In World War I the U. S. economy underwent a steep price inflation. It served the purpose of stimulating swift increases of production and was not checked until War Industries Board Head Bernard Mannes Baruch negotiated fixed prices with steel, copper, other major industries.
In World War II prices as a whole have not run away. The Bureau of Labor Statistics index for 28 basic commodities was last week only 106.8, less than seven points above pre-war August 1939, and well down from last September's peak of 127.2. Meanwhile the price index of finished...
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