Evening star., 1938-06-20
PRESS VIEWS ON
WACE-HOUR BILL

The compromise wages and hours
measure is accepted by the press Of the
country as better than the bills from
which it was fashioned, but 1t still
faces criticism, with the question raised
as to whether employment will be as
sured under its provisions for stabilizing
labor conditions.
How will arbitrary regulations Of
wages and hours help q man or his
family II they either throw him out Of
work or mean an additional obstacle to
obtaining work?" asks the Savannah
Morning News. The New York Sun ad-
vises that those who insist on making
the best Of bad bill will note that
the compromise has some hexibiiity, that
1t does not set up new and independent
agency, and that it provides a degree
Of protection through industrial wage
boards and through provisions for hear
ing appeals"
In practice" concludes the Los
Angeles Times, there will be no general
law at all. Merely mass Of controversy
breeding exemptions. In its operations
exceptions will not prove the rule, they
will replace it. At best the law will
do more harm than good through paw
ing the way for Federal control of in
dustry and reviving many of the diff
culties and most of the conditions Of the
N. r. A."
'It Is q less harmful measure than
that passed by the Senate a year ago
or than this years House BILL" thinks
the New York Herald Tribune, which
asks: How will industry meet this
~ ctVn nvNk,t
already topheavy?" The Herald Tribune
employment"
law seeks to establish" states the Bos-
ton Transcript, ARE obviously decent
and reasonable. In a nation as wealthy
as ours, no man should have to live
on starvation pay. In highly merchan-
lied society, the work week need not
be excessively long. These facts many
of our States have long recognized and
confirmed by statutes Of their own. 1t
is their misfortune that. in order to
bring other communities into line, they
must submit to measure which adds to
the Federal authority and tightens the
Governments grip on all industry"
This is Of course" in the judgment
of the Cincinnati Times-Star, "a revival
of N. r. A., not as an emergency meas
ure, but as a permanent device to ex-
tend Federal power over industry.
Through its authority to fix diffrent
standards for different industries, and
even for different units in the same in
dustry. the Federal Government would
have tho pouyer of 1ifo mr. doofh oyar
thousands of industries In all sections
of the country"
After ALL suggests the Youngstown
Vindicator. national wage and hour
fixing still is an experiment. There is
no assurance that the Nation can 60
on 40-hour week and still maintain its
standard of living. Since the admins
tration is determined to try it. a policy
Of making haste slowly is wise"
What it does essentially" advises
the Providence Bulletin. lis to revive
the old N. r. A. system, which had
completely begged down by the time the
Supreme Court ended its miserable ex-
istence. 1t is so complicated and so
vague that nobody can satisfactorily ex-
plain It, 1t is-and this is the truth
Of the whole episode-an obeisance to
the November election"
ut would tend to increase employ
ment and is an abandonment of the
principle Of collective bargaining in
favor Of dictatorship over industry u
concludes the Buffalo Evening News,
but the Hartford Times holds that it
Is "a genuine attempt to advance the
welfare Of q very large class OF work
ing people"