Evening star., 1933-09-03
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women. While wages were highest, so
were earnings and dividends distributed
to ownership and management.
What Is the so-called new deal all
about, 50 far as labor is concerned:
what does 1t contemplate; what has 1t
accomplished in general way. and
what lies ahead from Labor day, 1888?
,rhe essence of the new deal Is found
in Section I of the national industrial
recovery act, which proclairns the pur-
poses Of the great grant of powers to
the President of the United States. Tne
basic purposes are declared to be:
To increase the consumption OF the
industrial and agricultural products by
increasing purchasing power.
To reduce and relieve unemployment
To improve standards OF labor.
To otherwise rehabilitate industry and
conserve natural resources.
President Roosevelt gave practical
meaning to those purposes when he
declared, in signing the act on June 10:
mo business which depends for ex-
istence on paying less than living wages
to its workers has any right to con-
tinue in this country. BY business. :!
mean the whole of commerce, as well
| mean all workers-the white-collar
class, as well as the man in overalls,
and by living wages I mean more than
| a bare subsistence level mean the
wages Of decent living.
Throughout industry the change
from starvation employment to living
wages and sustained employment can,
| in large part, be made by an industrial
| covenant to which all employers shall
subscribe"
New Deal Plans.
That Is what the new deal contem-
plates.
The law gave to industries exemption
from the antitrust laws, so that they
might organize associations to limit and
regulate harmful competition.
And over strong opposition organized
,, labor, working through the American
Federation of Labor and its other agen-
cles, succeeded in writing into the law
the following provisions, which must 60
into the code Of every industry:
That employees shall have the right
to organize and bargain collectively
through representatives Of their own
choosing, free from interference and
coercion by employers.
That no employe and no one seek
ing employment shall be required to
Join any company union or to refrain
from Joining, organizing or assisting a
bona f1de labor organization.
That employers shall comply with
the maximum hours of labor, minimum
rates of pay and other conditions of
employment approved or prescribed by
the President.
Inc honest application Of those labor
provisions will do more than anything
else to speed industrial recovery. II
those labor provisions are either openly
nouteo or are nullified by reservations
and exceptions, ntrigues and deceit,
all hope of industrial recovery on a
sound and lasting basis may as well
be discarded
II Is the associations of industry, the
organizations OF business men. repre-
Sented by shreWd counsel. which frame
and present the voluntary codes of in
oustry being considered at Washington.
| 1hey nave at their command years of
experience in influencing public officers.
lhey nave the money and organization
10 assemble and present for considera-
tion hgures representing the employers
conception Of industrial justice
The great mass of consumers are un-
organized. Only by capable. vigilant
closely knit organizations of labor can
the public interests be safeguarded
through the presentation. for official
consideration. Of the facts relating to
working conditions. hours. actual pay
and purchasing power of those affected
by proposed codes.
When code was proposed recently
for instance. by. the heads of the great
steel companies. how could unorganized
practically destitute men who had
worked in the rolling mills at Pitts
! burgh come to Washington to present
! in detail the needs of such labor-the
amount of work that was available to
| be spread out" the number of hours
| to working day that would best take
up the slack in employment and all the
| other facts needed in arriving at a
| decision?
Need of Organized Labor.
That situation reveals the need fol-
| labor organiZation-the same kind OF
efficient organization that industrial
| owners have. Such organization does
| not presage a battle, strikes disorder
ruin or loss Of reasonable profits for
| employers. 1t does insure the kind
| of industrial justice that must be
achieved If purchasing power is to be
restored
l grew up in the bituminouS or soft
coal fields Of Ohio. I went to work in
the mines with my father, when I was
| l8 years old. I saw the miners unions
| broken by mine owners who assumed
] that by cheapening labor they would
| increase profits. Instead. there arose
competition between mine owners in
| various fields to beat down production
| costs. and prices came tumbling after
so that the result has been ruin and
| degradation in the soft-coal fields for
miners and mine owners alike.
In textile and hosiery mills the same
condition prevailed. Workers wages
were cut again and again-and always
| the prices Of the products went lower
SO that owners derived no profit from
beating down the employees Instead
purchasing power was lowered: there
was less and less work for mills and
factories everywhere. in every line OF
| industry, as wages went down and the
| mass Of the people had less to spend
Labor today is glad to have organ
izations Of industry combine to put a
stop to cutthroat competition. But
| labor demands its own organizations to