Rocking-Chair Blues

Rocking-chair Salesman Harry Boling is no man to sit back in his rocker and let the world go by. As a Midwestern representative of the King Specialty Manufacturing Co. of Mayfield, Ky., he sold $100,000 worth of furniture last year, hopes to double it this year. Nevertheless, Salesman Boling thought he was missing a potentially huge market, and wrote to his Congressman, Indiana's Republican Earl Wilson, to ask him to do something about it. Wilson solemnly entered Boling's tongue-in-cheek letter in the Congressional Record:

"I . . . request that you obtain for me a subsidy on our platform rockers. We are now making about 1,000 a year, and are eager to step this production up to 50,000 . . . Since you are voting money for potatoes, cotton, tobacco, railroads, aviation and many other industries, I see no reason why we . . . should be slighted. Now, we would like a guaranteed price of $50 each for these rockers. In the event we are unable to sell all of them, we will arrange to burn them right here at the factory rather than go to the expense of shipping them somewhere else to be destroyed . . . I realize that [our rocker program] will be small potatoes . . . but perhaps you can start a new bureau or something to raise the ante and get it into the billion-dollar bracket . . . We are eager to get the Government checks rolling in."

Not all beneficiaries were happy about price supports. The American Butter Institute, representing producers of 30-40% of the U.S. butter supply, asked Agriculture Secretary Charles Brannan to cut support prices by about 3-c- a pound to the legal premium. "The present level of support prices," said the institute, "discourages consumption."

Nevertheless, the Agriculture Department did not intend to "renege" on its promise to keep supports just where they are, although it now has nearly 100 million lbs. of Government-bought butter in storage. To get rid of part of the surplus, the Department announced that 15 million lbs. would be given away to any welfare agencies that wanted it. It looked as if the Department might have to buy another 150 million lbs. by year's end, making its stockpile large enough to supply every man, woman & child in the U.S. with more than 1 1/2 lbs. apiece.

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