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Show MBiaraot'iD jfi lii u & ROBERT A iflE H .. i i. ....... iiilliniinrt GOVERNMENT FEARS RISING PRICES WASHINGTON. Only insiders know it, but the government is preparing pre-paring drastic price controls if the present upward trend continues. They fear a runaway price situation situa-tion which would hit the pocketbooks : of the great mass of consumers. And the last thing the administration administra-tion wants right now is a hot cost-of-living potato on its hands. So far there have been marked price advances only In a few commodities com-modities lumber, scrap iron, and other basic raw materials. But recently re-cently there have been tell-tale signs of a general upward movement, and some (it those mysterious late-afternoon White House conferences have been over this problem. Three plans of attack are under consideration: 1. Use of the priorities control now vested In the office of production management, under the supervision of ex-U. S. Steel man Edward R. Stettinius Jr., to deprive price goug-ers goug-ers of their supplies, thus forcing them either to go out of business or bring their prices Into line. 2. Use of the "draft industry" law to compel price gouging coacerns to sell to the government at a fixed figure; also to "freeze" prices in industries where quotations persist In getting out of line with what are considered fair levels. 3. Imposition of a price ceiling on all commodities and on every step in the industrial process from raw materials to retailer. The last was the recommendation of Bernard Baruch, based on his experience ex-perience as head of the 1917-18 war industries board. In private conferences confer-ences with Roosevelt and defense chiefs, Baruch emphasized that the one big price lesson learned in World War I was that half-way control con-trol measures were worse than none at all. "You must either stabilize every price or stabilize no price." he declared. de-clared. "If you impose controls only at one point, you leave the door wide open for a worse break-away somewhere some-where else. The only effective defense de-fense is total defense and the only effective price control is total control." con-trol." HOPKINS REPORTS Here are some of the things Harry Hopkins told the President. First and most important, Hopkins Hop-kins definitely stated his conviction that the British would be able to hold out against the Nazis. He thoroughly thor-oughly agreed with Wendell" Willkie in spiking isolationist claims that Britain would crack up, submit to a negotiated peace, and leave the U.S.A. to hold the bag after voting "all-out" aid. However, Hopkins got no request from Winston Churchill that the U.S. send five to ten destroyers a month. What Churchill did request was the right to repair British destroyers and other naval craft in American dry-docks. dry-docks. This has been one of Britain's Brit-ain's most difficult problems, since all of her dry-docks are fairly easy targets for air raids, so that vessels needing repair frequently have been bombed a second time or even a third time and have to be repaired all over again. Churchill also asked that the United Unit-ed States sell or lease "mosquito boats." These are small, fast motor boats carrying torpedoes and equipped to lay depth charges, which the United States has been building at the rate of about one a week for some time. Churchill wanted them particularly particular-ly to ward off Nazi invasion, when it comes. Virtually impossible to hit because of their high speed they can do 50 miles an hour the mosquito boats would be especially effective against Nazi troop-ships and barges attempting to cross the channel. However, the mosquito boats which the United States is building are a little light for the choppy waters wa-ters of the English channel, and it is significant that the President already al-ready has ordered the redesigning of the stern of these boats in order to improve their balance. CAPITAL CHAFF Ex-Senator King of Utah visited the senate the other day. sat in his old seat and itched with the impulse to rise and address the chamber. Blind ex-Senator Gore of Oklahoma Okla-homa came into the chamber on the arm of a page and listened with uplifted up-lifted face and rapt expression to the debate. Following isolation demonstrations demonstra-tions in the senate galleries last week. Capitol police keep all visitors lined up on the lower floor, and admit ad-mit only a fejv at a time. Latest issue of the magazine "National "Na-tional Republican." blithely ignores Wendell Willkie. but heaps' four col- ! umns on ex-Ambassador Joe Ken- j uy:u agamst the lease-lend lease-lend bill. The magazine also has a few kind words for Norman Thorn- I as. the Socialist candidate, who alo ; opposes the bill. I The FBI is advising all plants doing do-ing deiense work not to sell their 1 waste paper but to destroy it. Henry Wallace presides "over the ' senate from the opening at 12 until 1:30. then retires to lunch on orange juice and a cheese sandwich. j |