 tons; there will be a demand for apptoximately 120,000 tons. Under Present controls, consumption can be- held to 90,000, but that amount will exhaust our stocks. Controls are exer- cised to assure maximum production, of tin plate with minimum quantities of tin, . ; TT Second War Powers Act also controls tractor exports. American farmers still can’t get the tractors they need. In some areas the Price of a sec- ond-hand tractor is higher than that of a new one. But if.the government didn’t control the export of tractors, foreign countries could come into the US market and bid up the price so high that a poor farmer couldn’t buy one. And the coun- tries that needed tractors most might not be able to get them at all. The US is a net importer of fats and oils. It will import this year about 806 million pounds of industrial oils and export 628 million pounds (mostly edi- ble). Part of our fats and oils are set aside for needy countries.: But if the import’ law is allowed to expire, the tich American market would suck the world dry of fats and oils and widen the nutrition gap between starving Eu- - rope and the United States, Europe is in an even worse condi- -tion than it was last year. Although world production has gone up seven percent, demand is away ahead of sup- | ply. Undersecretary of Agriculture