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are violent protests by one or more groups and the govern- 

 ment must act. The usual procedure is to write an amend- 

 ment to the original order. This stopgap retards the black- 

 market operations and the volume declines to, say, 20 per 

 cent of the trade of the product in question. Later the same 

 or other fly-by-nighters expand their activities and ulti- 

 mately force others into the black market or into bank- 

 ruptcy. This results in a second stopgap, an amendment to 

 the amendment. As long as the ceiling price is below the 

 market price, the government is forced to continue this prac- 

 tice or wink at black markets. 



These amendments are usually merely attempts to re- 

 strict, curb, check, or divert demand. Since no one knows 

 what demand is, how it operates, how to measure it, or how 

 to curb it, each successive amendment can be little more than 

 a temporary stopgap. 



Policing the Black Market 



It is a relatively simple process to write the orders, amend- 

 ments to the original orders, and amendments to the amend- 

 ments, but the administration of the order and its policing 

 are enormous undertakings. The first steps are pleas and 

 threats and pronouncements that price controls will be ex- 

 tended to every important commodity in order to roll back 

 prices. Such exhortations can be only a temporary expedient. 

 Bold words must be followed by bold action. 



Since the government cannot officially countenance black 

 markets and must attempt to eliminate them, it attacks the 

 flagrant violations and ignores a certain amount of "legal 

 violations" of "legal intentions." A few of the first group can 

 be fined or put in jail. If the conditions that created the vio- 

 lations continue, there will be many in the second group. 

 It is possible to indict an individual, but you cannot indict a 

 nation. 



