Evening star., 1933-05-05
Motors Head Tells House
Committee More Elasticity
Is Required.
INDUSTRY NEEDS TIME
TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
Spokesman of National Automobile
Chamber of Commerce and Others
Before Committee.

Willingness to accept shorter work.
week legislation, provided it is dras-
tically changed from its present 30
hour form, was expressed before the
House Labor Committee today by AL
fred P. Sloan, jr., president of the
General Motors Corporation.
Appearing as representative of the
National Automobile Chamber Of Com
merce, Sloan pointed out features in
the pending bills which he thought
were Objectionable, and remarked that
II one Of the measures was to be made
an effective instrument in increasing
work, numerous changes would be
needed.
he suggested first an average 32-hour
week instead of 80 hours, with author
lty tor employees to work as much as AZ
hours during rush periods. He added
recommendations for minimum wage
provisions, inclusion of intrastate as
Wen as interstate commerce, authority
Tor the Secretary of Labor to EXEMPT
specialized workers and a flexible pro-
vision under which the shorter work
week could be applied or not on i'm
ports.
Lack of Statistics.
Absence Of accurate current sta
tlStlcs make any definite statement
questionable" Sloan asserted but it
Is olmcult to account for the high esti-
mates that have been placed on the
reduction of unemployment this lepis-
iation would bring. My own opinion,
Tor what it may be worth, is that 75O,.
OOO would be fair estimate"
Dlsagreeing with organized labor that
minimum wage legislation would estab-
hsh that wage as the maximum, Sloan
asserted:
If I did think SO, certainly would
be very much against it because In
general, l believe in the highest possible
wages because by means of that pur-
chasing power is increased, and as We
get beyond the minimum ths excess be-
comes available for the purchase Of
things Of semi-luxury or luxury char
acter, hence creating employment in
their production
Sloan also said he was strongly con-
vinced" that the legislation as a perma-
nent measure would be Objectionable"
He recommended that 1t remain In force
two years and that 1t not 20 into ef-
feet until go or 90 days after approval,
SO industry could adjust itself to the
change.
To be made effective on q large scale,
Sloan suggested that the legislation be
extended to include all kinds OF public
and private employment with the ex-
ception of agricultural and domestic
workers.
Fears Harm to Newspapers.
Harvey J. Kelly, representing the
American Newspaper Publishers Asso-
ciation told the committee yesterday
that application of the 30-hour-week
lin my opinion, seriously would injure
the newspaper publishing business, spe-
cifically reduce employment therein
and work a hardship on the public
generally"
Five Departments Cited.
In general operations, the work is
divided among the following highly
differentiated yet logically related de-
partments in the newspaper plant:
Editorial, business, advertising, me-
chanical and circulation.
The editorial department Is
charged with the collection of local,
State, national and international news.
| Its employees include desk men, report
| ers, editorial writer's, special writer's
and artists.
Special writer's deal with economics,
art, literature and the sciences. Re-
porters work on general assignments
or special assignments and cover the
news of the locality. Special corre-
spondents and associated employees in
the editorial department cover State,
national and international news.
"Is the 30-hour "a week law to apply
to such men: and If so, how? How,
for instance. would a reporter investi-
eating a crime story be affected by
this law? Would it be necessary for
the publisher to call him in at the end
of six hours and assign another re.
porter to attempt to pick up the thread
of the story where the first man left
off?
Flexible Day Proposed?
THE same problem arises with ref
erence to specialists writing political
financial and economic subjects For
instance, If either House or Senate
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