The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-07
NRA Provides Neither
Jobs Nor Money
to Buy With
BY I. AMTER


the Socialist and A. F. of L. leaders,
as bringing about a revolution along
tEe American methods" Roosevelt
has retired to Hyde Park to look over
his work" No doubt he, johnson,
Sidney Hillman and William Green
have pronounced it good. A few in
sights into basic features Of the N. l.
R. A. will convince us otherwise
The purpose of the N. I. R. A. is
to end unemployment. AS the World
Telegram in an editorial of July 18th
stated:
American business leaders have
admitted again and again that our
economic structure can survive
only if way is found to keep the
whole population at work and earn
ing enough to buy enough to make
the wheels go around. Bust
ness is making fa1tering progress
toward saving itself from destruc-
ton. Only continued firm guild
ance from the administration can
pull it through"
Can it? That question is answered
very simply. The working popula-
ton can NEVER buy back what it
produces, owing to the nature of the
profit system, and therefore the
wheels must stop and capitalism
faces destruction.
viii the N. I. r. A. do the job-for
that was its aim. Let us look at
facts. The cotton mill owners were
warned sufficiently in advance of the
enforcement of the cotton code. Pre-
sunnably, the number of workers to
be hired on the reduced working hour
schedule should Immediately have in
creased. Did it? 1t did not. The
N. Y. Times on July 21st informs us
that: ''The authorities estimate that
Southern mills will add some $4,000
new operatives in the next few
months" But it adds gloomily; 1.-THE
forecasts have not been borne out
as yet. On the day that the new
code became effective only one mill
in the Carolinas reported that it was
taking on new employees, and this was
counter balanced by the announce
ment from another mill that it was
discharging sixty-five."
Although the Virginia mills hired
some new workers, the Times says;
1T is oyerbalanced by the lack of
increased employment in North Caro-
lima, which for some years has had
more spindles in place than any state
in the Union, and in South Carolina,
which has had the largest number in
actual operation"
Increase. Output, Less Employment
Why does this happen? Because,
the writer adds: They (the mill
owners have noted with some I'M
easiness the drop in the volume Of
business done by the department
stores and the question which con-
Germs them is whether the public
will buy the products of their mills
in sufficient quantities at the in
creased prices made necessary by the
advance in wages and the reduction
in working time" Correct uneasi-
] ness-and the answer? Have the
! wages enabled the workers at any
! time to buy back what they produce
! and will the increased wages, which
in many cases are reduced wages,
and the lowering of wages of higher
skilled workers to the minimum
wages, plus the lowering of the
! hcurs, make it possible for them to
buy more now? OF course not.
The proof is given in the report
Of Secretary Of Commerce Roper on
, July %: Factory output increased
/ IS per cent from February, factory
: employment increased per cent,
payrolls gained only Is per cent?"
How could the mill owners fire the
workers, when the explicit purpose of
the N. I. R. A. was to increase en-
ployment, when Roosevelt and John
son both appealed to the patriot
ism" of the employers and merely
asked the workers to go along? This
is very simple-although it may ap-
pear contradictory. In a statement
concerning the firing of workers for
union activity and of workers dis
charged in the normal progress of
The application of the cotton code,
1 johnson said Gully 20) "he cannot do
anything about on-discriminatory
reduction of forces. That's some of
the eggs that are broken in making
this omelet.' 1t must be made clear
the codes do not guarantee those
\ now working that they will have jobs;
it promises no job to an unemployed
worker; it does not protect the work
ers against discharge. But the work
srs are to put trust in Roosevelts
'revolution!"
A Stage Play
What hope have the workers of
getting their wishes before the Ma
tional Recovery Administration? Ac-
cording to Johnson in a speech on
June rs, sit is trade or industrial
associations in groups, and not COM
binations of trade with labor groups
which are to submit codes or agree
ments." In other words, the indus
trialists submit their codes and then
the understanding the officials of
the A. F. of Twill be allowed to
say amen. But on July 26, johnson
declared: Where there are repre-
sentative organizations of labor in an
industry, it is desirable that they
confer with those preparing the
CODE Why this change?
In preparing the cotton code, Nc
Mahon OF the United Textile Work
ers co-operated. But in order not to
lose his influence among workers who
went out on strike, at the hearing he
pretended not to agree with the pro-
visions of the code. Green objected
to the steel code, whereupon Lamont,
speaking for the steel manufacture