FOUR MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE
Friday, July 6. 1945
Cheers For the OP A
(Editorial In Qulncy Patriot Ledger)
We don't suppose that you
could find a governmental agen
cy more generally cursed and at
tacked than the OPA. It is the
target of all kinds of abuse and
it is blamed for most of our
home front troubles.
Imagine our surprise, then, to
hear a grocer say a good word
for the OPA.
Said he:
"Listen, the OPA has driven
me nuts with regulations, book
keeping and all that sort of busi
ness. The OPA has kept the peo
ple in the food business with
their noses to the grindstone,
but on the other hand the OPA
has done a good job for the con
sumer. "If you don't believe it, just
take a look at the way prices
have been kept down in this
war compared to 1919. My fig
ures show the difference. Let
me talk to you about carload
lots, wholesale, at point of ori
gin. "I go out to buy food for peo
ple in ordinary circumstances.
Dry beans for instance, are pop
ular with folks having a mod
erate income. In 1919, I had to
pay $9.30 a 100 pounds whole
sale for dry beans but today I
pay $6.29.
"Or take a lot of other stuff.
I used to pay $3.45 for a dozen
large cans of peaches and I can
buy the same produce today, the
same size can, same grade and
same manufacturer for $2.22.
"And look at evaporated milk.
I used to pay $6.65 in 1919 for
48 cans of evaporated milk. To
day's price is $4.10.
' Lard is an interesting item.
It had gotten up to $35.80 for
100 pounds in 1919 but today I
can buy It for $13.80 a hundred.
Haisins were 19 cents a pound
in 1919 and we pay seven and
seven-eighths cents a pound to
day: rice was 147s cents a pound
and it Is six and a half today
and sugar was $16 a hundred in
1919 and today it's $5.60.
"Remember, of course, this Is
for carload lots at point of ori
gin. But remember, too, that
anyone Is a sucker to pay black
market prices for food when the
OPA is doing such a good job
In keeping prices at a fair level.
"If the public would cooper
ate with the OPA and refuse to
pay black market prices, the
task of the OPA and the mer
chants who refuse to violate
OPA regulations would be much
simpler,
"Now you may wonder why I
am so enthused about the OPA
when it has caused me so many
headaches. Well, I'll tell you.
I am a food buyer, I have been
all my life in the last war period.
I had an inventory of $500,000
worth of merchandise on hand
and when the price structure
collapsed, my inventory had
dropped in value to $250,000.
Today I am still a food buyer
and once again I have a $500,
000 inventory. But I can go to
sleep nights now and not worry
that tomorrow the props will be
knocked out from under me.
I may be selfish about this
thing, but it seems like good
business sense. The American
people get a break from the
OPA with the regulation of
prices; I get a break because I
know that the market has been
stabilized. You may not like the
OPA and all its red tape but;
you sun have to give u credit
for accomplishing these two
great services for the American
purchaser and the American
businessman.
EDITORIAL FROM THE S
T. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
"Cigarettes cost 38 cents each
in Germany, razor blades are
$1.60 In Chungking. A pair of
shorts $12 in Calcutta. In Java
a sarong can't be purchased at
any price unless a hundred'
weight of cotton is also tendered.
A cheap suit of clothes costs
$158 in Italy.
"In the U, S. A., we have the
OPA, which, so far as we can
make out from the printed mat
ter, is dictatorial, stupid, diabol
ical, inconvenient, meretricious,
long-winded, improper, unfair,
unprofitable, irrelevant, legalis
tic, lopsided, ridiculous, bureau
era t i c, unconstitutional and
bursting out at the seams. Be
that as it may, you can get a
cigarette for a penny, a razor
blade for a nickel, a pair of
shorts for six bits, a suit of
clothes. for $30, and a sarong for
Lamour, toujours Lamour."
The oldest breed of the pre
sent day horse known to man is
the Arabian.
NVENTION PAYS
James A. Stubblefield, former
resident of Medford and son of
Mrs. Maude E. Stubblefield, Rt.
2, Box 412 F, recently was
awarded $10 for an "Idea for
Victory" that is speeding the
war effort at Sacramento Air
Technical Service Command,
Callfifornla, where he is em
ployed as an aircraft mechanic.
Stubblefield's invention was a
small punch which can be used
while working in confined places
on airplane wings and metal
surfaces.
Stubblefield has been em
ployed at SATSC for three
years. His twin brother, Sgt.
John A. Stubblefield, is in the
34th Infantry division.
ARNOLD QUITS POST IN
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
Washington, July 6 U.P)
President Truman today "regret
fully accepted" the resignation
of Thurman Arnold as associate
justice on the U. S. Court of Ap
peals for the District of Colum
bia Arnold, former "trust-busting"
assistant attorney general, told
the president in a letter aaiea
July 3 that he desired to return
to private practice.
Puruckers Receive
Praise For Store
Numerous letters of commen
dation from piano manufactur
ers and music trade journals
have been received by Mr. and
Mrs. H. O. Purucker since recent
opening of their new Medford
concern, the Purucker Piano
House on North Central avenue.
Particularly praised is the dis
play and demonstration arrange
ment and the floor setting. Let
ters from the Rudolph Wurlitzer
Company, the Everett Piano
Company, National Association
of Music Merchants, Piano Trade
Magazine, and The Music Trades
comment on the building.
Illustrated stories of the de
velopment of the store and its
present modern floor plan ap
pear In current issues of several
music trade magazines.
PITTSBURGH PROTESTS
MOVING IN OF NISEI
Pittsburgh, July 6 (U.PJ The
26th Ward Citizens Committee
filed a suit in common pleas
court today seeking to prevent
more than 100 Japanese-Americans
from being quartered in a
vacant orphanage in their neigh
borhood. The bill charged the presence
of the Nisei would be "detrimen
tal" to the neighborhood and
would "depreciate" property
values.
The ROLLING PIN
509 So. Riverside
REOPENED FOR BUSINESS
Has been closed a week on
account of sickness.
STEAKS, CHOPS
and DINNERS
DALE & DORN
Proprietors
WASHING MACHINES
REPAIRED
Parts ft SerTice on All Makes
B. & B. WASHER SHOP
406 C. Main Phone 5302
HYPERACID
ST MA 1X1
DISTRESS
"foil must get rai, fcrrttiiVe kcuci- with lebsin
from miserable discomfort, or your money back. At
HEATH'S DRUG STORE
29 N. Central phone 3551
.Mow long will
It take to beat
1 .'
One Year? Three Years? Five Years? Look at these Facts. . .
From the Army and Navy. Then Figure it Out for Yourself !
In spite of Midway, Bougainville, Tarawa,
Saipan, Leytc, Manila, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and
all the other American victories, Japan now controls an area
and population far larger than the United States, and with
many natural resources greater than ours.
Her home islands are industrialized and organized to the
last rivet, the last kilowatt of power, the last pair of human
hands.
Japan can put in the field over 4,000,000 well-trained,
battle-hardened troops, many with ten years of war behind
them. This force is twice as large as all the German armies
which defended France, the low countries and the Western
front of the Reich against the combined armies of the
United States, Britain, Canada and the Tree French.
Back of these soldiers are more than 70 million civilians on
the Jap home front, firmly indoctrinated in emperor wor
shipevery man, woman and child ready and eager to die
for the man they believe is a god.
Published In Cooperation
with the Jeckton County
War Financing Committee
by the Bakers of
Japan is fighting on "interior" lines. It's true that its fleet
is now much smaller than ours. But never forget that the
U. S. Navy has a much bigger job to do.
The Japs have stated, and no thinking man or woman
doubts it, that they are prepared to sacrifice 10,000,000
men to hold their empire. To the Japanese, life is cheep?
The emperor and the state mean everything the individ
ual, nothing. ,
If the war were to end tomorrow, Japan would have put
the seal on a conquest greater than Napoleon's.
"But," you say, "the war with Japan won't end tomorrow."
Well, what about it? Will it end "tomorrow," or next
month or next year, for you?
Are you planning to quit your war job, stop your blood
donations, slacken your bond buying, use black market gas,
have more fun, ease up generally?
Before you do, remember that many a gallant American
boy, now vibrant with the breath of life, will die at the hands
. of the Japs.
How many?
Thousands? Certainly. Hundreds of thousands? Probably
Well, how many?
That's up to you.
Jackson County Is 35
Short of Its Quota in
"E" War Bonds!
TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY!
"Let's Go "Over the Top!"
- WE HAVE NEVER FAILED BEFORE
WE MUST NOT FAIL THIS TIME
BREAD and CAKES