Excerpts: Between September 15, 1942, which was the base date written into the Stabilization Act of October, and May of this year, the cost of living grew 6.2 percent. That is a very innocent little figure, but behind it lies a very real story--a story I propose to tell. If you break down the increases in cost of living which occurred in that 8–month period, you find that in the 60 percent of the cost-of-living index which is made up of nonfood items (which would include clothing, house furnishings, and miscellaneous items such as drug supplies, and consumer services) rents increased not at all, clothing increased less than 2 percent, and house furnishings a little more than 1 percent. The damage to the cost-of-living index was really done on the food front. As you know, food constitutes about 40 percent of the index, and food prices during that 8-month period increased by 13 percent. That increase 13 percent in food prices accounted for more than 80 percent of the increase in cost of living during that period.
