637-E Registry-No. 507-1-03 

NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION 

PROP·OSED CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION 

FOR THE 

PERIODICAL PUBLISHING 

INDUSTRY 

AS SUBMITTED ON SEPTEMBER 6, I 933 

WE DO OUR PART 

A 1 

The Code for the Periodical Publishing Industry 

in its present form merely reflects the proposal of the above-mentioned 

industry, and none of the provisions contained therein are 

to be regarded as having received the approval_of 

the National Recovery Administration 

as applying to this industry 

UNITED ST ATES 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 1933 

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For sale by the Superintendent of U.>curnents, Washington, D.C. - - - - - - - - Price 5 cet1ts 

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SUBMITTED BY 

PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS INSTITUTE 

(II) 
CODE OF FAIR PRACTICES FOR THE PERIODICAL 

PUBLISHING INDUSTRY 

DEFINITIONS 

The "Institute" as referred to herein shall mean the Periodical 

Publishers Institute. 

The term "periodical publishing industry" as used herein is defined to mean the publishers of periodicals ( except daily and weekly 

newspapers) issued at regul'ar intervals but not less frequently than 

four times per year and from which the publisher derives circulation 

and/ or advertising revenue. 

The term "publishers" as used herein shall include individuals, 

partnerships, associations, and corporations which actually issue 

periodical publications. 

PURPOSE 

To make effective the policy of Title I of the National Industrial 

Recovery Act during the period of the emergency, by reducing and 

relieving unemployment, by promoting the welfare of the industry, 

by eliminating competitive practices destructive of the interests of 

the public and of the industry, by improving the standards of employment, and otherwise rehabilitating the periodical publishing industry; and by increasing the consumption of industrial and agricultural products both directly and by increasing the purchasing 

power, and in other respects, the following provisions are established 

as a Code of Fair Practices for the Periodical Publishing Industry. 

BYLAWS 

The Institute has adopted articles of organization and bylaws, a 

copy of which is attached, marked "Appendix A." 

The II,1stitute will keep on file with the National Recovery Administration any changes in the Bylaws- that may be made from time to 

time. 

MEMBERSHIP 

Membership within the Institute is open to any publisher who 

subscribes to this Code and to any subsequent modifications thereof 

or additions thereto and who accepts hi share of the cost and responsibility as well as the benefits of its provisions. 

CODE MODIFICATTON 

Thi Code, and any agreement made tlwrennder, or any license approved, pre cribe l. or connecte l therewith, i ubject to cancellation 

9474- 33 (1) 
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or modification by the President of the United States, in accordance 

with the provi ions of Section 10 (b) of The Act; however, the publishers do not waive any constitutional rights or consent to the imposition of any requirements that might restrict or interfere with the 

constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press. Subject to the 

approval of the President the Code may be amended by a majority 

vote of two thirds of the voting membership as defined in Section 6 

of Article IV of the Articles of Organization and Bylaws. 

I. EMPLOYMENT REGULA 'l'IONS 

The periodical publishing industry, as required by Section 7 (a) 

of Title I, of the National Industrial Recovery Act, subscribes to the 

following provisions which are conditions of this Code: 

"(1) That employees shall have the right to organize and bargain 

collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall 

be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers 0f 

labor or their agents in the designation of such representatives or in 

self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of 

collective bargaining or other 1nutual aid or protection; 

"(2) That no employee and no one seeking employment shall be 

required as a condition of employment to join any company union 

or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing; and 

"(3) That employers shall comply with the maximum hours of 

labor, minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment, 

approyed or prescribed by the President." 

Employers likewise can make collective bargains with organized 

employees, or individual agreements with those who choose to act 

individually; provided, that no such collective or individual agreement is in violation of any state or Federal law. But neither employers or employees are required to agree to any particular ·contract, 

whether propo eel as an individual or collective agreement. 

Nothing in this Code is to prevent the selection, retention, and advancement of employees on the basi of their individual merit, without r gard to their affiliation or nonaffiliation with any organization. 

Publishers will not employ any person under sixteen years of age, 

except that male per ons between fourteen and sixteen may be employed for not to exceed three hours per day and those hours between seven A.M. and seven P.~tf. in such work as will not interfere 

with hours of day school. 

For the purposes of thi Code ales per ons working on a commission basis shall not be considered as employees. 

A. WORKING HOUR 

The personnel of the periodical ·publishing industry i made up of 

two livi ions: (1) a creative group, con i tino· of editors, busine s 

executive , arti. ts, and sales people · an l (2) clerk\ printing craft·-

men, an l laborer . 

To effe tuate the policy of thi Code, maximum "Torking hours 

chall be uniform over the whole country. Standard ,vorking hours 

shall be 40 hour per week; bnt echtors, bu,·ine , executiYe,, and ·al1es 

people recei vino- not less than $3:-- 00 per week hall not be limited 

by thi requirement. The e , tanclard working hour shall not apply 

to employees engaged in maintenance of plant and machinery. 
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It is not the intention of this provision to limit the number of days, 

hours per day, or shifts that any publisher may operate. In case 

of necessity, arising from an emergency or the character of the work, 

or from the inability to obtain competent labor, permission is granted 

to exceed the foregoing limitation, providing such permission shall 

be granted only upon the condition that no employee shall work more 

than 200 hours in any five weeks' period and not more than 48 hours 

in any pay-roll week; overtime shall be paid at not less than time and 

one third, to begin after eight hours in any one day. 

B. WAGES 

There shall be a standard minimum wage for employees in the 

periodical publishing industry that shall be uniform throughout the 

entire country. These wages shall be: for men, 40 cents per hour; for 

women engaged in manufacturing operations, 35 eents per hour; for 

women in other work and for junior male help between the ages of 

sixteen and twenty-one years, 321⁄2 cents per hour, except that apprentices and learners without previous experience may be paid not 

less than 80 percent of the above schedule during the first three 

months of their employment. 

It is agreed where the stated hours to be worke l under this Code 

are less than those that were in effect on July 1, 1933, that employees 

being paid a wage in excess of the minimum and not at a rate over 

75 cents an hour hall receive a fair upward adjustment of their wage 

over the rates in effect on July 1, 1933; and within four months 

after this date the Institute will collect information from its members relative to the actual effect of these adjustments and send same 

to the National Recovery Administration. 

Where both men and women emplbyees are engaged upon. work 

of the same nature, it is agreed that there shall be no discrimination 

against women because of their sex. 

II. TRADE PRAOTIOE RULES 

To accomplish the purposes of the National Recovery Administration, the industry through this Code mu t restra1n certain practices 

which have developed in the publishing field and which are harmfnl _to the public, to publishers, and to advertisers. All harmful 

practices work to defeat the p ll'po ·es of the Recovery Act. 

A. RESPONSIBILITIES TO PURCHASERS OF THE PERIODICAL 

1. Misleading or deceiving customers with respect to the service 

to be rendered by the publisher shall be a violation of this Code. 

2. Editorial independence by each member of this Institute must 

be inviolate and any deviation shall be con idered an infraction of 

this Code. 

3. The industry shall establish definite regulations designed to 

pre, ent the publication of misleading and/ or untruthful advertising and thus will protect the public. Disregarding these regulation 

shall be a violation of this Code. 

B. RESPON IBILITIE TO .\DVERTJ ERS 

1. Circulation P1·actices .-The cir ulation records of every pubIi her shall be open for inspection by advertisers or advertising 
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agents or by the United States Post Office Department and all reasonable auditable information which they request shall be furnished. 

Failure to comply with the requirements of this paragraph shall 

constitute a violation of this Code. 

2. Advertising Rates.-It is a requirement of this Code that publishers must file with the Secretary of the Institute a complete schedule of all advertising rates. Failure to do so shall constitute a 

violation of this Code. 

3. Maintenance of Rates.-It is understood that publishers shall 

1nake no deviation from their published rate schedules on file with 

the Secretary of the Institute either in the form of money or otherwise, or secretly extend to certain advertisers special privileges not 

extended to all advertisers under like terms or conditions. Where 

terms provide for time or space discounts and they are not actually 

earned, settlement must be 1nade on short term basis. Any deviation 

shall constitute a violation of this Code. 

4. Records.-Failure to maintain records or wilfully maintaining 

or issuing an inaccurate or false record of circulation or of advertising shall constitute a violation of this Code. 

It will not be required that full circulation records be maintained 

by publications where the advertising content does not exceed 5 percent of the total space. 

,Vhere, however, the cost of fulfilling term and/ or space agreements for advertising entered into prior to July 1, 1933, are unduly 

increased by the acceptance of this Code and the codes of allied 

industries under the National Industrial Recovery Act, it is equitable 

and promotive of the purposes of the Act that proper adjustments 

of such agreements be made by mutual consent between the parties 

thereto, or by arbitration, and the Executive Committee of the Institute will assist in effecting such adjustments. 

5. Defa1nation of O onipetitors.-The defamation of competitors 

by falsely imputing to them dishonorable conduct, inability to perform contracts, questionable credit standing, or by other false statements or representations, or by false disparagement of the grade or 

quality of their product, with the purpose of misleading or deceiving 

purchasers or of injuriously affecting the business of such competitors, shall constitute a violation of this Code. 

III. MAINTENANCE OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CooE 

The Periodical Publishers Institute shall maintain an organization 

to investigate reported violations of the Code and to attempt to 

correct such violations by conferente. Upon specific charges of violations of this Code and written notice thereof to the party accused, 

all relevant records of the publications involved shall be open for 

inspection to duly accredited repre entatives of the Executive Committee. If such methods are ineffective, the Institute will report 

such violations to the Attorney General of the United States for action as provided in Section 3 ( c) of the National Industrial Recovery 

Act. 

Upon request of the National Recovery Administration to the 

Periodical Publishers Institute, all records of individual members 

pertinent to maintaining and effectuating the policies of this Code 

shall be open to the inspection of representatives of the National 

Recovery Administration who are duly accredited. 
APPENDIX A 

ARTICLES OF ORG.\NIZATION AND BY·LAWS 

ARTICLE I 

SECTION 1. Na1ne.-The name of this Institute shall be Periodical Publishers 

Institute. 

SEc. 2. Purposes.-The purposes of the Institute shall be to establish and 

maintain such trade standards and practices as may be necessary for the general welfare of the industry in compliance with the requirements of the 

National Industrial Recovery Act. The Institute shall not be conducted forprofit and shall have no transferable shares or memberships. 

AR'I'.ICLE II-PLACE OF BUSINESS 

SECTION I. The principal office and place of business of the Institute shall be 

in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, State of New York. 

ARTIOLE III-MEMBERSHIP 

SECTION 1. Membership in this Institute shall consist of individuals, partnerships, associations, or corporations ,vhich actually issue periodical publicat:ons 

(except daily and weekly new, papers) at regular intervals but not less frequently than four times per year who subscribe to the Code of the Periodical 

Publishers Institute and to any subsequent modifications thereof or additions 

thereto; who accept a proper share of the costs and responsibilities as 

well as the benefits of its provisions; and who subscribe to these Articles of 

Organization and By-Laws. 

:Membership shall include all periodicals published by the member from 

which the member derives circulation and/or adverti&ing revenue. 

The field of periodical publications i.. naturally divided into four general 

groups, as follows : 

(1) agricultural publications, 

(2) business publications, 

(3) general publications, 

( 4) relio-ious, fraternal, scientific, educational, and other publications. 

Each publisher may determine to which group or groups his publication or 

publications belong. When such designation is once chosen by a publisher, 

it can be changed only upon approval by the Board of Directors. 

SEc. 2. Withdrawal o,f Membership.-Any member may withdraw his membership by filing with the Secretary of the Institute his resignation and paying 

all past .dues and allocation of expenses. 

SEC. 3. Membership in the Institute shall not terminate or prohibit membership in any other association now existing or hereafter formed between 

members of the Institute or any of them or debar any Director, Officer, or 

employee of the Institute being at the same time a Director, Officer or employee 

of one or more such firms or associations. 

SEC. 4. The Institute shall publish as often as directed by the Board of 

Directors a complete list of members in goocl tancling. 

ARTICLE IV-MEETING OF MFJMBERS 

. SECTION 1. .Amiual Jleetings.-There shall be an annual meeting of the members of the Institute at such place and time as shall be designated by the 

Board of Directors. Notice of such meeting shall be sent to all members as 

herein provided. 

SEo. 2. Spe<Yial Meetings.-Special meetings shall be called by the Executive 

Committee upon the order of the Board of Directors or whenever a request in 

writing therefor shall be received by the Secretary bearing the signature of 

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at least twenty-five members. No bu, iness shall be transacted at a special 

meeting except as may be embraced in the call therefor. 

SEc. 3. Notice of Meeting.-The Secretary shall give notice of all meetings 

by mailing to each member a w1itten or printed notice stating the time and 

place of meetino-, and if a specjal meeting, the bu ines to be tran acted. Such 

notices shall be mailed not less than twenty days before annual mc2tings and 

mailed or telegraphed not less than five days before special meeting . SEc. 4. Qtwruni.-To constitute a quorum for the tran action of business there 

must be present and voting representatives or proxies of at least twenty-five 

pe1·cent of the voting membership as provided in Section 6. 

SEc. 5. Proxies.-A member may be represented at meetings by a properly 

authorized proxy qualified as provided in the next section, who shall file a 

lawful power of attorney with the Secretary showing what member or members be is empowered to represent. 

SEC. 6. Vote and Representation.-Each publisher paying dues and/or allocation of expenses of the Inst:tute may be represented in person or by proxy and 

is entitled to a minimum of one vote for each publication published by such 

member. Additional votes will be alloted to each publication published by 

such member based on one vote for each $100,000.00 of the combined gross 

income from circulation and advertising of each such publication for the previous calendar year. 

For the purposes of these by-laws "circulation income" ~hall be uetermined 

by multiplyin_g the subscription price of member's publication by the paid circulation, including news-stand sales of such publication, as the same may be 

stated by the member to the Finance Committee. 

For the purpo es of these by-laws the "advertising income" of eal'h member 

shall be considered to be the gross annual receipts from the sale of advertising 

space in hi publication for which membership shall be held in the Institute, 

without any deducations whatsoever. 

ARTICLE V-BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

SECTION 1. How Constitiited.-The affairs of the Institute shall be managed 

by a Board of Directors consisting of twenty-three members, which shall be 

elected at the first meeting of the Institute and serve for a period of one year, 

or until their successors are duly elected. 

SEC. 2. Method of Election of Board of Directors.-Each of the groups as 

defined in Article III, consisting of not less than ten members, shall be entitled 

to name three members of the Board of Directors. The remaining members 

of the Board shall be elected at large. The votes within each group and at 

large shall be as allocated in Section 6 of Article IV; provided no publishing 

house can be represented by more than one member on the Board of Directors. 

SEc. 3. Powers of the Board.-At the first meeting of the Board of Directors 

they shall elect from their body a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and 

Treasurer of the In titute. The Board of Directors shall have power to enforce 

the collection of dues and allocation of expenses and the policies of the Institute; to employ and fix the compensation of all agents and employees; to fill 

vacancies among the Officers or the Directorate; and in general to do all 

things necessary to carry on the work of the Institute not expressly reserved 

to the membership it elf. 

SEc. 4. Meetings of the Board.-Meetings of the Board of Directors may be 

called at any time by the Chairman or on written request by any five members 

of the Board. 

Notice of the time and place of all meetings of the Board shall be telegraphed 

or mailed to the members thereof not less than five days in advance of such 

meeting. 

SEc. 5. Quoruni.-At all meetings of th·e Board of Directors seven members 

shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Except as provided 

by these articles of organization and bylaws, action by the Board shall be 

determined by a majority Yote of the members present. 

SEC. 6. Executive Committee and Duties.-An Executive Committee shall be 

chosen by the Board of Directors, consisting of seven of its members, one of 

whom shall be cbo en from each of the divisions as and if elected under 

Section 2, Article V, the remaining members shall be chosen by a majority 

vote of the entire Board of Directors. 
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The Executive Committee shall be charged with the specific administration 

of the Code of Fair Practices of the industry, cooperating with the Federal 

Administrator of the National Industrial Recovery Act in securing adherence 

to the Code. This committee shall hear and adjust complaints and consider 

propo als for amendments or exceptions to the Code. 

SEc. 7. Finance Committee and Duties.-The Board of Directors shall appoint 

a Finance Committee of three, to consist of the Treasurer and two other 

members chosen from the membership of the Board. It shall be the duty 

of the Finance Committee to prepare a quarterly budget; to compute the 

necessary and equitable amount of allocation of expenses for each publication 

published by such member, submitting same to the Board of Directors for 

approval, and take steps to collect same; to audit all bills of the Institute 

and supervise all its accounts, and to present through the Treasurer an annual 

:financial report and any special reports that may be required of it by the 

Board of Directors. 

ARTICLE VI-DUTIIDS OF OFFICERS 

SECTION v. Duties of Ohairman.-The Chairman shall preside over all meetings of the members and of the Board of Directors at which he may be present 

and shall exercise general supervision and control over the activities of the 

Institut . SEC. 2. Dut'ies of Vice Ohairman.-It shall be the duty of the Vice Chairman in the absence or inability of the Chairman to act, to exercise all his 

powers and discharge all his duties. In the absence of both the Chairman .and Vice Chairman the meeting shall elect a temporary chairman. 

SEc. 3. Duti.es of Treaswrer.-The Treasurer shall receive all moneys of the 

Institute, safely keep the same in such bank as designated by the Finance 

Committee, and pay out such sums as may be authorized by the Directors in 

the manner and under such conditions as they may prescribe. He shall keep 

an account of all transactions of his office and make quarterly statements to 

the Board of Directors and an annual report of the same to the Institute at 

the annual meeting. The Treasurer shall be Chairman of the Finance Committee. The Treasurer shall furnish suitable bond as required by the Board 

of Directors. 

SEO. 4. Duties of Secretary.-The Secretary shall keep a true record of all 

proceedings of the Board of Directors. He shall have charge of all papers of 

the Institute other than such as properly belong to the Treasurer. 

SEc. 5. Ohecks.-All checks, drafts, notes, or orders for the payment of 

money shall be signed by those designated by the Board of Directors. 

ARTICLE VII-DUES A.ND ALLOCATION OF EXPENSES 

SEOTION 1. Dues.-Dues for each publication published by a member shall 

be $10.00 per year payable annually in advance. 

SEc. 2. Allocation of Expenses.-Each publication published by a member 

shall pay, within thirty days after receipt of bills, any allocation of expenses .as may be approved by the Board of Directors for the purpose of raising the 

neces aary funds for carrying on the work of the Institute. 

Such· allocation shall not apply to publications having less than $100,000.00 

gross annual income from circulation and advertising for the previous calendar 

year. 

Such allocation shall be based upon a uniform percentage of the combined 

gross annual income from circulation and advertising for the previous calendar 

year as defined in Section 6, Article IV, for each publication published by a 

member, but shall be limited to a maximum of one twentieth of 1 percent 

-of uch gross business during any one year. 

ARTIOLE VIII-AMENDMENTS TO BYLAWS 

SECTION 1. How Amendecl.-These bylaws may be amended by the Boar l of 

Directors at any regular meeting of said board or at a special meeting called 

for such purpose, but no amendment shall become operative or take effect until 

the same shall have been recommended or ratified by a majority vote of the 

members as defined in Section 6 of Article IV, by con ent in writing filed with 

the Secretary of the Institute or by affirmative vote cast at any meeting of 
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the members regularly convened, nor unless a copy of such amendment shall 

have been mailed to each member with the request for a consent thereto or--

ratification thereof or with the notice of meeting at which the same is to be 

considered, and in the latter case such mailing shall be at least thirty days in 

advance of the date of meetings. In the event that the amendment shall be 

consented to in writing by a majority of the members, then upon the filing 

with the Secretary of such consents the Secretary shall send to each member 

a notice of the adoption of the amendment. 

PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS INSTITUTE, 

232 iJladison .Avenue (Room 1000), New York, N.Y. 

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