Big Businessmen HoW Top OPA Jobs;Survey Shows Middleman's Profits
Big Businessmen HoW Top OPA Jobs; Survey Shows Middleman's Profits WASHINGTON, D. C—Fifty trig business men today hold all the top job* in the Office of Price Administration. This fact was...
...Chairman of the Civil Bights Defense (oast it tee We do not judge men merely by their avowal* of faith and good-will...
...I have no way of knowing, of course, how much effect that memorandum had on the current situation...
...There is also great wast* involved...
...It still remains ox Bteiest that the Japanese evoke a profounder torti—' hate reaction among nearly all classes tt American-" than do the Nazis...
...The fact was that the CommisswJT was going to great lengths to protect liberals...
...Supreme Court Action On Minneapolis Case Blow to Civil Rights Blow to Civil Rights [The New Leafier has dtoagresd sharply #Hh the Tretekyitea, but like Mr...
...As a result, on May 5, 1941, I submitted a memorandum to Harry B. Mitchell, president °f the Civil Service Commission, embodying this suggestion: "To avoid a misconception on the part of federal employees of the immediate effects end ultimate objectives of investigations being carried on, and to avoid needless alarm on the part °f innocent persons, I suggest that: "The Civil Service Commission, through it* highest authority, voluntarily issue an official •tatement to all federal employees that no notice is taken of or attention paid to the* Political affiliations of any federal emptor**, «<*pt those proved beyond any question of doubt to be Communists...
...These OPA war profits studies show shameful profiteering by the meat packers and wholesale grocers, and even worse profits in the canning industry—as high as nearly 1,000 per east above the pre-war level, Jonathan Stout declared, and an average of 500 per cent above pre-war levels...
...W* knew that this week the Supreme Court of the U. S. is less of a guarantee of our liberties than many people have believed it to he...
...In the motion picture and newspapers aad en the radio, we were told and over again that we should be thankful for being free...
...It aroused worried apprehension as to government policy in the ranks of true liberals who are unalterably opposed to the American Communists, and it stirred the Dies Committee into a sadden spurt of life by a decision to investigate the circumstances of the Commission's new directive...
...x Suspicion of imperialistic designs dies hard...
...The prompt result was a military ruling prohibiting public assemblies of five or more persons without a permit...
...The Communists**made no headway in this campaign until they succeeded in enlisting the misguided aid of many liberals and liberal publications under the scare campaign that the Commission was Jttng "liberals...
...But this was ad missed momentarily, with all the food-forteught contained in the Cairo sessions between to leaders of America, Britain and China, "flu prospect of Japan being reduced to the magnificent status it occupied before the turn I the century and before it began its 50-year Ulch to a position as a world power found Upersal welcome here...
...Southern Italy had never been the center of radical polities, and look at the restlessness already engendered...
...The AMG to still sitting on the hd of political activity...
...According to the National City Bank Bulletin for November, the profits of the food processors and distributors increased 12.6 per cent in the first nine months of 1943 over the same period rations, after tage...
...The Supreme Court of the U S. has give* us the material eheieby we eaa teat tt Whaa it refused to hear the appeal of the 18 defiaafiants in the Minneapolis case...
...In watching the efforts of the Communists to alarm the naive and, innocent liberal world into being itself attached, it became obvious *hat the Communist strategy was...
...Such a' wedge would make it difficult if not impossible, for the Communists to utilize the innocent as a shield for themselves...
...The lender* today are" a number of aristocrats and highly placed army and navy officer...
...We judge men and we test institutions by their actions...
...One frank statement cam* from the monarchist general Antonio Basso, who was interviewed by Times correspondent Herbert L. Matthews...
...General Basso made these statement* because he hopes to have powers givdVi to the Italian military to keep "order...
...But there to leas freedom in this country today than there was tost week or in Thanksgiving 1942...
...Thirty-eight of t h at representatives of big business are in charge of branches or sections of OPA...
...The first question in this snhere after trip news that all the land taken from China would be returned to it, was: Does that include Hong...
...The Supreme Court has even refused to hear an appeal which will test the eonftitutionality of that law...
...H showed itself more than inattentive to the provision* of the very Constitutioa which it has sworn to uphold...
...One of the quick glib answers was: •Weil, I gaesa that means the Pacific is to i become aa American lake...
...Private monopoly has been greatly strengthened during the war, and dollar-a-year representatives of the big corporations are in the saddle in Washington agencies, including the OPA As Jonathan Stout has revealed fa The New Leader, under Chester Bowies the OPA's policy is to appease big business...
...we have found ft flapusiible to say f of eerteir...
...The geographical fact p'lJlttp^-JlJnYaft Australia and New Zealand •pt n*tt—^WuVjJritiah Empire and so long as Jw NeffeTlanoV East Indies are part of the Patch J|tojarte7the Pacific can never be "an The historical fact—equally important—to that giving the Philippines their independence runs counter to reviving suspicions that America may have imperialistic ambitions in the Pacific The second point of interest, equally shrouded in mere speculation, is the prospective role of Britain in the Pacific...
...The prices you pay for food and other consumers goods are determined by the very corporations and trusts who are gouging excess war profits out of your pocketbook...
...in their work...
...or 12.7 per cent...
...The political situation would be completely eliminated if the people could eat...
...Kong...
...This fact was revealed last week by James G. Rogers, Jr., the former manager of the Benton and Bowles advertising agency, who is now the assistant to Administrator Chester Bowles...
...Once it relaxes the ossiflicting dotfres will come out Into the open...
...the so-called "white anions" that had been organized by the Catholics have united with the regular trade union movement re* by the Socialists and Communist* late a Committee for National Liberation...
...The Cairo Convention, of course, doesnt answer that question . . . and apparently does set intend to at this time...
...that the Commission knows better than to suspect Communist, allestonce on the part of persons innocently drawn ployees who are being led to believe by alarmist rumors and agitation of Communist origin th** the innocent are going to suffer with the guilty...
...The gouging of the public tends to increase excessively in wartime...
...The authority off the Court is largely based on the finftotoa of Judge Marshall in the ease of Madison vs...
...From an authoritative source I learned why the Commission included those two notorious Communist "fronts"—the Washington Bookshop snd the Harry Bridges Defense Committee —on that list, not, to Speak of the somewhat less indicative Lawyers Guild aad Spanish Orvil War organizations...
...Report...
...twelve are consultants...
...The profits of the meat peckers have increased 335 per cent since the war began...
...The alarmist tactics were intended to arouse the liberals so that the Communists might use them as a shield for themselves...
...Th* "Blue Party" takes its name from an organization of Tt slims wa* veterans, mainly officers, that was formed in 1919 to fight revolution...
...it will only encourage all who want to be free to defend their freedom...
...According to its ateetolun*, it is possjole for a man to be toiled If he publicly quotes the Declaration of Independence of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address...
...But the more ihsoghl fill were not satisfied with the glib answer...
...Last year 250 million pounds of bread were wasted, the report revealed...
...On* of the simplest lessons of history to that no Government and no Court can, fat the long run, stop people from thinking...
...It is the opinion of serious parsons in the labor and liberal movement that the South "Gag" Act is in flagrant violation of the BUI of Rights This caae is the meet important one which const* under the provisions of that act...
...Observers wondered what would happen when the Allies reached Milan, Turin and Genoa which have always had a turbulent radical history and population...
...Neither fie we tedan institution* by the descriptions of their authority aad function* contained in written eoaetitution...
...Scandalous profiteering in the liquor business has likewise been exposed during the past week, leading to a Senatorial investigation...
...Liberal and labor opinions should new mobilis* to prove that it is 100% more attentive to freedom thee is the Supreme Court...
...Our experience has been that many perfectly innocent people belong to the Washington Bookshop and similar bookshops elsewhere...
...Bootlegging is consequently increasing...
...The political developments hi North Italy, controlled by the Nazis, to important and will have great bearing on the future of Italy...
...As yet only the conventional and "bourgeois** elements such as Sforza and Croce have taken the lead...
...D. C—This bus been a firaiptle week in the nation's capital...
...Bookshop...
...What is the real illustration of this doctrine...
...The survey revealed the following typical figures: Commodity Farmer* ree'ved Consumers jfd Sack of onions S .15 $1.67 Crate of lettuce .58 4.06 Crate of tomatoes .62 2.58 Sack of potatoes .60 2.23 Box of apples J? 2.35 Box of oranges 1.25 4.85 Bushel of peaches .77 3 00 Bex of grapefruit .67 3-56 Crate of cabbages .35 2.56 Selected at random, these foods ware raised in various parts of the country and sold at different places...
...increased $799 million in in 1942...
...I could not discover a single case in which those fired were anything but Communists, Naais or Fascists . . . as I ascertained in two exhaustive investigations I made in order to satisfy myself two-and-a-half years *go and again a year-end-a-half ago...
...Representatives of the big distillers are ensconced in places of power in the OPA...
...many other foods...
...It administered a blow to the cause of free speech...
...The result, however, was not altogether a happy" one...
...Brand names are being changed and good stuff is being adulterated...
...ana *ne several ossniB Civil War organizations...
...The reason I tell you this is that civilians had their hopes so highly aroused byAllied promises that on seeing them unfilled they are disappointed...
...Because of the government JfsMWwi herring C*m*usdfte trdfc employmenV fce Communist Parly m Washington ia haateally a secret organization and operates as such in order to protect Ha members in government d & ? Since Communists here are not open in then affiliations, the only reliable way of aacfcrtabv tog who is and who is not a Communist is by the test of objective conduct Thus, when an individual over the coarse of several years of community .activity has a record of belonging to one after another of Communist jMgk th*ganizations, such a person is and stssBsl .be a. m , . MAteM^ i . ^HSfSMaV 4^to &tt^^aSiSSM regarono as Rgmnww ssssssa 1 TOT 111 • W H B V W as to his loyalty to the United States government m. Under the precedent now created by the Commission's new directive in dMWwatiag, the Washington Bookshop aad the Harry Bridges Defense Committee, however, ft to.certain that the Communists will press for eUmtoatitm from investigation of their other '*fronta* Xid quite logically...
...Last week was Thanksgiving Week...
...The order gees not only for the Washington Bookshop, but also for similar bookshops in other cities at the country...
...We roust pre** our attack age tost the Smith "Gag" Act...
...Under such a set-up, it is obvious that the Commission's investigators wffl hh eJ*Sjsdacaiy hamstrung in their work, since thafe onj^kide —the test of objective conduci—wffl hMJ Jean taken from them...
...A recent survey of 9,000 eating places in New York City showed that 3,400 restaurant* pay no attention to price ceilings...
...filter through of guerilla activities, strikes and other trouble for the Nazis...
...Apparently we now have that, and on* of these laws to the Smith "Gag" law...
...We tenet continue to defend the 18 victim* in Una ease...
...And th^tSetaaBHstaKtstw directive, in going too far in what it naively supposes to be the liberal direction, haa n Socialist Groups Unite to Lead War on Nazis in North Italy By MURRAY EVERETT The Communist Party called for a regency, instead of a King, Count Sforza asked for a regency, Benedetto Croce asked for a regency, but the Naples crowd roared back "Republic...
...Thto commine is directing the agitation hi the north In Naples, the reasons for the unrest were clear...
...Many sen, particularly to diplomatic circle* I where ears grow a peculiar affinity for such sahjetts, were taken by the proviso in the Osiro Convention that Japan to to tone all of the Pacific island* which she either received or seized since the first World War...
...A new •esse—The Socialist Party of Proletarian Italy—baa been adapted The New Listos iomTU...
...Lage stocks of liquor are being held off the market for a price rise...
...Chief conrjhutnr to the drama was our peregrinating Piafident, who seems intent, apparently, on EBfag UP w i t n n ' 8 f ' m o u s wife's equally towns mileage record...
...Studies made by OPA of profiteering have been suppressed because they show scandalously high profits in consumers goods...
...The net income of 275 leading forponine months of 1943 over 1942...
...He quoted comparable figures or...
...Meanwhile reactionary Italian, elements have moved to nsobikz* their own forces, In Naples they have formed the "Blue Party" to support crown prince Humbert...
...Leaflets and pamphlets have already been published and distribute* widely throughout Naples...
...That there is a vast political restlessness in Naples, few could deny...
...This authority told me: "Tne Washington Bookshop has been on {hat list for more than a year...
...Naturally, when they are hungry there to trouble...
...Croce asked that a regency be given a fair trial and that the final decision be made only after all Italy was liberated, but the throng cheered all references to the abdiction of the King and grew ^lnruly whenever a regency was mentioned," reported the UP...
...Capital Comment Who Will Get Japan's Islands in the Pacific By JONATHAN STOUT WASHINGTON...
...They are both a traf for she eliminated as evidence solely on the ground that they include the innocent as well as the s f s ^ s r S i S J i r ^ o S munnt-front osganhmxtoa fa %m% aaantey...
...But ft seems evident that thinking tTi the Commission's policy-making circles followed the course I indicated...
...ParreU eaa By JAMES T. FARBELL Novelist...
...In the north there was evidence that events were stirring...
...They ere now asking only for one thing: food...
...The black market is developing in a shameful manner...
...And observers wondered too at th*' sitoece of many popular underground leaders, like the colorful Emilo Lussu, head of the Gustizia and Liberia group, who are yet tc be heard from...
...Processed food* a* well as fresh products showed a similar divergence aad pyramiding of charges for handling, highpressure salesmanship, aad so forth...
...Four large liquor companies have bought up distilleries right and left, according to Senator James G. Scrugham (Dem..Nev...
...It was natural that the first question should be: And Who is to get those islands...
...Thto aotten of our highest court will not do that which cannot be done...
...The immediate effect of the directive was to bring the joy of triumph to Communists in the government lervice...
...Almost all the big corporations are liberally represented, and guard well the interests of such firms as the General Feeds Corporation (Morgan controlled), the ehntor stare*, the sugar trust, etc In other words, wolves are watching the sheepfold...
...TV* figures apply to the 1986 depression periodprices now are far higher and the gulf between what farmers get and what consumers pay is still wider...
...A shocking report issued by the Federal Trade Commission, ignored by moat newspapers, proves that you pay from three to ten times as much for your food as the farmer get...
...Vice-President Wallace recently stated that "of every dollar paid by consumers for Texas onions, 28 cents went for transportation and 12 cents to the farmers...
...Marbury, when be contended that we moat have a government of laws rather than of men...
...It might provoke a very preoccupying state of mind...
...In the trade antoa fietfi...
...The latter has the weakness of taking tot* account two hard facts, one geographical and toe other historical...
...The "New Deal professors and intellectuals," who have long been attacked by reactionaries as "idealists," have been replaced by "hardheaded, practical business people," except for a few who have been shunted aside...
...We are aware that these bookshops are Communist- - - - - s A But ia trying1 to eome'to practical deilnitidjjs...
...It is the Japanese idea of "dangerous thoughts...
...and they are hoarding vast stocks, holding the OPA and price ceilings in contempt...
...Harry Bridges Defense Commixree Rvyen ouiia...
...With typical naivete, the Commission has now barred Ma investigators from inquiring into a government employee's affiliations with a number of genuine liberal organizations as well, as with some notorious Communist "fronts," The organizations named in the new directive are: Socialist Party, League of Women Shoppers, American Civil Liberties Union, Washmgtdr...
...The Italian Socialist Movement has experienced a great revival and unity has been effected among various Socialist group...
...They are getting a hundred grams of bread daily in Naples, but in the province there is true hunger...
...MmhtopSJkTffimli m U 8 t *d m l t t e d » ** >ther signs—and it will be a happy day when be can fully trust them—that a now day of totoTMfttot* oaoperetion, without larceny, may - * • « * » t Squeeze on Civil Service Commission The Civfl Service Commission gave the domestic scene sofn'e excitement this week with the issuance of a policy directive restricting its investigator...
...P Bat there remained two ether points ' which stirred deep interest here...
...that any particular memoir of the bodhsheps is ipse facto a CommunnK So we decided to dispense with these booaahlgm altogether ha a basis for decision " i ? The naivete in that explanation, at cceodegis $hat eoBBasuhms-front ortaahmtionh a » deliberatelv deshrned so to iitwiflslli tfk 'ISOMisV aisjsau.1 etwij . u e o ^ » « spur : wmw wv» a* was • mmm^mm§Mrm or investigatcr...
...The background behind the issuance of the B*W directive is this: For almost three years the United Federal Workers Union—which is tightly Communist-controlled—and other fellowtraveler elements have been hammering at the Civil Service Commission and its Investigation Division to punch loopholes through which Communists might squeeze their way through the law which forbids employment of Communists, Nazis and Fascists by the government...
...Although the two moat illustrious and liberal figures of this Court during the present century, Holmes and Brandeia, promulgated the doctrine of "deer and present danger," their successors have totally disregarded it...
...Once this idea becomes the lew of the land, all thinking becomes a dangerous and nni—ttoUji criminal activity...
...The results of the tojsevalt-Churcnill meeting with Stalin were *t known as this was written...
Vol. 26 • December 1943 • No. 49
