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Show I NATIONAL AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD Interference With Law Of Supply and Demand Results in Headaches . . . Reorganization Looms for SPAB . (Bell Syndicate WNU Service.) I WASHINGTON. Many theoretical theoret-ical gentlemen, who were confident until just recently, that they knew all the answers, are finding out that when government interferes with the old law of supply and demand the result is headaches. Never have better illustrations of this been manifest than in the "Big Brother" activities of the government, govern-ment, aimed at protecting the public pub-lic from the dire consequences which would result from the national nation-al defense effort. Price control, for instance, and civilian supply; To see the picture more clearly it is necessary to imagine what would happen if the government went ahead full steam with its defense de-fense spending and commandeering, commandeer-ing, but paid no attention to the effects ef-fects on ordinary non-defense business. busi-ness. It is never so simple as for the government to want all of something. That would leave no problem. But when there is some left over after the national defense needs have heen served how to divide that leftover? Even in some cases where the government wants practically all there is difficulty. For instance take copper. Copper has been used very liberally in making lipstick containers. contain-ers. After it has been processed for this use it is of little use for anything else. Recovering the copper so as to make it fit for something else would be too expensive. Not that the government cares anything about expense, but the process of getting the pure copper out of the alloy used for lipstick containers would require re-quire too much labor. So there is agreement in the government that such copper as already al-ready has been worked into this alloy al-loy for lipstick containers may be used for that purpose. Not So Simple , Simple? By no means. The trouble trou-ble is that the Smith company has enough such metal on hand, already worked, and ready to be fabricated into lipstick containers, to run it until un-til say June 1. Whereas the Jones pompany, its strongest competitor, has enough to run it only until February Feb-ruary 1. To permit this situation to exist would give the Smith company com-pany an unfair advantage over the Jones company. If this produces a headache with respect to copper, it is a thousand times worse with respect to steel. The government has said flatly that no more copper after January 1 shall be used for non-defense purposesexcept pur-posesexcept such copper as is already al-ready made unfit for defense use (economically) as described. But there is no such drastic decision deci-sion about steel. As a matter of fact there will be some steel left over, despite the pessimistic predictions predic-tions of many New Dealers, even if defense use of steel exceeds the present most optimistic forecasts not enough steel to go around, of course, but SOME. What to do about that SOME! Under the old law of supply and demand; de-mand; if the government kem its hands off, it would be simple. The price of steel would skyrocket. The buyers willing tq, pay the highest prices would get it all. Every user of steel who could use substitutes would do it anyhow, to save money for his concern. So the surplus steel (that is, surplus above defense de-fense needs) would go only into uses for which it was very necessary. But that might result in hardship on the financially less fortunate consumers. The price of steel in i civilian goods would be boosted out t of all proportion to the real value of steel. Trouble? You said it. Reorganization Of 'Super' SPAB? Don Nelson's SPAB is likely to be revamped in the near future Just what form the new super-super body is to take no one knows. All that is known for certain is that President Roosevelt is giving all the usual signs which forerun one of his big 'reorganizations to end all reorganizations. Nelson is not the technical head of SPAB. That honor goes to Vice President Henry A. Wallace Nel son is not the man on SPAB who is closest to the President. That dis tmction without argument belones to Harry Hopkins. But since Wallace is the heir an parent to the "Chief" and in all probability will be nominated for President by the Democrats in 1944 unless F-D- R. wants founh (in wh,ch event nothing would he him anyhow) it would seem that Wallace's only motive would be to have SPAB, and indeed everything involved m the administration suc ceed. Failure of Roosevelt i his Tltn defernSe Pr0gram would be. a black eye for Wallace as weU as for Roosevelt. It might easily " suit m knocking Wallace off ft-rack ft-rack he ,s now ridinga track e leads straight to the White House |