Evening star., 1934-02-08

This Is the fourth in series OF
daily articles by Ralph ". Page.
economist and Urtter, Uho has
toured the country to discover =
tDhat its people think OF the ma
tfondl recovery program and IS notO
putting his findings into writing.
by RALPH w. PAGE.
The blanket code was accepted ev-
erywhere rs = novelty and patriotic
pageant. 80 learned in my travels.
1t was inaugurated in typical, efacient
American style by conservative lead
ers in every city and town with
practically unanimous support.
Many places claim the record for
speed and percentage Of enrolment.
Probably Oklahoma City. with an
honor roll In . public square carry
ing the name Of every enterprise in
time I came along, vexing the people
with questions. opinion had pretty
we'll crystallized.
Every one said 1t was q good idea,
that it was fair and that 1t ought
to prime the pump and get money
into the hands of the consumer. The
man in the street said 1t was work.
ing. The labor leaders said 1t was
working on only two cylinders be-
cause the employers were cheating.
| Most merchants and factory man
ayers said that the more other
people paid in wages the better their
own businesses would become. But
| each one very shortly perceived that
| he was being required to make cash
investment in wages and was heard
to say that he was quite willing.
| provided his income increased in
time to save him before his capital
was all gone.
Big Firms Hired Many.
The enormous popular support,
| including the many enforcement
! board, merely gave an impetus to
events. Eventually the experiment
worked out mathematically. Small
| agricultural towns with no source OF
increased income dropped out. Con-
Germs that actually could not keep
up the pace were politely let out,
Lawyers and efficiency experts worked
| overtime to cut the expense OF the
rule to a minimum under the letter
| of the agreement in many places.
| The large national concerns. with
surpluses in their treasures and the
full glare OF publicity on their
actions, lived up to the spirit and
/ employed a vast number of people.
BY Christmas the slack between
wages and income had pretty well
| been taken up or the general problem
had been superseded by individual
problems facing each industry. The
! introduction of the industrial codes
had the country busy. and turned a
general discussion into concentrated
attention upon the SPECIFIC details OF
each mans business.
! For good or i'll. the N. r. A. has
provided the country permanently
with a shorter working week and
established the fixed idea that q
man is entitled to q minimum wage.
Both principles. or rather facts. are
! drastic notifications Of the old order.
To limit the hours Of labor and to
fix the price Of labor without regard
to its supply or the demand are
simply another way OF limiting the
productivity and hence the possible
| Oh All lhOlNlOudl ChtCI "a
Minimum Pay Pegged.
Among practical men, as distin-
guished from fnanciers and theorists
there seems no serious opposition to
the fait accompli Every person Is
entitled to a living. Shorter hours
get rid OF the overproduction that was
the producers nightmare. Other peo-
Piles wages go to my customers. So
the reasoning goes. But that Is not
the end. There is no end. or pos
sibility of an end. For. once it is
established that shorter hours are
beneficial, the question arises how
short?" This is not an academic
question. 1t Is clarion call tc
battle and all sturdy warriors eager
for the fray can join in. 1t Will not
! be settled in our lifetime.
Precisely the same thing is true OF
minimum living wage. 1t is tenn
porarily pegged at one place now by
the codes. From now until socialism
| any one who chooses can join sides
| in the perpetual battle-between the
blue stockings who say 1t Is too high
or high enough and the roushnecks
who say it is too low.
| To understand exactly what oc-
CURED during this code making era
! the last place to look is in any set
of statistics or any recital OF eco
nomic theory. Regardless OF the
figures and regardless of any one
surmise something was happening
Good or i'll, as nearly as 1 could as
/ certain by talking to those engaged
in the battle, it was as follows:
Minority Caused Dispute.
Thousands OF manufacturers, !
might almost say all manufacturers
we're on the verge of ruin. They had
tried to stave this OF by cutting
wages and all other items Of expense
only to find that the market for their
product decreased even more rapidly
The only remedy they could then
imagine was to get together with al
competitors and make some sort OF
agreement limiting their total output
and fixing some minimum price.
This was forbidden by the anti.
trust laws. But 1t was impractical
anyway by reason of law more DO.
| tcLlG lIldl lllC oSo. AAAA
was the law Of variation of the in
olyidual. Eighty per cent might
agree. But 20 per cent would proceed
to disrupt the whole business. This
was made clear by the efforts OF the
! citrus growers and the apple growers
who were subject to no restraints
Their rules governing production and
distribution were defied and destroyed
by an unruly minority.
Consequently the overwhelming ma
jority of producers came to the in
evitatle conclusion that II they were
to be saved this result would have tc
be Brought about by compulsion OF q
small minority by a large majority
They could imagine no agency able to
accomplish this but the Government
OF the United States. So they ac-
called upon the Government for au-
thority-not only authority to disre-
gard the laws against combinations In
tb,s odnoipictr ation It apDearS thel