The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-29
ASSAIL Low
WAGESPAID IN
ROAD BUILDING
Contractors Enrich Selves
by Unemployment Crisis,
Says Fritz.
is CENTS AN HOUR
Labor Figured at 30 to so
Cents in Prices Charged
State for Highways.
rs CENTS AN HOUR
BY DANIEL M. KIDNEY.

BY taking advantage of unemploy-
ment to pay low wages for labor,
contractors are enriching themselves
from Indiana's record-breaking
highway construction program this
summer, it was learned today.
The disclosure followed the an
nouncement that Attorney General
James M. Ogden has ruled in favor
of permitting the state highway
commission to borrow additional
paving funds from the general fund,
such loans to be repaid.
Several millions of dollars. in
contracts have been let by the state
highway department on the basis
of labor costing 40 to so cents an
hour.
However, contractors who OBJ
tanned the contracts on this basis
now are paying wages as low as
1715 cents and 20 cents an hour,
according to Secretary Adolph j.
Fritz of the Indiana State Fedora
ton of Labor.
AS Low as Is Cents
Il have heard that some contrac-
tors on state highways are paying
as low as IS cents an hour" Fritz
told The Times.
rs the state of Indiana to stand
idly by and see it's working men
reduced to penal servitude?
This is a scandal of such pro-
portion that I intend to see that it
is brought before the state fedora
ton convention this Efall.
Director John j. Brown of the
highway department is authority
for my figures of 171a cents. He
told me that he had heard that
was the amount being paid by the
contractor doing the job just outside
of indianapolis on West Washing
ton street.
II know myself that contractors
doing state work in Greene county
are paying as low as 20 cents.
Demands Honest Share
Il do not want to see the state
take advantage of low wages, but
rather let the contractor give labor
its honest share of this money being
expended for state work."
Unusually favorable weather had
permitted the years paving projects
to be pushed so far in advance that
the commissions road building
funds were depleted.
In urging the state finance board
to o. X. the fund transfer, Cover
nor Harry G. Leslie particularly
stressed the benefit it will be to la
Dor in the state. He said nothing
Of the low wage scale.
Nor has this been taken into &C
count in making the most recent
awards of contracts by the depart
ment, according to Chief Engineer
William j. Titus of the state high
way department.
Il suppose it's up to contractors
to take advantage of the labor
market" he asserted, and declared
he never heard of the wartime
ruling of congress declaring that la
Dor can not be classed as a mere
commodity.
Below Old Scale
Contracts are contracts in this
country, and we couldn't cancel any
of them after they are signed" he
explained. Then he recalled that
bids this year were somewhat fur
Their below the estimates than usual,
although the department still was
figuring at the wage scales which
have prevailed in 1928 and 1929.
Under the Ogden ruling, the high
way department may expend funds,
not TO exceed their annual budget,
from the cities, counties and towns
share of the state gasoline tax, and
then, return the money later when
the 1881 automobile license plate
money comes in.
This will give the department ad-
ditional millions at this time it was
estimated and the paving program
will he nIShed