Evening Star Newspaper, June 6, 1937, Page 40

D—10 K ————ee e C Ty e Uy Y e B Wage-Hour Bills Success Seen Hinging On Extent of Production Cost Boost (Continued From Third Page.) level. In any case, important wage increases have been granted this year. Actually during the period since 1933 the real income, as well as the dollar income, of employed labor has been increasing. If labor costs are to be further increased, the increases may be reflected in a generally higher cost of living. “Increasing taxes, rising prices of important raw materiz»ls. and pressures for further substantial increases in wages are exerting power= ful influence in the direction of price advances, states the Brookings Institution. The basic need today is to absorb the unemployed in the private pro- duction of additional goods and zervices, rather than in sharing with them current production. Once the slack of unemployment has been taken up, the only way to increase the workers' standard of living is to bring about hjgher wages relative to prices. If, for example, both wages and the cost of living double, the worker is obviously no better off. To benefit, the purchasing power of his pay envelope must increase; the only effective way for workers as a group to attain a larger purchasing power is through increased productiveness per worker, whether as a result of technical ad- vances, improved management, or better efficiency of the workers them- aelves. The more goods produced, the more real wealth there is to divide. This is undoubtedly what Represent- ative Kvale has in mind. Questions Raised by Bill. In addition to the problem of avoid- fng & reduction of national output by shortening hours and swelling pay rolls, there are interesting questions raised by the wages and hours bill. Only a few of these can be discussed in the space limitations of the present article. The Black-Connery bill provides that' “interstate commerce” means trade, commerce, transportation, or communication among the several States or between any State and any place outside thereof. This does not seem complicated. But elsewhere the bill includes labor practices affecting interstate commerce. In otherwords, it reaches into fields of activity here- tofore generally regarded as intrastate. Thus, the proposed Federal wage and hour control cannot be discussed without reference to the question of constitutionality. The plan, as is clearly developed in the President's message as well as in the bill itself, aims to employ the Government's interstate commerce power in the broadest sense. ‘“Interstate business” now apparently includes anything closely enough connected with inter- state business to affect it. Criticism of Powers Given. An important criticism of the pres- ent bill is that it proposes to delegate extremely broad powers to the Labor Standards Board of five, which it would set up. In the N. R. A. decision the present Supreme Court un- animously opposed the granting of a roving commission to any branch or agent of the Federal Government. Will it agree to this delegation of powers? According to the bill, the board would have the responsibility and power to determine fair labor stand- ards throughout the country. This might well prove to be a herculean task. Moreover, the bill, in acknowl- edging the necessity for differentiation and exceptions to the general stand- srds of regional, industrial and other variations, grants to the board ‘“the power of life and death over in- dividual businesses.” It is not main> tained that the board's powers would | be used for political purposes, but that | at times they well might be. | ‘The bill's backers, on the other hand, | do not accept this criticism, pointing | out that business lived through the N. R. A, under which code authorities | had the broadest powers over hasi- ness. They admit that the board would have important power to dls-{ criminate between regions, but assert | that this power is no greater in its| fleld than those of the Federal Trade | Commission, the Tariff Commission or of the Supreme Court. No more nor | less than these. | Warns Against Too High Hopes. | Apart from the factors already | referred to, not too much should be | expected from the proposed legislation. To fix maximum hours by law does not mean that all factories will be | able to work the maximum. Their ability to do so depends upon busi- ness. In other words, the law does not guarantee to workers a full work ‘week and pay envelopes, or a fair an- nual income. Also, it is claimed, employers in| the textile industry can circumvent | minimum wage provisions. “Under the | existing operation and working policies, most of the workers are on piece work. Immediately after the (N. R. A.) codes | were accepted, the employers reduced | the piece-rate prices, making it im- | possible, in a number of instances, to | make the $13 minimum wage.” Testifying on the Ellenbogen bill, Francls Gorman, textile labor leader, | asserted the suggested $15-minimum | wage was too low, being less than the | average wage in the entire industry | in 1936. Even at $18 per week, or $936 per year, the lower rank of textile workers would be insufficiently paid, since their work is subject to seasonal fluctuations. Thus even $18 “is not a decent wage.” The textile workers’ organization is also opposed to regional differ- entiation, as permitted in the mini- mum wage bill. “Uniform labor stand- ards without differentials must be established quickly in the textile in- dustry, and must be made sufficiently inflexible that evasions are too costly to indulge in;” states Mr. Gorman. However, there already exist differ- entials of as much as $10 in the textile | industry, agreement on this point may | prove difficult to obtain. Effect on Farmers. We already have referred to the effect of higher prices on the general | public. Particular mention should be | made of the adverse effects on the farmers of any material increase in industrial costs, for the administration has spent much effort in raising the ratio of the prices farmers receive to the prices farmers pay. A material Increase in industrial wages would upset the present ratio, a possibility of which the Department of Agricul- ture is aware. Another group which would be di- rectly affected by a rise in costs is the foreign trading community. Ex- port prices of manufactured goods would reflect any material increase in labor costs, thus making our export trade more difficult. Foreign manu- facturers would obtain & correspending advantage. Japanese textiles, for ex- | ample, would be cheaper in relation | to American textiles, and it might be | more difficult to limit their inflow. Quite apart from the enormous ad- ministrative problems, the legal ques- tion, and the economic dangers in- volved, there is in some minds serious question as to the measure’s necessity. Why, it is asked, should Congress pass another law for labor when exist- ing Federal law guarantees to workers collectively? Hasn't organised labor now the power to secure for itself a living wage in cases where it is now being treated unfairly? In reply to this objection, backers of the bill reiterate that in certain industries where substandard labor conditions today obtain, workers are unable to organize. Their pay is too small and economic pressure too great for them to afford the expense and risks of joining a union. In the view of organized labor, the Wagner labor telations act does not render the pro- posed wages and hours law unneces- sary. Rather, the Black-Connery bill is designed to supplement the Wagner act through a different approach. One of the principal objections made to the present and other labor measures is that the approach is en- tirely one-sided. Labor’s rights and interests are being carefully safe- guarded, while its responsibilites are ignored. But to this objestion it is replied that heretofore all the cards were stacked against the workers and in favor of the employers. To sum up, Congress will certainly pass & wages and hours limitation bill this session. It will conform in general approach, if not in details, to the Black-Connery bill. The proposed NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY Photo Studio Downstairs Bookshop Modern in Every Detail ! SPECIAL 4 Telephone THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTION, D. C, JUNE Labor Standards Board will have im- portant and unprecedented powers over industry and commerce. To some extent the bill will accom- plish its aim of redistributing the na- tional income in favor of the working man, and at the expense of farmers, professional workers, stockholders, etc. Whether the measure will inter- fere with the production of real wealth, thus blocking its own path, depends upon the degree to which it results in increased produetion costs. In some industries at present enjoying & fair margin of profit, ad- ditional costs can be absorbed at the stockholder’s expense. In others, Wwhere the margin of profit is too nar- row, prices will have to be raised. Ultimately, this will tend to reduce, if not eliminate, the gains to work- ingmen from the measure here under consideration. The most important danger to be avoided is s0 radical an increase in costs and decrease in pro- duction as to interfere with the prog- Tess of recovery. . o Smallest Gets Tallest. England’s smallest county has just sworn in the country's tallest police chief. He is Maj. W. S. Flower, who has taken office at Oakham as police head of Rutland County. Maj. Fowler is 6 feet 6 inches tall. For 14 consecu- tive years none of the 17,400 inhabi- tants has been arrested. SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED Walters and Finnan to Talk at Park Dedication. Assistant Becretary of the Interior Theodore A. Walters and C. Marshall Finnan, superintendent of National Capital Parks, will be principal speak- ers at the dedication of Bunker Hill Park, Fourteenth and Otis streets northeast, Saturday at 4 pm. A concert by the Knights of Colum- bus Band and renditions by the choir from the Franciscan Monastery and the Brookland Methodist Church are on the program, which is being ar- ranged by the Brookland Citizens' Association under the direction of President Marvin M. McLean, TO OMIT MEETINGS ‘The Randle Highlands Citizens’ As- sociation will omit its next two reg- ular schceduled meetings, President Adelbert W. Lee announced yester- day. Although action was taken during the last year to hold meetings throughout the Summer, a recess has been called until the second Tuesday in August because there is no press- ing business before the association at this time, he declared. Give “Dad Your “Pictur e Taken Here and Now ADmay be modest about some things, but he’s not modest about you! He’s proud of you. .. he boasts of you...and he surely would love to have a lovely pictare of you in his office. 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Price, $154.50 Allowanece for Your Old Range Pay $139.50 AR COQOLED Third Floor | “DEBTOR COURTS” URGED IN CONGRESS Would Aid Small-Salaried Work- ers in Adjustng Pay- ment Plans. By the Associated Press. Congress heard a recommendation yesterday that it create ““debtor courts” in which wage-earners and small-sal- aried workers might effectuate plans for settlement and payment of debts. Proposals for such courts were laid before the House Judiciary Committee 6, 1937—PART TWO. by Valentine J. Nesbit, special Federal referee in bankruptcy at Birmingham, Ala. He testified at a hearing on the Chandler biil designed to revise and extend existing bankruptcy statutes. Nesbit, acting under authority of the Federal Court of Birmingham, has been conducting an extra-legal, ex- perimental court of the kind for sev- eral years. He urged that the Chand- ler bill make provision for such courts in all Federal court districts. Multiple Lightning Strokes. 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