ADAMS, GEORGE P., JR. Wartime Price Control. Pp. x, 153. Washington: American Council on Public Affairs, 1942. Paperbound: $2.50; Clothbound: $3.00
| Author | Witt Bowden |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400164 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
223
gress
of
today
makes
the
commitments:
the
Congress
of
tomorrow
must
foot
the
bill.
Not
least
among
the
values
of
Professor
Parker’s
study
is
his
careful
differentiation
of
European
retirement
systems
from
our
own
plan.
His
conclusion
is
that
Ameri-
can
retirement
systems
&dquo;are
a
safer
guide
to
the
determination
of
policy
with
regard
to
reserve
financing
than
are
the
European
systems.&dquo;
But
perhaps
his
greatest
con-
tribution
is
the
section
on
the
experience
of
private
and
social
insurance
programs
with
various
systems
of
financing:
fraternal
insurance
schemes,
industrial
pension
sys-
tems,
church
retirement
and
pension
funds,
and
public
retirement
plans,
as
well
as
public
and
private
teachers’,
police,
and
firemen’s
benefit
schemes.
Here
in
one
set
of
covers
is
the
whole
history
of
our
Social
Security
Act,
together
with
an
exhaustive
presentation
of
the
meaning
of
the
Morgenthau
Amendment
of
1939.
Throughout
the
book
there
is
no
partisanship,
but
rather
a
cold,
unimpas-
sioned
treatment
of
the
views
of
all
the
critics,
in
the
light
of
sound
insurance
financing.
When,
after
1955,
the
Congress
shall
be
called
upon
to
appropriate
billions
to
meet
the
growing
deficit
in
our
con-
tingent
reserve,
it
will
be
possible
for
any
citizen,
including
any
member
of
Congress,
to
find
in
this
work
an
exact
statement
of
past
errors
in
financing
the
program,
and
a
clear
prophesy
of
the
punishment
which
the
taxpayers
in
succeeding
generations
must
take.
Professor
Edwin
Witte,
in
concluding
his
foreword,
is
fully
justified
when
he
says,
&dquo;This
book ...
should
raise
the
level
of
discussion
of
financing
of
old-age
insurance
in
the
future.&dquo;
ROBERT
W.
KELSO
University
of
Michigan
ADAMS,
GEORGE
P.,
JR.
Wartime
Price
Control.
Pp.
x,
153.
Washington:
American
Council
on
Public
Affairs,
1942.
Paperbound:
$2.50;
Clothbound:
$3.00.
Dr.
Adams’
monograph
is
devoted
chiefly
to
characterizing
and
appraising
the
ex-
perience
of
the
United
States
with
price
control
during
World
War
I.
This
excel-
lent
discussion
is
introduced,
however,
by
a
general
analysis
of
economic
mobilization
in
time
of
war
and
followed
by
(1)
an
examination
of
the
proposals
for
control
in
this
country
in
the
interval
between
the
two
World
Wars,
and
(2)
a
general
interpreta-
tion
of
the
role
of
price
fixing
in
a
war
economy.
In
the
introductory
discussion
of
the
nature
of
full
mobilization
of
resources,
the
author
points
out
that
there
was
no
thoroughgoing
awareness
at
the
beginning
of
the
first
World
War
that
it
was
to
be
basically
a
clash of
industrial
systems.
Consequently
adequate
measures
of
co-
ordination
and
control
were
not
put
into
effect
at
the
start
of
the
war
or
even
by
the
time
of
its
close.
It
was
not
until
March
1918
&dquo;that
the
American
economy
assumed
a
relatively
stabilized
and
work-
able
form&dquo;
(p.
4),
even
though
the
United
States
had
the
advantage
of
side-line
ob-
servation
until
the
spring
of
1917.
Following
a
statement
in
the
second
chapter
of
price
movements
during
World
War
I,
succeeding
chapters
briefly
charac-
terize
the
problems
and
the
experiences
in
controlling
foods,
fuels,
and
certain
selected
products-steel,
copper,
aluminum
and
nickel,
tin,
rubber,
lead,
zinc,
wool
and
cotton
textiles,
and
building
materials.
In
over-all
appraisal,
the
author
con-
cludes
that
the
chief
outcome
of
price
control
in
World
War
I
in
this
country
was
a
redirection
of
industrial
production,
not
its
general
increase,
although
the
domi-
nant
motive
of
price
fixers
was
to
stimulate
production.
He
holds,
too,
that
it
is
sur-
prising
that
price
control
succeeded
as
well
as
it
did,
in
view
of
the
general
skepticism
concerning
its
feasibility,
and
the
necessity
of
improvising
techniques
since
it
was
a
pioneering
venture.
In
the
final
chapter
Dr.
Adams
presents
his
general
interpretation
of
the
nature
of
price
fixing
in
a
war
economy.
Among
his
observations
the
following
are
particularly
pertinent:
(1)
the
peacetime
price
system
must
inevitably
break
down
under
war
pressures;
(2)
price
control
and
taxation
are
complementary
measures,
with
the
ex-
tent
and
character
of
the
former
partly
determined
by
the
nature
of
the
latter;
(3)
the
role
of
monetary
factors
in
produc-
ing
inflation
is
often
overemphasized;
(4)
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