Help Your OPA Fight Inflation

After the United States entered World War II, the Government, anxious to keep the lid on inflation, established the Office of Price Administration (OPA). Congress authorized the OPA to “fix” prices on goods and rents, and the OPA set the prices prevailing in March 1942 as ceiling prices. To charge anything higher was illegal. The OPA regulated prices on products ranging from automobiles to toilet tissue in an effort to hold the line on practically all consumer goods and services. In addition to fixing prices, the OPA set up a distribution system for goods in short supply. Wartime shortages occurred principally among goods that the military now used in greater quantity than in peacetime and also among imported goods because of transportation difficulties. Because the consumer demand for such goods as sugar, coffee, meat. tires, and gasoline exceeded the supply, the OPA limited by “rationing” the amount of these items that an individual could purchase. Every person received ration coupons, which were turned in at the time of purchase. In order for its programs to be effective, the OPA needed wide public support. It used a variety of methods to encourage the public to buy from retailers who observed OPA regulation and to discourage people from buying on the “black market,” where scarce products could be purchased illegally at prices considerably higher than levels set by the OPA. The OPA sought public cooperation by explaining its objectives and citing the dangers of inflation in brochures, speeches, school programs, radio shows, films, and posters.