Evening star., 1933-09-18
UNFAIR USED CAR
PRACTICES SCORED
Allowance System Industry's
Chief Evil, N. R. A. Hear
ing Is Told.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Unfair practices in making allow
ances for used cars were described to-
day to the Recovery Administration as
the center of virtually all trade evils
in the automobile retail industry.
This statement was made by F. w. A.
Vesper of St. Louis. president of the
National Automobile Dealers Associa-
ton, at a hearing at the Mayf1ower
Hotel on the automobile retailers code.
He said efforts were made In drafting
the code to eliminate this evil.
Saying the association had attempted
to reach an equitable basis upon which
dealers would accept used automobiles
in trade, he added:
Most all unfair trade practices In
this trade are grouped around this evil
and it Is the purpose of our trade regu-
lation to eliminate all the known forms
of such unfair practices which have
destroyed the business profits of
dealers"
Statesmen Called Chief Victims.
Vesper~ said statesmen on a commits
sion basis had suffered the greatest
hardship in the last three years be-
cause they have not been assured any
weekly earnings.
He added that the trade agrees un-
der the code to pay a minimum figure
as a drawing account each week. even
though there have not been any sales
as q means of rectifying injustices.
Vesper testified to Robert w. Lea,
deputy administrator. that the total
number of individual concerns in the
trade Is 80 000 He quoted Census Bu-
reau figures for 1929, the latest full
year available. that through the sales
rooms of his group a total of $5,216,-
006, ,695 Of new and used automobiles
changed hands.
Urging that the administration ap-
prove the provisions for a maximum
48-hour week, the association president
pointed out that employment for many
mechanics and other workers of the
trade fluctuates to large degree.
Maximum Price Is Aim.
I'VE must depend entirely for en-
ployment of our men on the work that
is brought to us by the public" he said.
This cannot be determined in advance
and as consequence We have peaks
and valleys at unexpected times. gov
erned, of course, in certain sections by
climatic conditions"
Discussing more fully the used car
allowance problem. VeSper said:
1T is our purpose to establish a
maximum price at which any partic-
ular used car may be accepted in trade
on a new or used automobile by any
dealer. and by doing so to standardize
trading so that cars will be sold on the
merit Of the product, the ability OF the
salesman and the efficiency of the
service rendered by the dealer"
Merit Clause Attacked.
A demand that the merit clause for
employees be stricken from the code
was made by DR.. Lawrence Seltzer Of
the College of Liberal Arts of the City
of Detroit, the labor advisor for the
trade.
The clause, identical to that incorpo-
rated in the code for the automobile
manufacturers, provides that employers
may hire and discharge workers without
regard to union affiliation.
Either this clause is meaningless and
has no place in the code or else 1t does
attempt to qualify the collective bar
gaining rights guaranteed in the recov-
cry act DR.. Seltzer said, "at any rate
it is direct challenge to the rights
of labor benefits guaranteed by the ma
tional recovery act
Dr. Seltzer also demanded that the
maximum hours be cut from 48 to 40
per week, and that in event of emer-
gency in no case should an employe
work more than 48 hours and then re-
ceive time-and-a-half pay. He urged
a higher minimum drawing account for
statesmen.