CONTROLS: The Great Whatizzit

As the new controls law took effect last week, the big question was: How tightly will it control the economy? The Defense Production Act Amendments of 1952 were patched together in such last-minute haste and compromise and with such pressure from lobbies that not even their authors knew exactly what many of the clauses meant. The important provisions:

Rent Controls. As of Sept. 30, federal controls go off 80% of U.S. housing now controlled. The bill keeps federal rent controls only for 1) the 116 areas officially declared to have "critical" shortages, 2) incorporated cities, towns and villages whose local governing...