The Washington times., 1938-05-26

Milwaukee.
OFFERS PROGRAM
Girdler suggests a four-poin
program on which steel woulc
willingly cooperate:
l. Development Of q sound
national fiscal policy.
g Adoption of a predictable
government attitude toward in
GuStry.
S. Such government regula-
ton of industry as is in the
public interest but which does
not compete with industry or
put it in a straitjacket.
4. Laying of a foundation for
industrial peace by sound amend
ments of the Wagner act, max
ing it fair to employees and en-
ployerS alike.
Weir reported steel has Gin
herited a legacy OF bad public
opinion" and that hardly a week
goes by but that someone promi
nent enough to be quoted takes il
(steeD to task for causing the cur
rent depression, prolonging the de
preston or in some manner throw
ing a monkey wrench into the
economic machinery Of the coun.
try"
RELEASE OF CAPITAL
ut is becoming increasingly
clear" Girdler asserted, that
there can be no real and last
ing improvement until some way
has been found to release the
flow Of capital into the produc-
tive channels Of private enter
prise. Investors generally have
lost confidence in the prospects"
Adding to the uncertainty of
forecasting the future Of steel is
the factor Of labor relations,
Girdler noted. The labor relations
act, he said, "has come close to
legislating the country into per.
petual industrial warfare" but
he added:
II am confident efforts to
drive a wedge between employ
ers and employees and between
the public and business will not
succeed in this country.
I'VE are learning the costly
lesson" he said, "that high
hourly wage rates do not of
themselves insure either a full
weeks work or a full dinner
pail. The best interest of the
mass of workers of the country
is not served by the highest pos
sible hourly rates of pay that
can be exacted for some, tut
the highest possible annual earn
ingS and employment for all.
ANNUAL WAGE
''I would be happy if it were
possible to adopt a plan of an
nual wage in the steel industry.
But obviously under conditions
which subject an industry to
such violent fluctuations as
those in steel, any such plan
would appear today out of the
question.
Industry has no objection to
government in the role of traffic
policeman operating under fair
regulations, he continued, "but
when government sets up vast
bureaucracies to control industry,
to restrict its functions and to
compete with it, the net result is
to Stifle private enterprise and
frighten investors"
Weir offered as illustrations of
the different types Of persons who
offer us unsolicited advice" Jack
son and the Rev. HenSler. The
latter he quoted as saying "the
inflexibility Of steel prices regard.
less Of market conditions has con-
tributed much to the breaking
of our economy"
ASSAHS CRITICS
Self-appointed critics, he said,
speak with an unrestraint pos
sible only to those who are com
pletely unhampered by knowledge
Of the facts"
He denied steel is a monopoly
or near-monopcly, that the in
duStry makes exorbitant profits
that it exploits labor or that it is
extremely hazardous as an in
duStry.
"It is time that we begin to
tell the story of steel and to tell
it in a manner appropriate to
the time and circumstances" he
said. "We may be assured that
if the industry does not give
fact, someone else will be only
too ready to give faDacy. It is
ours to choose whether public
opinion of the steel industry
shall be founded on fact or fal-