The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1934-05-15


An indignant outry from MIRA
Officials and members OF the
Cleaning and Dyein0 Code Au-
thority followed disclosure that
Aaron SiluerStein, tDhiIe Dice chair
man of the authority, the group
s1hich cracked dotOn on cutrGte
little t1ilorS, UaS himself the or
OGniser OF q chain OF cut-rGte
stores.
But there is substantial Evidence
that Mr.. SilDerStein tD1S by no
means HniQue-thdt other mem
berS of the authority 1Dere also
Uiolating, less openly, perhaps, but
Uiolating Just the same.
By JOSEPH HARRINGTON
NEW YORK, May 15.-On May
8, a Hearst reporter went to the
wholesale plant of the B. g. M.
Cleaners and DyerS in Brooklyn
and asked what prices they we're
charging. This is the plant Of
Jacob Ruther, a member Of the
Code Authority.
There was some ado, and pres
emily the plant manager, Mr..
Sidney Markowitz, came forward.
Mr.. Ruther not being available.
He made a statement:
1.-THE b. O. M. tried for two
days to live up to the code
prices. Our trucks came back
empty. After that time we had
to 20 back to our old prices Of
Is, cents, Is cents and 20 cents
per garment"
Under the code, the wholesale
base price is % cents.
Find Code Impossible
Mr.. MarkowitZ indicated that
the B. & M. people were heartily
in favor of the MIRA, that they
were strong champions of the
code price list-but unfortunately
they couldn't live up to it.
Subsequently Mr.. Ruther him
self was reached. He was in
formed of the below-code prices
given by his managers and was
asked to verify them. He said:
81 don't know anything about
it."
"YOu don't know about your
prices?"
"NOt thing"
"But don't you know whether
you're violating the code price
or nOt?"
mo, I don't want to talk
about it,
"Why?"
Because don't know how
you're going to use it. See?"
The chairman of the local au-
thority here is Harry L. Braun
stein.
Mr.. BraunStein, interviewed at
his home in Elmhurst, said that
neither he, personally, nor other
members of the code were behind
the breakdown on small tailors.
He said:
"We're not interested in prose-
cutting the small man. We SYM
pathiZe with them"
Mr.. Braunstein said he has been
quite inactive in the code author
ity. He explained:
81 don't know very much
about what they're doing, due
to a broken ankle which laid me
up 10 weeks ago."
He said he was quite certain
that no member Of the code au-
thority had been violating the
code.
"Aren't your drivers working
more than code hours, Mr..
Braunstein"?
"Well, can't tell you for
certain, not having been in for
more than 10 weeks. 1 doubt it
though"
NOT VERY IMPORTANT
He went on to say that it was
''hard to hold drivers to a definite
number Of hours" and indicated
he didn't think it was a serious
matter anyway, a belief, by the
way, commonly shared by whole
salers who became members Of
code authorities.
He was asked whether any at
tempt had been made to enforce
code prices on the wholesalers, of
which he is one. He said:
'WeI, not much. I under
stand, however, that just re-
Gently they got summOnses
against two wholesalers. You
see, it's hard to get evidence on
wholesalers. It's easy to get it
on retailerS-yOu just go in,
leave q garment and get a ticket
with the cut-rate marked on it.
On the other hand, to get evi-
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