Evening star., 1934-02-27

pep meeting. lney are DOLn IN
deadly ernest and the purpose of
them is to mop up the errors, short
comings and mistakes of the rapid
process of codiflcation which, meas
ured in figures Of employment has
already covered about 80 per cent
Of American industry and which in
| a relatively short time will have
covered it all.
For any man to understand N r.
A. he must know something of the
history of its several phases and
the reason why its various actions
were taken when and as they were.
Major Industries Lead.
AS I have said, the law was passed
on June 16. On July the great
cotton textile code was signed. on
July rs the wool textile and ship.
building codes. on August 4 the elec-
trical and coat and suit codes, on
the 10Th the petroleum, iron and
steel and lumber codes. There were
several other smaller codes but until
September l these were the only
major industries to come under codes.
The electrical, textile and iron and
steel codes came SO quickly because
they had been worked on long before
the act was passed and the petro-
leum industry had much experience
in at least trying to get together.
1t was absolutely necessary to get
such group of major industries to
come forward, both to show the way
to others and to get some experience
in the translation of the general prin-
ciples of the statute into practicable
working formulae
But it takes weeks and sometimes
months to make a major code and
no such rate of progress could have
codified all Of industry in time to do
any good. The answer was the Presi-
dents Unemployment agreement and
the Blue Eagle. The Blue Eagle
was urgently necessary for six COM
peling reasons, any one of which,
taken alone-justify him and the
combination of all Of which left us
no other choice.
First. Industries are themselves COM
petitive for labor in the open market.
We could not apply one rule to one
lows. We had to bring all under the
same rule Immediately
Second. In anticipation Of new bur-
dens under the agricultural and recov-
cry acts, several industries had rushed
into speculative overproduction. Stocks
were piling up in mountains We we're
keenly aware that unless something
were done instantly We would be
deluged by new wave of unemploy-
| ment with possible tragic results.
| "In Commerce One"
Third, We talk about interstate and
| intrastate commerce AS John Mar
shall once said, In commerce We are
one people" and that was never more
forcibly demonstrated than upon pas
sage of the recovery act. We are
raising costs by increasing pay rolls.
lntrastate commerce and industry COM
petes with interstate commerce and
| industry. Unless We could find some
rule to put them on the same basis of
hours and wages We would not have
/ been justified in doing anything at all.
because intrastate operations would
: simply have ruined interstate enter
prise. This was so clear and threaten
ing that no man who lived here
through those anxious days will ever
again be persuaded that there is any
important enterprise in this country
that is not Tin the language of the
actt sin or affecting interstate COM
merce." We have had an astonishing
lesson which 1t is vitality important
that the whole country should under
stand. State lines are not the sig
nificant lines in American commerce.
II there are any clear lines of de-
marcation, they are regional rather
than State boundaries. The areas are
economic rather than political The
general loW-Wage scales in the whole
| OF the South, and especially the
starvation wages of Negroes in some
industries, had spread their effect like
a great grease stain over large parts
OF the map Of the United States, de-
grading the wages and living condi-
tlonS OF labor in other regions far
removed. On the strength of uncon-
sclonable wages the Birmingham dis
trict was invading the Detroit stove
market. for example. leaving the
Michigan stove industry no alternative
except marked wage cuts Metropoli-
tan sWeatshops were doing a similar
thing in the garment trade-intrastate
though their operations may have been
physically. both manufacture and
sale-yet they were effectively closing
the great metropolitan markets to any
product not manufactured under SINH
lar degraded and dHgraceful labor
conditions. We had to devise a means
OF insuring some improvement by
operators working physically intra-
state TO protect interstate commerce
from the most sinister and threaten
Ing aspect of the depression-predatory
wage and price cutting, to the immi-
nent threatened destruction of Amer
lean living standards. 1t is a constant
process OF ieVeling, with no other
direction than downward 1t had to
be arrested. Here, again. the answer
was the Presidents agreement and the
Blue Eagle
Fourth. With law affecting es-
tablished practices of Nationwide ex-
tent, except in glaring outstanding
/ aim iAhPoi edAI SdotS, you COulQ no
more enforce it by court process and
criminal prosecution than you could
enforce prohibition. 1t had to be en-
| forced by public opinion. In order
for the public to support those who
were cooperating to create employ
ment and purchasing power and to
withhold support from those who were
not. there had to be a symbol easily
recognizable, striking and effective
We designed the Blue Eagle for this
purpose. 1t sounds simple, but it was
the first time in our history that the
people as a whole were ever given a
chance to enforce statute enacted
in their own interest by their own
| participation. 1t was as effective a
demonstration as was ever given. For
a variety Of reasons it has Jagged
somewhat of late, but 1t will not lag
long. We are going out to restore
public information about the Blue
Eagle in any region where that may
be necessary-call it what you will
(and chiselers big and little call it