Evening star., 1937-06-10
Selection to Represent La
Dor Hangs Only on Abil-
ity to Serve.
DISTRICT BODY CAN THEN
ORGANIZE, MAP COURSE
John H. Hanna and Mrs. William
Kittle Already Named to
Group.
BULLETIN.

Arthur L. Schoenthal, vice presi-
dent of the Washington Building
Trades Council, today was named
by the Commissioners as the third
member of the Districts Minimum
Wage Board.
The District Minimum Wage Board,
which faces the huge task of fixing
basic pay scales for approximately
$4,000 women and minors here, is
expected to be completed some time
today with appointment of a third
member. who will represent labor
The Commissioners virtually have
made a selection. the only possible
hitch being whether this prospective
eppointee could devote sufficient time
to the duties that will devolve on the
board as it begins to operate July /.
Immediately this selection is made,
the board-Whose other members are
John H. Hanna and Mrs. William
Kittle-will be in position to organize
and map its course. Some delay may
be encountered in actually starting to
function, as an item of S14,320 for
administrative expenses is tied up in
the District appropriation bill, now In
conference at the Capitol.
The appointment Of Hanna, as
representative of employers, and Mrs.
kittle, for the public, was announced
yesterday.
The latter, for 20 years, has been
active in minimum wage work, her
interest dating back to membership
on an advisory committee of the State
Industrial Commission of Wisconsin,
where she resided before coming to
Washington in 1880 with her husband,
who is engaged in historical research.
Il don't think I missed meeting
there in 10 years that dealt with mini
mum wages" she said today, though
emphasizing that this was non-pro-
fessional activity prompted solely by
the belief that the public has a real
stake in this matter.
Employers and employees have a
selfish interest in minimum wage,
she continued, but the public in
terest extends to many important
phases of the subject"
Mrs. Kittle described herself as
Housewife" and commented with
laugh that her non-pay status in that
capacity qualities her to take up the
matter of minimum wages.
Board Not SaIaried.
No salary attaches to membership
on the board.
Mrs. Kittle said her appointment
came as somewhat Of surprise. She
knew, of course, that she had been
suggested by the League of Women
Voters, in which she is just conclud-
ing a two-year term as president, but
that was her only lnkling of her
place in the picture until an informal
notification of her selection from the
Commissioners yesterday afternoon.
Under the circumstances, naturally,
she said, she had had no opportunity
to think of any plans, which, any
way, logically would await organi-
ration of the board.
Hanna, head of the board of Capital
Transit, is out of the city today, at
tending a meeting of the board of
the Federal Reserve Bank at Rich
mond, of which he is a member, He
came up through the ranks of the
old Capital Traction Co. and was its
president at the time of the merger
with the Washington Railway & Elec-
trio Co. He formerly was a member
of the Board of Directors of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States.
Some Guideposts Left.
Capital Transit employs 81 women,
principally in the Offices. There are
81 who work SO hours weekly at a
charwomen. on a 39-hour week, get
40 cents an hour; seamstress, on
a 40-hour week, gets At cents hourly,
and the rate for a part time tele-
phone operator is 50 cents on a 21-
hour week basis.
When the board starts to work
1t will have some guideposts left by
Its predecessor, which was legislated
out of existence in 1923, and also,
of more recent date, data compiled by
the Labor Departments Women S
Bureau
While empowered under the old law
Just revived by the Supreme Court to
deal broadly with women's wages, the
former board had set only three min
imums ito protect the women and
minors of the District from condi-
tions detrimental to their health and
morals resulting from wages which
are inadequate to maintain decent
standards of living"
These we're: Fifteen dollars weekly
In the laundry and dry-cleaning in
dustry; $3.50 in printing and publish
ing and $3.50 in mercantile, hotel
and restaurant work Minors-those
under 18-received lower wages only
In the mercantile line.
Women Get Less Than in 1923.
The Women's Bureau survey, Just
completed last month, showed the
compensation women now are receiv-
ing here is predominantly lower than
the 1923 scale. The study covered
1880 women during representative
pay period in April, and extended to
200 establishments-facto stores
laundries, dry-cleaning plants, beauty
parlors, hotels and restaurants.
The estimate that 25 900 persons will
be under the new set-up is made on
Census Bureau figures for the 1890
census. These would include 2,375
employed minors; $4,000 women in
occupations most likely to come under
the act, and about 10000 women out
of total of 10000 in clerical and
professional jobs.
Minimums are set after hearing