Evening star., 1933-07-20
|WAGE CODE ORDER
PROBABLE TODAY
Johnson Warns of Crisis
Unless Purchasing Power
Is Increased.

10 IIIVi CQoVus
Continued From First Page)
that by tomorrow no issues would re-
main to be threshed out. There was no
hearing today.
Other groups which have not yet for
mally submitted codes were meeting to
reach agreement.
Coal producers from Northern and
Southern areas, who have been widely
divided on wage terms, pursued an ef-
fort to reach common ground.
Representatives of the brewing in
dustry were working on an agreement
with their labor as to wage and hour
terms.
Underwear manufacturers were seek
ing to agree among themselves, both ON
a permanent code and upon coming i'm
mediately under the terms of the cot
ton textile agreement. to which rayon,
silk and cotton thread already have
subscribed
Hearings on the lumber code began
with notice Of impending objections to
price fixing by William Denman, North
western lumber manufacturer.
Denman objected to the procedure
followed. complaining it offered insuffi-
cient time for him to prepare a state
ment of his opposition to several points
in the code. He asked for more time
and Dudley Gates, assistant admins
traitor for industry, took his request
under advisement
At the outset, Gates expressed graft
ncation that agreement was in prospect
Tor preservation and conservation of
forest uihi he
administration Is insisting.
c. Arthur Bruce Of Memphis, acting
executive officer of the lumber author
ity. took charge of the presentation
OF arguments for the code, saying that
for the present discussion of hours and
wages would be omitted.
Hours Unsatisfactory.
Minimum hours ranging from 40 to
AZ IN various sections of the country
with wages from 5000 to $40, suggest
ed by the industry, were declared un-
satisfactory several days ago by Ad-
ministrator johnson.
At the ship building hearing labor
assailed the proposed code and sub
mitted an alternate code providing for
30-hOur week and a minimum wage
Of S25 weekly
The ship builders in their tentative
code proposed a 40-hour week and a
minimum wage of 35 cents an hour or
sl4 weekly in Southern yards and 40
cents an hour OF SIG weekly in the
North.
At the opening Of hearings on the
code yesterday, the ship builders main
tanned that any working week below 40
hourS would increase the cost of pro-
posed naval construction by some
S86,O00.000 and would seriously delay
completion. Their argument was up
held by high Navy officials.
The alternate code of the ship
yard workers was presented by Joseph
Franklin. president of the Boilermakers'
Union. in behalf of score of trades
engaged in shipbuilding.
Injustice Is Charged.
The codes are designed primarily to
shorten working hours and raise pay in
industries, but they are also drawn in
an effort to stabilize conditions by
eliminating unfair competition.
Franklin assailed the hour and wage
provisions of the employers code as
inadequate. unfair. and in many in
stances unjust He said the employees
were ignored in the drafting Of the
shipbuilders' code
The code of the employees provided
that no employe except members of
supervisory staf1s should work more
than five hours a day or six days a
week and that no overtime work
should be done except emergency re-
pair work and then only at double
time: Employment of persons under
l6 also would be forbidden.
At today's coal conference were pro-
ducers from fields extending from
pennsylvania to Tennessee. but there
was no word on whether they had
agreed on the troublesome question of
how much more they should pay their
Northern than their Southern miners.
The meeting followed midnight ses-
sion with Gen. johnson and Assistant
industrial Administrator Simpson. 1t
was understood the operators talked
over the tentative draft of their code
with the recovery officials, but none of
the parties concerned would say what
resulted
Wage RumOrs Circulated.
The operators. mostly from fields
"here any attempt to unionize the
miners mas met bitter opposition have
written into their code an open-shop
provision and have agreed to a 4O-hour
maximum work week.
One rumor drifting out from the pro-
oucers executive session yesterday was
tlat tney had considered seriously 35
centS an hour minimum paw in the
ooutn and As cents in the North. Later
II was reported the spread between
North and South was narrowed. The
producers would confirm neither story
group OF operators, mostly from
union fields, and high officials of the
United Mine Workers of America, COM
pleted an agreement calling for a per
cent differential between wages north
and south of the Ohio and Potomac
Rivers. They claimed that spread was
nased on scientific study of variances
IN living costs and working conditions
They said they were ready to oppose
any increase
AT the hearings yesterday on the
shipbuilding and electrical manufac-
turers' code labor opposed the wages
proposed in each. Shipyard employees
wanted SO cents an hour instead of 40:
electrical workers wanted 80 cents an
hour for skilled employees instead of
the wide variety of wage scales proposed.
30-Hour Week Asked.
The electrical manufacturer proposed a
3e-hour week for factory labor and 40
for other workers. Many manufacturers
sought separate terms for various lines.
such as refrigerators. vacuum cleaners
and other appliances. A majority of
battery manufacturers sought also to
get a code of their own
Charles D. Keabeney. vice president
Of the International Brotherhood Of
Electrical Workers, in addition to de-
manding 80 cents an hour minimum for
skilled electrical workers, asked a 30
hour week.
Although Johnson's plan to hurry
wage-raising, so the masses may have
quickly the purchasing power needed
to sustain increased factory production,
gained the approval of the Cabinet Ad-
visory Board Yesterday. the admins