Lifting the Lid

The Administration, which has found the price line as hard to hold as a broken egg, has had almost as much trouble holding on to its price bosses. Last week Washington got its third price administrator in 21 months: ex-Rent Stabilizer Tighe Woods, 42, who took over from retiring Price Boss Ellis Arnall. As Woods stepped in, OPS removed controls from more than a score of items now selling below OPS ceilings, e.g., jewelry, bedding, radio & TV sets.

Did that mean that OPS was getting ready to lift the lid all along the line? As his first move in OPS, Woods said he was going to make a big tour around the country to see if housewives really want price controls. Cynics guessed that the actual purpose of his tour was to sell the Administration's line blaming the Republicans for inflation, on the ground that they watered down the controls law. But Woods's predecessor would have none of that line. Without mincing words, retiring Price Boss Arnall had labeled the Administration's handout to the steelworkers--and the subsequent steel price rise--for what it was: more inflation. As Arnall departed last week, newsmen asked if he shared Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer's rosy view that these price hikes would not be passed on to the customer. Snapped Arnall: "The overall increase will conservatively amount to $100 per year per family--and I say to those who doubt [it], just wait and see."

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