Burn, Fiddle

With the House still on vacation, Leon Henderson’s price control bill still gathered dust in a drawer last week. But prices gathered neither dust nor moss.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics index of 28 basic commodities reached 152.7, up 1.2 points in the four weeks since Congress got the bill. Retail prices were pulled along. Manhattan Shirt Co. raised white broadcloths from $2 to $2.25. A men’s clothing chain (Howard) raised its one-price suit line from $22.50 to $24.75.

Even where Henderson had imposed ceilings, there was no stopping the upward trend. When he “suggested” fair prices for gasoline at Northeastern Seaboard filling stations last week, most dealers kept selling for at least ½¢ higher. Henderson himself admitted that the six-month-old steel scrap ceiling was generally ignored and threatened to “crack down” (but he did not say with what).

While Leon burned, Congress (those members who remained in Washington) fiddled. Most familiar tune was that of the Dies Committee. Ever since Henderson, in a particularly tactless moment, blurted that Martin Dies was “not a responsible member of Congress,” the Dies Committee has been out to get him or his staff. Last week the committee had obtained a list of all his employes, 40 of whom (its agents contend) have written for Communist publications. These and other alleged links with Moscow will be fashioned into needles for some Congressmen to use against price controls.

A quieter attack on Henderson was under way by the Republican National Committee. Its research division circulated (among Republican members of the Banking & Currency Committee) a confidential study which blistered Leon’s britches: “Table-thumping and bellowing tactics. . . . Cannot resist the use of invective . . . capricious actions . . . anti-business views.” Gist of the study: a price bill is necessary but it should: 1) clearly define and limit its powers; 2) counteract “the tacit encouragement of the Administration in wage increases”; 3) give power not to Henderson but to someone who “merits the confidence of business.”

From at least one business source came evidence that some businessmen are more concerned with the danger of inflation than with any past quarrels with Leon. Editorialized the American Metal Markets: “For the edification of those Congressmen who are enjoying their verbal tilts with Leon Henderson, it might not be amiss to present a picture of the No. 1 defense industry—steel—suffering from lack of raw material because committeemen delay . .. price authority and suitable penalties. . . . It may be that Mr. Henderson is not temperamentally the best man . . . but his honesty, patriotism and ruggedness are beyond question. . . . Price chaos in many industries is at [Congress’] doorstep.”