YOUR MONEY'S WORTH CONSUMERS FIGHT FOR PRICE CONTROL

...The Conference sent the House Banking and Currency Committee a resolution urging renewal of the Price Control Act without any crippling amendments and appropriation of adequate enforcement funds to OP A. Ten Congressmen invited these groups to the Conference, which was partly an outgrowth of consumer organization in Washington during the past year...

...A friend in Washington who is heartened by these steps toward consumer organization and is an enthusiastic worker in consumer groups writes me that at present "these groups are loosely-knit and fumbling, but of some real value...

...There are so many battles in this price control war that the casual newspaper reader-can easily get lost on one of its minor battlefronts...

...As I understand their position, most of the consumer representatives who urge reenactment of the Price Control Act realize that the existing legislation is far from perfect...

...The groups I have mentioned here are gaining a little strength in Washington and New York...

...You'll remember the consumer conference called by this group during the subsidy fight—an issue on which The Progressive strongly disagrees with the Committee...

...I do think it is encouraging that more consumers, or their representatives, are taking on the responsibility of action—instead of, like too many committees, talking and planning and doing nothing...

...How effective and reliable these groups are, I don't know...

...No price control," Mr...

...With wise leadership and a fundamental concern for protecting and helping the ordinary buyer, they can help to awake consumers to their potential strength...

...Under the leadership of Rep...

...they are fighting to keep what power OPA has, arguing that some Federal control of prices, however imperfect, is far better than nothing...

...Warne minces no words in pointing out the weaknesses of the present price control legislation— among the changes that consumer groups recommend, he says, are repeal of the Taft amendment to the Price Control Act, which prevents OPA from grade labeling or enforcing quality standards, and public dissemination of community price ceilings wherever possible (how many buyers know what the ceiling price of a product is, other than what the retailer's price tag says it is...

...Warne declares, "can be fully effective so long as the Taft amendment is on the books...

...Last month more than 250 members of consumer, labor, and farm groups attended the Citizens Emergency Conference to Save Price Control in Washington and pledged themselves to "bring home to the American public an ever sharper understanding that effective control of prices is an essential part of our war effort...

...Colston Warne On OP A After that conference, a sort of advisory committee emerged, with members representing labor unions, the Farmers Union, co-ops, League of Women Shoppers, Veterans of Foreign Wars, churches, National Council of Negro Women, American Association of University Women, and others...

...This is an information exchange center which suggests action on various—not exclusively legislative—civic fronts...

...Thomas E. Scanlon, Pennsylvania Democrat, a Congressional Committee for the Protection of Consumers was organized last Summer...

...The Price Control Act expires June 30, and Congressional opponents, led by Rep...

...The Congressional Committee from time to time advises this group how they can exert pressure on pending legislation affecting consumers...

...Howard Smith, Virginia Democrat and real estate speculator, have been swinging their axes to kill reenactment of the price and rent control legislation...

...Of Some Real Value' In addition to the organized consumer groups which have developed largely out of the price control issue, a Consumers Clearing House in Washington recently has been organized...

...Quality deterioration in products, due to the absence of OPA standards, has become commonplace as a method of avoiding ceiling regulations...

...if they can stretch their roots out into other parts of the country, they should gain more...

...If you want to read an interesting summary of the issues involved in the price control fight, look up the article, "Pulling the OPA's Teeth," by Colston E. Warne, Amherst professor of economics and president of Consumers Union, in the May Current History...

...Consumer pressure on the price control legislation is bolstered by Bread & Butter, the Consumers Union newsletter which features a weekly letter to be written to Congress or a Federal executive on matters affecting consumers...