The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-10-28

cry council.
Mr.. Morgan told The Times
that he will sign the perman-
ent Gamers code when it is
adopted at Washington.
He answered charges that he has
employed child labor, paid his en-
ployes low wages and forced them
to work long hours, with franknesS
In a tour of his large plant hum
ming with the activity of the to-
mato canning season, he walked
among the shining tin cans filled
with appetizlng soups and yege-
tables, which have Melted him
fortune, and explained MS position
with regard to the recovery pro-
gram.
Rugged Individualist
A tall, bulky and raw-boned man
with the characteristic fighting
spirit of the first Morgans of
Indiana who fought their way
through the Cumberland gap and
into this territory more than two
hundred years ago. Mr.. Morgan
frankly admitted that he is
rugged individualist."
But he fastened to explain that
he is not, like Ford, opposed to the
recovery plan as a whole. He OBJ
iectS only to the phase of it, he
said, which would eliminate compe
tition in business, "depriving me of
of a right to fight for whatever
profits there are in the game"
If can put up pork and beans,
for instance Mr.. Morgan explained,
with a profit of only 2l2 cents
dozen cans, and my competitors in
siSt on a profit of 10 cents for the
same amount. who is benefiting the
housewife in the long rum
Strength in Quantity
L can take a smaller profit and
make money because I've perfected
my business to a high point of eff
ficiency I do things on big scale.
My strength lies in quantity pro-
duction.
L didn't sign the blue eagle agree
ment before this because, while I've
sometimes told a lie, I don't believe
in signing my name to lies. l sup
pose the easiest way would have
been to sign the PRA like so many
other employers and then chiSeled."
when the government inaug-
urated the NRA program" said Mr..
Morgan. 1T requested some specific
regulations among Gamers. For
example, the government requested
a IS per cent advance on all pro-
duce growers contracts. We &d-
vanced our contract prices to AZ
per cent"
Wages Are Raised
The government requested an
advance in wages. We Immediately
advanced all wages, too, and many
above the government request. Our
minimum wage was raised from Is
cents an hour to 25 cents an hour.
I'VE shortened hours in compE-
ance with the governments request
and put in three daily shifts of
seven hours each. Since March l.
we have increased our number of
employees 81 per cent and the wages
accordingly"
In answer to the charges that he
was employing child labor, Mr..
Morgan said:
The government requested elm
ination of labor under Is, which we
could not DO and save our green
bean pack. the Stringing of which
has always been done by school chill
dren and people who were too old
to do factory work Their help was
used to save the crop which was
finished before the start of school,
which was delayed a couple of weeks
at the request of L w. Craig. super
intendent of schools. and Mr.. Mar
tin, county unemployment preSi-
dent"
Towns Lose $4,000
Nov I'm eliminating child labor
entirely. I'm installing $4,000
worth of bean stringing machinery to
take the place of the children and
old folks forever. 1t will mean that
$4,000 q year is taken from the
towns of Austin. ScottSburg and
Crothersville where I have canning
plants. Hasn't some economist also
said that eventually the machine
will ruin this civilization? Well.
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