Imperial Valley press., 1933-08-02
SURVEY WILL
CHECK Up On
NRA EVASION
Deliberate Violations And Trick
cry To Be Halted By Govern
ment.
ORGANIZATION PERFECTED
District And State Recovery
Officials Named To Supervise
Workers.
BY II. O. THOMPSON

United Press Staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2. U.P)-
Aroused by evidence of "chiseling"
on the voluntary e-employment
agreements, officials of the Nation
al Recovery Administration today
determined to make a strict check
up on violations and evasions.
Administrator Hugh S. johnson
prepared for a survey to disclose
not only actual violations of signed
agreements but also roundabout
methods by which some employers
were seeking to display the blue
eagle and obtain benefits of the
agreements without making any
real contribution to re-employ-
ment and wage increases.
Reports from regionaf officials
showed hundreds of thousands of
signatures to the agreements.
What the NRA officials are more
anxious to know, however, is the
number of men actually re-em-
ployed and the amount of money
added to the nations payrolls.
This information will be obtain
ed through a questionnaire to all
employers. The great organization
being developed through all the
states will make check-up COM
paratively simple. In its final form
the organization, designed to spread
the gospel of the re-employment
drive in every city and town, will
be adaptable also to the store-to-
store canvasses and other methods
of obtaining desired information.
The nationwide organization is be-
ing perfected rapidly Members of 26
district and 48 state recovery
boards were appointed late yes
terday. They will supervise and
coordinate local campaign work.
ers.
Plan Square Deal
The great volume Of inquiries
reaching the NRA is interpreted by
officials as meaning that many
employers are seeking exemption
from the blanket code through
technicalities or by classification
as borderline cases.
There Is every intention to ad-
minister the blanket agreements
with justice to all and with a
great degree of flexibility that
will prevent undue hardships to
individual enterprises. But some
uneasiness has been aroused by the
widespread tendency to cavil over
fine points in the general code.
Problems relating to specific in
dustries, notably bituminous coal
and steel. occupied administrators
as they watched closely progress
of the blanket agreements.
August IA has been set for hear
ipgs on the coal code of fair COM
petition. Until an industry Is
brought under a code the NRA
has no Jurisdiction in such cases
as the present Pennsylvania coal
strike.
Considerable pressure was brought
upon johnson to set an earlier
date for the coal hearing. Some
asked that the hearings be started
next Friday.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2. U.P) -
With the county charity roster con-
tinuing to grow, NRA officials in
Los Angeles turned today to in
vestigation of backsliders and
evaders
Complaints seeped into headquar-
ters from employees and investi-
gators, telling of instances where
employers have adopted the blue
eagle as a protection and business
aid without shortening hours or
raising salaries.
A statewide vigilante organiza-
ton of volunteers will start check
ing next Monday, officials said.
Evaders face prosecution under
two federal laws: The mail fraud
statute and the law forbidding i'm
personation of federal officer for
gain. In signing the blanket code,
authorities said, business men have
become special federal officers, a
status that becomes "impersona-
ton" in the performance OF
the implied duties.
NRA stickc>. were reported being
peddled in the streets at three for
10 cents. Attorney General Cum
mings authorized U. S. District At
torney Peirson M. Hall to take
whatever measures were necessary
to stop the traffic.
Victory in the enlistment of busi-
ness men is assured, officials said,
and the activity of the next few
weeks will consist in administra-
ton.