Evening star., 1933-04-28
BY WALTER TRUMBULL.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, April % (N.AN.A).-
Miss Lucy Randolph Mason, general
secretary of the National Consumers
League, says the increase Of "Sweated"
labor and the breakdown in labor
standards are largely due to increas
ing efficiency Of machine production
and consequent steady increase in dis
placement of workers.
The vast reservoir Of unemployed"
observed Miss Mason, presses relent-
the worker his bargaining power and
forcing him to seek any job at any
wage. According to reliable figures,
only about SIS per cent Of the employees
in manufacturing and mechanical in
dustries who were at work in 1929
have jobs today. 1t Is obvious labor
standards must go down in the face
of such an army Of unemployed"
There are two types of employers
Miss Mason explained. A small minor
ity always is eager to take full ad-
vantage of every opportunity to exploit
labor. The competition of this group.
in times of depression, inevitably tends
to drag down labor standards. The
better type of employer Is faced with
the problem of selling his product on
a stagnant market Wage cutting OBJ
viously is the most effective way to
reduce expenses.
! No Legal Safeguards.
Unfortunately. no legal safeguards
were set up which would have put a
limit to this practice, which of itself
decreases purchasing power and fur
ther dries up the market" Miss Mason
said
Pointing out that American pros
perlty has been built upon the pur-
CHASING power of wage-earning masses,
MISS Mason went on to say that esti-
mates concerning business in 1929
show 54 per cent of all goods and
services purchased in America was alb
sorbed by people with incomes less
than $4,000, and 81 per cent was alb
sorbed by those with incomes less
! than $1,000.
| Contrast this" she commented.
with the further fact that last Janu-
ary the wage index of employees and
manufacturing industries was only IS. 8
per cent of the wage index for 1926.
Today this index would be still lower.
Our greatest problem is to put the un-
employed back to work at high enough
wages to buy the products of factory
and farm
dition than the United States, as it has
evolved more shock absorbers and sta
bilizers, Miss Mason believes. America
could mitigate present conditions. she
/ thinks, by adopting some of the reme-
dies experience has brought to an older
| civilization
"A few years before the break, in
1922 Miss Mason explained, the
profits in increased machine produc-
| tivity were distributed at ratio Of Is
to invested capital receiving 16 por-
tions and labor getting /. If a system
of widely diffused income for workers
had been devised. purchasing power
would have been far better sustained
and the market would have held up
better"
| Favors Minimum Wage Law.
To remedy conditions, Miss Mason
eral, which will produce q more equi-
table share of the profits Of industry
| for the workers through a universally
short work day and week, minimum
wage boards to control the lower level
of wages for both men and women, and
unemployment insurance or reserves to
! carry the workers over bad periods and
| help maintain purchasing power She
| believes there should be child aid In
stead Of child labor.
Keep the young out Of industry and
| let them complete their education.
Miss Mason advised. IF necessary the
State should furnish assistance through
mothers aid or childrens pensions. The
old should be eliminated from industry
through old-age pensions. There should
| be extension of workmen's compensation
insurance to cover occupational diseases.
This would lessen the load upon public
relief"
| The National Consumers League,
under its founder, the late Florence
Kelley, first advanced the minimum
wage law about 1909. Such a law was
| declared unconstitutional by the Su-