Evening star., 1935-05-28
N. R. A. EMPLOYEES
FEARFUL OF Jobs
Work Virtually Stops as
Workers Count Cost of
Court Ruling.

| N. r. A. employees sat on the edge
of a volcano this morning and smiled
grimly in the hope the volcano would
not erupt.
Nervous workers faced with the
prospect of unemployment today were
beseeching the office of Controller
General McCarl for information on
their pay status.
It was time not unlike that Of
| two years ago, when the Roosevelt re-
trenchment program was cutting a
wide swath in the personnel of the
old agencies
The call to the controller general
started yesterday as soon as the de-
cision of the Supreme Court became
known and still was continuing this
morning.
At the N. r. A. itself and the Fed
eral Alcohol Control Administration.
principal group affected. officials took
steps Immediately to allay the fears
of their forces.
There is a possibility, 1t was pointed
out today that in some cases en-
ployes will have to stop. effective as
| of yesterday, even though they may
remain at their tasks.
Functions Completely Outlawed.
This condition would arise, 1t was
amplified, where persons are con-
cerned entirely with the functions
outlawed by the Supreme Court, under
| a line of reasoning followed 0y Nc
Carl in a decision to the Railroad Re-
tirement Board.
Under this decision, McCarl held
that the board With its 10 employees
went out Of existence automatically
when the court volded the retirement
act.
McCarl's office has not yet received
any formal submission on the ques-
| ton that inevitably will arise as to
! the results Of the courts action and
until such a step is taken there will
be nothing done in that quarter.
| The more than 5000 workers began
| to file into the Commerce Department
| Building at $3.50 am. to work at jobs
they feared would soon be nonexistent.
As stenographers Transcribed dicta-
ton, they were distracted by the
mental query:
Am I going to have job after
June 1852"
The N. r. A. is dead today for all
practical purposes. but its budget runs
until the June date.
The great stone Commerce Build
ing that has been the heart OF the
recovery drive seemed more like a
mausoleum this morning than the
happy. exuberant beehive it was until
recently.
Hope and Gloom MinsIe.
Maybe they'll save it," hoped one
girl whose home is in far-off Cali
fornia. Don't you think maybe they
can do something?"
Don Mayo of New York was prac-
tical about the future:
"Shucks, I've been in tight spots
before. I'm only sorry for some of
those guys who have a long way to
walk. I've only got to go to New
York myself"
A fellow worker of Mayo'S in the
SCLIIOll btOhC
It's like Gen. johnson says-dead
as a dodO."
Are you really a newspaperman?
Gee. that's swell May be you can
help me get another job" This
young girl was making plans in ad-
vance.
All the employees are apprehensive
because If the Set-up goes, thousands
Of persons will become jobless at once
and the competition in the search for
new work will be keen.
If it had happened few months
ago, things would be different. But
The girl left unspoken her worst
fears.
At o'clock a whanging bell sig
nailed the time for the employees to
get down to work. But there was
little work to do today. The codes
were suspended. Compliance was un-
enforceable. The legal division had
nothing to do.
Most OF the employees expressed
their faith Richberg would save them
in some way.
I'D be glad to work for nothing
for while if they can figure out
some sort of new N. r. A." said one
college youth brought to Washington
to act as right-hand man for a dep
uty administrator.
Everybody had heard a rumor on
how the Blue Eagle was to be saved
The President was going to declare
existence of q national emergency
William Green was ready for general
strike. The N. r. A. was going to be-
come a voluntary co-ordinator for
self-imposed industrial codes. Con-
gress was going to lift the croaking
Blue Eagle like a phoenix from the
ashes of the old recovery administra-
ton.
Most Workers Stunned.
The courts decision stunned most
of the workers when they first heard
1t. One girl, newly married. had just
bought house with her husband on
the assumption his income from a
private job and her Government sal
ary would swing the home
Il feel like the worlds been kicked
out from under me-" she exclaimed
when she heard what the court had
decided.
This conversation was overheard in
the corridor:
Hello, Lem. I wonder II you'd 70
on a picnic next Sunday"
Sorry, but I'll be out of town.
where are you of to? Quitting
before you have to?"
"Oh. no, I'm going to take vaca-
ton. I'll be back around the first of
July, when this things been straight
ened OUT
We'll, good luck. but I think you're
betting on q dead horse"
Many other questions were spoken
in the corridors and Offices What
about the files? Those tremendous
stores of economic information-were
they to be taken to another agency?
What about this? What about that?
And always, what about our jobs?
The anxious questionings of N. r. A.
workers was heard in the IA buildings
in which the agency is sprawled.
HEADQUARTERS Is in the Cnmnerco