REGULATION OF TRADE ACTIVITIES DEMANDED

Need to regulate trade practices "which are undesirable from the point of view of public interest" was considered a present urgency by John P. Miller, instructor of Economics, in an address sponsored by the Harvard Guardian, over radio station WAAB last night.

Miller argued that government seeks the cooperation of business in an attempt to "determine the rules of the game by which business is to be guided in certain of its competitive practices and price policies."

Attacks FTC

Charging the Federal Trade Commission ineffective in this field, the instructor asked for an "enlightened government policy" in dealing with unfair price discriminations by manufacturers which cause "substantial injury" to independent dealers.

He attacked also the practice of uniform bidding on government contracts and urged that a "commission of limited discretionary powers whose objectives are more extensive and more clearly defined than those of the Federal Trade Commission" be established to lay down carefully defined rules for business to follow in these fields.

"It cannot be maintained," he concluded, "that these are private matters of interest solely to the industries concerned."