O. P. A. bulletin, no. 3

              FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES 
                  ISSUED BY THE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES BRANCH 
                  DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION 
          
          
         Washington, D. C. No. 3       Special Summer Session Issue     June 1943 
          
                  Price Administrator Urges Teachers to Help HOLD Living Costs 
          
           “Hold the line!” This was the April 1943 order of 
         President Roosevelt to the Office of Economic Stabii- 
         zation, and to other war agencies concerned with 
         holding steady the American cost of living. 
           Since this order was issued, the Office of Price 
         Administration has intensified its effort to keep all 
         prices from rising further. Toward this over-all 
         objective5 .1 have instructed our CPA staff to put into 
         effect immediately this four-point program: 
           First, to extend price control across the board to 
         every important commodity. 
           Second, to roll back those prices which have gotten 
         out of hand. 
           Third, to establish specific dollars-and-cents ceiling 
         prices for foods so that all may know—sellers and 
         buyers alike—what the legal maximum price is. 
           Fourth, to bring the chiseler, the racketeer, and the 
         black market operator to justice by enforcing ceiling 
         prices and by prosecuting lawbreakers. 
           In announcing this program, I recognized that its 
         success depends not only upon the actions of CPA 
         but also upon the cooperation of the American people. 
         Their cooperation, in turn, depends upon full under- 
         standing of and participation in CPA’s measures at 
         the local level—that is, with and through their War 
         Price and Rationing Boards. 
           To hold the local line on prices, OPA has initiated 
         a program of communtiy-wide ceilings on a large num- 
         ber of grocery products. Lists of these ceilings are 
          ublished in local newspapers and can be clipped by 
         ousewives to take along when shopping. Also to 
         hold the line, OPA is taking steps to provide subsidies 
         which will enable retailers to reduce selected food 
         prices that are out of hand. 
           In order to make this dollars-and-cents program 
         effective locally, furthermore, CPA has directed each 
         Board to set up price panels to collect price infor- 
         mation, to verify consumer complaints, to check 
         posted prices, and to perform the other duties required 
         to control prices. OPA has also requested each Board 
         to recruit volunteer price assistants who are intelli- 
         gent,, tactful, alert and who have the capacity to learn 
         and the willingness to work. These assistants should 
         be a representative cross-section of the community. 
           Heretofore, teachers in nearly every community 
         have contributed immensely to the rationing work of 
         their local Boards. They have registered civilians for 
         War Ration Books and have assisted the Boards with 
         much of the necessary administrative work. These 
         teachers, furthermore, have taught price regulation, 
         rent control, and rationing in their classes, schools, 
 
          
 
 
 
 
 
         and communities. 
           In the months ahead, school people will have other 
         opportunities to aid in holding price ceilings in their 
         communities. Home economists and business edu- 
         cators, for example, can serve as price assistants to 
         help make the price control program as effective as 
         possible in local stores. They and other teachers can 
         aid in explaining the purpose and methods of the new 
         price control program. Through such action, they 
         can assist in holding the line on prices, an objective 
         which is essential to the wartime welfare of all citizens 
         and to the victory effort itself. 
          
                    PRENTISS M. BROWN, 
                        Administrator, 
                    Office of Price Administration. 
          
          
          
                                      CONTENTS 
                                         Page 
         Price Administrator Urges Teachers to Help Hold Living Costs     1 
         CPA Sets Community-Wide Ceiling Prices  2 
         To School and College Administrators    3 
         Colleges Summer Schools Emphasize Home Front Economics 5 
         Schools Fight Against Black Markets     6 
         What Teachers of Subject Matter are Doing    7 
         Student Volunteers Aid War Price and Rationing Boards  7 
         A Picture Story of Wartime Rationing—What You Should Know 
          and Do                          8 
         Sight and Sound Dramatize Wartime Economics  10 
         A Picture Story on Wartime Price Control—What You Should 
          KnowandDo                      12 
         What Schools Can Teach About the Fight Against Inflation.   14 
         Schools Plan Home Front Program for Coming Year   15 
         Chow! Fighting Men Must Have Plenty of Meat—Rationing 
          Helps Them Get It              16