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Statement of-Continued

Leighty, George E., representing Railway Labor Executives Associa-

tion

Lucas, Hon. Scott W., representing the American Finance Conference-
MacGowan, Charles J., international president, International Brother-
hoods of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Drop
Forgers, and Helpers, AFL...

McCawley, J. F., Indiana State president, Property Owners of Amer-
ica, Inc..

1889

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1764

2011

Mann, J. L., president, Sturgis Posture Chair Co., Sturgis, Mich....
Marchetti, Peter E., representing the Small Property Owners Associa-
tion of Omaha (Nebr.).

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2171

Martin, Ned, Akron, Ohio.

1990

Mitchell, Hon. Hugh B., a Representative in Congress from the State
of Washington_

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Morris, Hon. Toby, a Representative in Congress from the State of
Oklahoma..

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National Retail Furniture Association_

National Retail Hardware Association_

Nau, Carlton L., general manager, American Public Power Association.
O'Donovan, Patrick J., representing California State Apartment
Conference

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Sherrard, Glenwood J., representing American Hotel Association -
Sibley, William A. L., representing American Cotton Manufacturers
Institute..

Snyder, Calvin K., secretary, Realtors' Washington Committee,
National Association of Real Estate Boards_

Sparkman, Hon. John J., a United States Senator from the State of
Alabama

1767

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1575

2026

Victor, Catherine, Detroit, Mich.

1999

Wagner, Edmund F., representing the Commerce and Industry Asso-
ciation of New York, Inc. -

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Wagner, Walter, Central Labor Union and Metal Trades Council of

the Panama Canal Zone__

Weight, Burtram A., representing Apartment House Association of
Utah, the Utah State Realty Association, and the Salt Lake Real
Estate Board..

Werking, Henry A., American Home Owners, Inc.

Woods, Tighe E., Housing Expediter

1969

1987

ment_

Burger, George J., National Federation of Independent Business, letter
of May 24, 1951, to Hon. Ralph A. Gamble--

California State Apartment Conference:

Burmester, H. F., letter of April 23, 1951.

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1473, 1491

1569

Cotton, John, letter of May 24, 1951, to William Russell.
Political Hokum, editorial from Los Angeles Times, April 20,
1951...

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Christensen, William S. L., letter of June 1, 1951, to Hon. August
H. Andresen..

1986

Congress of Industrial Organizations, letter of June 18, 1951, and
enclosures

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Crawford, Hon. Fred L., speech in House of Representatives, entitled
"Control of Margins on Commodity Exchanges".

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DeLaval Steam Turbine Co., Trenton, N. J., letter of May 26, 1951,
to Hon. Charles R. Howell..

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Engle, Hon. Clair:

Additional contracts as a result of certification by the Defense
Production Administrator (table).

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Cattleman Supports Beef Price Roll-Back, article from New
World Telgram and Sun, May 31, 1951.

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National Association of Real Estate Boards:

Control-Folklore Versus Economic Reality (excerpts from
article by W. R. Knight, Michigan State College).
Critical defense housing areas.

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Miscellaneous information submitted to the committee by-Continued
National Association of Real Estate Boards-Continued

Page

Housing in areas adjacent to military installations and contact
work with billeting officers through local committees..

List of military and defense plant areas where housing might be

needed..

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Rent control and the distribution of income (excerpts from article
by D. Gale Johnson, University of Chicago).

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The housing situation, 1950..

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Weekly earnings and consumers' prices (chart)

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National Savings and Loan League, letter of June 8, 1951, to Hon.

Brent Spence..

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Property Owners' Association of America:

Rent Control in War and Peace (article by John and Richard
Usher).

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Sibley, William A. L., letter of June 1, 1951, to Hon. Paul Brown... -
Stromberg-Carlson Co.:

1469

Electric range and refrigerator factory sales: Actual and adjusted
to eliminate secular trend and to equalize amplitudinal varia-
tion, January 1949 through March 1951 (table)--
Explanation of statistical procedure used in deriving data shown
on chart B..

Indices of automobile and furniture production: Actual and
adjusted to eliminate secular trend and to equalize amplitudinal
variation, January 1949 through May 1951 (table)-
Indices of wholesale prices of television sets and of housefurnish-
ings goods, January 1948 through March 1951 (chart) -
Indices of wholesale prices of television sets and of housefurnish-
ings goods, January 1948 through March 1951 (table) _ _ .
Monthly factory sales of television sets, deep freezers, electric
ranges, and refrigerators, and monthly production of automo-
biles and furniture, January 1949 through May 1951 (chart) __
Percentage distribution of prospective buyers of television sets
by income groups, 1949 and 1950 (table).
Size of replacement market for home furnishings in 1950.
Size of replacement market for television sets and automobiles,
1950.

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Wilson, Charles E., Director of Defense Mobilization:

Report of the four-member committee, appointed February 26,

1951...

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DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1951

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1951

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Paul Brown, presiding. Members present: Mr. Brown, Mr. Patman, Mr. Rains, Mr. Deane, Mr. McKinnon, Mr. Bolling, Mr. Wolcott, Mr. Cole, and Mr. Betts. Mr. BROWN. The committee will come to order. Mr. Clerk, call the first witness.

Mr. HALLAHAN. The first witness is Mr. Herman W. Steinkraus, representing the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.

STATEMENT OF HERMAN W. STEINKRAUS, THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES

Mr. STEINKRAUS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, my name is Herman W. Steinkraus. I am chairman of the executive committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and am president of the Bridgeport Brass Co., Bridgeport, Conn.

I believe the chairman and the gentlemen of the committee know that the Chamber of Commerce of the United States is a national federation which at present has 3,133 local chambers of commerce and trade associations as members, with an underlying membership of 1,350,000 individual businessmen. Because the chamber in membership and direct interests embraces every important activity in our economy; and, through its membership-small business as well as large-it presents the opinion of a cross section of our entire economy, thus it is that policies of the chamber do not represent the views of some special group or particular interest, but are drawn from the diverse interests of the country as a whole and are voted by its membership.

This voting, incidentally, is so regulated that no geographic concentration of interests or economic concentration of power can override the broader interests of the entire membership.

At a recent annual convention here in Washington, the chamber voted upon a set of policies, with over 600 delegates from all over the United States present, to take part in the discussion of these policies. So, Mr. Chairman, I was somewhat surprised when arriving in Washington last night to read in the papers that a prominent officer of a great labor union took it upon himself to make statements about the United States Chamber of Commerce which are entirely out of line with the facts. In the official release of this organization he stated

there was a complete irresponsibility and a narrow greed that could wholly wreck our defense program if the ideas of the United States Chamber of Commerce were adopted.

I believe this is a just trick on the public for any CIO official to make such a statement about this organization. I have had many years of experience with Mr. Carey. I have been in debates with him numerous times, and I have read much of what he has had to say. I think his statement to the Senate committee yesterday is typical of the insidious type of remarks he makes.

In this case he said something cleverly with the purpose of giving the public a wrong impression.

There is absolutely no ground for the insinuation in his statement that the National Chamber proposed any such deal with organized labor, or with anybody else, and Jim Carey knows that to be a fact. Such a statement, I believe, discredits anything else he may have to

say.

Business believes that wages do not need to be controlled any more than prices need to be controlled. Union leaders like Jim Carey are doing a disservice to the American worker by advocating that he accept further regimentation from the Government.

The chamber is interested in keeping both the workingman and the businessman free from Government control. We believe that neither wage nor price controls will check inflation. What will do the job are tighter credit controls; reduced Government spending; higher taxes, and increased production.

I thought that I ought to take up this challenge which Mr. Carey so loosely tosses about, because it really is a disservice to the American people for a man high in the councils of a great labor organization to make such statements.

In enacting the Defense Production Act, Congress said:

The United States is determined to develop and maintain whatever military and economic strength is found to be necessary

to oppose acts of aggression and to promote peace.

The Chamber of Commerce of the United States endorses that statement of the Congress and urges every practical means available for increasing our military might and, at the same time, maintaining a healthy, growing civilian economy.

While the point is one on which no one disagrees, we cannot overemphasize the fundamental necessity, in this period of our testing as a free and democratic people, of maintaining a vigilant concern for the strength and efficiency of our home front.

Our military strength itself can be no greater than the strength and efficiency of that home front.

We are without rival in industrial capacity, in technological knowledge, and in the productive skills and versatilities of our free labor force. The test is whether we can maintain the smoothness and efficiency of over-all coordination required for the continued translation of unrivaled resources into unrivaled production.

We would do well to remind ourselves that it was our enemies' crack-up on the production front that brought them down to hopeless impotence in the final stages of the last war.

It is on that level of importance that we must appraise the danger of neglecting to give full consideration to the vital matter of keeping our civilian economy in the soundest possible condition.

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