Defense Production Act Amendments of 1952

Thorp, Willard L., Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs:
Importance of cheese in total exports of selected countries to the
Ünited States.

263

Importance of selected countries as source of United States
imports of cheese in 1950..

264

Production and export of cheese in specified countries, 1950---

263

Miscellaneous data submitted for the information of the committee by-

Continued

Wage Stabilization Board:

Appendix 1. Summary of regulations and important resolutions_

Appendix 2. The Wage Stabilization Board and collective

bargaining..

Appendix 3:

Table I.-Percent increase in adjusted average hourly earn-

ings before and since stabilization _ _

Appendix 4. List of union demands considered by WSB and

recommendations on each__.

Appendix 5. Comparison of steel wage recommendations with

wage rate movements in other industries (since January 1950

and January 26, 1951, the freeze date).

Biographical sketches of Wage Stabilization Board members as of

April 22, 1952_

Table II.-Average monthly rate of increase in adjusted

average hourly earnings, before and since stabilization

(cents and percent).

Table III.-Percent increase in adjusted average hourly

earnings, stabilization period compared with postwar

years and comparable period of World War II stabiliza-

tion_..

Table IV.-Average monthly rate of increase in adjusted

average hourly earnings, stabilization period compared

with postwar years and comparable period of World War

II stabilization...

Table V.-Change in adjusted average hourly earnings and

. BLS Consumers' Price Index (between stated base dates

and February 1952)...

Table VI.-Index of wage movements compared with

changes in Consumers' Price Index in two stabilization

periods.

Table VII.-Work stoppages, workers involved, and man-

days lost, average per month...

William Prym, Inc.:

H. R. 6843. A bill to establish quotas on the importation of cer-

tain articles and products containing raw materials with respect

to which priorities have been established, or allocations made,

under the Defense Production Act of 1951..

400

DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1952

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1952

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., pursuant to call, Hon. Brent Spence, chairman of the committee, presiding.

Present: Chairman Spence, Messrs. Brown, Patman, Rains, Multer, Deane, O'Brien, Addonizio, Dollinger, Bolling, Burton, Fugate, Barrett, Wolcott, Talle, Kilburn, Cole, Nicholson, McDonough, Widnall, and Betts.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order.

We are met this morning to consider H. R. 6546, a bill to amend and extend the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, and the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended.

(The bill referred to is as follows:)

[H. R. 6546, 82d Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend and extend the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, and the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Defense Production Act Amendments of 1952".

TITLE I-AMENDMENTS TO DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT OF 1950, AS AMENDED

PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS

SEC. 101. (a) The last sentence of section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "No restrictions, quotas, or other limitations upon the slaughter of livestock shall be maintained which would limit the quantity of livestock slaughtered by processors to less than 100 per centum of the total quantity of livestock offered for sale to all such processors for slaughter. Whenever the number of livestock offered for sale in a particular area for slaughter exceeds the quotas previously established for the period upon the basis of anticipated marketings, the President shall promptly adjust quotas to permit the marketing of all such livestock. Whenever the President invokes the power given him in this title to provide for the distribution of a species of livestock among the slaughterers of such species, he shall also provide for the allocation of the product of such species in such manner as to assure nonslaughtering processors and wholesalers thereof in the normal channels of distribution their normal share of the available civilian supply."

(b) Section 104 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is hereby repealed.

EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AND SUPPLY

SEC. 102. Subsection (b) of section 304 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is amended by striking out "$2,100,000,000" and inserting in lieu thereof "$3,000,000,000".

PRICE AND WAGE STABILIZATION

SEC. 103. (a) Paragraph (4) of subsection (d) of section 402 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is hereby repealed.

(b) Subsection (k) of section 402 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is hereby repealed.

CONTROL OF CONSUMER AND REAL ESTATE CREDIT

SEC. 104. (a) Section 601 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is amended by striking out the second paragraph thereof.

(b) Section 605 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 605. To assist in carrying out the objectives of this Act the President may at any time or times, notwithstanding any other provision of law, reduce, for such period as he shall specify, the maximum authorized principal amounts, ratios of loan to value or cost, or maximum maturities of any type or types of loans on real estate which thereafter may be made, insured, or guaranteed by any department, independent establishment, or agency in the executive branch of the United States Government, or by any wholly owned Government corporation or by any mixed-ownership Government corporation as defined in the Government Corporation Control Act, as amended, or reduce or suspend any such authorized loan program, upon a determination, after taking into consideration the effect thereof upon conditions in the building industry and upon the national economy and the needs for increased defense production, that such action is necessary in the public interest: Provided, That in the exercise of these powers, the President shall preserve the relative credit preferences accorded to veterans under existing law. Subject to the provision of this section with respect to preserving the relative credit preferences accorded to veterans under existing law, the President may require lenders or borrowers and their successors and assigns to comply with reasonable conditions and requirements, in addition to those provided by other laws, in connection with any loan of a type which has been the subject of action by the President under this section. Such conditions and requirements may vary for classifications of persons or transactions as the President may prescribe, and failure to comply therewith shall constitute a violation of this section."

GENERAL PROVISIONS

SEC. 105. (a) Paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of section 714 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is amended by striking out "1952" and inserting in lieu thereof "1954".

(b) Subsection (a) of section 717 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, is amended by striking out "1952" and inserting in lieu thereof “1954". TITLE II-AMENDMENTS TO HOUSING AND RENT ACT OF 1947, AS AMENDED

SEC. 201. (a) Subsection (e) of section 4 of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended by striking out "June 30, 1952" and inserting in lieu thereof "June 30, 1954".

(b) Subsection (f) of section 204 of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended by striking out "June 30, 1952" and inserting in lieu thereof "June 30, 1954".

The CHAIRMAN. We are to hear Mr. Putnam, Administrator of the Economic Stabilization Agency, Governor Arnall, Director of Price Stabilization, and Mr. Nathan Feinsinger, Chairman of the Wage Stabilization Board.

In order to expedite the hearing, it might be well to let each of these witnesses present his statement without interrogation, and then have them sit as a panel to ans er questions, because the scope of the inquiry is so wide that no one of them can answer all the questions that might be propounded to him.

If that is satisfactory to the committee, we will proceed in that way.

Mr. RAINS. You mean all three of them will be available at one time for questioning?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; in order to expedite the proceedings. If we have them one at a time, one may say "This question is more within the jurisdiction of the other witnesses," and I thought it might expedite the matters to proceed in this manner if it is satisfactory to the committee.

Is there objection to proceeding that way? If not, that is the way we will proceed.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Chairman, I understand we will have ample opportunity to ask questions?

The CHAIRMAN. Absolutely. It is not done with any intention to prevent free interrogation. It is merely to get their statements in first, and then to have them sit as a panel and jointly answer the questions. The scope of this inquiry is so wide that no single one of them has all the answers, and no single one of them has jurisdiction over all the problems. If that is agreeable, that is the way we will proceed.

Mr. Putnam, you may proceed with your statement.

STATEMENT OF ROGER L. PUTNAM, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ECONOMIC STABILIZATION AGENCY

Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, since this is my first appearance before the House Committee on Banking and Currency as Economic Stabilizer, I think it might be appropriate for me to start off today by telling you briefly why I have taken this job and what I think the job involves.

I did not come down here with any intention or desire of making a career out of administering price and wage and salary and rent controls. As a businessman, I am certainly no advocate of Government controls for controls' sake. I would like to see us get rid of these controls as soon as it is safe for us to do so.

On the other hand, I deeply believe in the necessity for us to build our armed strength quickly and powerfully. I believe the survival of freedom as we know it hinges on our success in achieving that kind of strength. And I am completely convinced that we cannot have the military strength we need unless our economy is kept strongstrong enough to support a military effort of such scope and magnitude.

To maintain a strong economy we must make sure that prices and wages and salaries and rents are kept in stable and reasonable balance. And it is my opinion as it was the opinion of this committee and of the Congress in 1950-51-that in a period of great economic upheaval such as we are now going through, we cannot hold costs and prices in line effectively without the help of the direct controls which are my responsibility.

So, while I don't like the controls, I want to make clear that I am not in the anomalous position of trying to do a job I don't believe in. For I believe the controls I administer are absolutely necessary right now. If I didn't think so, I can assure you I'd have said so long before this and I'd have been on my way back to Springfield, Mass., on the first plane out.

Since I am so convinced that the direct controls are necessary, then I think the job of Economic Stabilizer is to administer them as

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