Dog-Tired Compromise

The weary figure of the Senate majority leader reflected both the dignity and pathos of a faithful St. Bernard Plodding doggedly through all-day conferences in his Capitol office, Alben Barkley rescued what he could for OPA.

The avalanche that had fallen upon price controls was only one more in a series of Administration disasters in the current Congress. Through every storm Alben Barkley had been plunged into the heroic task of guiding colleagues no longer inclined to be led. Last week he continued the relentless watch he had stood over the British loan, Selective Service, the atomic-energy bill and a host of favored Administration causes.

Inside his high-ceilinged office a gilt clock ticked off the minutes through five long days. OPA conferees haggled across the flat-topped table, flopped in the black leather chairs, shuffled over to the water cooler, loaded ashtrays with mountains of smoldering cigaret butts. Alben Barkley, squinting through the humid haze scribbled down the endless formulae of possible compromise. Around the corner, in the office of Senate Secretary Les Biffle,' OPAdministrator Paul Porter waited.

To the Grocer. While Congress sat in stalemate over OPA, the wondering. U.S. waited, too. In Detroit's Cadillac Square the United Auto Workers' fiery Walter Reuther called on a huge rally of consumers to wage a buyers' strike on meat until price controls were restored. (Demonstrating C.I.O. members in Cleveland jostled placards which promised: "I won't buy you anything but love, baby.") All over the nation, housewives talked up to their grocers. Wholesale prices on meat, butter and poultry fell off from post-OPA highs.

Still the rumpled figures in Alben Barkley's office wrangled over what should be done. A House bloc stood stubbornly in favor of restoring controls on meat, dairy products, grains and feed. A Senate group, paced by Ohio's determined Bob Taft, insisted on easing controls over the price of manufactured products.

To the Congress. On the evening of the fifth day, after a final session lasting nine hours and 40 minutes, a dog-tired Alben Barkley called in the press to announce a complex compromise agreeable to eleven of the 14 conferees. A three-man Decontrol Board, appointed by the President with Senate approval, would exercise top authority over prices. OPA, although extended until June 30, 1947, would be outranked by the Board. Major proposals:

P: Rents would go back under federal control.

P: Ceilings on meat, poultry, butter, eggs, milk and grain would remain off at least until Aug. 20.

P: The Decontrol Board would decide what food ceilings would be restored after Aug. 20.

P: Ceilings over manufactured products would be governed by guarantees of "reasonable profits."

One reporter, puzzling over the sheaf of complicated provisions in the bill, asked the Senate majority leader if he thought the conference had written an improved measure. "I don't know if it is a better bill or not," Barkley answered wearily.

Would the President veto it if it passed Congress this week in the agreed form? "I have every hope he will sign it," said Barkley, then added, "that is based on my desire, I guess."

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