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PRICE-CONTROL BILL

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1941

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Henry B. Steagall (chairman) presiding.

The members present were: Messrs. Steagall, Williams, Spence, Brown, Gore, Mills, Monroney, Lynch, Boggs, Hull, Crawford, Kean, Miss Sumner, Messrs. Smith, Kunkel, Rolph, and Dewey.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order.

I invited Mr. B. M. Baruch to appear before the committee and discuss this bill, and I am sure I do not need to introduce him to the members of the committee. He has had probably as wide experience in governmental activities along the line of this bill as any man in the Nation. He was Chairman of the War Industries Board during the first World War. I am sure the committee will be pleased to hear him.

Mr. Baruch has a prepared statement which he would like to present without interruption and I know the members of the committee will defer to his wishes. At the conclusion of his prepared statement he will be glad, of course, to discuss the bill fully with any member of the committee.

You may proceed, Mr. Baruch.

STATEMENT OF B. M. BARUCH, NEW YORK, N. Y.

I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Mr. BARUCH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I appear here at your request and feel deeply honored. I am not in agreement with some aspects of the bill and intend to say so frankly. But to make my position plain, may I saw now that I am not only in agreement with the objective of the bill which is price control but I have been a crusader for that objective for 24 years. For reasons I shall state, I regard it as the greatest single necessity of our present crisis-I think we have to do it not only to win the war but also to win the peace and above all in both peace and war, to protect our people from unnecessary suffering and our American economic system from dissolution. This I have preached in season and out of season for more than 2 decades. I am here to be as helpful as I can.

Before proceeding to a more general discussion and as a sort of index to my two main points of disagreement-and I think they are vital-they are these

PRICE-CONTROL BILL

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1941

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Henry B. Steagall (chairman) presiding.

The members present were: Messrs. Steagall, Williams, Spence, Brown, Gore, Mills, Monroney, Lynch, Boggs, Hull, Crawford, Kean, Miss Sumner, Messrs. Smith, Kunkel, Rolph, and Dewey.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order.

I invited Mr. B. M. Baruch to appear before the committee and discuss this bill, and I am sure I do not need to introduce him to the members of the committee. He has had probably as wide experience in governmental activities along the line of this bill as any man in the Nation. He was Chairman of the War Industries Board during the first World War. I am sure the committee will be pleased to hear him.

Mr. Baruch has a prepared statement which he would like to present without interruption and I know the members of the committee will defer to his wishes. At the conclusion of his prepared statement he will be glad, of course, to discuss the bill fully with any member of the committee.

You may proceed, Mr. Baruch.

STATEMENT OF B. M. BARUCH, NEW YORK, N. Y.

I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Mr. BARUCH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I appear here at your request and feel deeply honored. I am not in agreement with some aspects of the bill and intend to say so frankly. But to make my position plain, may I saw now that I am not only in agreement with the objective of the bill which is price control but I have been a crusader for that objective for 24 years. For reasons I shall state, I regard it as the greatest single necessity of our present crisis-I think we have to do it not only to win the war but also to win the peace and above all in both peace and war, to protect our people from unnecessary suffering and our American economic system from dissolution. This I have preached in season and out of season for more than 2 decades. I am here to be as helpful as I can.

Before proceeding to a more general discussion and as a sort of index to my two main points of disagreement-and I think they are vital-they are these

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