The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-07-14

DOu0C the New dealers
Arises are quite as much
concerned over
uplifting living standards of the
poor as they are concerned over
their votes in the fall elections.
These doubts which are now in the
form of a flood of inquiries obvi-
ously arise from two incidents
which have occurred here in the
nations capital. Rather, there were
three incidents, for it was the first
action that made the other two in
cidents significant. Let us take them
up in order to get good view of
the circumstances:
First, President Roosevelt lately
has signed the new wage and hour
law. Under its terms, wages paid
employees and the hours which they
work throughout the nation now be-
come matter of federal jurisdic-
tion-if the employers of those work
ers buy or sell anything outside of
the state in which the plant or fac
tory actually is located. That is
to say, any business operating in
interstate commerce must now COM
ply with federal law as to wages
paid and hours worked, and meet
the regulations laid down by a
Washington bureaucrat after the law
becomes effective-October "a, 1888.
None of these employees may
work more than A hours a week
Give and one-half days of eight
hours) nor can they be paid less
than Is cents per hour during the
first year of the law. In the second
year, the number of hours is re-
duced to AZ per week and the rate of
pay rises to 80 cents per hour.
Thereafter, the work week is fixed
at 40 hours and the lowest rate of
pay at 40 cents an hour. The pro-
visions naturally will apply to near
ly all individual manufacturing es-
talishments because few of them
can exist by selling only in their
home localities. Agriculture is not
affected by the law, so that farmers
are privileged, for once, to pay for
what they get in the way of services
and not be under orders from Wash
ington. ..............'.
This is the law that was fought
off so long by senators and repre-
sentatives from the southern states.
They demanded that some consid-
Grafton be given the employers of
the South where conditions are de-
cidedly different from other parts
of the United States. They did not
get a complete differential in the
scales but they obtained a compro-
mise that permits the new bureau
crat, the wage administrator, to
consider the costs of living to some
extent. Living costs in the South
generally have been lower than else
where and some types of labor in
southern areas are recognized as
not being as efficient. Passage of
the act with some leeway of f1exi-
bility was believed likely to solve
these problems of the South.
That brings us now to the second
of the incidents.
Mr.. Roosevelt's signature to the
wage and hour bill was affixed on
a Saturday. On Sunday, Harry Hop
kins, chief of WPA, the professional
reliever of the administration, is
sued an announcement. BY the
terms of the order he released, all
unskilled workers in the Is southern
states - something like 100000 -
working on relief payrolls were
treated to pay raise. In addi-
ton, some other classes of WPA
workers were given a pay boost,
but the numbers were not disclosed.
Certainly, they are fewer than the
class known as unskilled workers.
The action was taken, Mr.. Hop
kins explained in his announcement,
pursuant to a general administra-
ton policy of bringing income lev
els of the lowest paid workers of the
South more nearly in line with the
income levels of such workers in
other parts of the country"
It will be recalled also that while
the wage-hour debate was at its hot
test in congress,
Hopkins Mr.. Roosevelt
AnsyDerS went INTO the deep
South to lecture
employers on the low wage levels.
He spoke at Gainesville, Ca, in Wig
orous language to the effect that the
South was being held back because
employers were paying wages that
were too low to maintain salts
factory standard of living. That
speech came in the midst of argu-
ment by southern members of con-
gress that even WPA was paying
lower levels in the South than else
where and employers should not be
compelled to accept new drain on
their production costs.
Thus, we see Mr.. Hopkins has an
swered both arguments. BY increas-
ing the WPA levels of pay, he has
effectively sealed the mouths of the
southern opponents of the WPA and
at the same time has forced the
industries about which Mr.. Roose-
welt complained to meet a new kind
of competition" for workers.
Anyone who knows anything about
the factors that govern wages, and
they are all very human conditions,
recognizes that southern industries
will have to increase their pay
rates-or watch WPA take over the
workers. For it remains as a fact
that certain types of persons will
prefer to go on WPA than work reg
ularly, even if the regular work does
Banking Rules Loosened Up