Show Will Two-Price Two Plan Work 1 By Rodney Dutcher WASHINGTON The one big 1 question asked about the proposed proposed proposed pro pro- posed two price system de designed designed de- de signed to transfer farm surpluses to low income families at low prices is Will it work work and and how Friends of the idea think most of the objections and difficulties difficulties difficulties ties can be overcome The specter of huge subsidies frightens many Those who have thought about the theory longest insist that In the case of some products it can be worked out with very little subsidy and in others with none at all Of farm program money available available available avail avail- able no great part seems likely to go for operating a two-price two system The which might be raised from processing taxes now proposed is about 3 per cent of the annual Income of the lower third one-third or lees less than 10 a person And the one third would be paying about one- one fifth of the processing taxes Here Are Questions because because be be- Is the scheme socialistic cause it means the government will enter the distribution system system system tem That depends on how its it's run How can poor people be segregated segregated segregated segre segre- gated from others who will want to buy at the lower prices How can competition with exIsting exIsting existing ex ex- ex- ex merchants and distributors distributor be avoided How about the fact that raw raw- cotton and wheat which cant can't besold besold be besold sold to the poor poor direct are but a small part of the cost in finished cotton goods and bread How could such a system be operated operated op op- crated on a vast national scale The two price price thinkers say first that the principle should be applied wherever it can be shown the poor would buy more of a given type of food or cheap clothing if they had more money On some items they think it probably wont won't work Then comes the problem of cheap distribution Under one proposed proposed proposed pro pro- posed scheme an income rating and identification card would be required for tor purchase of second price goods As AJ in New Yorks York's municipal cheap milk t fr tion poor families would would ask the lower price privilege and be granted grant grant- ed it by the government Low- Low cost distribution of price low-price food and goods probably would be largely a local problem Another possibility is that cheap goods such mch as overalls and work shirts can be dumped on the market through regular commercial commercial commer commer- cial channels with assurance that only the poor will buy them This This- is also alS l suggested for nutritive foods in less attractive cheaper but relatively noncompetitive forms such forms such as dried eggs dried milk and canned fruit juices Theory Stumbles on Bread The two-price two theory admittedly becomes extremely difficult when applied to wheat Bread is a basic food in low-income low family diets The system Is much more easily applied to such products as milk butter eggs eggs fruits vegetables and meats where there there- is no major manufacturing problem Specially Specially Specially licensed markets run on wholesale lines with consumers coming to buy and only one operation after the stuff arrives in town might handle such Items of farm surplusage The principle principle prin prin- ciple of cheapest possible distribution distribution distribution distri distri- costs presumably would be preserved with no Inconvenience to the purchaser morning early-morning sales periods standing in lin line lin etc and an identification card system m probably would be held necessary Although there are arc as yet no official official of of- answers to the questions posed by the two-price two proposal and the the- unofficial answers by the two-price two thinkers are but tentative tentative tenta tenta- tive and partial the federal government government gov gov- already is concerned in one two-price two venture and the nations nation's largest city is engaged In another These two operations will be described in a subsequent dispatch Copyright 1938 for The Telegram |