Evening Star Newspaper, December 17, 1936, Page 11

Walsh-Healey Law Like N.R. A. Resistance of Firms to Contract Standards Being Broken. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. HE N. R. A. 1s back by Govern- ment compulsion so far as many industries are concerned, The Walsh-Healey law for several weeks has brought on a sort of bidders’ strike or boycott on Gov- ernment contracts which is slowly being broken by the Roosevelt ad- ministration. To understand the meaning of the situation, it is necessary to recall that the Walsh =« Healey law passed by Congress last Summer in the closing hours of § the session pro- vides that no company can hid on Government business involv- ing any sum in excess of $10,000 without conforming to standards of labor and working conditions pre- scribed by the Federal Government hrough the Department of Labor. Many companies rather than set up one set of standards on Government contracts and another on the rest of their orders, have refused to bid on supplies needed by the Government. Today approximately $400,000,000 of purchases are affected by the Walsh-Healey law and union labor aders are pressing for an amend- ment Yo the law so that even orders below $10,000 will be affected. This would invelve Government purchases of about $2,000,000000 a year. And if industry conforms to the Govern- ment's rules with respect to such & vast amount of business, the chances are it will mean application of the same rules even to divisions of busi- nesses which do not produce goods for Government use. Sets 40-Hour Week. , the Government's require- ments that a 40-hour week shall be maintained, that there shall be no child labor and that minimum wages shall be paid as the Secretary of Labor after hearings are held shall prescribe. As vet the minimum wage _feature has not been settled. but the Department of Labor does insist on the 40-hour week and the child labor clause, The principal resistance to the Gov- ernment’s desire for bids in conformity with the Walsh-Healey law is coming from some manfacturers of foodstuffs. Likewise there are difficulties about furnishing copper to the Government, and conferences are being held be- tween copper companies and Govern- ment officials to help straighten out | the differences of viewpoint. Gov- ernment spokesmen say the boycott has been broken so far as the automo- bile industry is concerned, as bids | are now being received from some of the principal manufacturers. The forthcoming conferences with the textile businesses will prove very interesting, especially as the Army and Navy request bids for clothing. It is said that in this category come gome sweatshop operations that will be affected by the 40-hour week re- quirement, Comes out of Taxpayer. Naturally it is geing to cost lhe“ Government more money to get its | gupplies, but that's one way by which | the taxpayer doesn't realize that the burden is being increased. In fact, | the cutting of the Federal budget is | going to be rather difficult, as the expenses of things the Government buys go up irrespective of the Walsh- Healey law, and 8as expenses are forced upward to consumers other than the Government by reason of the standards set by the Government. What isn't generally realized, per-| haps, is that all consumers aren’t in | a position to get wage increases at the same time so as to meet rising costs in living. But the economics of what the administration is doing in this respect appears to be given less consideration than the demands of organized labor for a shortening of work hours with the same pay. ‘The net effect of the Walsh-Healey law may be to drive out of business some of the small marginal producers who cannot now bid on Government contracts because of the higher costs | imposed upon them. They do not | have the capital to buy labor-saving devices, or they do not have some of the advantages in low capital costs which the larger units of their indus- David Lawrence, Brie: NG STAR, WASHINGTON, News Behind the News Fight Seen Looming Over Peace Program, With Congressional Battle Expected on Issue. BY PAUL MALLON. RESIDENT ROOSEVELT is said to have returned from South America with an undiminished personal hankering for the role of world peace leader and good-will promoter. At least some of his liberal friends are 8o sure of it that they have begun forming to keep him moving along the restricted lines they would like to see him follow. For one thing, they do not want him to deal with European leaders in any kind of joint move for a conference at the Azores or anywhere, Their antagonism to conferences seems to have been strengthened by the Buenos Aires results. Their argument is that if nothing more eflective can be done under the most favorable circumstances, there is mo meed to try appealing to Hitler, Musssolini, Stalin or even Premier Baldwin on a man-to-man basis. What most of the liberals around the White House would like to have is a strong meutrality law, and nothing more. A second group says the United States cannot neutralize itself out of the next war any more than it did the last one, and therefore Mr. Roosevelt must make a world peace move of some kind. This group is distinctly in the minority now, but it is supposed to include Mr. Roose= velt. This has always been the way in which big policies have evolved within the New Deal. When as many varying-viewed advisers are behind any leader, big inside fights are inevitable, and this one may be the biggest of the coming session. The outcome is yet uncertain. Another phase of the neutrality fight is already starting among Congressmen. Cotton Congressmen are saying Mr. Roosevelt's embargo powers do not and cannot include their product. Oil Senators are saying Congress specifically intended to leave out. oil. undoubtedly be protesting against any possibility of a war-time embargo on their product. 1t is the same old fight these groups staged last session. Every one is interested only in his own baby. But the demand for real neutrality now is so strong that the result may be different this time. Note—Senator Frazier, peace extremist, is saying he would agree to include wheat and foodstuffs, and wheat is his product. * K K X The friendly notes written by European nations at debt-paying time did not include checks. However, the official recipients of the documents here thought they, detected a signficant glimmer of a change of policy in the French note. England sent just about the same old letter, except that she left out that paragraph about her econemic conditions being so bad that she could not pay. That old excuse hardly fitted in with her published economic statistics, indicating that her production and employment recovery is ahead of ours. Italy’s note, however, was exactly the same as last year, bad economic conditions and all. The Italians said nothing about all that new wealth Mussolini is supposed to have added to his empire by the conquest of Ethiopia. The French, however, used a phrase hitherto avoided by the literary geniuses who have been writing their semi-annual excuses. They said this time France was “desirous of promising only that which is will be able to perform.” This was a slim phrase, to be sure, but it scemed to promise that the next agreement would be kept. Coming from France, that sounded like something Authorities here thought so. They really expect that France will offer something, not enough, of course, but something. Democrats are never satisfied. They won 333 seats in the House in the last election. against 88 for the Republicans. But the records of the House indicate that mcre contests have been filed by de- feated Democrats than by the de- feated Republicans. It is not ex- actly clear why the many defeated Republicans appear to be satisfied while the defeated Democrais are not. ‘The explanation may not be political or psvchological in all the cases. It seems the Government pays $2,000 attorney fees to any one filing a contest. * ok ok X Another new political phenomenon is the great number of people who turned out to be Democrats after election. If Mr. Roosevelt had received all the votes of people who are now saying they were for him, it is hard to see why he did not receive more than 27.000,000 votes. Only one man in the entire United States is reported to be swimming against this preponderant trend. He is Frank C. Havenner, a successful candidate for Congress from San Francisco. He defeated Mrs. Kahn after being nominated both as a Democrat and a Progressive under the peculiar California law which permits candidates to be many different things in the same election. House authorities have recelved a letter from Mr. Havenner stating he prefers to be listed officially as a Representative of the Progressive narty. He thus not only becomes the only Progressive in Congress outside Wis- consin. but the only man in the world who has left the Democratic party since November 3. (Copyright, 1936.) D. C, THURSDAY, crH!.‘ opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among There arc no munitions Senators left, but if there were they would the time and on another scale for private orders. “Anti-Suicide Odor.” Likewise the Government has let it be known that it will not be averse to using the provisions of the Robin- son-Patman law to prosecute any companies that sell to the Govern- ment with a quantity discount that they do not give to other customers for like quality of materials or prod- | ucts. So the bidder on Government con- tracts cannot squeeze just to get Gov- ernment business. His price to Uncle Sam must be just as low to other | bidders. Practically Imposes N. R. A. As yet more of this is anywhere near as devastating to the operations of business as would be the proposal to | include all orders of $10,000 or less. Once that change comes, a large per= centage of the businesses of the coun- try will virtually be under the N. R. A. once more, notwithstanding the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which said the Federal Government did not have power to regulate hours of work or working conditions in business and industry. Questions of oonstitutionality are | offensive carrying even a small quantity of the | Matsutaro Nashida, police chemist at Tokio, seeking means to prevent | the use of deadly cyanide for murder or suicide, has succeeded in giving the | poison an unmistakable odor without So one affecting its essential properties. is the odor that any poison would be known to persons nearby. The police will ask manu- facturers to give their product the | “anti-suicide odor. Allways_GIVE A KODAK KODAK is loads of fun to use. And the pictures it takes never let you forget. Either reason’s a good reason for giving a Kodak. And our store’s a good place to get it. You will find our stocks un- themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Prices Near Crossroads Level Rise to Point Where Checking Is Seri- ously Considered. BY MARK SULLIVAN. E condition called “prices” is becoming a subject of acute discussion in the world of both business and Govern- ment. Prices, and the economic con- ditions which prices reflect and affect, are at a stage which will shortly be- come a landmark, a fork of the road. If prices rise materially further, that will be an index toward one thing. If prices are restrained, that will be an index toward another thing. The whole sophisticated world of business, finance and economic theory is watch- ing to see which way the index will point, On October 22, Roosevelt, in a radio speech, pressed a deter- .. mination about % prices as of that time. He was discussing farm prices, but it was commonly under- stood he had in mind the price- level generally. Mr.Roosevelt said: “I do not hesi- tate to say, in the simplest, clearest |language of which I am ca- pable, that, al- though the prices of many products of | the farm have gone up * * * I am not satisfied either with the amount or the extent of the rise, and that it is definitely a part of our policy to increase the rise and to extend it to those products which have as yet felt no benefit. If we cannot do this one way we will do it another, Do it we wilL" 1933, President ex- Mark Sullivan, Good—Up to Present. Mr. Roosevelt used several ways. Examination of these ways in the light of history will probably say that some were wholesome, some less wholesome; some necessary, and some unneces- sary. But to go into all that now | would merely involve us in academic contention. Nobody today wants, ex- | cept for academic purposes. a debate on whether reducing the gold content | |of the dollar was wise or unwise, | pecessary or unnecessary. AbBout some | others of Mr. Roosevelt's price-raising | methods, there is little argument. | Most authorities concede that some | of the ways were good, that the pur- | pose as a whole was good, and that the effect now achieved is good—up to the present point. Mr. Roosevelt did not say definitely just how high he wanted the rise to be. | It was generally assumed that the goal | he had in mind was something ap- | proximating the 1926 level of prices | The present level is somewhat less than that. | The rise 5o far has been wholesome. | The chief purpose and effect of rais- ing prices has been to make it possible to pay debts. Farmers who could not pay interest or principal on their mortgages with the 40-cent wheat of | 1933, can pay readily with the $1.30 wheat of today. By making it possible for interest to be paid on mortgages, | Mr. Roosevelt saved many insurance | companies, savings banks and other financial institutions. For these held most of the mortgages and bonds which could not be paid with prices | at their 1933 level. This purpese of bringing about high prices has now been practically ac- complished. There is no question any more about the soundness of financial | institutions. Farmers and others have | been able to pay the interest on their mortgages, and have been able either | to pay off the mortgages or to renew | them at lower ates of interest. Sub- stantially all this purpose is now taken | care of. Any person or institution | class of opinion it is apparent Mr. | the pot at once and make it boil. That | still embarrassed by debts is the excep- tion. Probably the bulk of popular opinion would be pleased to see prices go still higher, for the average man as a rule is usually under the f{llusion that higher prices are good. An exception to this broad rule is that housewives do not like to see prices of food rise higher, Rise Must Stop. But the bulk of expert opinion knows that from this point on the true path to real national well-being lies mot in further rise of prices, but in preventing too great a rise. To this Roosevelt. himself belongs. The best authorities agree that the range of prices six months or so0 from now will be an index to the near future in America. They feel that a continu- ously rising level would point toward disaster. A restrained level would point toward wholesome prosperity and political and social stability. So three years after Mr. Roosevelt expressed his determination to make prices rise, he is faced by the desir- ability of preventing too great a rise. This was to have been expected; un- doubtedly Mr. Roosevelt himself antici- pated it. For now preventing an excessive rise, Mr. Roosevelt has several instru- mentalities, They will need to be used | with greater care than he had to/ exercise when his purpose was to make prices rise. At that time he could | throw all his price-rising methods into condition of 1933 lent itself to the technique which Mr. Roosevelt once described in a speech: “Do something; if it works, do it some more; if it does not work, do something else.” But today, the methods of preventing run- away prices must be used with the delicacy and precision of a fine piece of machinery. (Copyright, 1936.) CAROL CHOIR TO END CONCERT TOUR HERE Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Club Spon- { sors Program on Saturday Night. The Mount Holyoke College Carol Choir will appear in the auditorium of the National Press Club at 8:45 o'clock Saturday night in the final concert of their tour of Eastern cities. The concert will be held under aus- pices of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae | Club of Washington, and proceeds will go to the centennial celebration fund of the college. Dr. William Churchill Hammnnd.; director of the choir, is widely known as a composer as well as a director. | Several new carols brought to this country from Europe will be sung here for the first time. Tickets can be ordered through | Fleanor Neill, 1820 Massachusetts | avenue, or at Mrs. Dorsey’s Concert | Bureau. NEW PORTAILES $5.00 Z; DOWN Underwood, Royal, Corona. Remington Noiseless. Choose by Comparison in one reliable store. Terms As Low As $1 Weekly TYPEWRITE GENERAL - TIR 14th St DECEMBER 17, 1936. We, the Pe_ogle Great Plains Committee to Recommend Second National Land-Purchase Plan. BY JAY FRANKLIN. UST STORMS are still raging in the Dakotas. Our short-sighted lumber industry is still busy cutting down two trees for every seedling planted by nature or the C. C. C. The Army engineers are building the Mississippi levees still higher, while the private utility companies still block Government flood-control dams on the head- waters, To the politicians these represent headaches and appropriations, patronage and logrolling. To the little group of agricultural economicsts led by Dr. Lewis C. Gary of Resettlement and Agriculture they represent an improper use of our land resources, Wind-swept range in the great plains * has not been left under sod when wheat offered quick profits. Water- sheds have been stripped of forest cover until the rivers are choked with silt and flood like rain gutters with every storm. Sour cut-over land has been sold to suckers and private enterprise has ruined a treasure house of wealth in land and water. Even the Hoover administration was alarmed by this condition. Secrelary of Agriculture Hyde began studies for a land-use program. This program was taken up and enlarged by the Roosevelt administration. First under the Relief Administration and then under Resettlement, a group of experts proceeded to apply the first public measures to retirs land from uneconomic and anti-social uses and to put it to other uses for which it was better suited. Under this program, close to 10,000.000 acres have been pur- chased by the Govermment for about $40.000.000. The land is being taken out of farming and put back under cover—sod or Jorest, turned into wild-life refuges for the Biological Survey, developed into recreation areas, picnic grounds for city duwellers, under a policy of close co-operation with other branches of the Federal Government and with the State and local authorities The duststorms of the last three years led to the formation of a Great Plains Committee, which will report to the President about January 1, 1937. This committee is under the chairmanship of Morris L. Cooke of the Rural Electrification Administration, but the bulk of the work is being done by Dr. L. C. Gray as usual. Its other members include Col. Robert Moore of the Army Engineers, Col. F. C. Harrington, assistant administrator of W. P, A.; H. H. Barrows of the National Resources Committee. H H. Bennett of the Soil Conserva- tion Service, J. C. Page of the Reclamation Service and H of Cooke's R. E. A. e * ko2 % The report’s basic idea is that it is foolish to try to grow wheat on land fit only for buffaln grass: cotton on land fit only for slash pine. and that it is dangerous to deforest watersheds and to allow fertile acres to be gullied into our rivers The report will recommend a second national land-purchasing program, of about 10,000,000 more acres of land mow unsuitably cultivated, principally in the Great Plains area. Under the last program, the Government bought a comsiderable acreage in tar- Jorfeited lands. This mistake will not be repeated. States and counties will be erpected, by enabling legislation, to take title to their own tar-delinquent acreage for land-use purposes. There will be serious objection to this jn many regions, so every effort will be made to confine State tax confiscation to lands which are required for an immediate land-use program. The most radical part of the new land program is the propos the States and counties shall begin, by wnm: regulations nngrfl?hrr”e'a}.::f ments, to tear down the, ruinous old concept that a man can use or abuse his land as he chooses, free of interference from society. * % x x i We long have maintained the principle that stream pollution is an Injury to all those downstream. The next step is to establish a similar notion of “land pollution"—that Xk improper, anti-social or uneconomic cultivation is a public nuisance which can be abated by the police power of the States and counties This idea represents a big break with the past, but it is needed if we are to protect ourselves as well as our children from the conse- quences of wild-cat agriculture, The Spaniards who settled Mexico were wiser than the Anglo-Saxons, J who gave us our exaggerated reverence for the sanctity of private property in land. Water rights. mining rights and forest rights are too important to the people as & whole to be entrusied to the greed or necessity of indi- vidual land owners. Otherwise, as the Mississippi Valley Committee sug- gested, it is far from certain that the United States can support a perma- nent civilization. So the Great Plains Committee proposes a new form of land tenure for agriculture. This land-use program, suggested by Republicans and put into opera- tion by New Dealer Democrats, represents our first conscious effort to adjust our ways to the geographical realities of North America. Without it—or something like it—science suggests that we shall be sunk before the end of the twentieth century. Headline Folk and What They Do Joe Jacobs’ Shrewdness Cinches Schmeling- Braddock Fight. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. AX SCHMELING returns to Germany to have Christmas dinner with Der Puhrer, after some shrewd and fast ‘work by his manager, Joe Jacobs, which enabled him to cinch a cha: pionship match with Braddock. Box- ing critics give Schmeling a big edge on the forthcoming fight, which has become something like an affair of state in Germany since Schmeling upset Louis. There has been a lot of “realpolitik,” | as they call it in Germany, in these ne- gotiations. While B Herr Schmeling ‘ has become an Arvan demigod, the fact that he was headed up Olympus by the non - Arvan Mr. Jacobs is, as ifi should be. entirely irrelevant. ‘This Aryan business might do to start a war, but it's out when anything important is at stake. Which be= i ing the case, Mr. Jacobs gets special rates at the Hotel | Bristol in Berlin. It was a flash of quick thinking by | Jacobs which saved Herr Max in 1930 and routed him to his present emis nence. This writer was seated a few feet away when Schmeling was sitting down in his fight with Sharkey, in 1930, It was my observation at the time that Schmeling was starting to rise when Jacobs velled “stay down™ 8o, sitting down, Schmeling won the championship on a foul and has been tooled along ever since by Jacobs® unique blend of luck and shrewdness, bs is a sarcastic, sharp 1 ittle n. His two trade marks are a speckled cap with a tassel on it and a dead ci chewing. either thoughtf: agely. His father was a tailor in an Irish neighborhood, where fighting was widely indulged in and greatly esteemed. At the age of 15 Joe obs picked up Johnny Moran, a bellhop at the Lambs’ Club, and billed him as the “Fighting Actor.” He did well with Moran and gradt orked up quitk an impressive & fighters. A few vears ago his stable included not only nz, but Prankie Genaro, flve and virtually every for championship ing of t champion, contender Astute realistic per cent into the resourceful and. above all, he gets his customary 33'; but somehow never heacs big winnings. and they say his cut on the forthcoming Braddock match. No matter how com- plicated affairs may be, he has a ue. At Ham- ling fought Steve layed “Horst Wes- | snappy When his friends asked him about it. he said | “What the hell would you have | done?” | (Copsr Tht, 10360 | e e — in Your Check Book OU can enjoy the biggest Christmas 5 you ever had—serve more alluring delicacies than your Christmas table ever held-—and your bank book will show a surprisingly good balance if you shop at Magruder’s. PRICE POLICY « + . here are a few examples. CANDIES FOR XMAS Chocolates, Bon Rons Ginger, 2-0z. box... and Nougats, 1b...1.00 P Glace Nute, 1 Ih....1.00 S oaendan 550 Allegretti Chocolates = S Cluster Raisins, pkg. .28 18 W sesneenns I aiaive Stuffed Dates, 1b, bhox . Decorated Tins 25 A5 85 Our ‘new puts a wealth of good things within your reach GIFT BASKETS involved, of course, but the theory of the Roosevelt administration is that nobody needs to bid on Government business unless he wants to do so, and that anybody who voluntarily accepts the conditions offered by the Government in selling to the Gov- ernment is estopped from questioning Almond Roca General Assorted Magruder Xmas Boxes ve 1,50 Btuffed Prunes, 1b, box .. cee Stuffed Apricots, 1b. box . XMAS SPECIALTIES Plum Puddings— Nuts in the Shell— tries enjoy. In other words, the large businesses will now get much of that volume of ‘contracts which formerly went to smaller businesses, who in turn will have to release from em- ployment many workmen who were | kept going by Governmeint business. usually complete—our photographically trained salesmen most help- ful —and not only to you in making your selection; but to the recipient when he starts using his camera. Brownies from $1; Kodaks from §5. .30 Squeezing Discouraged. But such are the pains of controlled economy and to date the readjust- ments to conform to the Walsh- Healey act on the part of business end industry have not been exten- sive. Some companies flatly refuse to change over their operations, be- cause they cannot operate on one scale for Government orders part of the constitutionality of a statute from which he derives benefits. That was decided in a Supreme Court opinion in what is known as the Booth flish- eries case several years before the New Deal came into power. Some other angles of the case may arise to bring about a test of constitutionality, but as yet none is on the horizon, (Copyright, 1936,) Christmas Special Gift Grand Piano Can Be Purchased on Extremely Easy Terms This Grand is perfect for tone and workmanship 5278 Guaranteed for 5 Years HUGO WORCH 1110 G N.W. Open Evenings Until Christmas JIFFY KODAK V.P. Press & button—it opens for action. Press another—you've got the picture. “Jifty" faright! ““V.P." standsfor “‘vest pocket” and this capable little camera really fits. Molded glossy-black case. Capable Doublet lens. Eye-level finder. Picture size, 1% x 2% inches. $5. JIFFY KODAK $IX-20 You'll find it mighty hard to go wrong ;lti this easy-to-use 'l?\lfl maker, ‘ouch a button="Pop"=—it opens. ‘Touch another—‘‘Click” —it gets the picture. Extra-smart, etched metal front, black morocco-grain covering. ‘Two brilliant reflecting finders. Pic- tures 2% x 3% inches. Price, $8. ‘Today’s version of the famous camera that has made millions of good pic- tures in the past. Clever Diway lens for pictures of near and distant subjects. Extra-large finders. Morocco-grain front. Makes covering. Etched met: $3. Other 2%x 3%-inch pictur Brownles, §1 to $3.75. KODAK JUNIOR $1X-20 (£.6.3) A camera, making 2% x 3%-inch that brings you a fine, fast Anastigmat lens (1.6.3) at an ‘moderate price. 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Delvery Service Moke Us Neighbors Mg Select from our beautiful baskets of frult, wines and liquors, candies. etc. $6,00 eTe _are worth- while Xmas gifts, up Champagne is no longer a luxury Champagne Perrier Jouet \ 1926 or 1928 Vintage 346.00 uder Importers. Groeers and Wine Mer~ ehants Sinee 1875, 18th and M Streets N.W,