Asks Congress To Terminate All Emergency Controls

The National Retail Lumber Dealers Association has asked Congress to terminate all emergency controls, including housing and real estate credit regulations, but recommends that the government be given continued authority to allocate supplies of critical materials actually required for defense production.

In a statement to the House Banking and Currency Committee, H. R. Northup, executive vice president of NRLDA, pointed out that inflation could be effectively controlled in case of a new emergency by adjusting' taxes, revising the the government's fiscal policies, and encouraging consumer savings, and added that:

"There is no effective control over wages, and there has been none since the inception of the Defense Production Act. Political considerations have made a mockery of wage control provisions. Industry and labor can do a far more effective job of controlling \'\,'ages than would be done under any legislative language Congress might approve.

"There is no longer any need or excuse for control of prices. The price trend has been downward for some weeks. Control officials are glossing over the deflationary forces now at work. Continuation of price control merely puts industry to the heavy expense and inconvenience of filling out useless reports.

"There is no justification for continuing credit controls, as the Federal Reserve Board itself has recognized by its abandonment of voluntary credit restraints and by suspension of Credit Regulation 'W.' The problem today, so far as housing is concerned, is to bring more, not less, money into the mortgage market. Housing starts have been running at a relatively high level, but the sale of homes has been slowed dorvn drastically both by the shortage of mortgage funds, due to low interest rates on FHA insured and VA guaranteed loans and to other factors, and by the high downpayment requirements.

"Rent controls are serving no other purpose than to permit a relatively sma{l number of families to enjoy special advantage at the expense of other taxpayers. The temporary postwar housing shortage which gave rise to this repugnant legislation ceased to exist many months ago.

"The readjustment in defense production schedules, together with increased production of critical materials, has removed all need for continuing materials allocations so far as private construction and industrial requirements are concerned. Supplies of most materials already are outrunning demand. We believe that an appropriate agency of the federal government should have the authority to allocate supplies of critical materials actually required for defense production, but we believe there is ample evidence that supplies over and above those needed in the defense program will be adequate to meet civilian requirements.

"Those who urge that all controls be continued seem to be basing their plea on the position that, even though controls are not needed today, they might be needed in case