The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-14
1 IN l I A I |O N OF
 WAGE ASSIGNMENT UGED BY l. & N.
Superintendents Of Railroad Personally Appear Before
 Legislature
STATE CAPITAL BUREAU
 THE AGE-HERALD Montgomery, Ala, Aug, IS

Statements urging the passage Of the Hilldreth bill limiting the as signment of wages of employees to the necessaries of life, including gro ceries, house rent insurance, nedi- cine and medical attention, and qtirins the approval of employer were issued by the Supervising heads of the three divis;ors cf the Louis vile and Nashville railroad In Ala bama.
 The assignment of wage bill and the bill limiting the interest rate on loans of $500 and less to 31a per cent a month have been discussed more during the past week than any other bills presented to the legislature.
 w. M. Boykin of Mobile, assistant superintendent of :he Louisville and Nashville railroad, pointed out some of the practices of the money lenders in obtaining the assignmet of wages of Iaboring men.
 D. E. Beatty, superintendent of the Mobile and Montgomery and Alabama and Florida divisions. said eXttava gsnce of coiored employees probably has brought much of the trouble, since he is now able tu assign his wages for any purpose, not knowing that the day for all accounting must come.
 W. E. Smith, superintendent of the Louis iHC and Nashvlue railroad at Birmingham, said the enactment of law requiring the approval Of ssSiS Sn- mentS of wages would give employ CTS the means of using thelr Influ- ence ila having employees tc meet their obligations.
 Evasion Of Law Practiced.
 MT. Boykin's statement fellows:
 "l have read the bill introduced by Senator Hildreth and the companion bill that has been introduced in the house of representatives with q great deal Of interest and pleasure, and am hope fuI that these bills can be enacted and forever put behind us this troublesome thorn in the side of legitimate business in this state. The Ieast that can be said is that this Dill is an upward step in our march of progress. The interests affected Will no doubt make a strong plea that such assignments are necessary and will present evidence of the great help that they have render red to the embarrassed and bereaved poor. We know that when this busi- ness has been outlawed, that the worthy worker will be able to secure financial assistance at legitimate in tereSt from institutions now oDerat- lnS i'll all the larger cities. The calss of workers who now make such as SlSnments go to the money lenders in large numbers really need no such aecommodation, but on the other haRd. by reason of good wages and steady employment can, if properly hN he . 'lc, I,.,,, = tutlons, be induced to become savers instead of Spenders, ana in time pro- Nlde against the rainy day. 1t is q matter of educatin the worker to consult institutions that will help build.
 "fhe present practice among some "t the money lenders IS to take the assignment in duplicate, dating one copy and leaving it off the other. ne assignment is held over the head oI the employe and so long as he Iorks over" the accrued interest sacn ray day the assignment is not presented to the employed. When it becomes necessary, the undated as slgnment is dated on the date or a uay or two previous to presenting to the employer, making it appear as a new transaction and within the law" Would Protect Employees.
 superintendent Beatty made tba bill: i'iioresh
 We. of course want our employees tt pay tneir just debts and, because ol tHat fact, we are particularly in- tcrested in protection by law where protection is needed. My experience mas been that ineXperience in hand nhg affairs causes the major DOT qoh ofsthis trouble spoken of. For instance, consider the case of the CO.,, m colored man looks to the white man to take care of him to a greater ex tent probably than in other sections or the country. Since the colored employe has been receiving greatly Increased wages, he has, I think. pos sibly unintentionally and unknow- irSly drifted into eXtravagance The result IS that he gets into trouble on account Of debt, and the only way he 1ISures out of it is to borrow money l9 order to at once, as he sees it, get rid Of the troublesome matter He doesn't realize he is doing no more than merely staying off the account ing. It IS this feature, 1 think, more than any other that requires atten- tion They must be educated to take care q their funds, and, while such education is going on they will have to be protected in some way, and, in my Judgment. the protection should take the turn of so regulating the alter as to prevent the unknowing employe from going beyond his depth and greatly adding to his debt.''
 Amendments Suggested.
 MT smith. superintendent at Blr- mingham, said he thought Senator Hiidreth's bill excellent. but he sug- gested that it could be improved If amended by adding some of the pro- visions of the Kentucky law. On that feature Superintendent Smith says:
 There are many splendid features in this KentucKy bill. To illustrates: A new employe entering the service, stranger in the community, must obtain the necessaries of life The merchant cannot assume the risk of extending credit without protection of some kind. This is especially true of the colored help. At present our trainmen assign their wages either to a merchant or loan shark, and ire quently employees assigned to outlay ing runs receive their pay check while away from home, and, failing to call and pay the party to whom assignment is given. promptly on the day pay checks are received, results in such parties filing assignments before the employees have had an op- Iortunity to meet their payments. If there was a law in Alabama similar to that in Kentucky, when an em- ploye made an assignment. before 1t became valid it would be necessary for an authorized offical of the rail- road to approve same. and in this manner the officials could and wouiu exercise their influence to have the employees pay their just debts. 1t would protect the employees against having to pay court costs Further more, the assignments frequently Iecessitate taking employees out of the service.
 MT. Morrison. superintendent at Paris, Ky, advises that the Ken lucky law has worked wonders in