Exhibit A

Thirteen months ago, a determined delegation of labor leaders marched into the White House. Chafing under the Little Steel formula, they came to protest a Bureau of Labor Statistics report which had found only a 23.4% rise in the cost of living (from January 1941 to October 1943). Franklin Roosevelt had seldom seen labor so angry with him. He set up a committee, headed by WLBoss William H. Davis, "to look into the question." The committee included two labor mem bers, the C.I.O.'s R. J. Thomas, the A.F. of L.'s George Meany.

Last week, just before C.I.O. and A.F. of L. met in annual convention to devise new ways & means of breaking Little Steel and after most citizens had forgotten all about the special committee, Chairman Davis filed his report.

Said he, in effect: the overall increase in the cost of living from January 1941 to September 1944 is 29-30%--but organized labor is generally better off now than in 1941. Further, Chairman Davis reported, the BLS index figures were not far wrong. Promptly, loud dissents came from Committeemen Thomas and Meany.

Committeeman Thomas charged flatly that the report did not measure the full rise in living cost, which he figures has gone up 44.4%. Committeeman Meany, who believes that everyone is entitled to exactly the same living standard now as before the war, said the report did not consider "hidden rises" in living costs, i.e., wear & tear on automobiles.

Admitting that every family has expenses which do not show up in "cost-of-living" statistics, Chairman Davis was sweetly reasonable about the whole thing.

The Davis report will eventually be used as Exhibit A in labor's case against Little Steel. Florida's New Dealing Senator Claude Pepper, campaigning for a 65-c--an-hour basic minimum wage, was certain that the Davis report "definitely calls for revision in ... Little Steel." At that point, Economic Stabilizer Fred Vinson rushed to hold the crumbling line once again. To him, the Davis figures proved beyond a doubt that the Administration has done "a good job" in stabilizing living costs. Said he: "We cannot afford to relax."

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