Montana labor news., 1938-05-26
Wages and Hours Bill Would End These
StarvatiOn-Pay Envelopes

With consideration Of the Federal Wages
and Hours Bill by the present Congress guar
anteed through the action OF 2l0 Representa-
tives signing the resolution to discharge the
Rules Committee, which by a vote of 8 to 6
had denied members of the House the right
to vote on the measure, from further control
of the bill and placing it directly before the
House membership, it is interesting to note
the effect which the enactment of the bill
into statute law will nave on the wages of
low-paid employees.
1t is quite generally claimed that the mea-
sure would to a large degree be limited to
the Southern states. The inaccuracy of this
view is shown in the statement by Repre-
sentative Hamilton Fish of New York in pre-
senting to the House of Representatives re-
liable information he received about low
wages paid to mill workers in that state. The
low pay facts were presented to the New
York state members of Congress in a special
committee meeting by a number Of the
underpaid New York workers, MIR. Fish said:
Il thought I knew something about the
economic conditions in my w state, but l
found out I was woefully ignorant Of the de-
plorable and tragic conditions existing in my
state,' Mr.. Fish said. Il knew that certain
wage earners there were paid So, SO, $40, and
$12 a week, yes, but these people brought in
slips and presented them to our committee
showing where they had received 10 cents an
hour, So a week, So a week, 81 a week, So a
week, and Sc a week. | would not have be-
lieved it if some member had gotten up on
the floor Of the House and made such a state
ment. I was under the impression they paid
from Sc to $12 a week in these sweatshops.
But the facts are as l have stated them"
Asserting that he believed the rank and
file of the American people want to put an
end to the terrible conditions of our wage
earners in the sWeatshops who are being ex-
plotted by human vultures," Mr.. Fish an
nounced his full and complete support of the
pending wages and hours bill as a practical
means to realize this objective.
Representative Fish is right. The Wages
and Hours Bill, unanimously supported by
the officials and members of the American
Federation Of Labor, would definitely end
the starvation wages cited by the New York
Congressman by providing a universal,
nationwide minimum rate of pay Of Is cents
per hour with a provision that it shall be in
C4CQoCQ U II CCl4to H. 1lOU4 WlJlllll q PGl4OQ
of three years. 1t will also end abnormally
long hours imposed on employees through
the provision which fixes a maximum work
week of "A hours with a provision that it shall
be reduced to 40 hours within a period of
two years.
These virtues Of the bill have been trench
antly set forth by President William Green
Of the American Federation of Labor, who
said:
mo employer and no member of Congress
from any section Of the country can dare to
assert that a minimum wage Of $11 or SIP a
week would be an oppressive imposition on
American industry. Any industry which de-
ponds for survival on sweatshop wages and
sweatshop conditions Of labor should cease
to exist in the public interest. Sweatshop
labor is like an infection which spreads its
paralyzing poison through the whole physical
and economic system Of the nation. It has
been outlawed by public opinion. It should
be outlawed by statute"
Every member of Congress, regardless Of
party utilization" Mr.. Green added, Should
vote for this new Wage and Hour Bill"