INFLATION: New Deal Paradox

Franklin Roosevelt's anti-inflation program produced a neat socio-political paradox last week. It turned out that the New Deal had taken control over all wages and salaries in the land, had set a $25,000 ceiling on earned income—but had let the nation's coupon clippers go scot free. It was enough to make a New Dealer weep.

In the new Price Control Act, Economic Czar James F. Byrnes found enough power to freeze salaries: henceforth employers will have to ask WLB or the Treasury for permission to give raises—and will have to prove that the increases will not affect the prices of their...