The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-12-08
BIBLE THOUGHT
THE WAGES AND HOURS BILL

The Texas Weekly believes one of the
deliberate objects of the proposed wages
and hours bill is to wreck certain bust
nesses: and that it is directly and speei-
fically aimed at the South. This viewpoint
is not original. perhaps, with The Weekly,
but it is discussed by that magazine in an
informative and impressive way. We quote
some paragraphs from the editorial article
of The Weekly, as follows:
IF anyone doubts that one of the objects OF
this bill is to put certain industries out OF business
let him consider the deliberate phrases of Dr. Ray
mond Moley, a moderately conservative advocate
of federal wages and hours legislation, IN ms ed-
toriaI in the current issue of Newsweek. DR.. Mo-
ley thinks a start should be made at this tme' ana
he is quite frank with respect to certain cOnse-
ouences of even mild legislation along this line
Let us admit. before we begin writes DR.. Moley
of course, that the people whose wages are de-
clared substandard will not necessarily get higher
pay for the jobs they are doing, or quickly md
other work in the same or in any other industry
The chances are pretty good that the government
will have TO undertake the permanent support OF
the great majority of them, who will be unable to
find work anywhere at standard wages. That we
must face frankly as the cost of such legislation
We must recognize too, that wages and hours
bill will inevitably bear more heavily on the South
than upon the North whether or not 1t provides
for diFerentials by region And it will just as IN
evitabv cause upheavals in the economy of the
nation as q whole. 0bsolescent lines of industry
will be Speeded TO oblivion. Infant industries which
can not make the grade will be discouraged. Some
professors of the older commodities will DE forced
70 go out Of business and make way for the manu-
facturers of higher-priced substitutes for natural
products. Yet if the wage standards set by law
are not so high to begin with that they throw an
unbearable burden of social readjustment upon an
already badly strained government, then we may
make useful beginning in conserving our human
resources II is pretty late day for the federal
government to undertake the work of conserving
our human resources in the South. Federal laws
and federal policies during more than century
have been the chief causes for condition oil eco
nomic inferiority in the South and Tor the SUD-
merging of a vast percentage OF the Souths popu-
laton. white and black below the level of decent
standard of living. And now, we are told, that II
will seek to make useful beginning in conserving
human resources by throwing the less efficient
workers out of employment, with the chances be-
ing pretty good that the government will have to
undertake the permanent support of the great ma
oblivion by discouragng certain infant industries
and by forcing some professors OF the older COM
modities to go out of business.
"Therem be resistance, we say, in our opinion
if this bill is enacted into law and the attempt is
made to enforce it. We think this will be true
with respect to any measure which gives to any
federal agency the power to fix so-called labor
standards and to enforce those standards by pre-
venting the shipment of so-called 'SubStandard'
goods across state lines. AS have said, we may
expect 10 see a program of defense developed
Undoubtedly, for example, we may expect to see
the 'buy-home- products idea expanded and applied
To an extent never imagined at any time in the
mast. The enactment and enforcement of such a
measure would make il absolutely impossible for
MANY local industries to ship their goods across
state lines For many such industries could not
comply with its provisions and survive, and they
would be compelled to make the choice OF closing
down altogether or of combining themselves to pro-
ducing for markets entirely within the borders OF
their respective states. This would lead inevitably
70 the organization and prosecution Of boycotts
AGAINST similar goods from outside the borders OF
their respective states, IN an effort to insure some
measure of employment in local manufacturing IN
dustries The tendency of population to migrate to
the favored region, thus increasing congestion
there and tending to depopulate other regions
would be so great that such efforts to maintain
local employment to keep workers at home would
he inevitable. On the other hand, because OF this
tendency, there would undoubtedly be proposals,
probably ultimately successful, TO have the federal
government to restrict migration from state to
state by coercive measures The steady decrease
of employment on the farms in agricultural states
would also tend to intensity the need of local in
dustries and increase the tendency to keep out the