Show s. s E. E r r r r I High Wages Crop Loans e y Threaten Cost of Living E s Price Control Measures Considered Likely t r Peace Peace Lovers Lovers Lovers' Picket White House a Hull Reveals Post War Plans A A ABy By BAUKHAGE National Farm and Home Hour Flour Commentator Service 1343 H n Street Washington D. D C. C Dollars 1 At last they are beginning to worry Washington Not the ones going out of the treasury treasury we we can take that in our stride But the ones rolling into pay envelopes and starting starting start star ing to burst forth again is such excitement excitement excitement ex ex- that everybody is afraid that the noise is going to scare prices up a tall talI tree Wages today are the highest in history And as one official remarked remarked remarked re re- marked to me If something isn't done well we'll have inflation and a slump that will wilI be streamlined It will make the timers old-timers wish they had their old Model T depression back again Some people put the blame other places but this is the story that friends of the administration tell Leon Henderson price czar hoped to keep prices from running away by using moral suasion or legal effort effort effort ef ef- ef- ef fort to keep industrial prices from going be beyond ond a certain level There were two reasons for that to get down costs in essential defense commodities commodities commodities com com- to control prices on basic materials like steel which always take other costs up when they rise themselves Next to achieve a balance between between be be- tween agricultural prices and others others others oth oth- ers the government would support farm prices up to a certain point Lastly a certain amount of elasticity elasticity elasticity elas elas- in wages would be allowed in order to prevent strikes But what happened Wages Reach Peak Workers demanded and as as I stated are getting the highest wages in history Workers wanted to get their slice of the money the government is spending on defense Then the friends of the farmer came along They said the farmer might as well cut a melon too while the cutting was good And so congress voted an increase in crop loan rates which the President said might push certain products above parity And Arid so the result is more dollars for the consumer to spend and less things for him to spend them on especially since the defense industries industries industries indus indus- tries have to beat their sewing machines machines machines ma ma- chines into tanks and the like When the demand is big enough and the supply is small enough it takes all the kings king's horses and all the kings king's men to keep prices down You cant can't repeal the law of supply and demand However the prospects prospects prospects pros pros- are that congress will be asked at least to try to amend it In other words some drastic price central contral contral con con- measures will be taken A flat ceiling will be established for certain goods and then unless a method is adopted for getting folks to lock lockup lockup II up those extra dollars with no place to go nobody knows what will hap hap- pen Peace Pickets Muddy the Water Muddying the waters waters it it seems to me that I have heard that phrase more and more often recently There is a good example of it right in front of the White House every day day in in fact 24 hours a day while the American American American Amer Amer- ican Peace Mobilization pickets stroll backward and forward day and night I watched them hem in the bright sun of noon And as I looked at each face face we we stared brazenly at each other other other-I I felt sure some were sincere believers that war of any kind was wrong wrong some some were fanatics joining a cause for the sake of joining Some were simply indulging in an exhibition complex and some were cleverly muddying the waters The leader of the line was a girl girlin girlin girlin in a military cut jacket she was carrying a United States flag She looked straight at me as she approached approached approached ap ap- ap- ap and as she drew nearer I noted the strong oriental cast of her feat features res Next to her was a man carrying a placard and a lantern the light of peace He had eyes that burned with the light of the fanatic Gray hair sunken cheeks the stoop of frustration You have heard the type rant on any emotional emotional emo emo- emotional subject He shuffled past Man Is Self Next was a serious-looking serious average average average aver aver- age man in glasses He was the only one who looked at me a little self He carried a banner banner banner ban ban- ner with the commonplace request to join the peace movement There were others but by this time I was feeling a little self-conscious self myself so I grinned at the policemen policemen policemen police police- men and they grinned back There were two of them guarding the pickets who had been attacked at least twice by soldiers Two more bluecoats stood at the White House gates for when there are demonstrations no one can enter enter enter en en- ter the grounds without proper identification iden iden- As I went in I heard one of them reporting at the call-box call everything going fine out here But I 1 wondered Hull Tells Plans For Post War Peace Just a simple bourgeois I A thing of shreds and patches Of fiscal bumps and scratches And monthly bills to pay With apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan Sullivan Sullivan Sul Sul- livan I modernize Pooh Nanki-Pooh from the Mikado hoping there will be no reprisals For sometimes I think it is time the bourgeois who seem to be so unpopular until the guns begin to shoot and the taxes ar are levied deserve a word or two And so on one Washington summer summer summer sum sum- mer day recently when I was wakened wakened wakened wak wak- ened by the birdsong in the neighboring neighboring neighboring neigh neigh- boring invisible elms I had a surprise surprise surprise sur sur- prise that pleased me As I opened the door and reached for Cor the milk the morning papers and the rent bill my sleep-dimmed sleep eye caught II a cheering headline HULL DEFINES OUR WAR POST PROGRAM WANTS RAW V MATERIALS TRADE FOR ALL That was the first hopeful message message message mes mes- sage for the average guy that my weary eye had met in a long time You may recall that in this year of our discontent one of these columns columns columns col col- began this way There is a peace-machine peace in Washington all oiled and ready to start the moment the last gun is silenced in Europe From it may come a plan which the democracies can offer to the world as an alternative to the totalitarian way of life It And at last the good gray and stubborn gentleman in the state department department department de de- de- de trotted it out to hold up to the struggling world a promise instead instead instead in in- I stead of a threat a hope instead of ofa ofa i ia a sneer I Two hours later a philosophical Communist friend was sniffing at atit atit atit it as we walked past the treasury building Back to the old order he said contemptuously Half an hour later a genial conservative conservative conservative con con- was laughing at it Give it Give me good high tariffs he said as asif asif asif if he were contemplating a slice of II juicy roast beef Perhaps as an style old-style bourgeois bourgeois bourgeois bour bour- I should have agreed with I that but I am a bourgeois new style I dont don't know anything about economics but I know what I like like like-I I like to think that Secretary of State Hull is right when he says that the seeds of war take root behind any artificial barriers which keep people from getting their share of the earths earth's bounty i Five Points in Program Mr Hulls Hull's program is the one he he has lived by since his early days in congress and the five points which he outlined to the world are I his credo credo no no extreme nationalism which would enforce excessive trade restrictions non-discrimination non in international trade relations raw materials of the world available to all nations international agreements agreements agreements agree agree- ments to protect the consumer r countries countries countries coun coun- tries and their people international finance run so that all countries can develop their essential enterprises If these conditions were explained to the middle-class middle people of the world today in Britain and Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many in France and Italy in terms of the kind of life Mr Hull believes his plan would bring and if those people could be convinced that such sucha a plan would be carried out Ill I'll wager they would turn their guns and battle for these five points under under under un un- un- un der any honest leader Unfortunately there were once upon a time 14 points which Woodrow Woodrow Woodrow Wood- Wood row Wilson Vilson offered as the basis of peace in 1918 And all those little points were broken off short by the gentlemen in Paris who thought they had a better scheme They made a peace which we learned to our sorrow was just a athing athing athing thing of shreds and patches |