Evening star., 1934-12-05
SLOAN HALLS CODE
AS AID TO MILLS
Cotton Textile Institute
Head Says Competitive
Conditions Improved.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
NEW YORK, December 5.-Under
the N. R. A. competitive conditions in
the Nations cotton textile industry
have improved. George A. Sloan, presi-
dent Of the Cotton Textile Institute,
declared today.
Speaking at the annual meeting Of
the institute, Sloan said: BY the
code. we attempted to create condi-
tions under which competition could
function in a healthy manner. We
have made Improvements, we are
learning by experience, much remains
to be accomplished"
Reviewing the past year in the in
dustry, Sloan discussed the effect Of
the textile code, the processing tax
and the recent textile strike.
Equalized Conditions.
The code, he said, had relieved the
pressure toward minimum wages,
equalized conditions of competition
and enabled the industry to re-absorb
its unemployed.
Machine hour limitations had
brought the available capacity of the
industry more nearly into balance with
available demand, Sloan said, thus
mitigating somewhat the effects of
the overcapacity of the industry.
For 1888 and the first six months
of 1894" he added, I'VE believe that
the inquiries now being made by the
Federal Trade Commission will show
some profit to the industry as whole" ="
This would contrast, he pointed out,
with a net loss for the industry Of
S75 900 900 for the years 1925 to 1881
inclusive.
Sloan said certain developments
during the past six months had exert
ed a deleterious effect on the cotton
business. He listed as these develop
ments a general reaction in business
confidence. a reaction from buying,
loss of export markets and the proc
essing tax.
"All these elements and no doubt
others have for the time being un-
balanced our capacity available under
our machine hour limitations with
available demand" Sloan declared.
They have brought again into opera
ton for the time being some Of the
old destructive effects of the such
unbalance = .
New Technique Needed.
For situations such as these We
obviously need to develop more f1ex-
ible technique in balancing available
capacity with available demand, and
preserving an equality between buyer
and seller"
Sloan said machine e-hour provisions
should never be removed. If they were.
he added, the pressure Of destructive
competition would drive toward the
resumption and rapid extension Of
three-shift operation"
Sloan said the processing tax, COM
ing on top of increased labor costs,
had thrown the price of cotton goods
out of line with commodities general
ly' and was factor in diverting con-
sumption to other products which
compensatory taxes do not deal with
completely"
Commenting briefly on the textile
strike, Sloan declared it was failure
because it was an effort to impose on
all the workers of an industry the will
of an organization with which only a
minority had chosen to affiliate them
selves"
Buries Dead Cats"
Sloan, borrowing a term from Gen.
Hugh S. Johnson, buried few dead
cats" Contrary to accusations. he
said, the cotton industry had not tried
to offset increased costs under the
code by increasing the work load; 1t
did not employ minors; it had not
used the machine-hour limitations to
hold production at an artiflcially low
level.
Probably the dead cat that revives
most persiStently is the charge Of nom
compliance with the code provisions, "
he said The extremely small num-
ber of wage and hour violations which
it was found necessary to refer to
Washington is a striking evidence of
the ability Of the code authority and
its representatives satisfactorily to
adjust such difficulties within the in
dustry and without official interven-
ton"