[Twentieth Quarterly Report for the Period Ended December 31, 1946] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov] OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION PAUL A. PORTER, Administrator TWENTIETH QUARTERLY REPORT X FOR THE PERIOD ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1946 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE • WASHINGTON • 1947 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 20 cents LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Office of Temporary Controls, IVashing ton 25, D. C., April 15,19^7. Sirs : I have the honor to submit herewith the twentieth report of the Office of Price Administration, covering the period ended December 31, 1946. Except for the last few weeks of that period, following the general lifting of price controls, Paul A. Porter was Administrator of the agency, which has since been incorporated into the Office of Temporary Controls. Sincerely yours, Philip B. Fleming, Major General, U. 8. A., Administrator. The President Pro Tempore of the Senate. The Speaker of the House of Representatives. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. The Demise of Price Contol_____________________________ 1 Shrinking Purchasing Power________________________ 4 Reappearance of Wage-Price Problems_____________■ 7 Outlook for 1947________________________________ 8 II. Decontrol and Reorganization_________________T___r_ 13 Decontrol______________________________________ 13 Continuing Functions._____________________________ 14 Reorganization______L s_____________________J___ 17 III. Ceiling Price Increases___________________________1 21 Food and Agricultural Products. _ j J__________ _ _ 21 Textiles and Apparel__________e_________________ 24 Consumer Durable Goods__________________________ 26 Building Materials and Lumber. _________________ 27 Metals, Machinery, and Automobiles. _ 2_________ 28 Rubber and Chemicals___________4________________ 29 Fuel, Pulp, and Paper________T--J___________._|_ 29 Appendix to Price Chapters_____________________________ 31 Dollar-and-Cent Prices. _. __. _ 4______________ 31 Price Increases.-__________________;J_______!___ 31 Releases from Price Control_____________________2; 37 IV. Transportation and Public Utility Rates. ___________ 47 Transportation______________________________Ltd_ 47 Public Utilities__________________ 1____________ 49 V. Rent Control Program___________________¿4______1___ 52 Amendments and Interpretations._________________ 52 Area Office Operations__________________________ 54 Protests and Review Proceedings_________________ 55 Veterans’ Housing Sales Control _ _ 1 _ . __ _ _ , 56 VI. Emergency Court of Appeals__________________________ 57 Price Control Cases. _ 171 -f-_______________ 57 Rent Control Cases______- - - 4_______-_________ 66 VII. Sugar Rationings..I__2_________71___________________ 70 Allocation and Distribution___i_______________i_ 70 Consumer and Institutional Rations________________ 70 Industrial User Rations___________________________ 71 VIII. Enforcement_________________________________________ 73 Disposition of Decontrol Cases____________________ 73 Continuing Enforcement Programs___________________ 75 Litigation ___________________________1_________ 79 Statistical Summary_______________________________ 82 in PRICE MOVEMENTS DURING 1946 IN RELATION TO VJ DAY LEVELS (MID-AUGUST 1945-100) CONSUMERS' PRICES. Meotbly WHOLESALE PRICES, Weekly SPOT PRICES IN PRIMARY MARKETS, Weekly e*ero«e of Roily ¡«Cos SOUHCf: Bareev el Leber Stetietiee 3 The Demise of Price Control • 1 . I. THE DEMISE OF PRICE CONTROL The virtually complete abandonment of price control in the fourth quarter of 19461 was the logical outcome of events in the third quarter, when controls had been allowed to lapse for almost a month before they were reinstated in seriously weakened form. The terms of the Price Control Extension Act of 1946,2 together with the attitude of producers and the general market conditions which prevailed after restoration of statutory authority, had made genuine price control unworkable. In consequence of these developments, beginning with the lapse of price control at the end of June, prices moved up in all markets. At consumer levels the price rise was a steady one, totaling 15 percent during the second half of the year. In these 6 months consumer prices rose as much as they had over the entire 4 years following the launching of general price control in the spring of 1942. At wholesale and in the commodity markets, particularly in the latter, where speculative considerations are especially significant, the upward movement was more erratic but even steeper. By the end of the year, despite some weeks of steadiness and even of-softening while the final fate of price control was being determined, these prices were 24 and 52 percent, respectively, above end-of-June averages. All these averages, of course, conceal increases which ran two, three, even five and'more times as great. Through most of the period food prices reflected the greatest pressure, and as the year ended they showed the greatest net rise. Among foods, moreover, meat prices rose particularly sharply, with livestock and dairy products also under strong pressure. Both at retail (see chart, p. 10) and at wholesale, the prices of fats and oils literally skyrocketed. By August 1945, when Japan surrendered, the wartime price increases at retail and at wholesale were only a fraction as great as those which took place during World War I down to the Armistice. The increases during the second half of 1946, on the other hand, brought the price movements between August 1945 and December 1946 into striking parallel with those which followed the Armistice. This par- 1 Rent control was continued, as was control over prices of sugar and rice in order to implement the continuing programs of sugar rationing and rice allocations; see ch. II. 2 See Nineteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 1-10. 2 • Twentieth Quarterly Report THE TWO-WAR RECORD OF PRICE CONTROL I THE WARTIME CONTRAST SOURCE: Bu^au of Labor Statistics The Demise of Price Control • 3 THE TWO-WAR RECORD OF PRICE CONTROL z THE POST-WAR PARALLEL SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics 4 • Twentieth Quarterly Report allel is of particular interest in light of the warnings from Administration sources, during the debate on price control, that increases comparable to those of 1919 and 1920 were to be expected if price control were abandoned. SHRINKING PURCHASING POWER The increase of prices was accompanied by rising incomes and higher consumer expenditures. Some groups enjoyed a continuation or resumption of the wartime growth of income; others saw their incomes on the way to recovery from sharp reconversion setbacks (see chart, p. 9). Consumer expenditures, in turn, were increased both by rising income and by a reduction in current saving. This rise of dollar expenditures was outstripped, however, by the rise of consumer prices. In physical terms, therefore, the volume of goods and services bought by consumers shrank steadily throughout the last three quarters of the year.3 As the year ended, the phenomenon of “consumer resistance” was widely discussed and began to receive practical recognition by businessmen. The most striking examples of this recognition were probably the clearance sales held before rather than after Christmas Day. The rise of prices outdistanced not only consumer incomes generally, but wage incomes in particular. Average weekly earnings in manufacturing had reached a peak in the first quarter of 1945. Except in nondurable goods, where reconversion was barely felt, the wage increases of 1945 and 1946 fell short of restoring dollar earnings to that peak. The lower level of income reflected the shorter hours and loss of premium overtime, the shift to lower paid occupations, and other reconversion factors.4 In durable goods, in fact, dollar earnings in the last quarter were back to the average of the first quarter of 1943. For manufacturing as a whole, weekly earnings were restored to the level of first quarter 1944, but this was true only in money terms. In terms of purchasing power, the rise of consumer prices had cut factory workers’ earnings nearly 20 percent below first quarter 1944. And for workers in durable goods manufacturing, the rise of prices had reduced the purchasing power of a week’s earnings, despite substantial wage increases, to the average prevailing 5 years earlier, at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 3 The lag began in the second quarter. For discussion see Eighteenth Quarterly Report, p. 7. 4 For discussion of the impact of reconversion on wages, see Eighteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 7—11, also Fifteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 5-7. IK¿JL OX The Demise of Price Control • 5 GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT AND CONSUMERS' INCOME,TAXES, SAVINGS AND EXPENDITURES QUARTERLY, 1941-19 46 (SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ANNUAL RATES) *;* White line represents expenditures since 2nd Quarter 19^3 (inauguration of "Hold the Line") deflated for subseauent increases in Consumers' prices. SOURCE*. Based on data of the United States Department of Commerce Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. 6 • Twentieth Quarterly Report FACTORY WORKERS’ EARNINGS, although restored in money terms by wage increases in 1945 and 1946, declined in purchasing power below 1944 levels. Workers In durable goods were particularly hard Even in nondurable goods, where reconversion was SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics data. 6-5319 The Demise of Price Control • 7 REAPPEARANCE OF WAGE-PRICE PROBLEMS The disproportionate rise of prices relative to wages and other consumer incomes brought wage-price policy back into the headlines by the year’s end. The issues were recognized by the President in his first annual Economic Report submitted to the Congress early in January. In that report he pointed out that the rise of wages following June had been exceeded by the rise of prices, with the consequence that the real earnings of labor had fallen during the period. Meanwhile, he noted, business profits had moved up even before the general decontrol of prices and had increased further still in the final quarter of the year. He observed that, even taking due account of all the variations among and within industries, “business in general is receiving exceptional profits.” The President went on to point out that consumer expenditures in the final quarter of 1946 were about as high as could be expected at current levels of income. In 1947, liowever, an increasing volume of finished consumer goods would come onto the retail market without a corresponding increase of incomes. The question was thus posed as to what combination of income increases and price reductions would enable the consumers of the country to clear the market during 1947. Given intelligent and responsible policies on the part of business, labor, and agriculture, the President saw no reason why the necessary adjustments should not be accomplished, thereby averting any serious recession.5 OUTLOOK FOR 1947 Having abandoned price control in 1946, the country faced the new year wondering whether the objective of “preventing a post-emergency collapse of values,” as set forth in the original price control act, could nonetheless be achieved. The price boom, despite its paralleling that of 1919-20, was not necessarily a prelude to a slump like that of 1920-21. Nonetheless, the parallel was to date an uncomfortable one and there 5 During late December and early January, prices generally leveled off, in the com-inodity markets as well as at wholesale and retail. There seemed reason to expect the beginning of an orderly readjustment as called for by responsible business spokesmen and envisioned by the President, although there were many observers who feared that the downturn would instead be sharp and disastrous. The first quarter of 1947, however, was to see a resumption of price increases. These occurred at all levels and were particularly marked in the commodity markets, which are farthest removed from contact with consumers, whose resistance to high retail prices became steadily more conspicuous. As the higher wholesale prices (of foods in particular) were reflected at retail, the consumers’ price index rose 2 percent in March to a new all-time high. Prices of many building materials, decontrolled in November, spurted during the first quarter of 1947, threatening an early setback to the Veterans’ Emergency Housing Program. The resumption of price advances was to lead to expressions of increasing concern by business leaders and by Government that a “last fling at inflation” was being indulged, which would gravely jeopardize any chance of avoiding a serious economic reverse. 8 • Twentieth Quarterly Report " was general agreement that the boom had brought with it the danger of a slump. It was generally agreed, moreover, that the avoidance of a recession could not be left to chance, but would require economic statesmanship by every economic group. The great question remaining was whether in meeting this major postwar problem the American people could achieve, primarily through private rather than public policies, success comparable to that which attended the wartime record of economic stabilization. The Demise of Price Control • 9 INCOMES IN 1946 COMPARED WITH WARTIME LEVELS Corporation profits recovered from reconversion dip -rising after taxes to all time high-while dividends climbed above wartime levels. Profits shown quarterly at annual rates* Factory payrolls and average weekly earnings -recovered strongly but fell short of war peaks. * Seasonally adjusted SOURCE: U. S. Department of Commerce, Agriculture, and Labor 10 • Twentieth Quarterly Report CONSUMER PRICES, JUNE TO DECEMBER I946 SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Demise of Price Control • 11 MOVEMENT OF WHOLESALE PRICES OF LIVESTOCK, MEATS, AND DAIRY PRODUCTS JUNE 29, 1946-JAN. 4,1947 ( INDEXES: WEEK ENDING JUNE 29, 1946>100) • End-of-week dates SOURCE1. Based on wholesale price data of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. bO ? o 3 2. 3“ o C Q o’ 50 <9 ■O o r DAILY INDEXES OF SENSITIVE COMMODITY PRICES JUNE 28-DECEMBER 31,1946 (JUNE 28,1946 = 100) SOURCE1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, 28 Sensitive Commodities in Primary Markets. Decontrol and Reorganization • 13 DECONTROL AND REORGANIZATION Price ceilings on most goods and services were discontinued by Presidential order as of November 10, 1946. The only controls remaining covered residential rentals, and rice, sugar, and some sugar products. The general decontrol order in November followed by less than a month the removal of all livestock and meats from control. Previous to that action the Office had been lifting controls as rapidly as was possible without risking an alarmingly unstabilizing effect, in accordance with the mandate of Congress.1 When the fourth quarter of 1946 began, about 50 percent of the private national economy was under control as compared with a wartime peak of 80 percent. By the close of the quarter, less than 5 percent remained under control. The Office continued to administer the surviving controls and to wind up unfinished business carried over from the terminated regulations. The staff was considerably reduced, and a reorganization, both in the field and in the national office, was effected. In December the agency was incorporated in the Office of Temporary Controls, established at that time for the purpose of merging most remaining wartime controls. The Administrator of the new agency succeeded to the statutory responsibilities of the Price Administrator. DECONTROL Livestock and meats had been specifically removed from control by the 1946 extension act, but at the end of August, recontrol had been ordered by the Price Decontrol Board, exercising the discrétion granted it by the Congress.2 The immediate effect of this order was a severe meat shortage. Despite the over-all increase of 12 percent allowed in the restoration of ceilings, prices had been insufficient to draw out supply, in view of the unpredecented prices obtained in the 2-month period that meat had been free of control. The disruption in normal flow of livestock had resulted not only in a lack of meat on the Nation’s tables, but also in a dangerous depletion of byproducts essential in the manufacture of needed medicines. Conditions became so onerous that 6 weeks after the reinstatement of controls, the President was compelled to direct permanent decontrol as the “only remedy” in the situation.3 In taking this action, the President also asked for 1 See Nineteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 1—5, 1'3—15. » Id. pp. 3-4, 13. 8 Radio address to the Nation, October 14,1946. 736419—47---------2 14 • Twentieth Quarterly Report the speeding up of plans to lift controls over other items “to an extent compatible with our economic security.” The order freeing from control livestock and food and feed products processed therefrom4 also ended the slaughter control and meat subsidy programs. The entire decontrol movement was thenceforth greatly accelerated. Within a short time the Price Administrator was directed by the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion and of Economic Stabilization to decontrol all hides, skins, leathers, and footwear.5 Within the next few weeks, virtually all food products and a long list of other commodities were returned to a free economy.6 Selective decontrol, however, appeared to be effecting a creeping paralysis of the economy. Producers, not knowing when controls might be lifted, hesitated to place their products upon the market. Necessary materials were being withheld from manufacturers and goods from consumers. Retailers’ shelves were barer than during any of the war period, and .reports indicated widespread violations of price regulations. Abandonment of all controls over prices except such as were necessary to implement the rationing and allocation programs of sugar and rice, and except for control over residential rentals, was therefore decided upon. In a speech to the Nation on November 9, the President ordered such decontrol, pointing out that “with so much of the economy freed from price controls, clinging to the rest would * ♦ * lead to distortion in production and diversion of goods to an extent far outweighing any benefit that could be achieved.” The President also ordered termination of all wage and salary controls under the Stabilization Act of 1942. The next day the Price Administrator, as directed by the President, lifted controls over all commodities and services except rent, sugar, sirups, molasses, and rice. All records, however, were to be, as previously, preserved for 1 year after the effective date of exemption from control to facilitate investigations of alleged violations of price ceilings.7 CONTINUING FUNCTIONS Although virtually all price controls were terminated in November, the Office retained a number of substantial responsibilities. All rent regulations remained in effect, as did sugar rationing regulations, and 4 Amendment 64, SO 132, effective October 15, 1946. 8 OES-OWMR Directive 141, effective October 30,1946. ° See table 3 for a complete list of products decontrolled from October 1 to November 10. ’SO 193, effective November 10, 1946; Amendment 1, SO 189, effective November 12, 1946. Decontrol and Reorganization • 15 the price regulations governing sugar and rice.8 Moreover, other important provisions of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended, and the Stabilization Act 6f 1942, as amended, still remained in force. The principal statutory provisions directly affecting the Office were: (1) The copper, lead, and zinc subsidies; (2) the stripper oil well subsidies; and (3) the requirement that carriers and public utilities must give 30 days’ notice before seeking a rate increase from a regulatory body. Activities of the quarter in connection with these responsibilities, both before and after the general decontrol order, are discussed in subsequent chapters of this report. In addition, the Office continued the job of auditing the records of companies which had received the industrial alcohol payments, and the coal transportation and meat subsidies from Reconstruction Finance Corporation. It also went on to complete the collection of 1946 data from the bituminous coal industry. The collection of all other financial records was discontinued.9 Subsidy Programs Among the subsidy programs authorized by Congress in the Price Control Extension Act of 194610 were the copper, lead, and zinc premium payments and the stripper oil well premium payment plan. Stripper oil wells.—Under the law, this premium payment plan was to last until April 1. The Office therefore continued to certify to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation those pools eligible for subsidy payments. In addition, RFC called upon the Office to determine the eligibility for subsidy payments of questionable pools. It also requested the Office to interpret the former crude oil price regulations to ascertain the maximum price in effect on June 30, 1946, used as a base price for determining subsidy payments. Under directives from the Office of Economic Stabilization and Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, subsidies were to be reduced by the amounts off any general increases in the price of crude oil.11 The general crude oil price increases during the quarter, under these directives, resulted in termination of all subsidy payments except for industrial pools producing Pennsylvania grade crude oil. Subsidy payments for Pennsylvania grade were reduced from the 75 cents per 8 MPR 16, raw cane sugar; MPR 60, direct consumption sugar; RMPR 291, certain ^sirups and molasses ; 2d RMPR 150, finished rice and rice milling byproducts; MPR 518, rough rice; MPR 262, seasonal and miscellaneous food commodities; MPR’s 421, 422, and 423, ceilinfg prices for certain foods sold at wholesale and retail; GMPR and SR 14-C as applied to certain foods. 8 Amendment 1, SO 193, effective November 19, 1946. 10 See Nineteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 5-6. 11 Directive 133 of the Office of Economic Stabilization, effective August 28, 1946, and Directive 142 of the Office of Temporary Controls, Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (Stabilization), effective December 20, 1946. 16 • Twentieth Quarterly Report barrel prevailing when crude oil price ceilings were removed to approximately 26 cents per barrel at the close of the quarter. Copper^ lead, and zinc.—Premium payments covering the production of these metals were to go on, by congressional order, until June 30, 1947. Under this program the Office determined premium prices on the basis of financial Reports submitted by producers. \ Audit Programs A substantial amount of auditing work remained to be done on three programs involving payments by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, for which the Office had been designated as the auditing agency. These programs^ covered the purchase of industrial alcohol on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis, compensatory adjustments for war-increased transportation costs of coal, and the meat subsidy payments under Directives 41 and 90 of the Office of Economic Stabilization. Industrial alcohol audits.—The price of industrial alcohol produced under Government contracts was determined on the basis of the contractors’ cost after audit by the accounting department of the Office. Since October 1942 the Office had conducted quarterly audits of approximately 150 producers, including privately owned industrial alcohol plants, converted distilleries, wineries, and Government-financed plants, using various raw materials and producing several byproducts. Audits actually completed before the end of the final quarter of 1946 had covered contracts amounting to $502,709,224 and had resulted in cash refunds of $16,494,000 collectible by the Government from distillers on prices paid for alcohol invoiced under the contracts. Claimed costs under contracts amounting to $152,000,000 remained to be audited. Coal tra/nsportation audits.—The removal of price controls on solid fuels during the quarter terminated the compensatory adjustment program which was inaugurated jointly by the Office and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to expedite the transportation of coal to New England by rail instead of by water. This was an integral part of the solid fuels retail pricing program in the New England area. Although the removal of price controls terminated this program so far as shipments of coal received after November 9, 1946, were concerned, eligible firms had until January 31, 1947, to file applications relating to coal received up to midnight November 9,1946.12 The audit program was originally set up on a basis which provided that the base-period costs reported by the applicants would be tentatively accepted and the claims paid without waiting for field verification of those costs. By the close of 1946, about two-thirds of the applicants had their base-period costs verified. The Reconstruction Finance 12 Amendment 9, Rev. Comp. Adj. Reg. 1, effective November 20,1946. Decontrol and Reorganization • 17 Corporation requested the Office to make field audits of these costs, where such audits had not yet been made, to determine whether the applicants had been overpaid. If overpayments were made on the basis of incorrect information submitted by the applicants, the Government must recover such overpayments. The total claims received under the compensatory adjustment program prior to December 31, 1946, amounted to $64,573,704. Claims amounting to $61,583,282 had been reviewed for payment, and in some cases fully audited. The disallowances and recoveries of overpayments on these claims up to the end of the year amounted to $2,067,063. Meat subsidy audits.—The auditing of claims for supplementary livestock subsidy payments was a task requiring many more months of work, although the subsidy had been authorized for the fiscal year 1945 only. This was due principally to the fact that payments were authorized on the basis of the slaughterer’s certification of the essential facts of eligibility'without prior investigation into the accuracy of the certification. In January 1946, at the request of the Stabilization Administrator, the Office agreed to carry out the function of analyzing and verifying the claims for subsidy payment. Except for a few preliminary audits, work on this program did not actually start until the beginning of the quarter under review, due to the pressure of other work. As of the end of the year, the Office, had received for auditing 230 claims, totaling 3% million dollars. Of the 80 claims audited during the quarter, 70 claims, amounting to a total of $657,256, were invalidated. Ten claims, amounting to $265,663, were approved as a result of the audits. Where overpayments were made, applicants were required to make cash refunds to the Government. Bituminous Coal Reports About 2,000 bituminous coal operators had been filing monthly operating reports since 1937. Since July 1943, these reports were collected by the Office for use in coal pricing. Previously they had been submitted to the Bituminous Coal Administratidn. Although coal was exempted from control November 10, the Coal Mines Administration had requested OP A to complete the records for the year 1946, so that cost, realization, and margin figures might be furnished to coal operators and mine workers for use in wage negotiations. REORGANIZATION . The lifting of meat price controls and the subsequent acceleration of the decontrol movement permitted the Office to decrease staff and generally to tighten its organization. Operations of the entire agency were reviewed to see how the continuing programs would be handled and how many employees would be required for servicing the contin 18 • Twentieth Quarterly Report uing programs and for the liquidation job. These determinations had to be made within the employment limitations imposed by the Bureau of the Budget. As of December 31, the Office was required to reduce the nation-wide staff to 16,000 employees, which meant a cut in the national office staff to about 1,800 employees. By December 31, 1946, total employment in the Office of Price Administration had been reduced to 15,461 from a peak during the fiscal year of 35,067 on October 15, 1946. This number was to be further reduced to 14,419 by January 31, 1947, and 13,467 by March 31,1947. On December 31, there were 1,835 employees in the national office and 13,626 in the field. It was planned that by April 1, there would be 1,119 in the national office and 12,348 in the field.. Liaison and service units no longer needed in the national office were eliminated, a large number of field offices were closed, and the entire field organization greatly cut. Only those persons were retained who were necessary to maintain rent control, sugar pricing and rationing, and rice pricing; to carry out the responsibilities entailed in enforcing certain provisions of the veterans’ housing program, delegated by the Housing Expediter;13 to complete enforcement cases; to carry on subsidy operations; and to complete and arrange for preservation of records and files that were of continuing public importance. About 40 percent of the staff which remained was concentrated on rent control, 12 percent on the -sugar and price programs, and 18 percent on enforcement of the continuing programs and clearing of the backlog of left-over enforcement cases. The rest of the staff was concerned with completing accounting functions and with administra-tive duties. Effective December 1, a sugar department was created in the national office to maintain an effective program for rationing and price control of sugar, and price control of certain sirups and of rice. The price department was scheduled to be abolished in January. In effecting its staff reduction, the Office utilized its employment security committee to assist laid-off employees to locate other work. This committee had been set up in January 1946 in recognition of the fact that it was imperative to retain experienced employees in service in order to administer remaining controls. The promise held forth by the employment security committee had made it possible to keep in the agency many valuable employees who could have taken advantage of more permanent opportunities elsewhere in Government or in private employment. By the beginning of 1947, about 550 employees who had been dismissed from the national office and 4,492 former employees of the field offices had found other employment through the direct assistance of the Office’s employment security committee. 18 See pp. 56, 77-79. Decontrol and Reorganization • 19 Field Organization Since, with the ending of price control over meats, ceilings had been removed from the overwhelming majority of commodities which the local price control boards had supervised, the expense of keeping them in operation was no longer justified. A total of 1,642 price control boards was therefore closed down on November 4. Most of the boards’ former duties on continuing programs, as well as pending compliance actions were then transferred to the OPA district office supervising the particular area. At the peak of the rationing program, just before VJ-day, there were 5,661 war price and rationing boards, with 125,000 board members who worked without pay and 110,000 other volunteers. In addition, thousands of school teachers had assisted in issuing rationing books. In November 1946, when the boards were closed down, there were 33,556 board members and 10,177 other volunteers. When the boards were closed, the number of paid clerks totaled 8,613, as compared with 35,625 paid clerks at the peak. In announcing the closing of the price control boards, the Price Administrator highly praised the thousands of board volunteers for the tremendous contribution they had made to the national welfare during the previous 5 years, as “an outstanding example of democracy at its best.” The 64 OPA district offices were closed to the public on December 1. The remaining rent, rationing, price, and enforcement responsibilities were transferred to branch and regional offices. Rent control continued to be administered by the existing area rent offices under the supervision of the regional offices. Sugar rationing and pricing was to be administered by 64 sugar branch offices, which were scheduled to be reduced early in the new year. Application forms for periodic allotments for industrial and institutional users were henceforth to be mailed directly from regional units. All other rationing forms for both consumer and commercial users were to be available at sugar branch offices. Enforcement of regulations still in effect and completion of old cases was to be carried on by 25 branch enforcement offices. Following the closing of the local boards and the district offices, there was an immediate reduction of the physical facilities. Property was out of the local boards by December 31, and space in the district offices was to be reduced and properly disposed of by January 31. Office of Temporary Controls In December the President announced establishment, in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, of the Office of Temporary Controls,14 which was to consolidate the 14 Executive Order 9809, effective December 12, 1946. 20 • Twentieth Quarterly Report remaining duties of the Office of Price Administration, Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, Office of Economic Stabilization, and Civilian Production Administration. The order provided for a Temporary Controls Administrator in whom were vested the previous functions of the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion, the Economic Stabilization Director, the Price Administrator, and the Civilian Production Administrator. The Temporary Controls Administrator was given the authority to maintain in his own' name civil proceedings relating to matters hitherto under the jurisdiction of the Price Administrator, including all pending proceedings. The functions of the financial reporting division of the Office of Price Administration were transferred to the Federal Trade Commission. The order ratified and continued in effect all orders, regulations, rulings, directives, and other actions previously issued by the Office. This included all existing delegations of authority and all existing procedures for the clearance and issuance of orders, regulations, and other formal actions. The Temporary Controls Administrator appointed a Commissioner of Price Administration within the Office of Temporary Controls15 who was to act for him in all matters relating to the Office of Price Administration, except those previously specifically reserved to the Price Administrator and which were transferred to the Temporary Controls Administrator by the President’s Executive Order. The existing responsibilities and authorities within the Office of Price Administration and the internal operating policies were continued. Following this order the titles of Administrator and Deputy Administrator in the national office were dropped. The principal national officers were to be known as Commissioner of Price Administration, Assistant to the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner for Accounting, Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement, Deputy Commissioner for Rent, Deputy Commissioner for Sugar, and Assistant Commissioner for Price. The latter was charged with the responsibility for liquidating the price department. For the time being, principal officers of the regional offices continued to be designated as regional administrator, deputy regional administrator, etc. 15 OTC—OPA—1, effective December 19, 1946.. Ceiling Price Increases • 21 . Ill. CEILING PRICE INCREASES Prior to the President’s general decontrol order, price activities of the Office were centered upon adjusting prices upward in conformance with policies laid out in the 1946 extension act.1 Industry-wide increases (as differentiated from individual company adjustments) averaged about 31 a week, rising to 186 in the 6-week period. The weekly figure compared with an average of 46 increases a week in the July-September quarter, when the Office had thrown all its forces into meeting the mandates of Congress without delay. Almost three-fourths of the total increases allowed in October and November, although not required by law, were attributable to the 1946 extension act since they were necessary to maintain a ceiling premium originally granted to raise needed production. Higher production costs, resulting directly from the requirements of the new law, had wiped out the production incentive, which had to be renewed under the discretionary powers of the Administrator. The other increases allowed in the 6-week period were made to comply with statutory provisions—60 percent of them under the standards of the extension act and the rest under the base-period earnings standard. Virtually all the latter arose out of new pricing policies since raw material costs, made higher by provisions of the extension act, had cut into the base-period earnings rate. A complete list of the industry-wide increases granted in the 6-week period before decontrol is given in the appendix to the price chapters.2 After the general decontrol order several increases were granted for commodities still under control. Prices were raised to meet statu tory requirements on sugar and sugar products, and also on rice. The principal pricing, actions during the quarter are discussed below. FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS To maintain supplies of essential imports, as required by the 1946 extension act, ceilings were raised in October for imported cocoa beans and cocoa products. This led to increases in domestic cocoa products in order to maintain base-period earnings. Higher production costs also led to offsetting rises, under the industry earnings standard, for Pacific coast sardine (pilchard) oil, and for fish meal and fish scrap, 1 See Nineteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 6-9. 2 See table 2, p. 31. 22 • Twentieth Quarterly Report and also for California and Florida oranges, to maintain the minimum legal return to growers. At the same time adjustments recommended by the Secretary of Agriculture were effected within 10 days, as required by the new law, for edible vegetable fats and oils, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and soybeans (1946 crop), to remove prices as an impediment to the production of essential agricultural commodities in short supply.8 The Administrator used his discretionary, powers to prevent certain inequities arising out of prior required actions, or to maintain a previous production incentive granted to facilitate transition to a peacetime economy. Thus, higher ceilings were allowed to agents for sales of fresh fruits and vegetables, to equalize on a historical basis the fees and commissions of such agents with distributors’ mark-ups; to slaughterers for veal carcass and cuts, to inline profits with those for beef where a large percentage of calves in comparison with cattle is slaughtered; to nonbase period brewers for ale, to inline with the same brand of beer, thereby maintaining an industry custom; and to merchandisers of the 1946 crop of soybeans, to eliminate an unintentional squeeze on those who use other than country storage facilities and resell.4 At the same time.maximums for copra and coconut oil, c. i. f. Gulf and Atlantic coast ports, were lifted, chiefly to offset higher oceanfreight cost. The new price for coconut oil included a higher premium over the copra price to encourage use of idle crushing facilities.5 Also, canners were authorized to inline ceilings for Atlantic sea herring and alewives with prices for Maine sardines, offsetting similar labor cost rises and prospective decline in catch; processors were granted increases for salt codfish, haddock, hake, cusk, and pollock to offset revaluation of the Canadian dollar and also, for fancy codfish, increased container cost; canned California sardines (pilchards) were given higher maximums to offset approved wage-rate increases and increased raw fish cost, maintain production, and prevent diversion to fish oil and fish meal, concurrently increased under the industry earnings standard.® For fruit preserves, jams, jellies, and apple butter, all sellers (except wholesalers and retailers pricing under fixed mark-up regulations) 3 Amendment 10, RPS 51, Amendment 22, SR 14-C; both effective October 2, 1946. Amendment 74, MPR 53, Amendment 11, RPS 73; both effective October 7, 1946. Amendment 193, MPR 426, Amendment 73, MPR 53, Amendment 44, 2d RSR 14, Amendment 1, MPR 609, Amendment 9, Supp. Storage Reg. 1, MPR 506 ; all effective October 1, 1946. 4 Amendment 192, MPR 426, effective October 5, 1946; Amendment 75, RMPR 169, effective October 10, 1946; Amendment 17, RMPR 259, effective October 14, 1946; Amendment 2, MPR 609, effective October 18, 1946. 5 Amendment 75, MPR 53, effective October 14, 1946. • 6 Amendment 3, MPR 396, Amendment 1, RMPR 384; both effective October 12, 1946. Amendment 1, MPR 209, effective October 9, 1946. Ceiling Price Increases • 23 were authorized to reflect rises in current cost of labor, sugar, corn sirup, and raw fruit.7 Train vendors and terminal news stands were authorized to price all decontrolled or new items in line with restaurants, which had been allowed, under provisions of the extension act, to reflect their current acquisition costs, plus customary margin. Together with restaurants they were granted ceiling increases for meat sandwiches and offerings having meat as the major ingredient.8 Reseller margins for tomato products, miscellaneous dry groceries, and processed foods were adjusted to pas$ on prior-level rises, satisfying the mark-up requirements of the new act, which made it necessary to reflect average current cost of acquisition plus the average percentage mark-up in effect March 31, 1946.9 The mark-up requirements of the law also made it necessary to pass on to the consumer all other increases at producer and distributor levels mentioned above. Continuing Programs In the continuing price control programs for rice and sugar and sugar products, several ceiling increases were allowed both before the decontrol order and later. All increases were passed through to4 the consumer in accordance with the margin provisions of the 1946 extension act. Sugar.—Early in November refiner maximums for plantation granulated sugar processed from United States mainland sugar cane were increased 10 cents per hundredweight, inlining the price with fine granulated beet sugar. Later in the month refiner prices for all sugar were raised 40 cents per hundredweight to meet the industry earnings standard, after r 36.5-cents-per-hundredweight increase in raw sugar cost. The increase on raw sugar was granted under an agreement with the Cuban Government by which Cuban raw sugar prices were to be advanced with each 2 percent or more rise in the United States Bureau of Labor -Statistics retail food j>rice index. Prices for other offshore and domestically produced sugars were correspondingly raised to maintain normal price relationships. The consumer paid about one-half cent more a pound.10 A rise in parity lifted the price of country cane sirups by about 10 cents a gallon. At the same time producer and packer ceilings on commercial cane sirups were raised to reflect the higher support 7 Supplement 20, FPR 1, effective October 18, 1946. 8 Amendment 6, Restaurant MPR 1, effective October 11, 1946; Amendment 18, Restaurant MPR 2, effective October 12, 1946. * Amendment 5, FPR 1, effective October 5, 1946. 10 MPR 60 : Amendment 5, effective November 6, 1946 ; Amendment 7, effective November 20,1946. Amendment 4, MPR 16, effective November 20,1946. 24 • Twentieth Quarterly Report prices of sugar. Higher ingredient costs also led to a rise in the ceiling prices for blended sirups, ranging from % to 2 cents per pound.11 Rice.—Manufacturer ceilings for parboiled rice were raised, under the product standard, to reflect an increase in grower prices effected at the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with provisions of the 1946 extension act. Simultaneously, reseller margins for rice bran and polishings, finished rice and broken and granulated rice were lifted under the margin provisions of the act, to pass on prior-level increases. California producer ceilings for rough rice were increased, under the discretionary powers of the Administrator, to restore normal price relationships with other rice, for which maximums were raised in September at direction of the Secretary of Agriculture.12 Additional increases were necessary under the act for finished rice (milled, polished, broken, and parboiled), to return to the industry the 1940 average price of the product plus subsequent average increases in production cost.13 TEXTILES AND APPAREL Following the September cotton market upward, as required by the new Act, cotton textile ceilings were raised another 2 percent in October, including certain remnants, seconds, and mill-run shorts sold by the pound.14 The 1946 extension act had required that manufacturers’ and processors’ maximum prices /or any major item of a product made in whole or in major part from cotton or cotton yarn, or wool or wool yarn, be no less than the sum of (1) the raw cotton or wool cost, figured at parity or current cost, whichever is greater, of the grade and staple of cotton or wool used in the item, (2) mill conversion costs (by weighted average), and (3) a reasonable profit not less than the 1939-41 weighted average profit earned on an equivalent unit of the item. In the wake of the general advance, came a number of secondary increases which were principally due to the movement in raw cotton, and somewhat to labor cost rises, but were processed under various discretionary standards. Affected under the general supply standard were part-cotton textiles (mostly one-half cotton) ; specified military 11MPR 291: Amendment 9, effective November 14, 1946; Amendment 10, effective November 18, 1946; Amendment 11, effective December 6, 1946. Amendment 23, MPR 262, Amendment 23, SR 14—C ; both effective December 6,1946. 12 2d RMPR 150: Amendment 18, retroactively effective to September 16, 1946; Amendment 19, effective November 12, 1946. Amendment 14, MPR 518, effective October 9, 1946. 13 Amendment 20, 2d RMPR 150, effective November 18, 1946. M Amendment 34, SO 131, effective October 1, 1946. Amendment 32, RPS 35, Amendment 44, MPR 118, Amendment 35, SO 131; all effective October 14,1946. Ceiling Price Increases • 25 uniforms; shirts, shorts, pajamas, and related items; and secondhand cotton bags used as food and agricultural production containers.15 Twelve actions granting increases on low-end and freeze-priced apparel and household articles, continued incentive plans to facilitate production of needed goods. This group consisted of dresses, slacks, and slack suits ; men’s cotton handkerchiefs ; garments made with CPA priorities assistance; and certain special cotton and wool blankets; 82 levers, raschel, and barmen laces ; a miscellaneous group of diapers, dishcloths, and other apparel and household staples ; all knitted underwear and outerwear.16 Miscellaneous actions included a raised wholesale mark-up on staple work gloves to correct a miscalculation under the mark-up requirement of the 1946 act.17 Also, four discretionary increases were granted to remove various inequities. In these, manufacturers of new cotton bags for corn meal, feed, and flour were given a new division factor to maintain 1942 conversion margins. Odd-lot jobbers selling cotton piece goods and sheeting to cutters were, issued percentage mark-ups replacing GMPR freeze prices, to establish pricing equality with other wholesalers. Also, a sales quantity limitation was removed from certain wholesalers of finished piece goods, allowing them to .serve outlying retailers; and ceilings were set up for women’s branded rayon hose formerly sold in retail chain stores at unbranded ceilings.18 Prices for base-period and low-end woolen fabrics were raised, under the discretionary powers of the Admiiiistrator, where original material content had been changed by substitution of a different grade of wool because of current shortage. Mills turning out men’s and boys’ low-end and tailored garments were given a rise by means of a new base date for computing raw material costs. Mixed cotton and mohair yarn ceilings at mills went up on account of increased costs of both raw materials, to maintain the incentive price for low-end mohair yarn and cloth.19 15 SO 185, effective October 2, 1946 ; Amendment 4, MPR 385, effective October 11, 1946 ; Amendment s, RMPR 605, effective November 6, 1946; Amendment 3, RMPR 55, effective November 7, 1946. 16 Amendment 9, RMPR 287, effective October 24, 1946 ; Amendment 59, SR 14—E, effective October 23, 1946 ; Amendment 8, 2d RMPR 578, Amendment 36, SO 131 ; both effective October 31, 1946 ; Amendment 62, SR 14-E, effective November 6, 1946 ; Amendment 90, MPR 188, effective October 30, 1946 ; Amendment 61, SR 14-E,' effective November 4, 1946 ; Amendment 63, SR 14—E, effective November 7, 1946. Amendment 6, SO 139, Amend; ment 7, RMPR 304 ; both effective November 4, 1946 ; Amendment 4, Rev. SO 154, effective October 8, 1946 ; Amendment 5, Rev. SO 154, effective October 31,1946. 17 Amendment 6, RMPR 506, retroactively effective August 23, 1946. 18 Amendment 8, MPR 151, effective October 25, 1946 ; Amendment 57, SR 14-E, effective October 7, 1946 ; Amendment 56, MPR 127, effective November 11, 1946 ; Amendment 6, 2d RMPR 339, effective October 30, 1946. 19 Amendment 1, Order 138, MPR 163, effective October 22, 1946; Amendment 2, MPR 607, effective November 7, 1946 ; Amendment 22, RPS 58, effective November 2, 1946. 26 • Twentieth Quarterly Report Leather Goods and Shoes Prices for leather and leather goods continued upward during the quarter, principally following foreign market advances. Discretionary rises were granted on chamois from imported raw sheepskins or lambskins ; on leather from East India semitanned goatskins ; and on skivers tanned from raw sheepskins or lambskins or pickled skivers. The industry earnings standard dictated a 9-percent increase on domestically tanned whole calfskins with grain or suede finish.20 Finally, a 10- to 16-percent rise, offsetting higher materials costs, was granted producers of shoes made of imported kangaroo, wallaby, jack buck, and South American deerskin leathers and certain cabretta, to encourage production.21 CONSUMER DURABLE GOODS As in other^commodity groups, consumer goods industry-wide increases at the manufacturing level continued to reflect rising materials costs. Several actions to restore and maintain base-period returns _ under the industry earnings standard affected felt carpets containing jute and hair, and linoleum and felt-base floor and wall coverings.22 Dealers’ prices on home mechanical refrigerators were lifted by removal of former absorption requirements, to satisfy the stipulation of the 1946 extension act, which prohibited reduction of distributors’ peacetime mark-ups for reconversion goods until unit sales had reached the prewar rate for 6 months. Under the same provision, retail mailorder houses were permitted a percentage pass-on of individual manufacturer adjustments on household enamel and cast-iron ware.23 A number of industry-wide increases resulted from revised reconversion formulas, made necessary by advanced production expenses since the item was first remarketed. Commodities affected were : Coil and flat bedsprings and metal beds ; new metal cots and double-deck beds; pocketed-coil innerspring mattresses; upholstered furniture priced on cover-grading systems; higher-priced nonleather luggage; radio receiving and allied special-purpose tubes and parts; loom-woven flax carpets. All increases were passed through to the consumer, under provisions of the new law.24 20 MPR 61 : Amendment 1, Order 16, effective October 3, 1946 ; Order 18, effective October 30, 1946. 21 Amendment 60, SR 14—E, Amendment 4, SO 162 ; both effective October 28, 1946. 22 MPR 188 : Amendment 1, Order 5128, effective October 7, 1946 ; Amendment 5, Order । 4875, effective October 16, 1946 ; Amendment 6, Order 4875, effective November 5, 1946. 23 Order 22, MPR 598^ effective October 25, 1946 ; Amendment 4, Order 5122, MPR 188, effective October 28, 1946. 24 Amendment 6, 3d RMPR 213, effective October 7, 1946. MPR 188 : Amendment 2, Rev. Order 1470, effective October 26, 1946 ; Amendment 3, Rev. Order 5, effective October 28, 1946 ; Amendment 5, Order 4800, Revocation Order 4992, Order 5261, Order 5262 ; Ceiling Price Increases • 27 In three cases, industry-wide discretionary increases were granted to hardship manufacturers of low-end commodities, chiefly to maintain supply by checking shifts to more profitable items. Such actions covered electric soldering irons, kitchen cabinets and tables, and portable electric broilers. A discretionary action also raised prices 15 to 17 percent on soft mattresses to reflect higher contained-cotton cost.25 BUILDING MATERIALS AND LUMBER Building materials increases granted at the producer level during the quarter were not made directly under the provisions of the 1946 extension act but in most cases, as for other products, were indirectly attributable to those provisions since they offset prescribed rises on component materials. In all cases the pass-through of rises to the consumer level was necessary under the new law. Required by law to return base-period industry earnings were iri-creases for lime (except agricultural) produced west of the Rocky Mountains, for vitrified clay sewer pipe and allied products (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana), for asphalt and tarred roofing products (northwestern area), for portland cement (northern California, northern Nevada, Oregon, and Washington)', and for rubber flooring.26 Jobber sales of stock mill work were adjusted as to price to reflect average current cost plus average percentage mark-up in effect March 31,1946, as required.27 Rises in production costs made a number of industry-wide discretionary increases necessary in order to maintain previous advances originally designed to encourage production of items needed in the Veterans’ Emergency Housing Program. Among the more important of these were stock millwork, stock screen goods, insect screen cloth, stock hardwood stair parts, enameled cast-iron plumbing fixtures, asphalt siding and related materials, southern pine flooring, and gypsum plaster bag goods.28 all effective October 28, 1946. Amendment 6, MPR 476, effective October 28, 1946; Rev. Order 619, RMPR 136, effective October 28, 1946 ; Amendment 9, RPS 57, effective November 8, 1946. 25 SO 148 : Amendment 9, effective October 9, 1946 ; Amendment 10, effective October 22, 1946 ; Amendment 11, effective October 28, 1946. Amendment a, Order 4934, MPR 188, effective October 23,1946. 28 Amendment 67, Order 1, MPR 592, effective October 12, 1946 ; Amendment 26, RMPR 206, Amendment 68, Order 1, MPR 592 ; both effective October 15, 1946 ; Amendment 12, RPS 45, effective October 30, 1946 ; Amendment 21, MPR 224, effective November 1, 1946 ; Amendment 29, MPR 149 ; effective October 2, 1946. 27 Amendment 14, MPR 525, effective October 26,1946. 28 Amendment 3, MPR 44, Amendment 21, RMPR 293 ; both effective October 7, 1946. Amendment 11, MPR 381, effective October 17, 1946. Amendaient 17, SR 14—G, effective October 18, 1946. Order 1, 2d RSR 14, effective October 28, 1946. MPR 591 : Amendment 28, Order 1, Amendment 29, Order 48 ; both effective October 30, 1946. Amendment 12, RPS 45, effective October 30, 1946. Amendment 18, 2d RMPR 19, Amendment 69, Order 1, MPR 592, both effective November 6, 1946. 28 • Twentieth Quarterly Report Also to encourage production needed in the building program'were several discretionary increases for paints of various types.29 Two industry-wide increases were allowed on lumber in October to meet the minimum requirements of the law—one under the softwood lumber provisions of the 1946 extension act, directing high enough prices to permit producers of at least 90 percent of output to, recover current costs of production, and the other under the baseperiod earnings standard. These covered northeastern softwood lumber and finished redwood lumber.30 As an aid to the building program, several discretionary increases were granted to shift production emphasis to particular sizes or types of lumber needed, and one to facilitate shipment from the west coast by water instead of rail because of freight car shortage. Thus, prices were raised all along the lijie for certain sizes of northern hemlock and white spruce, and of western pine and associated lumber, and for all Douglas fir shipped from west coast ports by mills ordinarily using rail transport.31 METALS, MACHINERY, AND AUTOMOBILES Only three pricing actions in the metals group were taken during the quarter to fulfill statutory requirements. Under the import provisions of the extension act, directing price increases to maintain the supply of essential imports, maximums wtere raised for primary and slab zinc and for zinc scrap. Prices for copper and copper alloy scrap were also raised on the basis of the industry earnings standard. Export prices on pig tin were lifted at jobber and distributor levels to meet the margin requirements of the 1946 act. Also, in accordance with this provision, other reseller prices were raised to reflect both mandatory and discretionary increases granted at prior levels.32 . Important discretionary increases, generally reflecting rising costs of raw materials, labor, and freight, were-put through to correct maladjustments or inequities tending to disrupt transition-period pricing, distribution, and supply. These included groups of iron, steel, and zinc products, copper castings in special shapes, and fabricated reinforcing concrete bars. One rise lifted prices on cold-rolled steel drums because of the current shortage necessitating use of cold-instead of hot-rolled metal. Another action gave producers of merchant grades of pig iron an adjustment procedure for covering total 29 MPR 188 : Amendment 97, Order A—1, effective October 3, 1946; Amendment 98, Order A—1, effective November 2, 1946; Amendment 99, Order A—1, effective November 4, 1946. 30 Amendment 4, 3d RMPR 219, effective October 3, 1946; Amendment 13, MPR 253, effective October 16, 1946. 31 Amendment 9, 2d RMPR 222, effective October 4, 1946; 2d RMPR 94, effective Novem-ber 4,1946 ; Amendment 3, 2d RMPR 26, effective October 30,1946. 32 Amendment 3, MPR 3, Amendment 6, RPS 81; both effective October 14, 1946. Amendment 8, RMPR 20, Amendment 4, MPR 17 ; both effective October 26,1946. Ceiling Price Increases • 29 costs plus freight on shipments to New England to facilitate supply of housing items.33 Three relatively minor actions affected machinery during the quarter, all under the Administrator’s discretionary power. Two lifted prices on power-operated gasoline dispensing pumps, to reflect labor and materials cost increases since March 1946. The third was to facilitate supply of industrial machinery and equipment by providing for extra individual-firm adjustments to cover added work hours and subcontracting costs resulting from stepped-up ohtput.34 The quarter saw only slight movement in the automotive field before final decontrol. Three actions, reworking reconversion formulas and covering only a few truck models, raised current prices. A minor action allowed a change in the basing date for pricing rebuilt automotive parts except motors, so as to reflect a percentage pass-on of the average 15-percent increase on new parts and thus maintain normal relationships between new and rebuilt parts.35 RUBBER AND CHEMICALS Rising production costs accounted for the principal price rises in the rubber and chemicals group. Relief'was granted under the industry-earnings standard to protect base-period returns on mechanical rubber goods, rubber flooring, rubber hose and belting, and coated and combined fabrics. Manufacturer increases were passed through to the consumer under the margin provisions of the 1946 extension act. Industry-wide action also was taken at the Administrator’s discretion on cotton linters to reflect the upsurging prices on the fluctuating raw cotton market.36 FUEL, PULP, AND PAPER Only one increase’ in fuel prices was necessary under the law, higher ceilings being put into effect for both bituminous and anthracite coal delivered into New England and the New York area harbor. The subsidy payments previously allowed on these deliveries were ter- 33 Amendment 18, RPS 6, Amendment 43, RPS 49; both effective October 9, 1946. Amendment 16, SR 14-G, Amendment 2, MPR 124, Amendment 2, MPR 166; all effective October 14, 1946; Amendment 18, SR 14-G, effective October 31, 1946. Amendment 9, RPS 15, effective October 14, 1946. Amendment 2, RMPR 159, effective October 9, 1946. Order 171,^under 3 (e), GMPR, effective November 4, 1946. Amendment 15, RPS 10, effective October 21, 1946. 34 Order 506, RMPR 136; Amendment 5, effective October 2, 1946; Amendment 6, effective November 2, 1946. Amendment 8, SO 142, effective October 22,1946. 35 MPR 610 : Order 23, effective October 5, 1946; Amendment 1, Order 23, effective October 17, 1946; Order 24, effective November 4, 1946. Amendment 17, MPR 45^, effective October 12, 1946. 30 MPR 149 : Amendment 29, effective October 2, 1946; Amendment 30,-effective October 14, 1946. RMPR 478: Amendments 18 and 19, both effective October 2, 1946 ; Amendment 1, Rev. Order 157, Amendment 1, Order 158; both effective October 2, 1946. Amendment 3, 2d RMPR 191, effective October 1,1946. 736419—47---------3 30 • Twentieth Quarterly Report minaied and under the 1946 extension act it was necessary to offset the discontinued subsidy. Higher production or delivery costs also led to several discretionary increases in order to maintain supply in particular areas. Thus, maximums were raised for truck deliveries of Pennsylvania bituminous coal, for bituminous coal sold as bunker fuel in the New York harbor, and for bituminous coal in the Denver area.37 A number of discretionary advances were granted on pulpwood and paper in the period before general decontrol in order to encourage production or distribution of these materials needed for peacetime goods. Chief among these were increases injnaximums for imported Canadian pulpwood, for truck-delivered pulpwood in Texas, and for imported sulphite and northern sulphate woodpulp; and for sheeted and standard grade newsprint.38 ’’Amendment 49, RMPR 122, Amendment 8, Rev. Comp. Adj. Reg. 1; both effective November 1, 1946. Amendment 165, MPR 120, effective October 18, 1946; Amendment 37, MPR 189, effective November 2, 1946; Amendment 167, MPR 120, effective November 4, 1946. 38 Amendment 5, MPR 530, Amendment 6, MPR 410; both effective October 30, 1946. Amendment 7, RMPR 114, effective November 8, 1946. RMPR 130: Amendment 14, effective October 7,1946 ; Amendment 15, effective October 11,1946. • Appendix to Price Chapters • 31 A APPENDIX TO PRICE CHAPTERS Table 1.—Dollar-and-Cent Prices, Oct. 1—Nov. 7, 1946 Effective date Commodity Level of action Oct. 1,1946 Soybeans (storage) Country elevator. Oct. 7,1946 Douglas fir doors (glass and glazing) Producer. Oct. 14,1946 Coconut oil Refiner. Oct. 23,1946 Men’s cotton handkerchiefs (low-end staples). Producer. Oct. 26,1946 Douglas fir broom and mop handle squares (rough, green).. Do. Do Western red cedar plywood (sawn edge grain) All. Oct. 28,1946 Hardwood stock stair parts (produced in and around W is-consin, Iowa, and Ohio). Producer. Nov. 7,1946 Fish box shook Bi Do. Table 2.—Price Increases, October—December 1946 Effective date Commodity Level of action Amount of increase Oct. 1,1946 Do Cotton linters- - _ Cotton textiles (raw cotton rise Processor All 63.8 percent. Producer: 2.19 cents per pound Do. Do Do- Do Oct. 2,1946 Do Do Do pass-through). Edible fats and oils (cottonseed, soybean, peanqt, ’ and corn oils). Mayonnaise and salad dressing- Oranges (standard crates) Soybeans (1946 crop) .... Coated and combined fabrics..’.. - Cocoa and cocoa products (domestic). Cocoa beans and imported cocoa products. Mechanical rubber goods (includes standard molded, extruded, lathe-cut, and chemically blown sponge rubber items, including hard rubber goods, jar rings, container sealing compounds, and plumbers’ supplies and specialties). —do do .....do —do do do Importer Producer and wholesaler. of contained cotton in carded yams and fabrics, 2.57 cents for combed, and 1 percent extra on osnaburgs. Retailer: 1 percent for garments, and about 2 percent for bed linens and table napery. Crusher: 1% cents per pound for crude oil. For refined-oils—1.93 cents per pound for cottonseed; 1.86 cents for peanut; 1.89 cents for soybean and corn. Producer: oleomargarine, 1.6 cents per pound; shortening, 1.9 cents; and 14.75 cents per gallon for cooking and salad oils. Retailer: about 2>S cents per pound. Producer: 12 cents per gallon for mayonnaise and 6 cents for salad dressing. Retailer: about 2)3 cents per pound. Shipper: 12 cents for California, and 6 cents for Florida, f. o. b. shipping point. Country shipper: 15 cents per bushel. Producer: 7.7 percent for oilcloth and rubber, pyroxylin-, or oil-coated fabrics, 17.3 percent for starch-filled window shade cloth, and 11.4 percent for starch-filled book cloth.1 Producer: 13 cents per pound for cocoa butter and 27 percent on other products. Average about 5.85 cents per pound for raw beans, and 2 percent on lots of more than 25 bags. Producer: approximately 14 percent above January 1942. 1 '1 ms increase is applicable to ciotn made Apr. 26-Aug. 9, and for that made after Aug. 9 the increase is 19.9 percent. 32 • Twentieth Quarterly Report, Table 2.—Price Increases, October-December 1946—Continued Effective date Commodity Level of action Amount of increase Oct. 2, 1946 Do Part-cotton textiles (items generally less than one-half cotton). Power-operated gasoline dispensing pumps (computing and noncomputing). Rubber flooring (except neoprene) . Soybean adhesives and isolated proteins. Vitrified clay sewer pipe, large (sold from west central into south central area). Imported kapok All Producer: range from 2 to 24 cents per pound of contained cotton. Producer: 4.2 percent. Producer: 4.5 percent. Producer: 70 and 78 cents per hundredweight, respectively, of contained soybean meal and flour.2 7 percent for sizes 27 inches through 36 inches.* Varied. __ do Do do Do do Do .... Producer Oct. 3,1946— Do All—1 Leathers (domestically tanned from imports). Northeastern softwood lumber do Producer: 34 percent for chamois made from raw sheep or lamb skins, and 35 percent for East India semitanned goatskins. All skivers tanned from raw sheep or lamb skins or pickled sheep skivers, rise 3 cents per square fodt.3 About $1.15 per M b. m. and $4 per M b. m. on spruce.4 Producer: 4 to 17 cents per Do Mill Do (except Ottawa Valley white and Norway pine). Paints (trade sales) All Oct. 4,1946 Oct. 5,1946 Do Northern hemlock and western Mill. gallon by type of paint. Retailer: 4 to 6 percent.®. $4 perM b. m. for Merchantable 1- by 10-inch in the 10-, 12-, 14-foot, and standard lengths; $3 per M b. m. for 4/4 boards (including grain and coal door boards), No. 4 piece stuff, 2- by 4-ineh and wider, 4-foot long, and No. 5 piece stuff, 2- by 4-inch and wider, and 4-foot and longer, and $4.50 on remaining hemlock. Spruce planks and timbers, $5 per M b. m. Varied. white spruce lumber. Fresh fruits and vegetables All sales agents Tomato products, miscellaneous dry> groceries, and processed foods. Trucks (Available Truck Company). Coil and flat bed springs and metal beds. Cotton piece goods and sheetings. Felt carpets (jute and hair) Primary distributor... All Indeterminate. Do Producer: 7.4 to 30.3 percent. Producer: 6 percent. Retailer: 35 to 85 cents' per item for springs, and 50 and 75 cents foi\the 2 classes of beds. Indeterminate. Oct. 7,1946 Do ... do do Do do Producer: 8)^ percent. $7 per ton. 20 cents to $1 per hundredweight. 1.5 cents per pound. Producer: 4.5 percent for Douglas fir doors, and 3.9 percent for western pine sash, frames, doors, screens, and specialties. x Producer: average 30 percent on new items. Indeterminate. Do Fish meal and fish scrap Reduction plant Do Newsprint (sheeted) Producer Do Pacific coast sardine (pilchard) oil. ' Stock mill work Reduction plant Do All ... Oct.' 8,1946 Do.« Staple knitwear, low-end (children’s outerwear long pants and overalls). Staple work gloves do ... Wholesaler Oct. 9,1946 Do Ammonium sulphate, domestic (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico). Canned California sardines Shipper Approximately 10 percent f. o. b. plant. Processor: 14 percent. Retailer: about 1^ cents per 15-ounce can. All.. (pilchards). 2 Producers may add proportionate increases for each $1 per ton rise in delivered cost of soybean meal above a base of $62 bulk f. o. b. Decatur, Ill. 3 Leathers priced higher than 80 cents per square foot take the applicable rise on the first 80 cents. 4 $1 per M b. m. may be added for truck delivery. 8 Temporary increase. 8 Retroactively effective to Aug. 23, 1946. Appendix to Price Chapters • 33 Table 2.—Price Increases, October-December 1946—Continued Effective date Oct. 9,1946 Do Commodity Electric soldering irons (low-end). Fabricated concrete reinforcing bars. Iron and steel products (Toledo and Mahoning Valley, Ohio, Detroit and eastern Michigan, and established Gulf and Pacific coast basing points). Northern hardwood flooring and eastern spruce lumber. Rough rice (California) Level of action Producer do All. Retailer ........ Producer All Amount of increase 15 percent. $2.50 per ton. Producer: 50 cents per gross ton for ingots, blooms, billets, slabs, and sheet bar, and 35 cents per hundredweight for all other products. Indeterminate. 23 cents per hundredweight for appraised and 85 cents for unappraised. Processor: 4.6 percent. Retailer: about 1 cent per 6-ounce can. Slaughterer: $3.75 per hundredweight for choice grades and $3.45 for good. Retailer: 6 to 7 cents per pound for choice and good grades. Job processor: 35 percent. Retailer: less than 1 cent per yard. 15 percent on meat sandwiches . and all offerings having meat as a major ingredient. Producer: approximately 20 percent. $10 per ton. Canner: $1.20 per case. Retailer: about 4 cents per can. 70 cents per gross ton. Producer: $1 per net ton J Retailer: 1H cents for each 1 cent per ton cost increase.’ Varied. Indeterminate. Processor: Hr to 2^ cents per pound. Retailer: 2 to 4 cents per pound. Varied. Indeterminate. Average 1 percent. 70 cents per short ton for copra, and 27 cents per pound for crude coconut oil, c. i. f. Gulf and Atlantic coast ports. 25 percent for remnants, seconds, and millrun shorts up to 10 yards, and ducks under 2 yards long. Varied. Producer: 6.7 to 9.1 percent. Producer: 4.2 to 14.1 percent per item; Indeterminate. Average 12.1 percent. Producer: 1 cent per pound for leaded oxide in earlots, and % cent for lead free. Producer: 6 percent. Average $2 per Mb. m. Producer: about 1.8 percent. About 0.5 percent for wood hoops and headliners, 4.0 for staves, 5.5 for heading, and single slack barrels made . from this stock, 7, 8, and 9 cents respectively. Buckets, . tubs, kits, and pails, 1.2 cents 1 piece. Do Do Do Oct. 10,1946 Do California tomato paste (1946 pack). Veal carcass and cuts Do Wooden packing cases and paper tubs (for finished piece goods). Food and drink items (sold by restaurants, train vendors, or newsstands). Military uniforms, specified. _ .. do Oct. 11,1946 Do Supplier All Do Newsprint (zone 4)._ Producer ... Oct. 12,1946 Do Atlantic sea herring and alewives. Florida hard phosphate rock (un-ground). Lime (except agricultural) All Producer Do All Do Linoleum and felt-base rug borders. Rebuilt automotive parts (except motors). Salt codfish, haddock, hake, cusk, and pollock. Ale Producer 8_ " Do Rebuilders Do All Oct. 14,1946 Do Brewer Bag, novelty, or pocketbook leather (sheep or lamb, high-type). Copper castings (special shapes). Copra and coconut oil Tanner Do Producer Do Do Do Importer Cotton textiles (pound goods over 1 yard). Export commodities.. Producer... Exporter Do Rolled zinc products All .- Do Rubber hose and belting do Do Soaps and cleansers, home do Do Zinc and zinc scrap do Do Zinc oxides do Oct. 15,1946 Oct. 16,1946 Do Do Vitrified clay sewer pipe and allied products (sold in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana). Finished redwood lumber Linoleum and felt-base floor and wall coverings. Slack cooperage and stock do Producer All..... Mill i Producers west of the Rocky Mountains only. 8 Producers who sell to other producers only. 34 • Twentieth Quarterly Report Table 2.—Price Increases, October-December 1946—Continued Effective date Commodity Level of action Amount of increase Oct. 16,1946 Oct. 17,1946 Do Split redwood cross ties Producer $7.50 per Mb. m. 1 cent per bushel. Producer: 3.7 percent deliv- Soybean storage (Iowa) Country elevators All : Stock screen goods (of western Do pine). Trucks (2 models, Available Truck Co.). Bituminous coal (western Pennsylvania, truck deliveries). Fruit preserves, jams, jellies, and apple butter. Insect screen cloth (bronze and copper). Soybeans (1946 crop) do ered, and 4.0 percent fxo. b. mill. Producer: 6.9 and 9.1 percent, respectively. 5 to 10 cents per ton. Retailer: 1 to 2 cents per pound jar for most items. Apple butter 1 cent per pound jar. Producer: About 13.5 percent.10 Varied. Oct. 18,1946 Do Producer» ... All J Do do Do Merchandiser Oct. 19,1946 Oct. 21,1946 Do Plastic products (made of thermosetting fabricated laminates) Automotive rubber hose (vacuum brake and heater hose, except molded or braided). Bananas (ripe fruit, labeled and packed in protective containers). Pig iron (merchant grades, ship-. ped into New England). Stillson pipe wrenches (low-end) _ Kitchen cabinets and tables (low-end). Processed beans Producer and fabricator. All except producer... All 10 percent. 26.8 percent. Importer: 8 cents per ton mile or less when shipped direct by air to retailer. Varied. Do .....do Do Oct. 22,1946 Do do... Producer All Producer: 16.1 percent. Indeterminate. Retailer: 2 to 3 cents per No. 2 Do Wool fabrics (base-period and low-end types). Men’s cotton handkerchiefs (low-end). Mixed fertilizers and fertilizer Producer can. Average 10 percent. Retailer: Up to 5 cents on for Oct. 23,1946 All Do Producer mer 10- and 15-cent handkerchiefs. About 6 percent. Producer: 15 percent.11 Re- Do materials (Florida). Soft mattresses-.-l All Oct. 24,1946 Oct. 25,1946 Do .... Dresses, slacks, and slack suits (low-end). Cotton bags (for corn meal, feed, or flour). Home mechanical refrigerators... Oil grade tight cooperage and tight cooperage stock (except for export). Copper and copper alloy scrap (lead-covered telephone and/ power cable scrap). Douglas fir broom and mop handle squares (rough, green). Export commodities (such as building materials, dried beans and peas, certain foods, glass, plywood, primary forest products, rags, trailers, used bags, wastepaper, woolen piece goods, used and reconditioned wearing apparel, briquettes and coke, hosiery, radios, phonographs, etc). Metal cots and double deck beds, new. Pig tin (export) do tailer: 15 percent. Indeterminate. do Do. Dealer 2 percent. Producer: 25 percent for staves 34 through 36 inches and for heading 19 through 21 inches (except of No. 1 white oak), 8% percent for steel hoops, 10 percent on extra charges for coopering tight-barrels and barrels made of bourbon grades of white oak, and about 18 percent for barrels of other than No. 1 white oak of stave and heading sizes listed above. 1 cents per pound f. o. b. ship ping'point. 35 percent on 4 sizes. About 25 percent. 6 percent. Varied. Do .. All Oct. 26,1946 Do do Producer Do Merchant exporter.... All Do Do Export jobber and distributor. 9 Producers who ship by truck because of unavailability or rail cars may charge the f. o. b. mine maximum for rail delivery, until Apr. 1, 1947. io Temporary increase. 11 In consumer direct sales the increase is 17 percent. Appendix to Price Chapters • 35 Table 2.—Price Increases, October-December 1946-—Continued Effective date Commodity Level of action Amount of increase Oct. 26,1946 Oct. 28,1946-. Do Stock millwork (except eastern Colorado, Montana, Arizona, western Oregon, western Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and part of Oklahoma). Hardwood stock stair parts (produced in and around Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio). Household enamel and cast-iron Jobber About 1 percent. Producer: about 5 percent. Varied. All Retailer Do ware (mail-order). Imported wools (Australian, New Zealand, and South African). Nonleather luggage Importer Indeterminate. Do .. Producer ... ¿Do. Do 4 Pocketed-coil innerspring mattresses. Electric broilers, portable (low-end). Radio receiving and allied special purpose tubes and parts. Shoes (ofspecified importedleathers) Sulphate of ammonia (Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). Upholstered furniture (manufacturers pricing on a cover-grading system). Asphalt and tarred roofing products (northwestern area). Asphalt siding and related materials. Canadian pulpwood (Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia). Domestically tanned ' calfskin leathers (whole skins with grain or suede finish). Douglas fir lumber (shipped from west coast ports). Enameled cast-iron plumbing fixtures (except fittings and trimmings). Pulpwood (truck-delivered to consuming mill, Pasadena, Tex). Women’s branded rayon hose Blankets (low-end, cotton and part wool items in “class II special”). Cotton knitted goods (under freeze ceilings). Zinc products (including zinc anodes, special shapes, zinc base alloys, zinc dust, wire and battery cans, and battery sides and bottoms). Coal (delivered in New England and New York harbor area). Finished piece goods . All Producer: 8.6 percent. Varied. Do Producer Do do Average 15 percent for finished Do All... tubes and 18 percent for tube parts. Producer: 10 to 16 percent. Do do Producer: about 10 percent. Do... .. do Indeterminate. Oct. 30,1946.. Do.. do Producer: 13 cents per hun- do dredweight on carlots. Producer: 10 percent on backer or rigid siding board. Importer: 50 cents to $3.50 per cord. Producer: average 9 percent. Varied. Do do Do do , Do Mill « Do... AU Producer: 11.5 percent. 75 cents per cord. Do... MUI Do Retailer . About 15 cents per pair. Producer: 7.5 percent lor band A and 4.3 for band B. Producer: 4.5 cents per pound for carded and 5.3 cents for combed. Producer: 1 cent per pound of Oct. 31,1946 Do .. AU dO a Do... do Dealer contained zinc. 11 to 66 cents per gross ton for Pennsylvania anthracite, and 16 to 34 cents for bituminous. About 6.6 percent. Do Jobber13 Do Portland cement (northern California, northern Nevada, Oregon, and Washington). Bituminous coal (sold as bunker fuel in New York Harbor). Mixed cotton-mohair yam AU Producer: 15 cents per barrel in California and Nevada, and 20 cents in Oregon and Washington. About 9 cents per gross ton, exlighter or ex-barge. Producer: 56 cent per pound for each 1 cent rise over 48 cents per pound of contained cotton?* Producer: 21 percent. 4 to 17 cents per gallon. Nov. 2,1946 Do Supplier AU Do Power operated gasoline dispensing pumps (computing and noncomputing). Paints, trade sales (less than 1 gallon). do Do Producer ” Mills which normally ship byïrail only. n Jobbers who perform recognized wholesaler fonctions. N Applies to 2/20 H weaving yam. 36 • Twentieth Quarterly Report Table 2.—Price Increases, October-December 1946—Continued Effective date Commodity Level of action Amount of increase Nov. 4,1946 Do Apparel (low-end, children’s knit sleeping garments and women’s and misses’ knit pants). Bituminous coal (Denver area).. Cotton commodities (low-end) ... Steel drums (of cold rolled steel). Paints and intermediate oleo- All Producer: up to 30 percent. 10 cents per net ton. About 10 to 30 percent saver 1942. Indeterminate. Producer..." Do All . Do Producer Do__ ... All Producer: range from 31 cents per gallon for semigloss to $1.30 per gallon for oil colors Pure lead-in-oil, $1.75 per hundredweight. 18 to 20 percent. Mill: $1 per M pieces for plaster lath, and $2 to $3 per M feet for Douglas fir, finished 4/4 common boards, minor species, surfaced 1 side and surfaced 1 side and 2 edges. Varied. Do resinous liquids (trade sales). Trucks (Ward La France) Producer Do. ... Western pine and associated lumber. Coal All Nov. 5,1946.. Do Producer sales agents.. All Linoleum and felt-base floor and Producer: 12.2 percent. 10 centsper hundredweight. Mill: 60 cents per ton (except Keene’s cement, white goods, or Terra Alba combinations). 12J^ percent on 82 types. 8 to 10 percent. $15 per Mb. m. for 4/4 and 5/4 flooring in D and better grades, $12.50 per Mb. m. for 1-inch car material up to 16 feet, and $10 for lengths of 18 and 20 feet. 50 percent. 54 o of 1 cent per pound. Indeterminate. Nov. 6,1946 Do^ wall coverings. Direct consumption sugar (plantation granulated). ' Gypsum plaster bag goods (Boston area). Levers, raschel, and barmen laces (low-end). Shirts, shorts, and pajamas Refiner _ ; All. Do. ... Producer Do do 15 Do Southern pine flooring and car material. Cotton bags (second-hand) do. Nov. 7,1946 Do All Dibutyl phthalate Producer Do Men’s and boys’ woolen and worsted apparel (low-end). Flax carpets (loom-woven) do Nov. 8,1946 Do All Producer: 11 percent. $6 to $7.50 per short air dry ton. Indeterminate. Woodpulp (unbleached European sulphite and northern sulphate). Dump truck rental (fully maintained and operated). Western softwood plywood Importer Nov. 9,1946 Do Lessor ... Reseller 10 percent.16 'Primary distributor: 5 cents per hundredweight for finished rice. Dealer: 2 cents per hundredweight for broken or granulated rice. Producer: 10 cents a Georgia gallon.17 Retailer: about 1 cent No. 1J^ can. 6 cents per gallon. Mill: about 70 cents per hundredweight for 6 long-grained varieties, 75 cents for 2 longgrained varieties,, and 85 cents for sbort-grained varieties. Primary distributor: 4 cents per hundredweight. 36.5 cents per hundredweight. Refiner: 40 cents per hundredweight. Retailer: about cent per pound. Producer: to 2 cents per pound. Nov. 12,1946 No< 14,1946 Nov. 18,1946 Do Rice ; Primary distributor and dealer. All Country cane sirup (in barrels).. Commercial cane sirup Finished rice (mill, polished, brown, parboiled). Raw sugar Refined sugar Producer and packer.. All I Nov. 20,1946 Do. Importer and producer. All Dec. 6,1946 Sirups, blended . do i* Those who choose bimonthly computations. i» Sellers who have received a carlot since July 1,1945, but not within 4 months prior to resale, and who buy 1. c. 1. from distribution plants take the increase. 17 Slightly less than a standard gallon. Appendix to Price Chapters • 37 Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1-Nov. 10, 1946 Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. 1,1946— Agricultural insecticides, fungicides, and related products (except items containing rotenone or rotenone products). All Permanent. Do Animal gland derivatives, extracts, liquids, and desiccations (sold in hulk to processors for use as components of other products for consumer use). Apricot pit shells do Do. Do do Do. Do Breath fresheners (not containing rationed sugar). Chara marl do Do. Do do Do. Do Chewing gum, imported and domestic i .....do Do. Do Flax shives do Do. Do Flour mixes, prepared do Do. Do Marron sweetmeat .do Do. Do? Water transportation by “unregulated” common carriers and transportation of coal by contract carrier (except between North Atlantic ports). Supplier Indefinite. Oct. 4, 1946— Automotive parts and accessories (such as exhaust deflectors, fender guides, grill guard protectors (except bumpers and bumper guards), outside rear-view mirrors, and vehicle registration certificate holders). All Do. Do Balloons (for radio and weather observation) do Do. Do Brooms do Do. Do Coated fabric tire covers and winter fronts do Do. Do Elastic braid and cord, and woven elastic webbing (finished width). do Do. Do Fence posts (except Southern yellow pine) do Do. Do Military radio cars, used do Do. Do Military self-propelled vehicles, used (such as amphibian; artillery, automotive, electrical, instrument, machine shop, small arms, and welding repair; balloon tender; bomb service; command; earth auger and polesetter; earth and stone hoist; etc.). do _ Do. Do Parts and subassemblies of equipment already suspended (when made by the producer of the finished equipment). do ... Do. Do Plumbing drainage specialties do Do. Do Plumbing drainage staples (except under BPS 100). do Do. Do Sand blast stencils do Do. Do Scout cars and chassis do Do. Do Solder nipples, bushing, and ferrules do Do. . Do Split products and stakes of western red cedar or redwood (for fencing or related agricultural purposes). do,— Do. Do Steel castings (under RPS 41) .. ..do Do. Do Sulfur do Do. Do Trailers and semi-trailers (without regard to capacity, except cargo van and platform type which are, without modification, comparable to civilian vehicles of the same class). do /. Do. Do Trucks (with 6x2,6x4,6x6 wheel arrangement). Trucks, used (with a manufacturer’s minimum tonnage rating of 3 tons or more, or minimum gross vehicle weight rating equivalent to a tonnage rating of 2)^-3^, 2J^-4,2J^-4J^, 2J4~5J^, 2)^-6 tons). ..do Do. Do do — Do. Do * Tube repairing (for sizes 12.00 and larger) do Do. Do Valves, air and vent do Do. Do Weapon carriers (self-propelled) do... Do. Oct. 8,1946 Commission agents’ or brokers’ fees and charges (for sale of decontrolled fresh fruits and vegetables) . .....do.. G). Oct. 9,1946 Do Acetone do Belting, balata do Do. Do Bicycle tire and tube repair materials do Do. Do Bicycle tires, used ______________ _______ do Do. Do Caps, bathing and shower do ___ Do. Do.? Casein glue (except containing more than 5 percent of any or all of soybean adhesives, synthetic resin glues, or animal hide or bone glues). do Indefinite. Do Channel black do Do. Do Chestnut extract do_ Do Container sealing compounds, and cements and adhesives (except tire and tube repair cements). do Do. Do Covering of industrial rolls, metal parts, valves, and fittings. .....do Indefinite. Do .. Flooring do Do. Do Lawn mower tires ? do ... Permanent. 1 Suspended or exempted to conform with status of decontrolled items. 38 • Twentieth Quarterly Report Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. '9,1946 Do Lining of tanks and pipes All Mats and matting (including automotive) Do. Do Parts (used exclusively on racing automobiles) do Do. Do Printers materials do.... Do. Do Tetraethyl lead, ethyl fluid, and other chemical preparation (used in antiknock agents in motor fuel, except petroleum fractions or choking process derivatives or their mixtures). do Do. Do Textile warp size, finishing material, and printing gums (produced from roots, rhizomes, tubers, or grains, or any product therefrom, except those containing more than 5 percent by weight of any or all of the following—casein, synthetic resins, gelatines, soybeans, sulfinated tallows, fats, oils, or waxes). do Do. Do- Tubs, buckets, kits, and pails, wooden (on nonbilge stave construction). do Permanent. Oct. 11,1946 Apparel and apparel accessories (made wholly of pure silk or linen, except linings, bindings, trimmings, or reinforcements). do Indefinite. Do Laminated glass do Do. Do Malt beverages (sold by brewers to wholly owned subsidiaries). do....... Permanent. Do Meals, individual food items, and beverages (railroad dining, cafe, or club cars). do Do. Do JPigments, natural and synthetic (mineral earth color pigments). do Indefinite. Do Rustic fencing.. . _ do... Do. Do - Services (marketing, handling, and processing of leaf tobacco and leaf tobacco products only). Supplier Permanent. Oct. 14,1946 Exporter sales to own organization (Africa, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Virgin Islands, and Philippines). - do Do. Oct. 15,1946 Leaf tobacco and tobacco products processed or produced in whole or substantial part therefrom. do Do. Do - Meat (livestock, and food or feed products) do Do. Do Milk and food or feed products processed or manufactured in whole or substantial part therefrom. do Do. Do Poultry, eggs, and food or feed products processed or manufactured in whole or substantial part therefrom. do Do. Do Slaughter controls j All Do. Do Wheat, rye, com, oats, mixed feed oats, barley, grain sorghums, and any livestock or poultry feed processed or manufactured entirely from any one or more of these whole grains. do Do. Oct. 16,1946 New whiskey (distilled on or after Oct. 16, 1946, and stored in new white oak bourbon cooperage fdr aging). do Indefinite. Oct. 17,1946 Do Apple pectin pulp .. do Do. Babassu oil meal. :.. do. . Do. Do Barley products (for feeding purposes) .. do Do. Do Brewers’ dried products (as defined in MPR 526). do Do. Do .. Coffee _ . . do Do. Do Cooking and salad oils A .. do Do. Do Copra oil meal do Do. Do Corn bran, germ cake and meal, gluten food and meal, oil cake and meal, and screenings. do Do. Do Com oil . do - Do. Do Cottonseed hulls and hull bran do Do. Do Cottonseed oil .' l .do Do. Do Cottonseed products (as defined in Supplement *1, FPR 3). do Do. Do Distillers’ dried products (as defined in Supplement 9, FPR 3). do Do. Do - Dried beet pulp do. Do. Do Feed screenings. do Do. Do Fish meal and scrap do Do. Do Hominy feed do - Do. Do Linseed products (as defined in Supplement 5, FPR 3). do , Do. Do Mixed feed for animals and poultry (as defined in MPR 585). ...... do Do. Do Mayonnaise, salad dressing, and other dressing products. do.. Do. Do.—— Oat mill byproducts (as defined in Supplement 10, FPR 3). do Do. Do Oleomargarine _____________ do Do. Do Ouricuri oil meal do Do. Do Palm kernel oil meal do Do. Appendix to Price Chapters • 39 Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. 17,1946 Peanut oil All -.. Indefinite Do Peanut products (as defined in Supplement 7, FPR 3). Rice milling byproducts (as defined in 2d RMPR 150). Sesame oil meal .....do Do. Do .¿...do Do. x Dn dn Do. Do Shortening do : Do. Do Soybean products (as defined in Supplement 3, FPR 3). Soybean oil do Do. Do do Permanent. Do Soybeans and flaxseed. .... do. Do. Do Wheat millfeeds do Indefinite. Do Woven lame (with a metallic yarn content by weight of 25 percent or more). Bibs (turf goods) do Do. Oct. 18,1946 Do do Do. Collar pads do Do. Do Fly nets for horses do DO. Do Girth covers (turf goods) do Do. Do Harnesses and parts.... do „i Do. Do Head bumpers (turf goods) . do Do. Do Hopples arid hopple spreaders (turf goods) do Do. ' Do Horse blankets do Do. Do Horse boots do Do. Do Horse clothing and covers do Do. Do Leather numbers (turf goods) do Do. Do Muzzles (turf goods) do Do. Do Neck cradles.-“ do Do. Do Nose bags (for feeding animals) do Do. Do Repair parts for turf goods do Do. Do Saddle pads and blankets do Do. Do Saddle trees, covered and uncovered do Do. Do Saddlery and riding equipment do Do. Do Soaking’swabs, arikle rattlers, and rolls (turf goods). Stallion shields, rings, guards, and supports (turf do Do. Do do _• Do. Do goods). Stirrups do -- Do. Do Tail holders and protectors (turf goods) do Do. Do Tennis ball co ver fabric (composed of woven wool felt). Toe weights (turf goods) _ __.do—— Permanent. Do _ do . Indefinite. Dn Weight'pads (turf goods). _ . .. do Do. Do Whips ¿id crops (including lashers, butts, and stocks). Apparel and apparel accessories (made and sold do Do. Oct. 21,1946 do - —. Do. Do by disabled veterans receiving government compensation). Line-haul transportation services performed by riiotor carriers for railroads (except pick-up and delivery or local transfer services). Work gloves (made wholly of imported oil tanned sheepskin slats). Cedar chests - Supplier Do. Do All Do. Oct. 22,1946 Do do Do. Com steep liquor do Permanent. Do Curled hair (made from hog, cattle tail, horse mane, or horse tail hair, or mixtures thereof). Hard fiber yam, and sliver and roping made from hard fibers (including, but not limited to, abaca, sisal, and henequen). Hog hair - - - - - do Indefinite. Do . -__do --.- Do. Do .do Do. Do Horse mane and tail hair . __ do Do. Do Rubberized curled hair pads. __ do -. -- Do. Do Simps and glucoses (produced from the flpur or starchy material of potatoes, tapioca, cassava, sage, rye, and manioca). A cnnaticATly amplified phonographs- _ - -.-do - Permanent. Oct. 24,1946 Do . . do Aircraft plywood (only when“sold direct by the manufacturer to aircraft manufacturers or oper ators for use in the construction, repair, and maintenance of aircraft). Alfalfa, seed, imported and domestic _ ...do Do. Do do --. .. Permanent. Do Animal and poultry mixed feeds and all by- do Do. Do product ingredients from agricultural commodities which can be used in the manufacture of mixed feeds (covered by the GMPR). Antimony, metal, and oxide (when sold for export by RFC). Aprons, household do.. Do. Do do Indefinite. Do - Asbestos (when sold for export by RFC) do. - Permanent. Do Balsa wood _______________________ do Indefinite. Do Bananas — do-. Permanent. • Do Battery trays ------- do i—. Indefinite. 40 • Twentieth Quarterly Report Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. 24,1946 Do Bicycle tires and tubes All Permanent. Binder and baler twine (made from hard fibers including, but not limited to abaca, sisal, and henequen). Boat fenders and bumpers i— do Indefinite. Do do. Permanent. Do Boat poles do._ Indefinite. Do Bone ash _ _ do._ Permanent. Do Bottle closures (wood) do._ Indefinite. Do Braces and shims (for railroad use) — do Do. Do Breakfast cereals.. do Permanent. Do Brush blocks (when machined to that detail which renders them unfit to use for any other purpose). Candy . - __ do. Indefinite. Do do Permanent. Do Castor beans and castor oil, Nos. 1 and 3, imported. Clothes lines _ do Do. Do do Do. Do Coated shell paper do. Indefinite. Do Compressed ethylene do Permanent. Do Copper (when sold for export by RFC) do Do. Do ■ Corundum (when sold for export by RFC). do Do. Do Cosmetics (all types) do Indefinite. Do Fish, canned _ _______________ __do Permanent. Do Pineapple and pineapple juice, canned . _ do._ Do. - Do Tomatoes and tomato products, canned.— .. ..do. Do. Do Dog leashes do. --------- Do. Do Fafs and oils, edible and inedible (other than those specifically exempted by SO 132). Faucets (wood) T _ . do Do; Do do. Indefinite. Do Flexwood. do Do. Do Florist and nurserymen’s pot and garden plant labels. Flour, bread, and bakery products do. Do. Do do. - - Permanent. Do Fly ribbons_ ___ _ _ ____ _ do. --------- Indefinite. Do Fruit jar wrenches . do Permanent. Do Funeral supplies and services (including caskets and metal burial vaults sold to any agency of the Federal Government pursuant to competitive bids). Hardwood logs (produced in those parts of Oregon, Washington, and Canada, west of the crest of the Cascade Mountains, in Skamania and Klickitat Counties in Washington and in Hood River and Waco Counties in Oregon). Heel rests for accelerator pedals _ • do Do. Do _ do Indefinite. Do do Do. Do Honeycomb (wood) . do. Do. Do Insulator pins _____________________ _____do. Do." Do_ Lampblack do__ -------- Permanent. Do Lead (when sold for export by RFC) do Do. Do Legume seeds, imported and domestic dn Do. Do License plate fasteners and jewel reflectors do Indefinite. Do Locust mine material do Do. Do Macaroni and spaghetti- _ do Permanent. Do Make-up puffs do_ Do. Do Manganese ore (when sold for export by RFC) _ _ Metal tire valves ... do. Do. Do __ do_ Indefinite. Do Nickel (when sold for export by RFC).. do Permanent. Do Oils, grapeseed, olive, safflower, sesame seed, sunflower seed, sorghum, grain, and tea seed. Oranges do. Do. Do _ ___do- Do. Do Photo oil colors do_ Do. Do Pitch of tar and pitch of tar coke (except pitch derived from distillation of wood). Quartz crystals (when sold for export by RFC).. Rapeseed oil, domestic and imported do Indefinite. Do do. --------- Permanent. Do _____do Do. Do Raw and processed foods and alcoholic and malt beverages (except sugar and sugar solutions derived from sugar canes and beets (including all grades of edible sirups and molasses and blackstrap molasses); corn sirup and sugary blended sugars (which contain at least 20 percent by weight or volume of sugar, sugar solutions, corn sirup, or corn sugar, either singly or in combination). Red, alsike, and sweet clover seeds, imported and domestic. Replacement parts (for convertible tops of cars for 1941 and prior models). Rice, rough and finished do Do. Do do Do. Do do Indefinite. Do do Permanent. . Do Rice bran concentrate and oil meal cake do Indefinite. Do Rubber drug sundries (all types) do Do. Do Saddle trees~(not further assembled) do— Do, Appendix to Price Chapters • 41 Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10, 1946—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. 24,1946 Do Safety door fasteners — * All Indefinite. Sales'of foods and beverages by eating and drinking establishments and other sellers (covered by RMPE’s 1 and 2). Sanitary napkins and tampons do Permanent. Do do Indefinite. Do Seat cushions, tractor and implement- do Permanent. Do Shoe pegs do .. Indefinite. Do Shredded paper (except waste paper) do. Do. Do Shuttle blocks do Do. Do Slippers do Do. Do Smoking pipe blocks (from domestic species) do Do. Do Specialties and combination paper and ribbon specialties (used’ as package carrying devices applied by adhesive means, when sold separately). Specialities products (used in mounting and processing photographs). Split and/or round materials (except those of southern yellow pine, when sold for use as component parts of rustic fences). Sputum napkins (sold to hospitals and sanitoria). Starches and dextrines, inedible, imported and domestic. Sticks (sold to candy manufacturers): do Do. Do do Do. Do do Do. Do- . do Do. Do do Permanent. Do do . ... Indefinite. Do Stove polish do Permanent. Do Strip and link mats (made from scrap materials).- do Do. Do Tanning extracts, blends, containing more than 15 percent tannin, derived from one or more of the following extracts or raw materials, algarobilla, chestnut, chestnut oak bark, cutch, divi divi, gambier, hemlock, mangrove, myro-balans, osage orange, quebracho, quercitron, spruce, sumac, tara, urunday, valonia, and wattle. Tape, gummed postage meter do Do. Do do Indefinite. Do Tape, pressure sensitive do Do. Do Trellises, garden do Do. Do Vacuum suction cups do Permanent. Do Vegetable tanning extracts (including LacTanX), solid, liquid, and ground and raw tanning materials. Wall cleaners do Do. Do do Do. Do Wheel blocks (used to hold vehicle when jacking up for flat tire). Whiskey barrels, white oak laminated- do Indefinite. Do do Do. Do Wood flour. _ do Do. Do Zinc (when sold for export by RFC) do Permanent. Oct. 25,1946 Carving and kitchen knives and forks do Indefinite. Do ' Corrosion preventive wrappers (for use in wrapping pipe lines, machinery, and/or metal parts). Cylindrical wicks for stoves and space heaters (made primarily of flat woven cotton wicking). Electronic devices consisting of kits comprised of unassembled parts from which can be assembled microphones, record players, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and other electrically or battery operated devices (where such kits are packaged together with instructions that would enable a consumer to assemble the device). Eye glasses and spectacles (covered by the GMPR). Frames and mountings (for eye glasses, spectacles, and sun glasses). Lamps, hurricane, oil .do Do. Do..... do Do. Do do— Permanent. Do _ . do Indefinite. Do- do Do. Do do Do. Do Lamps, mantle _ do Do. Do Lanterns (oil, kerosene, and gasoline) do Do. Do Lenses, finished and semifinished (for optical, opthalmic, and scientific use). Nonelectrical food choppers and extractors do Do. Do do Do. Do- Outboard motors do Do. Do_ Sensitized blueprint, brownprint, and whiteprint paper. Stepladders..- do Permanent. ~ Do . do Indefinite. Do - Washing machines, hand-operated do Do. Oct. 28,1946 Do Alphabet letters, and decorative insignia do Do. Bed trays do Permanent. Do Breakfront secretaries do Do- Bullion, lamp shade, curtain edging, rug, awning, ball edged, drapery, tassel edged, and bedspring fringes. Chenille numerals do Do. Do . _ do Do. Do Curtain tie-backs (combining cords and tassels).. do... Do. 42 • Twentieth Quarterly^Report Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. 28,1946 Decorative cords — All .L Indefinite. Do Drapery trimmings do Do. Do. Edible byproducfs of livestock slaughter (when sold for uses other than food). do Permanent. Do Fabric, sanforized interlining (made from cotton warp yarns and fused cellulose filling yarns). do Do. Do Furniture gimps ... . ...do Indefinite. Do Furniture scarves, mats, doilies, and chair sets... do Do. Do . Galloons — do Do. Do Grey cotton industrial insulation tubing do Do. Do Moss edging 1 : do Do. Do Narrow cotton fabrics with metallic fasteners attached (excluding slide fasteners). do do Do. Do Picture and banner cords and tassels Do. Do Pier cabinets do Do Plastic laminated nonwoven sheets of cotton or synthetic fibers (composed of layers of card or garnet web), and products cut therefrom. do ..... Indefinite. Do Shade pulls and tassels do Do. Do . Storage and handling of soybeans Supplier Do — Upholstered headboard frames AIL* Do. Do—. Upholstered platform rockers do Do. Do Upholstery trimmings do . Indefinite. Do Whatnots.. do Permanent. Do. Window seats do Do. Do Window shade trimmings do Indefinite. Do——. Woven or knitted fine glass filament fabrics and nonapparel fabric products (such as tablecloths) made therefrom. do Do. Oct. 29,1946 Do Inedible oils .do Do. Fat-bearing and oil-bearing animal waste materials (formerly priced under 2d RSR 14). do Permanent. Do Fats and oils, domestic and imported (including copra and formerly priced under MPR 53). do Do. Do.-- — Ice and icing services, manufactured and natural (covered by MPR 154). do Do. Do Linseed replacement oil do Do. Oct. 30,1946 Do Artificial limbs .. do Do. Beach carts ___________ do Do Bicycles and bicycle accessories and parts do Do. Do Business machines, individual do Do. Do Cabinets, gun do Permanent. Do Cabinets for household sewing machines do Do Cans, garbage and ash do Do. Do Carpet sweepers, hand-operated do Do. Do Casseroles, cookers, and canners do Do. Do China and pottery, semivitrified do Do. Do—. Clocks and “clock-type” watches. do Do. Do Clothes wringers . _ do Do. Do Coffee makers and parts do Do. Do Cooking utensils arid pails, commercial do - Do. Do Covers, seat, automobile do Do. Do Crutches. do Do. Do Dish pans and wash basins do Do. Do Dishwashers, household do Do. Do Electrical appliances, small (including portable electric heaters, electric shavers, hot plates, heating pads, and non-automatic toasters). —„.do ....... Do. Do .. Fiber and chip board chair seats do Permanent. Do — Fixtures, batliroom and closet (except medicine cabinets). do ... Indefinite. Do Floor cleaning and polishing machines. ; do Do. Do Funeral supplies (including caskets and metal burial vaults). .. — .do Do. Do Furniture, juvenile (except cribs, chiftorobes, and chests). do Permanent. Do Furniture and equipment, commercial ... do Indefinite. Do— Glassware, household (including tumblers and kitchen glassware). do Do. Do Hand tools, carpenters’, mechanics’, and miscellaneous (certain types). do Do. Do. Heavy forged iron tools do Do. Do Home canning jars and closures..... do Do. Do Ice refrigerators and cabinets, household Illuminating glassware do Do. Do — do Do. Do— — Ironing boards do Do. Do Lamps and shades, portable (other than industrial lighting fixtures). do ——— do Do. Do. Do Luggage do Do. Do Metal articles (used for the preparation, storage, and service of foods and beverages). do Do. Da. Metal pails and tubs do. Do. Appendix to Price Chapters • 43 Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Oct. 30, 1946 Miscellaneous household articles made of plastic (such as tablecloths, pillow cases, shelf edging, etc.). All Permanent. Do. Orthopedic devices and materials do. Do. Do. . Ovens, portable (household). do Indefinite. Do Parts and subassemblies, certain types (covered at the manufacturing level by GMPR) which are fabricated to a point where they can be used only in connection with an article which has already been suspended. do Do. Do Photographic equipment, accessories, and supplies (including carrying cases). .-...do . Do. Do Pottery for cooking and table use do Do. Do Radio "receivers and phonographs (covered by MPR 599, but not including radio parts). do .. Permanent. Do Radio phonograph console combinations _. do Do. Do Refrigerators, combination ice and electric (designed exclusively for installation in trailer coaches). Rentals of articles of consumers goods (including personal, household, office, and professional equipment). do .... Indefinite. Do Supplier Do. Do. . Safes and cash and band boxes _ _ All Do. Do Sales, deliveries, and rentals of used articles (including articles made from used materials) which are counterpoints of new articles already removed from control at the wholesale and retail levels. Supplier Do. Do.... Scales, bathroom _ _________________ All ' Do. Do Scooters do Do. Do Shower curtains and curtain sets.. do Do. Do Sidewalk bikes. , do -Do. Do Silverware chests ____________ do Do. Do Sun visors (polarized) do Permanent. Do -. Table flat wear _ do Indefinite. Do Tear gas equipment, guns, shells, candles, and grenades. .—do Permanent. Do .. Tool boxes _ __ .do Indefinite. Do Tool cases and kits, fitted do Do. Do Tools, farm and garden do Do. Do Tricycles and velocipedes do Do. Oo.... Venetian blinds _ do.. Do. Do Wagons (with metal bodies longer than 18 inches). .—.do Do. Do W ashboards _ do Do. Do....... Watches, imported (covered by RMPR 499). do Do. Do Window shades and shade rollers do Do. Do.... Wheelbarrows do Do. Do ... Wheelchairs do Do. Do . Wheeled play cars _ _ _ do Do. Oct. 31,1946.. Burlap arid other woven and jute goods and their products (including, but not limited to, burlap bags, tubing, and sheets). do Do. Do Hides, skins, leathers, and footwear (except hosiery). .... do Do. Do Imported pulpwood (produced in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia). do Do. Nov. 1, 1946.. Adhesives (composed principally of clay fillers, asbestos, and oleoresinous binders, thinned with petroleum solvent and/or denatured alcohol). do Do. Do Airport, airway, marine, or seadrome lighting glassware. do Permanent. Do Alloy steel rolled products (including alloy tubing). do Indefinite. Do Allov tool and specialty steel do Do. Do Ammunition belts _ . _. ..do Do. Do Apparel and apparel accessories specially designed for and used exclusively in sports. _ _ do Do. Do. Do Arm bands . ..do Do Automotive and bicycle mud guards and flaps... do Permanent. Do Automotive pedal pads and windshield wipers _. ... .do. .. ... Do. Do Ball and enclosing’ globes, 10 inches in diameter or larger having fitters 4 inches in diameter and larger, and bowls or dishes 16 inches in diameter or larger, and shades or reflectors 9 inches in diameter, or larger (for use with lamps 150 watts to 1,500 watts). do Do Da. Barium chemicals (not including mixtures with other compounds). do Indefinite. Do Bathing suits and trunks ______ . do . Do. Do Battery containers, plastic (for use with storage electric batteries). do Permanent. 44 • ‘Twentieth Quarterly Report Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con. Effective daté Commodity Level of action Period of release Nov. 1,1946 Do Beach bags All . Bell boots for horses. do Permanent. Do Belts (apparel). i .do — Indefinite. Do Binder’s board (sold to publishers for book covers) Bleached or processed cotton (sold in rolls, balls, sheets, or coils for such uses as stuffing for pill or jewelry boxes, dental rolls, in combination with cellulose in sanitary napkins and in tampons and for engraving wiping plates). Blow pipe guns (which utilize compressed air for cleaning and similar purposes). Bones, all types... do Do. Do .. do Permanent. Do .do Do. Do.. do - Do. Do ... Bottle warmers do - Do Brick liner plates (inserts for brick-making dies). do Permanent. Do Burial garments..r do Indefinite. Do Calcium chloride _ .do Do. Do Camelback . do Do. Do„_. Cane, processed _.do _ Do. Do.... Cane webbing do Do. Do Carbon products for electrical uses (including but but limited to carbon, graphite, and metal and graphite brushes, contacts, electrodes, and anodes for electrolytic cells). Carburated water-gas tar do Permanent. Do __ do . Indefinite. Do--. Cards less than 144 square inches in area (including library cards, index cards, and Jacquard cards). Carpet yarns, electrical yarns, and all specialty yams and rove, domestic and imported (the fiber content consisting solely of jute, flax, hemp, or istle, or any combination thereof). Chlorinated natural rubber. _ do.. Permanent. Do _do Indefinite. Do do —- Do. Do ... Collars, men’s, separate (including replacement collars). Connecting rod aligners _ do __ Do. Do do Permanent. Do Construction machinery and equipment (subject RM PR 136, such as: batchers, bins and gates, crack and joint filling machines for road construction, and rotary cranes, etc.). Cosmetic bags do Do. Do _ do Indefinite. Do... Crinkled paper covers made to measure for spe- do Permanent. Do ciflc uses. Crinkled paper linters (prefabricated for use in specific sizes and shapes when sold to meat packers). Diapers and diaper pads and inserts ' do Do. Do ... do Do. Do Diesel engines, industrial and marine (more than 400 cubic inches piston displacement). Dispensing pumps (petroleum products) ..do Do. Do do Do. Do Dowel and rod machines (hand-operated) __ do Do. Do Dress and semidress fabric gloves and mittens . do Indefinite. Do Dust caps do Permanent. Do Egg case fillers and flats (when sold separately).. do. Do. Do Efectrical ducts and fittings (underfloor type only). Explosion-proof gloves or bowls do Do. Do do Do. Do Fabrics made entirely of linen and nonapparel products made therefrom. Facial tissue containers .do Do. Do do Indefinite. Do Farm dairy machinery and equipment (subject to MPR’s 246 and 133 and including, but not limited to—churns, milk coolers (ice refrigerated types only), milking machines, cream and milk separators, and hand-operated sprayers and dusters for agricultural purposes). File holders, cards, and cleaners (mechanics hand tools). Flood-lighting glassware do Permanent. ‘ Do . . do Do. Do do Do. Do Fluid milk shipping containers and accessories (such as covers, cover links, and handles). Forged harrow teeth do Do. Do do Do. Do Forged steel parts and attachments for boilers.. . do Do. Do.. . .. Furnace carbon black (including but not limited to, semireinforcing and high modulus grades). Garters and hose supporters do Indefinite. Do. do Do. Do. Gasoline and kerosene engines, industrial and marine (more than 200 cubic inches piston displacement). Ground steel stock (for punches, digs, jigs, fixtures, etc.). Handbags do Permanent. Do. do Do. Do. — do Indefinite. Do Handkerchief bags. .do Do. Appendix to Price Chapters • 45 Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. T-Nov. 10,1946-—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action Period of release Nov. 1,1946 Do : Hat bodies and trimmings All Indefinite. Hats and caps do , Do. Do High frequency electronic plastic bonding ma-. chines. Hoof meal (the ground product obtained by grinding dried animal hoofs). Horn meal (the ground product obtained by grinding dried animal horns). Impregnated paperboard tubes (for use in the manufacture of electric cartridge type fuses). Incandescent nonportable lighting fixtures (commercial and industrial and excluding fluorescent fixtures of all types). Industrial flat solid cotton belting woven to size (made with coarse carded cotton yarn on heavy belting loom, impregnated with liquid rubber, finished weight containing no more than 3 percent rubber). Iron ore (shipped on or after Jan. 1, 1947) do Permanent. Do do L Do. Do do Do. Do do Do. Do do Do. Do do Do. Do do Do.. Items used for replacement and repair of worn garments and sold at retail—collars, cuffs, and neckbands (men’s shirts), finished trouser and coat pockets, buttonhole banding, waistbands, and buttonhole tabs (boy’s pants and knickers), and knitted cuffs; waistbands, and collars (men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing). Jute felts in bats, rolls, sheets, and pieces cut or formed to the specifications of the buyer (but not including jute felt floor covering), the fiber content of which is composed of 75 percent or more of jute fibers exclusive of any foundation fabric. Knitted knee warmers and arm warmers (used by older people for extra warmth). Knitted outwear tights r do Permanent. Do do Indefinite. Do do _ . Permanent. Do _ do Indefinite. Do Laundry bags (except those used for industrial purposes). Lenses (used as industrial or commercial nonportable lighting fixtures). Level glasses (not including complete levels) do Do. Permanent. Do do Do do Do. Do Lingerie cases do.. Indefinite. Do Lubricating systems and devices, industrial and stationary (except portable hand-operated grease guns and devices for automotive and truck lubrication). Machine stops do Permanent. Do . . ___QG________ Do. Do ... Make-up and shampoo capes __ do Indefinite. Do Matches, paper and wood .do -- Permanent. Do Metal or metal alloy electrical resistance material (not including completely fabricated heating or resistance elements). Metallic conduit and fittings for electrical uses (over 2 inches in diameter). Millinery - _ _ do Do. Do do Do. Do do Indefinite. Do Monorail and tramrail systems do Permanent. Do Muffbags _ do Indefinite. Do Neckties, men’s and boys’ do Do. Do Paint do Permanent. Do Panels or shields (for fluorescent fixtures greater than 36 inches in length). Paper and paperboard products (sold to manufacturers for use in making of cartridges, shells, and explosives). Passenger tire flaps do Do. Do do Do. Do do Do. Do Potholders do Indefinite. Do Powder puffs _ _ do Do. Do Power boilers, industrial and marine (100 p. s. i. and higher working pressure). Prescriptions (when prescribed by a licensed practitioner and compounded or dispensed by a licensed pharmacist, physician, etc.) Printers’ rollers (of the “glue and glycerine” type designed for use with printing machinery covered by Order 568 to RMPR 136). Processed rattans do Permanent. Do do Do. Do do Do. Do do Indefinite. Do Processed reeds do Do. Do Products such as road tar (containing 85 percent *by weight of carburated water-gas tar). Qu ar t z, f use d - - -- -- -- -- ---- do Do. Do do Permanent. Do Radio parts (including radio receiver tubes and allied special purpose tubes). Raw and processed ramie fiber and roving yarn, and fabrics produced wholly therefrom. do Indefinite. Do do Do. 736419—47----4 46 •* Twentieth Quarterly Report Table 3.—Releases From Price Control, Oct. 1—Nov. 10,1946—Con. Effective date Commodity Level of action - Period of release Nov. 1,1946 Do Rayon satirTeuffs (used as windbreakers and for All Permanent. replacement in cloth and fur coat sleeves). Redwood cigar box lumber and sawn circular heading for fiber shipping drums. Reflector cover glasses .. do.— -7-.- Indefinite. Do do Permanent. Do Rods and sticks _ -.do Do. Do Rug and carpet binding and other cloth with adhesive back (to be applied with hot iron for repairing worn and ravelled rugs and men’s and children’s clothing). Sanitary belts .. _do Do. Do .do _ Indefinite. Do Saw accessories (such as sets, swages, guides, clamps, and bracing tools). Scarfs and mufflers, men’s and boys’... ... _ do Permanent. Do . do... Indefinite. Do School and other passenger bus bodies and parts Scouring powders and cleaners, household (in powder form with anhydrous soap content of 5 percent or less and containing a minimum of 60 percent mineral abrasive by weight). Searchlight and street and highway lighting glassware. Servicing units (used in connection with air cleaners). Shoe bags do Permanent. Do do _ Indefinite. Do do .. _ Permanent. Do do _ Do. Do do __ Indefinite. Do Shoes, canvas (made entirely of canvas duck) _ .. do... Do. Do Shopping bags do Do. Do Shouldef pads • do Do. Do Silica, fused . do . Permanent. Do Silo unloading machines __ do Do. D6 Silver ~ do Indefinite. Do Sleeve protectors made of cotton cloth ... do Permanent Do Sodium silicates... .. do Indefinite. Do Spraying devices, industrial power operated (for the application of any material, except agricultural sprayers (covered by MPR’s 246 and 133) and household and hand sprayers (covered by MPR 188)). Straight edge metal (not including calibrated straight edges). Steel wire rope and strand . .. do.... Permanent. Do . ..do..... • Do. Do _do Indefinite. Do Stocking cases _do Do. Do Suspenders : _ do Do. Do Tapes 20 inches or less in width (sold for use in recording machines). Tight cooperage and cooperage stock, new export types. Tire recapping and repair services . _ -do_ . Permanent. Do _ -do _ Indefinite. Do... _ _do' Permanent. Do.. Tires, recapped and used (8.25 and larger) do Do. Do Trucks of a maximum gross vehicle weight over 16,000 but less than 30,000 pounds. Truck-trailers commercial, civilian, and military (2 tons and over, designed for on-highway use.) Vaporproof or steam-tight globes and bowls Veils do Indefinite. Do. Permanent. Do 1. Do do do Do........ do Do Vitamins (packaged and bulk) do Permanent. Do Walnut lumber and gunstock blanks _ do Do. Do Wardrobe bags do Indefinite. Do Wearing plates (for use on machine tools) _ do Do Wire reinforcing fabric (for use in articulated _ -do- . Do. Do concrete mattresses for revetments). Work driving dogs _ _ _do Do. Nov. 6, 1946.- Do Clothes dryers, domestic - -do. _ Dof Feather filled pillows do Do Do Feathers and down . . _do _ Do Do Ironing machines, domestic 1... ______do Do. Do Do Mouton lamb and rabbit fur Skins and garments. Vacuum cleaners and attachments, household- .do _ .do Indefinite. Permanent. Nov. 10,1946. Commodities and services (except rent, sugar, sirups, and molasses, and rice). _____do Do. Transportation and Public Utility Rates * 47 .IV. TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITY RATES Demands for higher rates and charges for transportation and public utility services of virtually every description continued unabated during the quarter ended December 31, 1946. The general decontrol action of the Office, which became effective on November 10, 1946, did not modify the requirement of the Stabilization Act, as amended, that common Carriers and public utilities file notices of proposed general increases with the Office 30 days in advance of their proposed effective date. Activity in connection with the processing of such notices and intervention before the appropriate regulatory bodies, however, was curtailed by direction of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion on November 16,1946. Early in December the procedural regulation under which these notices were filed was revised and streamlined.1 Earlier requirements were minimized, the previous requirement for detailed statistics in support of the notice being eliminated. Provision was made for filing with the Secretary’s office. Rates and charges of contract carriers and for services supplied by storage, terminal, and other such facilities, which had been under direct control of the Office by virtue of provisions of the Emergency Price Control Act, were released from control in the general November 10 action. TRANSPORTATION During the quarter the Office received from common carriers a total of 2,151 notices proposing changes in existing tariffs, of which about half were filed prior to November 10. The Office protested 12 notices, consolidated into 5 formal protests, to the appropriate Federal and State regulatory bodies. Most of the remaining notices were filed to correct tariff errors or to announce the expiration of rates which had served special purposes. Railroad Rates The Interstate Commerce Commission decision in Ex parte Nos. lift and 162 was handed down December 5. A general increase of 25 percent, with stated exceptions, had been sought by the rail carriers in a petition filed in the spring of 1946. The December decision was a 1 Revised Procedural Regulation 11, effective December 7.1946. 48 • Twentieth Quarterly Report further finding by the Commission based on a series of hearings held during the Summer and early fall, in which the Office participated by presenting testimony, evidence, briefs, and oral argument. The result of the .findings, which provided for varying increases, dependent on locality and particular commodities, was an average increase of 17.6 percent. Motor Common Carrier Rates Higher rates in several localities to compensate for increased labor costs were under consideration by motor common carriers just before general price decontrol became effective. In the New York area, for example, the carriers claimed that the cost of operations had been increased almost 30 percent by settlement of a truckers’ strike. The Office prepared to appear before the New York Public Service Commission in this matter and also prepared to participate in several other major hearings. Plans were made also to prevent the motor common carriers generally from increasing rates in sympathy with the expected rail rate increases. These preparations were abandoned early in November. Contract Carrier Rates Applications for adjustment of motor carrier contract rates were being processed in ever-increasing number until November 10. Wage negotiations being conducted in several areas like New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Rochester, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh, made it appear that area handling by the Office might be preferable to the individual-carrier basis used hithertofore. Receipt of applications from the special category of pick-up-and-delivery carriers was also accelerated. Adjustments for the Railway Express Agency, alone, involved about 3,000 localities where pick-up-and-delivery service was performed for the railroads. About the time that general price decontrol was announced, this type of transportation was being actively studied with a view to recommending its decontrol, since supply and demand were approximately in balance. With generaF decontrol, a few problems of a retroactive price adjustment arose because of the adjustable pricing provisions of Supplementary Regulation 15 (contract carriers) and section 9 of Supplementary Regulation 14-H (pick-up-and-delivery carriers). The completed contract carrier applications pending November 10 were therefore processed on an individual carrier basis by letter orders, thus protecting the retroactive dating permitted under the regulation in effect up to that time. In the case of pick-up-and-delivery carriers, including the Railway Express Agency, a ^general order was issued, Transportation and Public Utility Rates • 49 permitting the pick-up-and-delivery carriers to charge, and.line-haul carriers to pay, retroactively effective before November 10. In the truck rental field, decontrol was extended to cover trucks of a maximum gross weight rating over 16,000 pounds effective November 1? Decontrol of all truck rentals had already been recommended when the general decontrol order became effective. The temporary rates for the transportation of coal from Hampton Roads to the northeast via collier, scheduled to expire October 31, 1946, were extended for 1 month by which time it was expected final revised rates would be ready.3 The general decontrol of November 10, however, made unnecessary any further work in connection with these rates. Storage and Terminal Facilities The Office continued to process numerous applications for adjustments in rates governing storage and accessorial services largely under the low-end provisions of section 7 of Maximum Price Regulation 586, which continued to prove its usefulness not only in facilitating the conversion of the warehouse industry to a peacetime basis but also in providing effective, well understood, price control. The last important major action in this field was the issuance of an order establishing dollar-and-cent rates for merchandise warehousing in Boston, Mass.4 PUBLIC UTILITIES A total of 359 notices of proposed rate changes was received from public utilities during the quarter ended December 31, 1946. The largest group consisted of the relatively minor category of stockyards. The next largest group covered notices in the telephone field. This represented a shift from the former pressures for increases in the local transportation field. The- pressure on intra-State telephone rates became nation-wide during the quarter and for the first time included member companies of the Bell System. Throughout the war and early postwar period these companies had refrained from seeking increases in their local rate structures. Telephone Cases Early in the quarter, the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. filed a notice of proposed increases in intra-State telephone rates in the States of North Carolina, Kentucky,‘and Georgia. The increases were estimated to amount to between 1 million and 2 million dollars a year in each State. 2 Amendment 63, SO 129, effective November 1,1946. 8 Amendment 18, SR 14-H, effective October 31, 1946, 4 Order 7, MPR 586, effective November 1,1946. 50 • Twentieth Quarterly Report In the North Carolina case the Office intervened and attended hearings, cross-examining witnesses and presenting direct testimony in opposition. After brief hearings, an increase was allowed by the State regulatory body, which reduced the proposed increases in business rates to levels which afforded a net increase of $525,000 out of the $585,000 requested by the company. In the Kentucky case, the Office intervened and cross-examined witnesses in collaboration with numerous local municipalities opposing the increase. The curtailment of intervention, effective November 16,5 suspended activity in this, case before hearings were completed. The Office did not intervene in the Georgia case due to the change in policy as to intervention. Subsequent to November 16, notices were received from the Illinois Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co., proposing increased rates in the State of Illinois, and from the Northwestern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. proposing increased rates in the State of Minnesota. Similar notices were received from other Bell System affiliates before the quarter ended. Hearings were concluded in the matter of the Washington Independent Telephone Association, but no brief was filed on behalf of the Price Administrator. In the matter of the Illinois C om/mercial Telephone Co. case, the Office continued active participation in the phase of the case pertaining to proposed rate increases. The hearings on this phase were temporarily suspended to hear the complaint phase of the case. Rate and complaint proceedings were consolidated, and as the quarter ended a decision was awaited. Other Utility Matters Hearings in the matter of the Jersey Central Power & Light Co., before the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners, were concluded during the quarter. The Board denied the proposed increase in rates and directed that the company submit for consideration a revised schedule of manufactured gas rates, establishing a charge of not more than 60 cents per M cubic feet for use in excess of 10,000 cubic feet per month. The company had proposed a charge of 70 cents per M cubic feet as a minimum rate for volume users. Briefs on behalf of the Price Administrator were completed and filed with the appropriate regulatory bodies in the River Gas Co. -c^ and in the matter of the Gary Railways, Inc. case. Hearings in the following matters continued but had not been concluded by the end^of the quarter: '(1) Southern Coach Lines, Inc,, at Nashville, Tenn. This company had proposed a fare increase for local 6 See p. 47. Transportation and Public Utility Rates • 51 transportation, amounting to $1,500,000 per year. (2) Chicago Surface Lines, Chicago, Ill. 'This hearing concerned a temporary fare increase from 8 to 9 cents for surface car transportation, aggregating an increase of about $6,000,000 annually. (3) International Railways Co., before the New York Public Service Commission. Extended hearings were held to determine the propriety of a proposed increase totaling $2,000,000 a year. (4) Philadelphia Transportation Co., before the Pennsylvania Public, Utility Commission, concerning a proposed increase in fares which would amount to more than $5,000,000 a year. 52 • Twentieth Quarterly Report . V . RENT CONTROL PROGRAM Control over residential rentals was not affectcxlby-the general decontrol order in November. In fact, the continuing inflationary rental trend made it necessary to extend rent control to new areas in order to prevent further rent increases and widespread evictions. The final quarter of 1946 saw 105 new areas brought under control, one existing area extended, and one additional area created by a division of-an existing area. These areas had been watched since the end of the war in the hope that pressure and the rising rents would halt. However, increasing employment in local industries, and the return of factory and defense workers and their families had contributed to a severe housing shortage in most of the areas. Expanding college enrollment under the veterans’ education program was the chief inflationary factor in 26 areas. During the quarter one area and parts of five areas were decontrolled. As of December 30, Federal rent regulations were in effect in 649 defense-rental areas, including Alaska and Puerto Rico. The controlled areas in continental United States contain 76.5 percent of the total 1940 population, and 87.3 percent of the 1940 nonfarm rental dwellings. In October the Office began officially to carry out the dutiesdelegated by the Housing Expediter in connection with the Veterans’ Emergency Housing Program. These duties called for the enforcement of the maximum sales price and veterans’ preference requirements applicable to dwelling units built under Priorities Regulation 33 and Housing Expediter Priorities Regulation 5. In addition, the Office was charged with enforcing placard posting and construction commitment provisions of the two regulations. AMENDMENTS AND INTERPRETATIONS Pursuant to a directive of Congress contained in section 2 (b) of the Emergency Price Control Act, as renewed in July 1946,1 the Hotel and Rooming House Regulation was amended during the quarter to classify the accommodations subject to that regulation into the following categories: Transient hotels, residential hotels, rooming houses, and motor courts.2 1 See Nineteenth Quarterly Report, p. 9. 2 Amendment 97, Hotel Regulation, effective November 1,1946. Rent Control Program • 53 Provision was made for the filing of supplemental registrations by establishments under the hotel regulation. Each establishment was classified on the basis of the definitions contained in the regulation and the information disclosed by the supplemental registration. Formerly a hotel was defined as an establishment'of more than 50 rooms, predominantly used for transient occupancy and customarily recognized in the community as a hotel. All other establishments under the hotel and rooming house regulation were rooming houses for the purposes of the regulation. Most establishments formerly hotels by definition were reclassified as transient hotels. Under the amendment, a number of establishments formerly classified as rooming houses could be reclassified as transient hotels, since an establishment otherwise meeting the requirements of the definition of transient hotel, need contain only 26 rooms. Establishments not classified as transient hotels were to be divided into three classifications : Residential hotels, rooming houses, and motor courts. The hotel regulation was further amended3 to provide that maximum rents for rooms first rented or offered for rent after November 1, 1946, be determined by the rates for which such rooms are first offered. Maximum rents, under the amendment, must be registered within 10 days after the date they are established. The Office may decrease the maximum rents if they are found to be higher than the rates which were generally prevailing in the defense-rental area for comparable accommodations on the maximum rent date. At the same time, a section was added to the hotel regulation 4 stipulating that rents collected by landlords who failed to file a timely registration statement were subject to refund to the tenant of any amount found to be in excess of the rates generally prevailing on the maximum rent date for comparable accommodations. It was provided, however, that the landlord might be relieved of the duty to refund if he was not at fault in failing to register within the prescribed time. The housing and hotel regulations5 were amended to exempt during the period, June 1 through September 30, 1947, summer seasonal rental units that were exempt during the summer of 1946. The regulations were further amended to authorize area rent directors to extend by order exemption to winter seasonal units which were rented or offered for rent for a period not in excess of 2 weeks between June 1 and September 30,1946. Formerly, winter seasonal units could not qualify for exemption if rented at any time during the specified period. 3 Id. 4 Id. 5 Amendment 108, Housing Regulation, effective December 6, 1946 : Amendment 101, Hotel Regulation, effective December 6. 1946. 54 • Twentieth Quarterly Report The housing regulation was amen dedHo exemptfrom control underlying leases of structures in which all of the individual housing accommodations are rented or offered for rent on a seasonal basis and are exempt from control due to that fact. The housing regulation was amended7 to extend the protection of the eviction provisions of the regulation to subtenants, when the rental agreement between the landlord and master-tenant contemplated subletting. Formerly, a subtenant was protected only if under local law there was a tenancy relationship between the landlord and the subtenant. The New York City Hotel Regulation was amended8 to eliminate the requirement that the increases in hotel wages must have been approved by the Wage Stabilization Board before such increases could be considered in a rent adjustment proceeding. An earlier amendment had permitted applications for relief only when wage increases had been approved, in order to meet a specific situation brought about by a general increase in wages in the area.9 AREA OFFICE OPERATIONS Area offices reported a net increase of 508,949 housing registrations during the fourth quarter of 1946, bringing the total number of housing registrations in areas under rent control to 16,651,307. During the same period there was a net increase of 22,840 hotel and rooming-house registrations, covering 149,898 rooms or dwelling units; number of hotel and rooming-house registrations thus totaled 560,569 and covered 4,282,455 rooms. Over 44 percent of the housing registrations received du ring'the quarter were for accommodations rented for the first time after the maximum rent date, which brought the number of first-rent housing registrations to 3,822,775. Likewise, 65 percent of the hotel and rooming-house registrations filed during the quarter were for units rented for the first time since the maximum-rent date bringing the number of first-rent hotel rooms or rental units to 1,135,215. A total of 133,979 landlord’s petitions for an upward adjustment of rents were processed during the quarter. Increased rents were authorized in 87,062 cases. At the end of December, 59,399 actions were pending decision. From the inception of rent control through December 1946, 1,692,227 landlord’s petitions were disposed of, and 987,807 upward adjustments granted. Tenant complaint and administrative operations in the area offices generally reveal violations of the regulations. During the quarter 6 Amendment 108, Housing Regulation, effective December 6,1946. T Amendment 104, Housing Regulation, effective October 16,1946. 8 Amendment 30, New York City Hotel Regulation, effective December 4, 1946. 9 See Nineteenth Quarterly Report, p. 72. Rent Control Program • 55 171,947 compliance actions were processed and compliance was ob- , tained in 113,582 of these actions. At the close of the year, 84,548 docketed compliance actions were pending settlement or adjustment. Maximum rents for housing accommodations rented for the first time after the maximum-rent date may be reduced by the area rent director on his own initiative to the rent for comparable accommodations in the area on the maximum-rent date. The rent director may also require restoration of services or other rent reductions commensurate with failure to maintain services and equipment. During the quarter, 182,758 director’s initiative actions were disposed of, and 103,084 adjustments and orders were entered. There were 135,696 docketed director’s initiative actions pending decision at the end of December. PROTESTS AND REVIEW PROCEEDINGS As of December 31,1946, landlords had filed since the institution of Federal rent control a cumulative total of 46,939 applications with regional offices for review of orders issued by area rent directors. Any landlord who is dissatisfied with an order issued by an area rent director may obtain administrative review on application to the regional office. At the end of December 1946, disposal had been made of 43,039 cases, and 3,900 cases were still pending decision. In addition, a landlord may request the national Administrator to review orders issued by area directors. Such review had been applied for in a total of 1,380 protests. Disposal of these cases resulted in the denial of 606, of which 18 were later reopened. Grants in whole or in part were made in 179 cases, 1 was remanded to the region, and 274 others were dismissed or withdrawn. At the end of December, 320 protests were still pending before the Administrator. Requests for consideration by a board of review were received in 90 cases during the quarter. Hearings were held by boards of review and subcommittees in 24 cases, and recommendation for the disposition of the protests were submitted to the Administrator in 35 cases. During the 3 months’ ending December 31, 1946, landlords filed 2 protests against maximum rent regulations. Since the inception of rent control, a total of 264 such protests had been filed,10 47 of which were directed against the hotel regulation, and the remainder against the housing regulations. Thirteen protests were pending before the Administrator at the end of the quarter. A cumulative total of 170 protests had been denied, 54 dismissed (including 2 cases in which relief was granted), and 27 withdrawn. Landlords dissatisfied with any of these decisions have the privilege under the Emergency Price Control Act of appealing to the Emer M One protest was made against both Housing and Hotel Regulations. 56 • Twentieth Quarterly Report gency Court of Appeals, a court set up for the purpose of hearing cases' arising under the act.11 VETERANS’ HOUSING SALES CONTROL Procedures similar to those used in enforcing rent control, and designed to obtain maximum voluntary compliance, were instituted in the operation of the veterans’ sales control program. Veterans’ complaints of overcharges were to be first handled by local area offices which were to attempt securing a refund by the seller to the veteran purchaser if evidence of an overceiling sale was present. Where voluntary compliance could not be obtained by the area office or indication of an evasive practice or wilful violation existed, the case was to be referred for investigation to the proper regional and branch enforcement office. Each OPA area rent office was placed in charge of the sales control program in all counties within its defense-rental area wholly or in part under rent control. In addition, some area rent offices were named in each State to handle the program in all counties not under Federal rent control. For the protection of veteran purchasers, the seller was required to file a sales report form with the local area rent office. This form showed the price for which the house was sold, the name and address of the purchaser, and whether the purchaser was a veteran. A copy ofAhe report was to be mailed, by the area rent office to the veteran purchaser. This procedure paralleled the rent registration procedure in which the tenant was furnished a copy of the landlord’s registration statement. By the end of the quarter area offices had received all of the necessary instructions and forms and were beginning to process reported violations.12 11 For cases reviewed by the Emergency Court of Appeals, see pp. 66-69. 12 See also, Enforcement, pp. 77-79. Emergency Court of Appeals • 57 . VI . I EMERGENCY COURT OF APPEALS The Emergency Court of Appeals was established by the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942 to pass upon the validity of regulations or orders issued under section 2 of the act. From the effective date of the act through December 31, 1946, the court received a total of 389 complaints against the Price Administrator or the Temporary Controls Administrator. Of this number, 279 involved price regulations or orders, and 110, rent regulations or orders. During this period 336 cases were disposed of by decision of the court or by agreement of the parties; 292 cases were decided in favor of the Administrator and 44 decisions were adverse in whole or in part. In the final quarter of 1946,18 complaints were filed with the court, 11 of which affected price control and 7, rent control. As of December 31,1946, a total of 53 complaints were pending in the court. PRICE CONTROL CASES Twenty-one cases affecting maximum price regulations or orders were disposed of by the court during the fourth quarter, 13 favorably to the Administrator. The more important opinions rendered by the court during the quarter are described below. New York Power and Light Corp. In this case,1 the court upheld the Administrator’s denial of a price adjustment under Maximum Price Regulation 29 for coke sold by the complainant. The issue was whether the Administrator, in determining the complainant’s production costs, had offset against costs the proper credit for gas, a byproduct. The complainant, a public utility engaged in the sale of gas, acquired a coke-manufacturing plant which, under its former ownership, had an established maximum price for sales of the gas produced by it as a byproduct of coke production. When complainant sought an adjustment of its maximum price fbr coke, the Administrator took the hitherto established maximum price for gas as the correct measure of the amount to be allowed for that item in computing net costs of coke production. The court upheld this view. Although the complainant, as present owner of the coke plant, now produced the gas for sale as a public utility, with no maximum prices 1New York Power and Light Corporation v. Porter (No. 321, E. C. A., decided October 18, 1946), 157 F. (2d) 604. 58 • Twentieth Quarterly Report applicable under the Emergency Price Control Act, the court ruled that “the price which the complainant itself was willing to pay and did in fact pay immediately prior to the merger for gas manufactured at the Troy plant represented a reasonable valuation for that gas.” I Dunham & Reid, Inc. The Administrator’s construction of the language of section 302 (c) of the act, which excludes from his control “rates charged by any common carrier or other public utility” was rejected by the Emergency Court of Appeals in Dmham <& Reid, Inc., et al. v. Porter.2, Originally, the Administrator had construed the exclusion to apply to the common carriers and public utilities traditionally recognized as such, a construction which appeared to give the exemption uniform application throughout the United States. The Supreme Court, however, in the Davies "Warehouse case 3 held that a public warehouse which, by State law, was declared to be a public utility and regulated as such was a public utility exempted from the Emergency Price Control Act, even if public warehouses not so treated were not public utilities and were therefore subject to the act. The Court’s opinion lent some support to the view that actual regulation by some other agency was the controlling factor in establishing exemption from regulation by the Office of Price Administration. The Court held that the phrase, “common carrier or other public utility,” appearing in both the Emergency Price Control Act and the Stabilization Act of 1942, had the same meaning in both acts. The Stabilization Act of 1942 required common carriers and public utilities to give notice to the President, or to an agency designated by him, before instituting any general increase in rates, and to consent to the intervention by such agency before the authority having jurisdiction to consider the proposed increase in rates. Relying on the Davies case and on the provisions of the Stabilization Act, the Administrator considered the regulated common carriers and public utilities as subject to that act, and the unregulated enterprises, regardless of their character, as subject to the Emergency Price Control Act. In accordance with this construction, the maximum prices of transporters of household goods in the New York commercial zone were frozen in March 1946.4 Companies engaged in such transportation had been classified by appropriate agencies as common carriers, but their rates for the particular operations covered by the order were not subject to regulation. 2 Dunham £ Reid, Inc., et al. v. Porter (No. 355, E. C. A., decided October 18, 1946), 157 F.' (2d) 1022. 3 Davies Warehouse Co. v. Bowles, 321 U. S. 144 (1944) ; see Ninth Quarterly Report, p. 28. 4 Order 2, RSR 11, effective March 26,1946. Emergency Court of Appeals • 59 The Emergency Court of Appeals, however, ruled that the term “common carriers” in the Emergency Price Control Act was not limited in any sense, so that all common carriers were excluded from price control whether or not they were subject to other forms of regulation. The court found the term “common carriers” to be “clear and definite,” as contrasted with the “nebulous term, ‘other public utilities’,” and left open the question whether the Administrator had correctly construed the applicability of the exclusion to unregulated enterprises, other than common carriers, which might claim to be public utilities. G. R. Kinney Co. and Murray M. Rosenberg In this case the court held that Maximum Price Regulation 602, which established ceiling prices for women’s nylon hosiery, was invalid with respect to chain-store sales of hosiery purchased from wholesalers.5 The complainants, chain stores selling women’s hosiery at retail, made two principal contentions. The first was that it was improper for the Administrator to classify stores as either “chain stores” or “other retailers” and to establish lower maximum prices for chain stores. The complainants conceded that chains had operated on lower sales margins and had sold rayon and silk hosiery at the lowest prices in prewar years. They argued, however, that they had always sold nylon hosiery at margins and prices equal to those of other retailers. While noting the superior physical properties of nylon hosiery, the court concluded that it was wholly realistic for the Administrator to employ prewar margins on all women’s hosiery in classifying retailers and in establishing ceilings on nylon hosiery. The court also rejected the argument that classification of retail stores was not necessary to effectuate the purposes of the act because nylon prices might simply have been frozen at prewar chain-store levels. The fact that in 1942, when the commodity was a luxury, the Administrator had frozen chain-store nylon prices at a higher level was not considered a sufficient reason for continuing the high prices subsequent to the war, when nylon had become the principal staple in women’s hosiery. The second principal contention made by complainants was that even if the classification of retail stores was justified, the regulation unfairly discriminated against chains insofar as it held chains to a single set of maximum prices while providing two sets of maximum prices for “other retailers.” Under the regulation, “other retailers” were permitted to charge higher maximum prices on hosiery purchased through wholesalers (a practice followed principally by small inde- • G. R. Kinney Co., Inc., and Murray M. Rosenberg, Inc. n. Porter (No. 338, E. C. A., decided October 21,1946), 157 F. (2d) 683. 60 • Twentieth Quarterly Report pendent retailers), whereas chains were permitted only one schedule of maximum prices on the assumption that the bulk of their purchases was made directly from hosiery mills. In its opinion the coilrt stated that there would have been historical justification for providing a single schedule of maximum prices for chains had this been done for large department stores, which purchased principally but not wholly frofii mills. Since there was no such a regulatory pattern, the court concluded that the chains had been subjected to unfair discrimination. It pointed out that in first issuing the regulation, the Administrator himself had recognized the possibility that chains might have difficulty in securing hosiery directly from mills. He had consequently provided that mills should sell no greater percentage of their output to wholesalers than they did during 1941. This requirement was intended to make it impossible for wholesalers to acquire more than their fair share of women’s nylon hosiery and so hinder them from selling the commodity to chains at prices higher than they normally paid at the mill. The court pointed out, however, that the Administrator had been forced to abandon the latter technique because of the amendment to section 2 (j) of the act in the Price Control Extension Act of 1946, prohibiting the fixing of quantity or percentage limitations of this character. The resulting situation, the court noted, raised the possibility of a “squeeze” on the chains in that they might find it necessary to purchase from wholesalers and not be able to charge higher ceilings on sales of hosiery purchased from this source. Parkleigh Fashions, Inc. A manufacturer of women’s apparel challenged the validity of the pricing chart amendment and correction provisions in Maximum Price Regulation 287.6 The regulation had established maximum prices on the basis of selling price lines and margins established by the manufacturer in March 1942, as reflected in each seller’s spring pricing chart, which was required to be filed with and acknowledged by OPA. A procedure was provided for the, correction of errors appearing in the pricing chart. Until correction was authorized and until the manufacturer received an acknowledgment of receipt of the corrected or amended pricing chart from the Office, he was not entitled to sell in a selling price line higher than that listed on his original pricing chart. In accordance with the prescribed procedure, the complainant had filed with the New York regional office an application to correct or amend its spring pricing chart to include a selling price line higher than originally listed thereon. The regional administrator denied the application on the ground that complainant had not established that * Parkleigh fashions, Inc. v. Porter (No. 309, E. C. A., decided October 22, 1946) 157 F. (2d) 599. / Emergency Court of Appeals • 61 it dealt in the higher price line during the base period. After the complainant had brought forward voluminous additional evidence in the course of the protest proceedings, the Administrator reversed the finding of the regional office and authorized the complainant to amend its pricing chart to include the higher price line from the effective date of the Administrator’s order of authorization. Complainant attacked the Administrator’s order of authorization on the ground that it failed to authorize the higher prices retroactively from the time of the filing of its application. It contended that the regulation contemplated the granting of retroactive relief and that if no such relief was allowed thereunder, the regulation was arbitrary and capricious. The court agreed with the Administrator’s position that the regulation restricted relief accorded thereunder to prospective relief. The court, however, held invalid the requirement that a seller not use a corrected or properly amended pricing chart until he had received an order of authorization from the Office of Price Administration. Although the court recognized that the requirement served as an aid in the administration and enforcement of the regulation and the act, it stated that this consideration did not outweigh or balance the hardship resulting from the delay necessarily entailed in the processing of applications. The court noted that the regulation, as originally issued,, did not provide for authorization prior to use of a pricing chart or an amended pricing chart. The court concluded that there was no more danger that an amended pricing chart subsequently filed would be incorrect or deliberately false than an original one. It pointed out that in any case it was the particular seller’s actual base-period experience which determined his maximum price and highest price lines. New Orleans Laundries Complainant in this case7 operated a chain of laundries and drycleaning establishments in New Orleans. Under Revised Maximum FVice Regulation 165, maximum prices were established at the highest prices charged in March 1942. Pursuant to section 16 (a) of the regulation, it had applied for an adjustment of its maximum prices upon a claim of substantial financial hardship threatening its ability to continue to supply its laundry services. The adjustment standards utilized a “management return” base for the making of the adjustment. The term management return was used to describe the net return to the applicant, with executive salaries excluded from operating expenses and included in net return. An adjustment permitting a management return of 4 percent of salés was 7 New Orleans Laundries, Inc. n. Porter (No. 294, E. C. A., decided November 18, 1946), 157 F. (2d) 1013. 736419—47---------5 62 • Twentieth Quarterly Report to be made for any applicant without 1941 experience, or an applicant whose management return in 1941 was equal to or less than 4 percent of sales. An adjustment permitting a management return equal to its management return in 1941 was to be granted to an applicant whose management return in 1941 was more’than 4 percent of sales and not more than 8 percent. An adjustment permitting a management return of 8 percent was to be made for concerns whose management return in 1941 was more than 8 percent. An adjustment was first granted by the Administrator under these adjustment standards, which permitted an increase of 8.5 percent over the complainant’s March 1942 prices. During the course of the protest proceedings, this adjustment standard was changed to permit an adjustment to all applicants calculated to yield a management return of 8 percent of sales. Complainant was permitted an adjustment authorizing it to increase its March 1942 prices by 16 percent, and the protest to the extent not thus granted was denied. The court held that the adjustment standard was clear and capable of application, and that on the record no discrimination in the method of its application appeared. It therefore held that the charges of invalidity of the standard on the ground of vagueness, and of the action of the Administrator with respect to complainant on the ground „ of discrimination, were not supported. The court found, however, that the record did not disclose “any rational basis for the 8-percent factor adopted by the Administrator,” nor any explanation why a management return of 8 percent of sales was a reasonable standard in its application both to family owned laundries, in which executive salaries might well represent profit, and to nonfamily operated concerns in which executive salaries might be a necessary expense of operation and not a concealed form of profit. For these reasons the court set aside the Administrator’s order denying the protest and remanded the proceeding to the Administrator foi further consideration with respect to these issues. The court also held that the exclusion from operating expense of interest paid on a loan secured by a mortgage on real or personal property was reasonable, since it was in accord with normal accounting practices. Ben H. Rosenthal In these three cases 8 the Emergency Court of Appeals rendered declaratory judgments upholding the validity of Revised Maximum Price Regulation 169 as applied to nonprocessing slaughterers of beef and veal during the period from December 1943 through March 1945. In the Heinz case,9 the court had upheld the current validity of the 8 Ben H. Rosenthal & Go., Inc., et al. v. Porter (Nos. 233, 234, 235, consolidated, E. C. A., decided November 29, 1946), 158 F. (2) 171. 9 Heinz et al. v. Bowles, 150 F. (2d) 546 (1945) ; see Fifteenth Quarterly Report pp 64-65. Emergency Court of Appeals • 63 regulation as applied to this segment of the slaughtering industry, on the basis of the representative profit and loss studies introduced in evidence directly to the court by the administrator. In this proceeding the court ruled that the evidence introduced by the complainants tending to show losses in their individual slaughtering operations during the period in controversy was not conclusive, since it did not rebut the Heinz case studies as to the experience of the nonprocessing slaughterers as a group during this same period subsequent to the institution of the special subsidy for such slaughterers on November 1, 1943. The court found that the definition of slaughterers eligible for the special subsidy was reasonable and concluded that inasmuch as the regulation was generally fair and equitable, it was not invalid as to those nonprocessing slaughterers who were ineligible to receive the special subsidy under the terms of the subsidy regulation issued by the Defense Supplies Corporation. A petition for certiorari was filed in this case. Henry Supak Revised Maximum Price Regulation 287, covering women’s and children’s outerwear, required manufacturers to file with OPA price charts, showing their highest selling price lines, minimum allowable costs, and maximum allowable margins, calculated pursuant to the applicable provisions of the regulation and based upon their baseperiod deliveries. Section 13 (a) provided that on and after August 15, 1943, a manufacturer’s margin would be limited to 15 percent of his selling price until he had filed and received an acknowledgement of his price chart. > Complainants in this case 10 had failed to file the required chart but had made sales at margins in excess of the prescribed 15 percent. Enforcement action having been taken against them, they filed a protest against this provision. Upon denial of the-protest they filed a complaint in the Emergency Court of Appeals. A majority of the full court of five judges held that the margin limitations of 15 percent provided by section 13 (a) subjected the complainants, as a member of the class of manufacturers who failed to file price charts, to a discriminatory and improper classification as compared with those manufacturers who, differing from complainants only in the respect/ that they had filed price charts, nevertheless were entitled to higher maximum prices under the regulation. Such discriminatory classification, the majority held, was arbitrary and capricious. Though dissenting from the majority opinion, two judges upheld as fair and reasonable the general scheme of the regulation requir 10 Supak et al. v. Porter (Nos. 246 and 257, consolidated, E. C. A., decided-December 2, 1946), 158 F. (2d) 803. 64 • Twentieth Quarterly Report ing manufacturers to fix their own prices based on their historical margins through the procedure of preparing and filing price charts. It was necessary to provide a price for those who failed to file a chart. This price, while concededly at the lowest level known in the industry during the base period, was not only reasonable but the only means which would not tend to defeat the fundamental plan of the regulation to require members of the industry to file and publicly post their price charts. If a substantial segment of the industry could have obtained higher margins by refraining from filing price charts, the regulation would have provided a powerful inducement for the evasion of its own provisions. Royal Lee The Emergency Court of Appeals held that the Administrator was arbitrary and capricious in failing-to provide a premium maximum price for the complainant’s product, Deaf Smith Flour.11 The complainant had contended, in a complaint filed under section 204 (e) of the Emergency Price Control Act, that his flour was superior to ordinary commercial flours with which it was classified for pricing purposes, that the applicable maximum prices did not cover his costs of production, and that his product had historically commanded higher prices than did other whole wheat flours. After consideration of the evidence, the Administrator had found that complainant had not established that his flour was superior or had a historical price premium over other flours. The court held that these findings were entitled to no weight for the reason that in a proceeding under section 204 (e), the Adminis-trator was in the position of a litigant and had no power or duty to make findings with respect to the facts or issues presented. The court then proceeded to make findings, based upon its own independent consideration of the evidence, that specially milled flours of the type of complainant’s product were different and distinctive from other wholewheat flours and that such flours had historically commanded a premium price. On that basis the court held invalid Revised Maximum Price Regulation 296 as .applied to flours of the type produced by complainant. S. Roggeri & Co. In this case 12 a majority of the Emergency Court of Appeals held invalid an order issued under Revised Maximum Price Regulation 208, covering staple work clothing, which established maximum prices 11 Royal Lee v. Fleming (No. 270, E. C. A., decided December 13, 1946), 158 F. (2d) 984. S. Roggen & Go., Inc. v. Fleming (No. 336, E. C. A., decided December 19, 1946), 159 F. (2d) 707, Emergency Court of Appeals • 65 for coveralls manufactured by the complaining company. The court found that the complainant had overcome the presumption in favor of the validity of the order when it introduced evidence that its product differed from that of the competitor with which it had been inlined in materials used, quantities produced, and type of labor employed; that under the maximum prices established, companies representative of the industry involved could only produce and sell coveralls at a loss; and that insufficient maximum prices was the most important factor in the discontinuance of the production of coveralls by representative companies. Contrary to the assertion of the Administrator, the court ruled that the complainant was under no obligation to show that representative companies could not operate at a profit generally, despite the losses sustained in the manufacture of coveralls. The court concluded that the complainant’s evidence had established prima facie the invalidity of the order and that the Administrator had not rebutted that evidence. The court did not find invalid the regulation itself. In reaching its conclusion, the court rejected the contention of the Administrator that since the regulation involved was presumed to be valid, the sole issue raised was whether the maximum prices of the complainant had been properly inlined. The court expressed the view that even if a regulation was valid and prices were properly inlined, the maximum prices would be arbitrary if they made it impossible for the industry generally to operate at a profit. Darling & Co. A complaint directed to the reporting and mixed-lot provisions of Revised Price Schedule 9, covering hides and skins was dismissed by the court.13 The complainant, a seller of hides to tanners and manufacturers, had attacked the reporting provision which required a tanner to report to OPA any material differences between the hides he received from the seller and those described in the document of purchase, on the ground that it interfered with established trade customs and practices. Similarly, the complainant had attacked the mixed-lot provision, which fixed the maximum price for a lot containing more than one type of hides at the maximum price for the type having the lowest maximum price unless the various types were identified, upon the ground that it ignored trade customs and practices and resulted in the assessment of damages in excess of those authorized by the Emergency Price Control Act. The court found that the complainant as a seller was unaffected by the reporting requirements applicable to buyers and that contractual 13 Darling & Company, a Corporation, v. Fleming (No. 366, E. C. A., decided December 20, 1946), 158 E. (2d) 387. 66 • Twentieth Quarterly Report rights and trade practices were unaltered by the provision. It rejected the complainant’s contention that the two provisions attacked should be considered jointly, pointing out that one provision imposed a duty upon purchasers, and the other- a duty upon sellers. The court further ruled that the complainant had failed to produce any evidence showing the mixed-lot provision to be unfair or inequitable generally, or as applied to its sales, and that the assessment and measure of damage for violation of the provision was a matter for determination by an enforcement court. In rendering its opinion, the court limited itself to a consideration of the specific objections raised by the complaint and expressly refrained from otherwise passing upon the validity of the provisions attacked. RENT CONTROL CASES The court disposed of 15 cases involving rent regulations or orders. The more important opinions are described in the following pages. Victor and Green and Ambassador Apartments, Inc. These cases14 involved complaints against the Administrator’s determination of the levels at which maximum rents should be established for certain housing accommodations located in the New York City defense-rental area. The accommodations had been created after the effective date of regulation for the area through the remodeling of two private dwelling houses into apartment buildings containing 10 and 9 individual units, respectively. Three identical contentions were advanced in both cases; namely, that (1) the Administrator’s determination of comparability was improper; (2) the allowances for increased costs of construction were likewise improper; and (3) the administrative proceedings did not satisfy the requirements of due process of law. In unanimous opinions, the Emergency Court of Appeals dismissed the complaints, holding each of the contentions advanced to be without merit. Complainants in the Victor case thereupon filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. The petition was denied on January 6,1947. George O. Philips Denial of a protest against an order issued by the rent director of the Philadelphia defense-rental area gave rise to this case.15 The order reduced, under section 5 (c) (1) of the Housing Regulation, the M Victor and Green v. Porter (No. 308, E. C. A., decided October 16, 1946), 157 F. (2d) 769 ; Ambassador Apartments, Inc. v. Porter (No. 310, E. C. A., decided October 16, 1946), 157 F. (2d) 774. 15 George 0. Philips, Trustee of the Estate of Richardson Shoemaker, Deceased v. Porter (No. 346, E. C. A., decided October 18,1946), 157 F. (2d) 607. Emergency Court of Appeals • 67 maximum rent of an apartment first rented after the maximum rent date. The issue involved was the propriety of the Administrator’s determination of the level at which the maximum rent for the apartment should be established and, incidentally, the propriety of his relying on evidence furnished by rent inspectors employed by him. The court dismissed the complaint, holding that in the absence of a showing of bias or prejudice on the part of the inspectors, it was proper for the Administrator to rely on evidence furnished by them. It held further that the Administrator’s determination of the maximum rent for the particular apartment was proper. 18 Palmer Avenue, Inc. The Housing Regulation in the Westchester (New York) defenserental area was challenged in this case16 as arbitrary and capricious or contrary to law on the grounds that (1) there had been, assertedly, no increase or threatened increase in rentals warranting extension of Federal rent controls to that area; (2) even if there had been such an increase, such controls were improperly effected since rents had been stabilized through local action for the 60-day period following designation of the community by the Administrator as a defense-rental area. In this connection, complainant contended that although stabilization of rentals had not been continued by local action beyond the 60-day period, nevertheless the Rent Regulation could not take effect under the statute unless a second designation were to be issued by the Administrator providing the locality an additional 60-day period within which to stabilize rentals. After referring at some length to the evidence in the record pertaining to relevant rental and other economic factors which underlay the Administrator’s determination that rent controls were necessary for this area, the court found that determination to be entirely reasonable and in harmony with the Emergency Price Control Act. The court also ruled that the contention as to the necessity for issuance of a second rent declaration by the Administrator was not warranted by section 2 (b) of the act and was not inconsistent with the intent of the Congress in making provision for the issuance of rent declarations by the Administrator. Shaker Parkway Co. Complainants, owners of priority-constructed housing, attacked the validity of the provisions of the Housing Regulation, especially section 2 (d) (5), concerning “security deposits.” 17 These provisions prohibit the receipt or retention of prepayments of rent, beyond one 14 18 Palmer Avenue; Inc., v. Porter (No. 326, E. C. A., decided October 22, 1946), 157 F. (2d) 595. 17 Shaker Parkway Company, et al. v. Porter (Nos. 283-288, consolidated, E. C. A., decided November 4, 1946), 157 F. (2d), 920. 68 • Twentieth Quarterly Report month’s rent in advance, in connection with accommodations owned by the class of persons such as the complainants. In rejecting various objections made, the court held that security deposits constitute rent within the contemplation of section 302 (g) of the Price Control Act and section 13 (a) (10) of the Housing Regulation, and that the regulation, as consistently construed to prohibit the taking of such deposits in connection with the renting of priority-constructed housing, was neither arbitrary and capricious nor otherwise contrary to law. The court also found that sections 2 (d) and 2 (g) of the act provide further authority for the promulgation of the deposit provisions, as necessary to prevent rent increases inconsistent with the purposes of the act and to prevent circumvention and evasion of the act and regulation. It held that the provisions complained of did not contravene section 2 (h) of the act for the reason that a pre-existing practice of taking security deposits had not been demonstrated and that, in any event, the Administrator-had found that the restriction thereof was required to prevent circumvention and evasion. Benenson Realty Corp. The Emergency Court of Appeals upheld the validity of an order lowering by 25 percent the maximum rents for the apartments involved in the case, pursuant to section 5 (c) (3) of the Rent Regulation for Housing in the New York City defense-rental area because of elimination of maid, linen, laundry, and window cleaning service.18 The complainant admitted that there had been decreases in those services, but contested the amounts of the reductions in maximum rents. The court sustained the Administrator’s position that the varying maximum rent date rents for the apartments represented the total agreed upon for all facilities and services and that a uniform dollar reduction for all units of the same size would not properly reflect in each case the portion of the rental value attributable to the decreased services. Consequently, the court concluded that the use of a uniform percentage reduction provided the fairest and most practicable means for ascertaining the portion of the rental value attributable to the eliminated services. The court also held that the Administrator’s conclusions as to the rental value of the eliminated services were properly based upon consideration of the costs of providing these services in the subject and other buildings, of charges for similar services in other buildings, and of expert opinion as to the rental value of the eliminated services, and were supported by substantial evidence. _ 18 Benenson Realty Corp. v. Porter (No. 304, E. C. A., decided November 12, 1946), 158 F. (2d) 163. Emergency’Court of Appeals • 69 William Montague Hunt The owner of an apartment building located in Los Angeles, Calif., complained that the Administrator had acted unreasonably in failing to grant adjustments in maximum rents for various units in the building under the “peculiar circumstances” provision of the Housing .Regulation (section 5 (a) (11)) and of the statute (section 2 (c)).19 In upholding the propriety of the Administrator’s action, the court pointed out that the facts upon which complainant relied—namely, that the building had been vacant for 3 years and thereby deteriorated and suffered loss of reputation—was not a peculiar circumstance within the meaning of the specified provisions. The court also held that there was no merit to the contentions that (1) the deterioration of the building here involved was peculiar and (2) the conduct of the lessee in control of the building on the maximum rent date amounted to such reckless mismanagement as to be a peculiar circumstance. The complaint was accordingly dismissed. 19 Hunt v. Porter (No. 340 E. C. A., decided November 20, 1946), 157 F. (2d) 917. 70 • Twentieth Quarterly Report . VII . SUGAR RATIONING Termination of most price controls during the fourth quarter did not affect the sugar rationing program. However, the resulting administrative reorganization, previously described,1 led to the establishment in the national office of a sugar department. This department was charged with continuing the programs, previously administered by the price department, for price control of sugar, certain sirups, and rice, and the sugar rationing program. When the OP A district offices were liquidated at the end of November, sugar branch offices were set up in the same locations. These offices continued to carry out the former district-office functions with regard to sugar, except for issuance of ration evidence. The function of issuing sugar • rationing evidence to all users was transferred to the regional offices. ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION A total of 1,187,000 short tons, raw value, was allocated for civilian distribution in the fourth quarter, bringing the allocation for the entire year to 5,400,000 short tons. Distribution during the quarter was adequate to cover demand, following designation of 14 eastern States as additional deficit areas and shipment therein of sufficient supplies of beet sugar to alleviate the widespread shortage. This move was necessitated by the continued maritime strike which had made it apparent that eastern refiners would not be able to provide for even current demand during the quarter. The Department of Agriculture announced a reimbursemept program for excess freight charges on the beet sugar shipped into'the deficit States from the west. By the latter half of December, reports indicated that retailers and wholesalers in virtually all sections of the country had stocks on hand. The overdistribution of 155,000 tons incurred in the first half of the year, and recovered to the extent of 107,000 tons in the third quarter, was not expected to be further made up during the fourth quarter. The early cashing of ration evidence for the third quarter and the drastic curtailment of available supplies on the eastern seaboard largely! accounted for the amount recovered in the third quarter. y CONSUMER AND INSTITUTIONAL RATIONS Stamps 9 and 10 for home canning and stamp 51 for home use were all valid at the beginning of the quarter. The original termina 1 See ch. II, pp. 17-20. Sugar Rationing • 71 tion date of the home canning stamps was October 31. Distribution difficulties in broad areas of the country, however, made-it necessary to extend the period of validity first to November 30 and then to December 31. In December it was announced that stamp 53 for 5 pounds of sugar for home use would be made valid January 1,1947.2 The regulations were amended to permit an institutional user with a refreshment base to retain that base after moving his establishment to another location, with OPA permission. Under previous procedures such a move was treated as the closing of an old establishment and the opening of a new one. The regulation does not allow new institutional users a refreshment base although they may be granted a meal service base. The amendment made it possible for an established user to continue serving the same type of meals in another location.3 The Office authorized a review of the needs of institutional users in the on-the-job-feeding, hospitals, and child-feeding groups (groups IV, V, and VI). Refreshment bases were to be reduced to an amount commensurate with actual requirements. No provision was previously made for reducing these bases where they exceeded requirements. In addition, provision was made for taking care of the seasonal requirements of institutional users who had received no adjustment prior to January 1, 1946. Application for such adjustments had been permitted up to that date. This amendment enabled persons who were not aware of their rights also to apply.4 INDUSTRIAL USER RATIONS Fourth quarter allotments for industrial users were continued at the third quarter rate of use. Due to the health factor involved, manufacturers of pharmaceuticals were allowed 120 percent of baseperiod use. Manufacturers of jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades, and fruit butters received 55 percent of their 1944 base, which included some noncivilian business. All other nonprovisional users were continued at 60 percent of their base-period use. Unchanged ration levels for the first quarter of 1947 for all these users were announced in December. Further easing of requirements for veterans enabled a veteran to qualify for a sugar base if he did not have a nonsugar-using business at the time of application, even though he had such a business after his release from service. Previous rulings made it impossible to grant a sugar base to a veteran who had a nonsugar-using business » Amendment 31, 3d Rev. RO 3, effective November 29, 1946 ; Amendment 15, Supplement 1, 3d Rev. RO 3, effective December 31, 1946. 3 Amendment 12, Rev. Gen. RO 5, effective November 9, 1946. 4 Amendment 14, Rev. Gen. RO 5, effective November 26, 1946; Amendment 16, Rev. Gen. RO 5, effective December 31, 1946. 72 • Twentieth Quarterly Report since his discharge or release, the end of his terminal leave, or March 25, 1945, whichever was later. It was found, however, that for reasons beyond their control, many veterans had temporarily entered a nonsugar-using business, and thus were being excluded from entering the business of their primary choice. The amendment removed this discrimination.5 Shifts from one sugar-using business to another were still not allowed. It is estimated that by the end of 1946,10,000 veterans had established industrial businesses requiring sugar bases aggregating about 310 million pounds a year. 5 Amendment 2, Rev. Gen. RO 18, effective December 5,1946. Enforcement • 73 . VIII . ENFORCEMENT The major decontrol actions effected during the fourth quarter narrowed the area of enforcement operations to the continuing programs of rent, sugar, and veteran’s housing sales control (under'delegation from the Housing Expediter). In addition, the Office had the responsibility for the proper disposition, by settlement or trial, of approximately 10,000 cases pending against violators of price regulations which had covered decontrolled items. To meet this situation, the organization and direction of the agency’s enforcement activity was materially changed, both in the national office and in its field structure. The three continuing programs were grouped in one program division, and a review and disposition division was created for the purpose of completing investigations and proceeding to final disposition of pending cases in the decontrolled fields. The field structure was also radically altered by the abolition of district offices, described in an earlier chapter.1 All enforcement activity was thereafter conducted directly by the regional offices, with branch offices established in six of the nine regions. Enforcement operations in the branch offices were carried on under direction and supervision of the regional staff. They were established to equalize the workload and reduce travel ih those regions where the size of th6, staff, the territory to be covered, and the extent of the enforcement activity would have made operations out of a single office unwieldly and time consuming. The reduction in the number of continuing programs made it possible to cut the field enforcement staff by 65 percent. In the field of litigation, the Office continued its record of accomplishment. Several decisions of interest and major importance were won in the Supreme Court, and the Administrator was generally successful before the circuit courts of appeal. DISPOSITION OF DECONTROL CASES Section 1 (b) of the Emergency Price Control Act and Executive Order 9745 2 gave to the Office both the authority and the obligation to proceed with the final disposition of cases of violation occurring prior to decontrol. The fact that regulation or control was terminated therefore did not provide a general amnesty to persons who were in 1 See p. 19. 2 Issued June 30,1946 ; see Nineteenth Quarterly Report, p. 88. 74 • Twentieth Quarterly Report violation of the law before decontrol was instituted. To drop these cases would have been a stultification of law enforcement. Moreover, to release persons whose cases had not yet been called for trial or who had delayed settlement for their violations would have been manifestly unfair to the more than*75,000 people who had previously settled treble damage claims or had had treble damage judgments rendered against them. In addition, continuing programs in rent and sugar would have been substantially weakened and enforcement action against violators of those regulations would have been hampered if past violations had been generally forgiven once the regulation ended. In certain types of cases, however, where the remedy sought was no longer applicable or the fact of decontrol had made further prosecution unimportant, the Office adopted the policy of promptly moving to dismiss the cases. In the first category were all cases in which the only remedy sought was either an injunction or a suspension of the license issued under section 205 (f). Neither of these remedies was applicable if the commodities sold by the defendant were no longer under price control. With respect to treble damage claims and cases, the Office directed the dismissal of all such cases where the overcharge was less than $200. No new investigations were to be instituted except where there appeared to be an extremely serious, flagrant, or wilful violation. Similar principles were to be applied to cases under investigation, with the further proviso that such cases would be dismissed unless the investigation could be substantially completed early in 1947. - By the application of these general criteria, the Office substantially reduced the number of pending cases during the last month of the quarter. At the time the decontrol actions were taken, approximately 20,000 cases were pending in the decontrolled fields. About half were pending in court and the balance were either under investigation or awaiting settlement. By the close of the year, the total had been reduced to about 17,000 cases, of which an estimated 10,000 were of such a nature as to warrant prosecution to final judgment or settlement. Prior to general decontrol, the Office was engaged in a*n extensive series of investigations pointed to the development of criminal, prosecutions, particularly in the lumber and building-materials field.3 When the decision was made to decontrol, few cases had already been filed with United States attorneys, but a large number were about to be referred to them. During the quarter investigations under way when decontrol went into effect were promptly completed and all these cases were referred to the appropriate United States attorneys. Arrangements were worked out with the Department of Justice to assure prompt prosecution in all suitable cases. 8 See Sixteenth Quarterly Report, p. 107, and Seventeenth Quarterly Report, p. 96. Enforcement • 75 Meat Subsidies The ending of price controls on meat required that action be taken to conclude the meat-subsidy program. To protect the Government from possible loss, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation declined to pay final subsidy claims to slaughterers who might have had their subsidy withheld as a result of violation of an OPA regulation. In order to determine the status of each slaughterer with respect thereto, a check sheet was prepared for each slaughterer, indicating his compliance record as it affected his claim to subsidies and forwarded to RFC to use in determining whether the slaughterer’s final subsidy claims should be paid. Check sheets for approximately 75 percent of the slaughterers licensed by OPA were forwarded to RFC before the end of the year. Applications from slaughterers for release of subsidy withheld as a result of violations of OPA regulations, on the ground that the violations were caused by extenuating circumstances, were received at the rate of approximately 60 per week during the quarter. Action to grant or deny such applications was taken as rapidly as possible in view of the number of applicationsjreeeived, the necessity of receiving additional information in many cases, and the necessity for considering each casé on its own merits. At the end of the quarter approximately 350 applications were on hand upon which action had not yet been taken. CONTINUING ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMS After decontrol of most price programs and the reduction of its enforcement staff, the Office concentrated its remaining investigative manpower on enforcement of the sugar rationing and price programs, the rent program, and the veteran’s housing program. Besides the work on counterfeiting and on safeguarding of sugar ration currency, regular coverage was planned of all phases of the sugar program. In addition to the existing program for handling referrals, investigations were also contemplated of wilful and evasive practices both in the rent and veterans’ housing programs. The first cases where cash on-the-side payments were required of veterans in the sale of houses were developed during the quarter, and a number of serious rent-bonus or cash on-the-side cases were completed against landlords in Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, and New York. Sugar and Rice Sugar rationing.—The rationing enforcement program was reexamined during the quarter, and a new program, with certain additions and shifts in emphasis, was instituted. As in the past, the major concentration of enforcement activity was on certain key points in the industry where experience had demon 76 • Twentieth Quarterly Report strated that intensive activity would secure compliance elsewhere. For example, regular surveillance of wholesalers, holding them to strict accountability for sugar inventories, made it more difficult for retailers and institutional users to obtain sugar outside of the ration system. Furthermore, concentration on approximately 7,000 wholesalers was a more practicable and effective use of investigators than their widespread diffusion among more than 400,000 retailers and 500,000 institutional and industrial users. Under this program, the reports required of wholesalers semiannually, showing their sugar inventories, were analyzed and investigations instituted with respect to those wholesalers who either did not file reports or whose reports, on their face, indicated loss of inventory or other violation of the regulations. In addition, spot-check investigations were made of wholesalers whose reports apparently showed compliance, for the purpose of determining the accuracy of those reports. In numerous cases, either as a result of statements appearing on the report or as a result of further investigation, wholesalers were discovered selling sugar on “ration credit” (a practice forbidden by the regulation), and action was immediately taken against the offending wholesalers to prevent further sales on credit and ta compel the purchasers immediately to repay the ration credits or to suspend them until such time as the proper ration evidences were surrendered. Where substantial amounts of sugar were delivered without obtaining ration evidences, additional investigation was made of all recipients of the sugar, tracing it to its eventual use. Several such cases revealed excessive use by industrial users in violation of the rationing regulations, and appropriate enforcement action, either criminal action, where the evidence indicated wilful violation, or suspension order proceedings, was instituted. Industrial users continued to be the major cause of sugar diversion. Regular checking of wholesaler inventories, ration bank accounts, and deposits of sugar stamps do not reveal all cases of illegally acquired sugar. Several large investigations were therefore instituted in cases where the circumstances—such as an otherwise unexplainable increase in the production of sugar-containing products—indicated the likelihood of illegal acquisition of sugar. The number of counterfeit sugar stamps showed a marked decrease during the quarter. This gain in compliance, however, appeared to have been offset, at least in part, by the fact that ration banking violations showed a substantial increase, particularly through the drawing of ration checks agàinst nonexistent accounts and overdrafts. A number of cases investigated revealed conspiracy between the person drawing the check and bank employees. The. latter were found to be covering up transactions by not debiting the drawer’s account or by Enforcement • 77 surreptitiously returning the improper checks to the drawer. Several such conspiracies, involving large amounts of sugar, were referred to the United States attorney for criminal prosecution, and informations were filed or indictments returned in those cases. A new type of violation made its appearance in substantial volume during the quarter, arising out of amendments to the rationing regulations which permitted veterans who did not have a historic sugar use or base to apply for an allotment as a new industrial user. This privilege was being abused by persons who used veterans as a “front” to make application for sugar allotments and thus obtain sugar to which they were not entitled. Because of the extent to which this practice had spread and the need for protecting the interests of those veterans who made bona fide applications, investigation was undertaken of all persons who applied for an allotment as a new industrial user in order to determine the actual use of the sugar thus obtained. Because of the nature of the violations and the concentration on the more wilful and fraudulent types of violation, the major sanction emphasis was on referrals to the United States attorneys for criminal prosecution. Where the criminal sanction was not available, administrative suspension proceedings were utilized to prevent offending persons from further transferring, using, or acquiring sugar. As in the past, the Office continued to receive the fullest cooperation from the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Treasury Department. Rice price enforcement.—Injunctions were obtained during the quarter against all the major rice mills in the Dallas region (Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas), restraining them from continuing with overceiling purchases which had disrupted the supply pattern and induced further violations throughout the distribution system. Rent The proportion of investigative manpower devoted to rent enforcement cases was increased during the quarter, and greater emphasis placed on evasive practice cases. Reports from the field indicated that fewer rental units available, especially in the larger metropolitan areas, had resulted in swelling the number and type of evasive practices by landlords. For this reason, the Office staff of trained investigators was concentrated on situations which might be developed into criminal cases with the greatest impact of the program upon the metropolitan communities. Veterans’ Housing Sales Control Under authority delegated by the Housing Expediter4 to enforce certain provisions of the veterans’ housing program, the Office during 4 EPO 2, issued August 27, 1946; see Nineteenth Quarterly Report, pp. 74—75 and 92. 736419—47---------6 78 • Twentieth Quarterly Report the quarter set up the machinery for handling this responsibility, and proceeded with the investigation of several significant cases. By the close of the quarter there were pending in various parts of the country both civil and criminal cases involving violation of these regulations. The Office had been charged with the investigation of violations relating to veterans’ preference, maximum sales price, maximum rentals, and deviations from cost or type of construction specified in the application for priorities assistance, as well as the requirements for formal application for priorities assistance and the posting of placards showing holding for veterans’ preference. The authority for the regulations which were to be enforced—PR 33 issued by the Civilian Production Administration and HEPR 5 issued by the Housing Expediter—was derived from the Veterans’ Emergency Housing Act of 1946 (the Patman Act) and the Second War Powers Act, which permit the following remedies in violation cases: (1) Injunction to prevent violation or compel compliance with the requirements of the regulation, including restitution of over-Charges to the buyer. (2) Injunction to compel recission or cancellation of the transaction when the sale is made to a nonveteran in violation of the requirements of the regulation for holding for veterans. (3) Referral to the United States attorney for criminal prosecution in cases of wilful violation. The applicable statutes do not give a right of action for treble damages (such as is contained in the Emergency Price Control Act) to either the Government or the buyer. The basic procedure established for handling complaints of violation was similar to that employed in rent cases, namely initial handling by the area rent office, with that office attempting to obtain voluntary compliance in cases that are not wilful or flagrant and referral for formal enforcement action of those cases in which compliance cannot be secured or legal action appears appropriate. Due to changes in organization, as well as the fact that this was not only a new program but a field of activity substantially different from that in which the Office had heretofore been engaged, complete staffing and training of the field staff was not accomplished until late in the quarter. Notwithstanding this late start, a number of cases were referred to United States attorneys for criminal prosecution, and six of them were accepted and informations filed or indictments returned. Several civil cases were also filed and were pending at the close of the quarter. None of these cases had been tried by the end of 1946, but the Office was successful in obtaining voluntary compliance, including restitution of overcharges in many instances. The wide geographical coverage obtained is indicated by the fact that civil or criminal proceedings were pending on December 31 in major cities throughout the country, including New York, Newark, Miami, Enforcement • 79 Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta, St. Paul, Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. LITIGATION The final quarter of 1946 was marked by a number of notable decisions, both in the Supreme Court, and in the circuit courts of appeal, which largely upheld the position taken by the Administrator and were of extreme importance to the Office in effectively carrying out the remaining functions of price control. Supreme Court Decisions A significant victory was achieved in the Supreme Court against upgrading, a pernicious practice by which black markets have flourished, particularly in the fields of lumber, paper, and meat. In United States v. Bruno the defendant had been convicted of wilfully charging more than the ceiling price for waste paper by shipping low grade paper and invoicing it as a higher grade. The circuit court of appeals reverse^ the lower court’s decision, relying mainly on the fact that in accordance with an established industry custom, the purchasers had the right to inspect the shipments on delivery and reject those which were upgraded, or to retain the paper and pay only the proper ceiling price. Upon appeal, this decision was in turn reversed by the Supreme Court and the judgment of conviction reinstated upon the ground that the evidence of false grading was ample to support the conviction. The Supreme Court pointed out that “in a seller’s market upgrading may be a convenient device for black market operations * * While the Court did not expressly enunciate the principle that upgrading constitutes a violation of a regulation, this may be reasonably implied from the fact that the Court held it was proper to submit the case to the jury, and that in view of all the circumstances, “the jury could well conclude that the system adopted by Bruno was designed to bring him more for the goods than was lawful.” In each of the 10 cases where the Administrator’s contentions were upheld by the circuit court of appeals and where the Administrator opposed applications for writs of certiorari, the Supreme Court denied certiorari.6 In the two cases where the Administrator applied B No. 67, October Term 1946, decided December 9, 1946. 6 Certiorari was denied October 14, 1946, in the following cases: Porter v. Crawford de Doherty Foundry Co., 154 F. 2d 431 (C. C. A. 9th) ; Pickett v. Bowles, 153 F. 2d 904 (C. C. A. 10th) ; C. B. Wood v. Bowles, 155 F. 2d 727 (C. C. A. 6th) ; Milner Hotels, Inc. v. Porter and 101 East 1st Street, Inc. v. Porter, 154 F. 2d 1020 (C. C. A. 6th) ; Blalack v. United States, 154 F. 2d 591 (C. C. A. 6th) ; Mannie & Co. v. Porter, 155 F. 2d 129 (C. C. A. 7th) ; Hagen v. Porter, 156 F. 2d 362 (C. C. A. 9th). Certiorari was denied October 28, 1946, in Gordon v. Porter, 155 F. 2d 949 (C. C. A. 9th). Certiorari was denied November 12, 1946, in Login Corporation v. Porter, 155 F. 2d 623 (C. C. A. 9th) ; and in Mechanical Farm Equipment Distributors, Inc. v. Porter, 156 F. 2d 296 (C. C. A. 9th). Certiorari was denied December 10, 1946, in Superior Packing Co. v. Porter, 156 F. 2d 193 (C. C. A. 8th). 80 • Twentieth Quarterly Report to the Supreme Court for certiorari from adverse decisions, his applications were granted. In Testa and Porter v. Katt? the Rhode Island Supreme Court had held that a consumer action for treble damages was an action for a foreign penalty and therefore could not be heard by its 'State courts. It was the Administrator’s position, in accord with a long line of decisions, that under the “supremacy clause” of the Constitution a State may not refuse to take jurisdiction of a Federal cause of action where it would take jurisdiction over a similar action established by a statute of the State. The Supreme Court also granted the Administrator’s petition for a writ of certiorari in Porter v. Mohawk 'Wrecking & Lumber Co.* where the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, contrary to the great weight of authority, that the Price Administrator was not authorized to delegate the function of signing and issuing subpenas. Simultaneously, writs of certiorari were granted in two of the cases which upheld such delegation (Raley v. Porter and Porter v. Murray').9 Appellate Cases The most significant decisions on appeals before the circuit courts of appeal during the quarter were Crary v. Porter™ and Amato v. PorterP In the Crary case, an appelate court held, for the first time, that an action for statutory damages under section 205 (e) of the Price Control Act is not a criminal case within the meaning of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination in the Fifth Amendment. Under this ruling, a defendant may now be required to take the stand and testify although he would still be privileged to refuse to answer specific questions which might tend to incriminate him. In Amato v. Porter, a related question was involved, the court holding that a person who, after claiming his privilege against self-incrimination, produces records required to be kept by law in response to a subpena issued by the Administrator, is not entitled to immunity under the provisions of either the Fifth Amendment, the Compulsory Testimony Act, or section 202 (g) of the Emergency Price Control Act. The court further said that in no event would the provisions of section 202 (g) or the Compulsory Testimony Act provide immunity from liability for statutory damages under section 205 (e). 7 47 A. 2d 312, certiorari granted October 28,1946. 8 156 F. 2d 891, certiorari granted 67 S. Ct. 194. 8 156 F. 2d 561 (App. D. C.) and 156 F. 2d 781 (C. C. A. 1st). The Administrator did not oppose certiorari in these two cases, but urged that issues raised in the petitions other than that of delegation be excluded from review, and in its order granting the writs, the Supreme Court limited the scope of review as requested. 10 (C. C. A. 8th), decided October 4, 1946. 11157 F. 2d 719 (C. C. A. 10th). Enforcement • 81 Underlying this conclusion was the reasoning of the court that even if an action for statutory damages under section 205 (e) were penal in nature, that is not enough in itself to make the proceeding in which the damages are imposed a criminal one within the meaning of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. The court agreed with the Office contention that since the object of the treble damage remedy was not primarily to punish the wrongdoer but to protect the public and to effectuate the public policy sought to be accomplished by the act, it is remedial and that hence the action is civil. Two decisions of importance in the enforcement of rent control were Porter v. Shzbe and Porter v. Darlington^ which upheld the validity of the Price Control Extension Act of 1946 and sustained the position of the Administrator that the ending of a tenancy during the interim period, July 1 to July 25,1946, did not deprive a tenant of the protection of the Rent Regulation. In answer to the contention that the entire Extension Act was unconstitutional because the “shooting” war had ended, the court ruled that the act was valid under the war power of Congress, which is a “broad and comprehensive grant” and “well-nigh limitless.” Many other decisions were rendered which should prove to be of assistance in carrying out the general purposes of the act. The civil liability of a principal for the acts of his agent was definitely established despite the absence of his personal participation in the unlawful acts.13 The doctrine was repudiated that substantial compliance with a regulation is enough to allow a dealer to obtain “warranted” prices where the regulation requires nothing less than complete and strict compliance for that purpose.14 Punishment for contempt of a decree was held to survive both cessation of hostilities and the expiration of legislation which was violated.15 A judgment for statutory damages was sustained against a real estate broker who gratuitously collected overceiling rents for a landlord, the court applying the general rule that it is no excuse from legal liability that one has acted, in what he did, as agent for another, where the unlawful act comes within the “literal application” and prohibition of the statute.16 Subpenas for the production of records and documents were enforced over objection that they were too broad in scope17 12 (C. C. A. 10th), decided November 5, 1946. 13 Haines v. Porter (App. D. C.), decided November 25, 1946. “ Porter v. Nowak, 157 F. 2d 824 (C. C. A. 1st). 16 Timmons v. United States of America (C. C. A. 4th), decided November 19, 1946. 18Bowles n. Ruppel (C. C. A. 3d), decided November 18,1946. 11 Smith v. Porter (C. C. A. 9th), decided November 25,1946. 82 • Twentieth Quarterly Report and over other technical objections lacking validity and substance,18 such as that the subpena power was not delegable and authorized a “fishing expedition” into personal records. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held against the Administrator’s contention that the correct measure of damages upon a “tie-in sale” of farm equipment was the difference between the ceiling price of the tractor alone and the total price paid by the purchaser for the tractor and tied-in equipment.19 STATISTICAL SUMMARY Investigations completed during the quarter totaled approximately 24,500, and violations were established in more than 18,500 cases (see table 1). In the large majority of violations acted upon, various sanctions were employed. More than 6,000 treble damage suits, injunction suits, license suspension suits, Federal and local prosecutions, and contempt proceedings were instituted. Almost 1,900 suspension order proceedings were instituted. Monetary settlements were made in more than 2,900 cases. Over 1,600 cases were closed with a warning letter or informal adjustment, and almost 2,200 cases were closed with the issuance of a license warning notice. The Office completed 1,900 administrative proceedings, more than 4,600 civil court proceedings of all types, and. approximately 900 Federal and local criminal prosecutions. Favorable decisions were obtained in 94.7 percent of the administrative proceedings completed, 91.7 percent of the civil proceedings, and 92.7 percent of the criminal prosecutions. Approximately 4,800 civil proceedings were withdrawn, mainly in fields where controls had been lifted and the relief sought—injunction to restrain further violations, for example—Was no longer available under a regulation which had been revoked. Settlements, judgments, and fines during the quarter amounted to $3,921,795. As of December 31, 1946, there were still 17,650 cases pending in fields which had been decontrolled (see table 2). Almost 40 percent of these were in meat and other decontrolled foods and 22 percent in the automotive field. Slightly more than 16 percent of the cases were in industrial materials (including building materials), 11 percent in apparel, almost 9 percent in consumer durables, and the remainder in textiles. Of the total pending cases, 11 percent were still under investigation, 46 percent were awaiting disposition, and 43 percent were pend 18 Provenzano v. Porter (C. C. A. 9th), decided December 3, 1946. 19 Porter v. Thiel, decided October 21,1946. Enforcement • 83 ing in court. In less than 1 percent of the cases either suspension order proceedings or determination proceedings were pending. Table 1.—Statistical Summary of Enforcement Activity October—December 1946 Type of action Number Investigations and violations: Investigations completed - 24,514 Violations found with and without investigation 18,642 Administrative enforcement: Warning letters and informal adjustments 1,628 License warning notices _ ___________________________________________ 2,190 Suspension order proceedings instituted __________ L895 Determination proceedings instituted ___________________________ 30 Monetary settlements: Administrator’s consumer damage claim ________________ 2,288 Administrator’s own damage claim 632 Litigation instituted: Administrator’s consumer damage suit ___________ _______ _ 1,869 Administrator’s own damage suit '577 Injunction suit 2,684 License suspension suit ____________________ 29 Federal criminal prosecution _ _ _ _ T _____________________ _ _ _ _ 320 Local criminal prosecution ________________________________ 520 Contempt proceedings - 18 Proceedings completed: Administrative proceedings closed 2,804 Proceedings completed ______________________________________ L895 Orders issued (won) 1,795 Orders denied (lost) 100 Percent won 94.7 Proceedings withdrawn 909 Court litigation closed: Civil litigation closed 1 9,397 Proceedings completed L 615 Won 4,231 Lost '384 Percent won 91.7 Withdrawn 4,782 ' Criminal litigation closed 2 1,063 Proceedings completed _______________________________ _ 915 Won _ 848 Lost " ■ 67' Percent won 92.7 Withdrawn 143 1 Number of casés except for number of defendants in contempt proceedings. 2 Number of defendants. Table 2.—Cases Pending in Decontrolled Fields, Dec. 31, 1946 Total Meat Other foods Apparel Leather and textiles Industrial materials Automotive Durable goods Total cases 17,652 3,183 3,692 1,886 512 2,878 3,959 1,542 Cases under investigation 1,880 183 206 237 59 438 457 300 Cases awaiting disposition 8^098 1,442 1,910 965 221 1,225 1,601 734 Cases pending in court 7j 571 L458 1,573 684 232 1,215 1,901 508 Federal criminal prosecution 646 172 95 27 23 57 261 11 Local criminal prosecution 69 18 29 2 16 4 License suspension suits 157 82 32 7 2 30 4 Administrator’s own treble dam- age suits 2,737 357- 643 265 163 766 280 263 Administrator’s consumer treble damage suits 2,354 302 470 151 3 167 1,104 157 Injunction suits L 578 520 293 230 43 221 205 66 Contempt proceedings . 30 7 11 4 — 5 3 Suspension order proceedings pending 88 85 3 Determination proceedings pending. 15 15