"The Hell With It"

The ad in the Lynden (Wash.) Tribune was brief and to the point: "Owing to general conditions, Fred H. DeVore Farm & Home Store is retiring from business." But residents of nearby Ferndale (pop. 717), who knew DeVore as one of the town's leading businessmen, suspected there must have been something more than "general conditions" to make old Fred shut up shop. There was.

DeVore, who runs his little hardware store with the help of his wife and three clerks, had just taken a long look at the Office of Price Stabilization's order controlling hardware store prices. OPS wants every hardware store in the U.S. to supply a list of its housewares (e.g., pots & pans, cutlery, etc.) by May 30, complete with a classification of each item, where bought, net cost, sales price, percentage markup, etc. DeVore figured that he would have to put in three hours a day after work for three months to fill out all the OPS blanks. Said he: "The hell with it."

Hardwaremen all over the U.S., with thousands of wares to itemize, felt the same way, but few could take such drastic action as DeVore. Most of them would simply not be able to comply. Cried Victor L. Hubert of Mansfield, Mass.: "I couldn't possibly complete price lists for the 10,000 to 12,000 items in my store by May 30. But I've got to go on taking care of my customers ... So I'll be thrown outside the law." The OPS had issued the hardware order without formally consulting the hardware industry. Flooded with protests, it was considering exempting hardware retailers from the order. Said one official ruefully: "It may be that we'll have to work out some other method."

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