Evening star., 1935-03-13
MERGERS Of 537
CODES SUGGESTED
Richberg Submits Plan.
Criticizes Borah for
Steel Views.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
A plan for eliminating 537 of N.
R. AS smaller codes by blanketing
them all into a single flexible small
industries" code was presented to the
Senate Finance Committee today by
Donald r. Richberg on behalf Of the
administration.
Though Richberg did not personally
recommend the plan. he submitted it
to the committee as method Of SIM
plifying N. r. A. administration and
concentrating its efforts on the big
industries. f Congress should desire
The recovery co-ordinator said the
blanket code plan. together with his
recommendation for dropping service
trade codes, would slash the present
code structure down from more than
700 to 181 codes.
Williams Summoned.
This proposal, which would consol-
idate all codes governing 10000 en-
ployes or less. was laid before the
committee by Richberg as he COM
pleted five days on the witness stand
The committee said S. Clay Williams,
retiring chairman Of the recovery
board, would be called tomorrow as
the next witness In its investigation.
Richberg said earlier that Senator
Borah's criticism of NJ r. AS steel
code was IAN exaggeration of trifles"
that did not represent mature judg-
ment on the facts of industry"
This reply to the Idaho Republican
was made just after Richberg had
represented American business as over
whelmingly in favor Of continuing
N R. A.
The recovery co-ordinator warmly
defended N. r. AS. approval of the
steel code in the face of monopoly
charges. contending 1t did not estab-
lish monopoly in the steel industry
and did not change practices in the
industry.
Cites Figures.
He cited figures designed to show
steel prices had not risen unduly.
The 1929 price of finished steel,
per ton, he said was $51 As, but it is
now about s47.50 and has mot yet
come within speaking distance of the
re-depresslon level"
On the other hand, he said, steel
ray rolls have jumped from low of
$13,000,000 a month to $4,000. 900,
and average weekly wages from s11.52
to Sl912.
Richberg told the committee he
could bring "battalions" of business
men before the committee to support
the code organization.
Claims C. of C. Support.
The recovery co-ordinator testified
that the Chamber of Commerce of
the United States and the American
Federation of Labor had both de-
clared for extension of N. r. A.
Four Senators were on hand when
he took the stand Others came In
later but it was apparent the COM
mittee was not so interested as when
the hearings opened.
Richberg told the committee some
of the monopoly charges under N. r.
A. arose from patent monopolies
which would not be corrected by en-
torcement of the antitrust laws.
He emphasized particularly charges
against the electrical manufacturing
code, telling the 'nlmittee it would
require changes in the patent law
if Congress wanted to change condi-
tions there.
Richberg contended the steel indus
try had grown up" under the price
fixing system and that it would have
required a tremendous dislocation"
to change it.
He maintained that any monopo-
listic practices under the steel code
were carry-overs from the industry's
previous custom and argued that it
had provided thousands of jobs at
higher pay.
Several Still Opposed.
Several members of the committee
were still demanding today that
N. r A. be dropped and that its
best functions" be transferred to the
Federal Trade Commission and the
Labor Department.
One of them. Senator King, Demo-
crat, of Utah. said Richberg had not
made a showing to justify main
tenance of the codes"