The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-18

Out.
 Washington, May 18-A tentative version of the administrations long awaited wage and hour bill has been drafted, but the measure is not yet in final form.
 This far-reaching legislative pro- posal will be the subject of the Presidents next message to Congress in all probability. It may be sent to Capitol Hill within the next week or so, and it may be held up inde- finitely. That depends on the time it takes for Roosevelt and his num- erous advisers in this field to agree on details.
 The bill, as previously forecast in these dispatches, will provide for general administration by a board, and for the establishment of wage and hour standards in individual industries considered to be operat- ing in interstate commerce. Probably it will contain provisions for regu- lating child labor.
 Attempts have been made to get
 trade practice provisions into the
 bill and make it provide mOdi-
 fled NRA. But that appears to be
 definitely out. Donald Richberg,
 who is now counsel for the U. s.
 Steel Corporation, has been the
 prime mover in such attempts.
 Various vexing problems remain to be settled. One is the question whether a new agency or an exist ing agency should administer the law, which means an under-Surface struggle between Secretary of Labor Perkins and the National Labor Relations Board. Another problem is presented by proposals for North South wage differentials and this problem may or may not be side stepped by framers of the bill. There is also some dispute within the administration as to constitutional and other legal angles.
 Relief in Two Places George L. Berry, the millionaire labor leader just appointed senator from Tennessee to fill a vacancy, has had an unusual record for get- ting his name into the public prints. There is no reason, moreover, to suppose he will not be heard from now that he's a member of the legislative group known to itself as "the greatest deliberative body in the world"
 Most TenneSSeanS claim to be
 sure that Berry had an agreement with Governor Gordon Browning,
 who appointed him, whereby
 Browning could run for the seat in 1888 while Berry retired. They
 also believe Browning figured that
 in case Berry's/ memory lapsed, the pOrtly labor leader-banker- farmer nufacturer-public off,
 cial would be easy to defeat for nomination. But Berry denies such tales and it's known that Roosevelt favored his appoint ment, presumably being sure that he could depend on Berry for 8 Supreme Court vote and other support.
 A certain amount of relief is noticeable both in the adminiStra- tion, which Berry had been serving as Federal Co-ordinator for Indus trial Cooperation, and among labor leaders, with whom Berry has served as head of Labor's Non-Partisan league.
 The Co-ordinator' office, with a staff of 46 persons and 8 cost of nearly $15O,OOO a year-which has come out of work relief funds-will now be abolished. Created to receive the bones of MIRA and preserve such cooperation between government industry and labor as might be possible, this organization staged meetings of labor leaders and busi- ness men which resulted in recom- mendations for industrial self government" Possibly its efforts were quite valuable, but that is by no means common impression bpra