Evening star., 1936-09-30
ON CRIME
DEGREES Low PAY
Mattresses Wages, "Hone.
work" System and Child
Labor Raped.
By the Associated Press.

RICHMOND, Va, September 30
Commissioner John Hopkins Hall. jr.,
of the State Department of Labor and
Industry said yesterday that hundreds
of restaurants and confectionaries in
Virginia pay such small wages that
woman employees have to depend on
tips for their existence.
"It is a vicious system and should
be controlled" he told the conclud-
ing session of the Richmond confer
ence on crime. THE only remedy
can see Is minimum wage scale
which, of course, would have to be
put into effect by an act of the Legis-
lature."
Hall also deplored the practice Of
"home work"-taking work away from
factories and into the homes where
the aged, the children, the crippled
and the diseased are exploited in
feeble attempts to try to make liv-
ing"
There is no State law, no city or
dinance against this" he declared.
Something certainly should be done"
Low Wages Depression Cause.
He asserted that law wages was
a principal cause Of the depression
and one of the reasons recovery is not
rapid.
when the depression was first felt
by business, the first thing done was
to cut salaries. This made other
members Of a family 60 out and seek
employment, resulting in increased
unemployment.
The commissioner raped child
labor. saying the only excuse for
child labor is cheap labor" and urged
the cooperation of the public IN
enforcing child labor laws.
Poverty was seen as one OF the
principal causes of crime by Thomas
B. Morton, chairman of the Labor
Committee of the Crime Conference
in presenting his report.
Charity No Cure.
Poverty is the mother Of many
evils and no permanent cure for
these evils will be found by applying
the salves of charity" he declared
"As long as boys and girls have to
live in the breeding places Of crime
caused by exploitation, bad housing,
low wages. insecurity and economic
maladjustments, our crime problem
will remain unsolved. Well kept and
supervised Fairgrounds and recrea-
ton centers will not meet the situa-
ton entirely We need to go deeper
Labor believes a strong attack on
crime should be made on the legisla-
tive front, and until the economic
causes of crime are removed little
can be accomplished"
T. Croxton Gordon. chairman OF
the Business Firms Committee. de.
clared in his report that lin many
instances crime is by-product oi
poverty and disease, and We feel that
many anti-social or criminal act:
could be prevented through a better
understanding between employer anc
employe in regard to financial, social
health and cultural interests of en-
ployes."
| Sees Crime Lessening.
For instance" he said, "the COM
mittee discourages the practice ot
small loans or advance salary pay
ments to employees without a full
knowledge of conditions which are re.
sponsible for such request. = Firms
are asked to consider the value of re-
ferring cases Of petty thievery among
their employees or shoplifting case.
to the Central Application Bureau
for treatment instead of having ar
rests made for first offenses"
Col. John A. Cutchins, Richmond
safety director, who arranged the
crime conference, predicted that 'ir
the projected time of five years there
will be great change in crime here
and in succeeding years it will lesser
more and more"