Last week was bad for Price Administrator Leon Henderson. It was a week in which a six-month-old price rise (led by agricultural commodities) gathered speed.
Cotton crossed 15¢ a Ib. for the first time since 1930. It was a week in which Leon needed to have all his wits about him. Instead, he got into a tiff with Chrysler Corp., infuriated cotton Congressmen, got a very bad press, and wound up with a draft of a price-fixing law, which Congress promptly tore to pieces.
The faster prices have risen, the faster has Leon brandished his...