Evening star., 1937-03-21
EXPERTS T0PROBE
TEXTILE TROUBLES
International Group Will
Meet Next Month in
Washington.
By the Associated Press,

. By the Associated Press
An international group OF experts
Is going to try here next month to
hnd out what is wrong with the tex
tile industry the world over.
They already have rough ideas.
They want to get these down in black
and white, with figures to back them
up. They think once this is done they
will be able to propose remedies for
the textile industry's international
diseases-particularl those that AZ
feet the textile workers
The conference, set for April 2,
grew out of a proposal before the
International Labor Organization, a
League Of Nations affiliate, to limit the
hours of textile workers to 40 week.
Much Study Needed.
The governing body agreed a great
deal of study was needed before this
proposal could be considered seriously.
After United States representative
held preliminary conferences with
spokeSmen from other teXtile-produc-
Ing countries, President Roosevelt pro-
posed the forthcoming meeting.
Writing in the current American
Federatlonist, the official journal of
the American Federation of Labor,
Smith Simpson of the University Of
Pennsylvania listed seven subjects
that the conference probably would
deal with, unemployment, hours Of
work, wages, child and woman labor,
the "speed-up," currency devaluation
and tariffs.
In connection with unemployment
Simpson wrote that the number of
workers In textiles, generally, had de-
clined in the United States and Eu-
rope, while employment had increased
In Japan
Industry Concerned.
This caused particular hardship to
some communities, he said, because of
the concentration of the industry in
a few centers. In industrial areas
such as Boston and Scranton, Pa,
he said, large portion of the work.
ers depended upon textiles for a liveli-
hood
In those localities in which the in
dustry is concentrated, the industry
mOnopollzes large part of employ
ment opportunity" Simpson added
In such localities young men and
women either obtain textile jobs or
they go without Jobs"
Simpson argued that a cut in the
work week to 40 hours would not be
drastic in any textile country outside
the Far East Japan, one Of the
United States principal competitors,
has no limit on hours. India has
s4-hour week. But the hours in the
United States and Europe range be-
tween 40 and 48.
ANY cut in hours, Simpson suggested,
should be accompa MED by regulation
of the work load-to prevent speed
up system from reducing employment
Hours Pact Held Necessary.
Simpson likewise suggested that a
minimum wage agreement must go
hand in hand with an hours pact.
An international agreement on
hours which does not provide some
solution of the present chaos in wages
will not strike many textile workers,
nor many employers, as a very prac-
tical solution Of the problem in inter-
national competition" he said.
The differences in purchasing power
and average earnings among the
different textile nations would compli-
cate that problem, he said.
The labor organizations governing
body has named William Green, A. F.
OF L. president: Carter Goodrich OF
the Labor Department, and Henry S.
Dennison Of birmingham, Mass,
along with six foreign spokesmen to
represent the governing body at the
conference.
The United States also will be rep
resented by three other delegates rep
resenting labor, industry and gov
eminent.