The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-16
Housewife Factor In
 Code For Decorators
Painting and Paperhangng Laws Can Be Made Ex=
 tremely Valuable By Women Says Expert

and their husbands large sums of money. This declaration was re- gently made by John B. Dewar of Pittsburgh, prominent interior decorator and chairman of the na. tional code authority for the paint ing, paperhanging and decorating industry, in response to an inquiry from the wife of decorator in a southern city.
 "Is not the painting and decorat- ing code,' she asked, "one which affects the American woman as much if not more than any other
 code, inasmuch as it places her not only, as a consumer but ofttimes also as an employer? I would ap. preciate your response, as I have been asked to talk on this subject before the labor standards commit tee of our local League of Women Voters"
 MT Dewar wrote in reply:
 "You are absolutely right in as- stunning that the painting, paper hanging and decorating code af- fleets the woman of the household, and the American housewife can be of extreme value in making its terms effective. You know as well as I that it is, the woman who makes the decisions in purchases for the home and it is she who selects the paint colors and styles in having her home redecorated. It Is sad but true, especially in the past four year, that she is fre- .quently victimized by interruptions contractors who use poor mater ials and do shoddy work. To do over a poor original job of paint. ing or paperhanging is far more expensive that to have quality job done in the first place.
 Under our code, the housewife and the home-owner will be thor. oughly protected by provisions that a contractor must produce q Qual- ity of work, use the materials and complete his contract in full .con- formity with the specifications, the samples submitted and the repre- sentations he has made to secure the work.
 That simply means that if d contractor has agreed to put three coats of paint on your wall or hang a certain type of paper in the proper way, nothing less will do, and it is the woman of the house who can keep watchful eye to the proper execution of q contract for which her husband is to pay. Substitution of inferior brands of paint is frequent cause of cheat ing.
 Women can help themselves and they can help their whole community by insisting that con- tractors who bid for their work be those who have compiled with the terms of fair trade practice provisions of our code and who show the code eagle to prove it, They can be off of further air by reporting violations.
 That answers the question about your responsibilities as consumers, but you ask further about women as employers of labor. You do be- come employers of labor in the event that you or your husband purchase your own supply of paint and engage men to apply it for you. According to the terms of the code, you must then pay such men the same rate of wage as they would be paid by contractor and you must not permit the men to work longer than the maximum daily time agreed on under the code-eight hours day.
 And right there is where the hnIIGntvifn hnS tnof Ca.vN pose the husband has purchased the paint or paper. and a workman agrees-in whisper--to under take the job at 40 cents an hour instead of the say 60 cents which he should be getting in that local ity. He is offering 'bargain,' al- ways tempting and nobody but the worker and the woman need know of the price-cutting. but it is against the law and we are all-out to see that this law is complied with, After all, it may seem hard not to accept such bargain, but price-cutting is an almost certain asurance of a poor piece of work, and it is the householder who will pay in the end.
 '.In view of the vast amount of modernizing. repainting and re- decorating that is to be done under the new government Housing Law We feel that the American woman should avail herself of all the safe guards which We of the painting and decorating, world are setting up for her. And this applies, also to other phases of the construction industry, code. such as carpentry, electrical work and plumbing"