The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1937-08-05

Every effort to exempt agriculture from the provisions
OF the Black-Connery bill have been lost and the way it looks
now the bill will become a law before congress adjourns.
The bill provides that a federal board Of five sitting at
Washington shall classify all of the industries of the country
and shall fix the number of hours Of work per week in all
industries or concerns now working their employees more
than, 40 hours per week, and shall fix the minimum wages of
all concerns now paying any labor less than 40 cents per
hour. While the board is not required to fix minimum wages
of 40 cents per hour for common labor, nor a maximum work
week of 40 hours for all labor, nevertheless, it is instructed
by the bill to increase the minimum wages to 40 cents an
and reduce the maximum work-week to 40 hours as rapidly
as practicable. This means that the many thousands of can
ming plants, cotton gins, creameries, fruit and vegetable
packers, congresses, oil mills, grain elevators, and such in
dustries will have codes of wages and hours prescribed by
the federal board located at Washington, and the board will
be required to build up the minimum wages for common labor
to 40 cents per hour and to reduce the work-week to 40 hours
for all classes of labor. While provisions are made in the bill
for specific exceptions, nevertheless, the board is admonsh-
ed to avoid making any further classifications of industries
and occupations than may be necessary to carry out the
purpose OF the act. The purpose of the act is to require all
employers to pay a minimum wage of 40 cents per hour and
to work their employees a maximum Of 40 hours per week.
When the original bills were introduced, it was generally
thought that they were aimed prilD rily at certain industries
in the South. The principal objections came from southern
industries, but with the publication Of the new bill it is real
lied that it will adversely affect small business men and all
agricultural classes in every section OF the country. There
thousands Of concerns in numerous lines of industry compel
ing with one another with widely differing conditions as to
costs of materials, operation, transportation, and other fac
tors. Many of them are small and weak enterprises which
can not utilize expensive labor-saving equipment available
to their more fortunate competitors. Under the proposed law
each industrial occupation will be classified and will be froz-
en- by orders of the federal board fixing the appropriate
wages and hours which the federal board believes the in
dustry as a whole can follow. This will not increase employ
ment, but because of its lack of guarantee of protection to
the small and weak concerns, and because it will force
INFLAMMATION of industries, many thousands of employees
will find themselves without jobs in every section of the
country and many small concerns will find themselves unable
to continue their business. The only way that this can be
avoided would be for this federal board of five to be able to
differentate each case and fix the particular code of wages
and hours for each enterprise according to the conditions
peculiar to that concern. Of course, this is impossible and the
board must, and no doubt will, follow the mandate Of the
proposed law to make no further classifications than are
necessary to carry out the basic purposes of the bill.
There is only one way to defeat this legislation and that
is for the individual farmers and small business men through
out the country to let their Senator's and Representatives
know that they do not want such a law. Every farmer and
business man should Immediately write his Representative
and his Senators and urge them to defeat this bill.