The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-24

purpose" of the Constitution.
 Neither his message nor proposed legislation so far revealed stipulated exact maximum work week CT min-
 imum wage levels.
 That is for the new labor board to decide" explained Chairman Will liam P. Connery of the house labor committee. But Senator Black and are desirous to make the maximum hours requirement. 30 per week."
 Sen. Hugo Black, D. Ala, intro duced the wage-hours bill in the sen- ate, Connery in the house.
 Aid Farmers, Labor
 The president said his plan was designed not only to bolster living standards of industrial workers but to aid farmers by improving the de- nand for farm products.
 with the establishment of these rudimentary standards as base, ' MT. Roosevelt's message continued, i've must seek to build up, through appropriate admjnistrative machin- cry, minimum wage standards of fair ness and reasonableness, industry by industry, having due regard to local and geoglAphical diversities and to the effect of unfair labor conditions upon competition in interstate trade and upon the maintenance of indus trial peace"
 Asks Cooperation
 The president called upon states to cooperate in his program.
 To congress he reiterated his state ment that one third of the popula- ton is "ill-nourished, ill-clad and ill-housed."
 His first words expressed confidence the plan was constitutional and called on the judicial branch of gov- ernment to sustain it.
 "The time has come," the president said, flor us to take further action to extend the frontiers of social progress. Such further action initi- ated by the legislative branch of the government, administered by the ex- ecutive and sustained by the judicial, is within the common sense frame work and purpose of our ConStitu- tion and receives beyond doubt the approval of our electorate"
 Carries Challenge Further
 He carried further his challenge to the court with a quotation from the dissenting opinion of 20 years ago of the late Justice Oliver Wen dell Holmes, 20 years ago, against the 5-to-4 decision of the court that an anti-child labor act was uncon- stitutional. He charged that ma jority of the court then ''laid down a rule of constitutional law which has ever since driven into imprac- tical distinctions and subterfuges all attempts to assert the fundamental power of the national government over interstate commerce"
 But although MT. Justice Holmes spoke for minority of the court" the president added, /"he spoke for 8 majority of the American people"
 MT. Roosevelt's message was in general terms. He made no recom- as to what the wage and hour standards should be.
 Prepare Legislation
 Chairman William P. Connery of the house labor committee and chairman Hugo Black of the senate labor committee, meantime, had pre- pared legislation to further MT. Roosevelt's objectives. Black said some minor changes would be made in his bill and that it would not coincide exactly with the house bill. Connery explained his bill as fol- lowing the flexible outlines of the proposals.
 While neither his message nor the bill proposed any definite standards, MT. Roosevelt said:
 Allowing for few exceptional trades and permitting longer hours on the payment of time and half for overtime, it should not be diff cult to define a general maximum working week.
 Allowing for appropriate qualifi- cations and general classification by administrative action, it should also be possible to put some floor below which the wage ought not to fall.
 "There should be no difficulty in ruling out the products of the labor of children from any fair market. And there should also be little dis pute when it comes to ruling out of the interstate markets products of who deny to their work CTS the right of self-organization and collective bargaining, whether through the fear of labor spies, the bait of company unions, or the use of strike -breakers. The abuse dis closed by the investigations of the