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> The Administration mustered all its Congressional forces to hold tight against the farm bloc's Pace Bill, which would tack farm-labor costs to agricultural prices, or of the Bankhead Bill (already vetoed by the President, but still resur-rectible), which would raise parity prices by pretending that Government benefit payments are not really farm income.
> Food Administrator Chester C. Davis made a three-pronged attack on the price imbalances which have worsened the meat shortage. He lifted by 5¢ the feed-corn ceiling, which had practically paralyzed the market, in order to start corn moving to cattle growers again. He raised the floor price of hogs from $13.25 to $13.75 to guarantee hog growers a fair return. And for the benefit of packers and the public, he got ready to slap a $14.50 ceiling on live hogs, recently selling at $16.
Elements of Victory. All these actions were happily timed, for last week the inflationary forces which had pushed the U.S. to the brink were divided among themselves. Jimmy Byrnes had been shrewdly spreading the gospel that inflation benefits nobody—and his missionary work had finally brought results.
The farm bloc was convinced, for the moment at least, that higher farm prices would do farmers less good financially than they would John Lewis as an argument for higher wages. The Bankhead Bill was sent back to committee, to serve only as a club in case the Administration weakened to Lewis. The Pace Bill also languished in committee. Farm Lobbyist Ed O'Neal protested that he was "dumfounded" by the President's new price orders, but his bright old eyes twinkled.
No outcry came from the old-line labor leaders, either C.I.O.'s Phil Murray or A. F. of L.'s Bill Green. Only John Lewis stormed and raged.
Franklin Roosevelt now had the elements of victory at hand: a strong line, a divided opposition, a vast public support. He also had a final responsibility: to retreat no more.