Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-26
BY WILLIAM HARD.

0AA0 VA caAn4 AcS NC IIIdnlCdAIleO ILlIOuBIl-
out this depression Or shall it be cut
in the name Of restoration Of business
activity? This problem has come to
the forefront Of consideration at Wash
ington during the past week.
The administration is getting bonn
barded with demands from Eastern
financial circles for a national policy
OF wage and salary reduction. The
President stands firm for the contrary
national policy Of wage and salary
maintenance. To that end he has had
repeated recent conferences and COM
munications with high industrial lead
ers. Most Of them have undertaken
to continue the wage and salary
maintenance policy undated for at
least some time to come.
The struggle seems to be between the
views OF certain large financial inter-
estS on the one hand and on the other
the presidents and most managers of
large industrial corporations.
y X
Considerable impetus was given to
the wage and salary reduction move
ment in the financial district Of New
York City by the visit to this country
OF Prof. Oliver Mitchell Wentworth
Sprague, economic adviser of the Bank
OF England, who came here in COM
pany with Montagu Norman, governor
OF the bank. Prof. Sprague conversed
with the economic advisers Of New
York banks, including those of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
ana the general sentiment emerging
from these contacts has been reported
10 washington as one in favor of the
wage and salary reduction theory.
The sentiment thus accelerated was
publicly declared during the past week
by Mr.. George E. Roberts of the Ma
tional City Bank of New York, who
maintained that the drop in the prices
OF commodities should, for the general
good, Ec followed by a drop In wages
ana In salaries In the building In
otstry, In the manufacturing industry,
IN the transportation industry, in the
distribution industries, and in The gov
ernmental and professional services.
Similar contentious from similar sources
are now directed at the White House
WIN great zeal and conviction.
\ +
Meanwhile sporadic wage cuts, or at
temptS at them, continue to be reported
TO the Cancellation service of the Cow
ernment's Department of Labor. With
In the last three weeks of record 100
metal polishers at Hartford, Conn.
accepted q "a per cent cut; 1000
Janttors in Chicago accepted a S per
cent cut; 400 building trades mechanics
IN waterloo, Iowa, accepted q cut, the
percentage OF which Is not here pre-
ctsely known. Also a Is per cent cut
has been proposed by employers to
building trade mechanics in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa; 10 per cent cut has
been proposed to machinists in Ilion,
N. Y; cut from $12 to $40 a day
mas been proposed to decorators in
Newark, N. j.; cut of 10 per cent
has been proposed to slipper makers
in New York City; and disputes re-
garding these proposals are pending.
Contrartwtse various proposed cuts at
numerous points have been successfully
resisted, and in Seattle, Wash, for 10 =
600 men in the building trades. an
agreement has been reached continuing
1884.
The impression, or, at any rate. the
hope OF the administration, is that the
sporadic wage-cutting tendency has
been checked, unless revived by agita-
ton from financial quarters.
That some checking of the tendency
has indeed occurred might seem to be
indicated by the latest figures from the
Department OF Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics. The last two months re-
ported by that bureau are the months
OF February and March of this wear
In February, out of its inquiries ad-
dressed to many thousands of manu-
featuring establishments, the bureau
Learned OF wage decreases, averaging
along about 10 per cent, and affecting
39,096 employees. In March, according
to figures out yesterday, the bureau
learned Of wage decreases, again aver
aging along about 10 per cent, but this
time affecting only 22,5o2 employees.
simultaneously the Presidents Com.
mittee on Employment, headed by Col.
Arthur Woods, asserts emphatically
that wage cuts are now decreasing in
number and in scope. The apprehen-
sion still felt by the administration is
that powerful banking influences might
bring pressure to bear toward wage re-
auctions among the industrial corpo-
rations with which they are associated.
r \
At the same time the responsiveness
Of American finance over American in.
duStry Is revealed as being apparently
much feebler than 1t was suspected of
being q few years ago. The independ-
ence Of large American industry from
financial control seems to have greatly
increased. President Clifford Of the
American Telephone and Telegraph
Co. is taking q leading part, publicly
and privately. in resisting the wage
and salary reduction arguments and
efforts. 1t also becomes known that
high leaders of the steel industry, In
81, H.
ration. have expressed themselves as
determined to maintain wages and
salaries in the midst Of adverse cir
cumstarces Throughout at least the
early part Of the Summer In the hope