"We Were Wrong"

Plow-chinned Chester Bowles, boss of OPA, showed himself a unique bureaucrat: he publicly admitted that he had made a serious mistake--in fact, two.

The primary mistake: relaxing food rationing last spring. That, said Chester Bowles, was an experiment which failed. But an even greater one, he added, was the promise made at that time that OPA would always give proper advance notice when food ration stamps were to be canceled. In making this promise, Chester Bowles said flatly: "We were wrong."

Just how wrong was proved fortnight ago when OPA suddenly canceled all outstanding red, blue and sugar stamps (TIME, Jan. 8). This act removed from circulation ten billion red points, 17 billion blue, and sugar stamps worth 250,000 tons. Not to have invalidated them at a time of growing food shortages, said Chester Bowles reflectively, would have been still another error.

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