731

The purposes of §§ 731—745 of this title are hereby declared to be the stabilization of prices, the prevention of speculative, unwarranted, and abnormal increases in prices; the elimination and prevention of excessive profits; hoarding, manipulation, speculation, and other disruptive practices resulting from abnormal market conditions and scarcity caused by the national emergency; the assurance that defense appropriations will not be dissipated by excessive prices; the protection and maintenance of the standard of living of persons whose incomes are limited; the prevention of such economic dislocations, as will result from abnormal increases in prices; the securing of adequate production of staple products; the prevention of a post-war collapse of values; the purchase, obtention, storing, disposal, and regulation of staple commodities for the benefit of the people; the cheapening, as far as possible, of the cost of staple commodities to the inhabitants of Puerto Rico; and the stimulation and development of new sources of labor. History —May 12, 1942, No. 228, p. 1268, § 1.