Edwin G. Nourse, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, which counsels the President, took a long look at the falling barometer of commodity prices last week. Newsmen prodded him for a weather report. Was this a crashing cloudburst, or just a heavy shower that might clear away some of the hot air of inflation? Economist Nourse adjusted his pince-nez. This, he said gravely, was a time for "masterly silence."
Most economists were, like him, deeply silent or deeply disagreeing with one another over just what was happening. But the nation's farmers—the people most immediately affected—thought they knew the score....