Evening star., 1919-10-08
MINIMUM WAGE
ARGUMENTS GIVEN
Employers File Protest With
Board-Workers Uphold
$16.5O Award.
NEARLY A DOZEN SPEAK

Objections of the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association to 1.-The
award Of the minimum wage board of
the District OF Columbia of $3.50 per
week to minors after a certain term
of employment were presented at a
meeting of the minimum wage board
| in the District building today. State
ments, of representatives of several
labor organizations and other inter-
ested bodies in support 6t the award
also we're presentsa. a.sa,...s.s- ri
Files Brief in Protest.
The protest of the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association, in the
form Of a brief. was presented by
Charles J. Columbus, secretary of the
association It set forth that If the
boards award stood it would result
in Infinite multiplication of the diff
culties of employers in hiring boys
and girls; would make employment Of
such minors merely temporary; would
result in large numbers OF minors
leaving school; would greatly increase
the labor turnover Of establishments
emnloying minors, and would increase
social unrest, lower efficiency, cur
tail education and otherwise operate
to the detriment of those 1t was de-
signed to aid. .
These objections were replied to
NV about dozen speakers all of whom
urged that the boards ruling be sus-
tained.
The protest of the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association folloWs:
Appeal Rule as to Minors.
"The Merchants and Manufacturers
Association assures the minimum
wage board of the District of Column
bia at the outset, that its appeal at
this time is based solely on the rul-
ing with respect to minors and not
on the minimum wage itself.
However much we might feel that
the ruling with respect to aduits ap-
proaches a maximum rather than re-
alizjne a minimum. we feel that your
rniinr with respect to minors will be
40 subyersive of public welfare in
general that we most urgently ask
that Won reconsider your ruling with
respect to minors to the end that a
schedule of minimum pay for minors
shall be established as set forth here
after.
ers' Association, as your board is all
ready aware, believed in the princi-
nile and worthwhileness of a mini
mum wage, but we most sincerely
submit that to accord the same pay to
children that you DO to adults would
not only tend to disorganize the re-
lation of human beings one to the
other. but would be morally wrong
in principle to. by law, give the juve-
nile the same monetary consideration
that YOU would accord the adult. Ex-
nerience from time. immemorial has
nroyen that the wage which you have
accorded the juvenile who serves a
wear Is far in excess of the maximum
that is paid or has been paid to juve-
niles in the past. And we see no rea-
son why, in the present order of
things, the minor who has served a
wear should be accorded the same
monetary consideration as the adult
who has served seven months. name
ly, $3.50 per week.
"The special committees appointed
nv the Merchants and Manufactur-
ers' Association to work with the
minimum wage board of the District
of Columia in establishing minimum
wage in the various classifcations
has devoted much time to the con-
sideration of this most important
'The committee intrusted with the
making of minimum wage for mer-
camille interests has. as l feel sure
your board rs well aware. given con-
scientious attention TO this problem.
Application of Views as to Minors.
."rhe committee has consulted many
authorities and offers the following
brief as an expression of it's views
with respect to the minimum wage
ard it's application to minors:
"Realizing fully the conditions and
necessities which have promoted the
minimum wage law. this brief is sub
mitted. 1t combines in it facts and
suggests the result of personal ex-
perience in different states regarding
the operation of the law and the fun
damental principles of economics
wage, money and value.
"Its criticisms are based upon nu-
merous actual experiences-its sug-
gestions, therefore, constructive. It
comprehends the facts that a law to
be useful must also be effectual. and
relies not only upon its legal obliga-
tions. but its moral obligations
through its equity. uniformity. fair