The Indianapolis times., 1934-01-23
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

N medieval times the "Age of Chivalry" was
the false front for the vulgarities brutaIities
and oppression Of the feudal system. There is
danger that we shall create an "age of chiselry"
IN which the blue eagle will be the mask behind
which we hide all sorts ON chicanery and short
SlghtedneSS that have been bequeathed to us
from the era of rugged individualism
II one were to assume for a moment that
man is rational being, it naturally would seem
TO follow that after he has been floating around
Tor years on raft believing to be rescued, he
would be willing to climb into lifeboat and sit
still. But it has not turned out this way No
sooner was the drifter hauled aboard than he
STUCK his head through life-preServer grabbed
hold OF Sledge hammer and proceeded to
smash yaWning hole in the bottom of the boat
To put it concretely, the national recovery
act was designed to give capitaIiStic business it's
last desperate gambling chance to maintain it's
existence. Rugged individualism had sapped it's
vitality and not few well informed persons had
already pronounced it dead. At any rate it was
self-evident that the NEA offered the last posi-
bic chance for survival.
One might have expected, on the basis of
logic and nationality, a feverish desire on the
part OF American finance and business to seize
upon the NF2A and to insist upon its enforce
ment with veritable fury.
INSTEAD, a considerable portion of American
L business seemingly has been intent upon
sinking the whole craft, even though they will
go gurgling to the bottom along with what they
have scuttled. William Hard in Today and
other writer's elsewhere, have done good service
IN exposing the methods of the chiSeIer
Some industries embodied in their codes the
worst abuses of the old individualistic era; wit
ness the Pittsburgh plus clause in the steel code
and the alti-labor- union clause submitted in
the same code.
more frequent ruse was to present an ex-
cellent code and then employ clever lawyers to
advise how it might be evaded To nv personal
knowledge, an important American industry
sought such acvice from counsel long before the
code was submitted at Washington. There is no
reason to believe that this was an unusually
piratical or irresponsible industry.
Another type OF chiSeling is perpetuation of
the old style collusion and price-fixing, such as
the notorious, but extremely stupid collusion in
the oldS submitted for steel rails to be used on
the railroads under government supervision
Again. while the codes usually set minimum
prices below which industries can not sell, there
is no such protection against jumping prices up
ward beyond all reason or justice.
A VERY common type of chiseling has been
L y wage manipulation In not uncommon
case, most Of the women employed by a certain
company received less than the minimum wage
set by the code, while most of the men received
higher wages than this minimum. When the
code was put into operation, the employers
raised the women to the minimum and cut the
men down to the minimum. Since there were
more men employed than women, the actual
wage payments of the firm were less after the
code had been installed than before Hiring
enough new help to meet the terms of the code
and then furtively firing as many as were hired
has been another subterfuge.
Still another form of evasion has been to
base the minimum wage upon the piece work
kmethod. In order to earn the minimum wages
by piece-work, definite speed-up has been re-
quired. Those who fail to earn the minimum
by pece-work methods are discharged The
| Speed-up system has been widely adopted to
compensate for the shorter week.
Often the local set-up encourages and per-
nits the violation of wage agreements and the
rights OF collective bargaining as embodied in
the code The chairman Of the local NRA COM
mittee may be at one and the same time presi-
dent OF the local bank and the local chamber of
commerce. Any complaints brought to the NRA
| committee by the employees are revealed quickly
| To the employers and those who have registered
the complaints are either disciplined or lose their
| jobs.
| There is some evidence that the government
intends to be very stern in its inSistence that
business stay in the lfeboat and make no effort
to wreck it. Mr.. Hard is sufficiently optimistic
to contend tnat: We Do Our Part is fast on
its way toward getting changed into You'll Do
Your Part-And Like it'"