Evening star., 1939-10-24

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occupations, such as retailing and
agriculture, to which the law does
not apply.
Likewise, there are industries
where the work week is already two
hours below the new maximum OF
42 and the pay is higher than the
new minimum of 80 cents an hour.
But that the new law will tend to
give an excuse for an increase in
prices wherever practicable cannot
be doubted, SO that the consumer
will in the end pay the bill, and
II the price rise is too abrupt, con-
sumption will u Curtailed and un-
employment will result.
Far-Reaching Principle.
The defenders of the present
Statute argue that relatively small
number of workers are affected by
the new law, possibly about 100000
out of 45,ooO,OOO gainfully employed
in America, but the principle en-
bodied in the law is reaching
because, if Congress can set a max
imum of AZ hours, it can set one OF
30 hours, and if it can put the hourly
rate at 80 cents 1t can put it at any
other figure which the pressure
groups hereafter may insist upon.
The experience with the new law
Is too fragmentary to know how
much party politics is going to play
part in the future, but it will be
noted that in the past, pressure to
get Congress to increase bounties
and pay bonuses or subsidies, or to
guarantee higher wage scales for
w. p A. workers, has not been by
any means inconsequential.
At the moment, too, the emphasis
Is on hours and wages. Some fu-
ture Congress, motivated by desire
to cure a depression, may find 1t
necessary to prescribe working
standards of output. For, if Con-
gress may constitutionally fix wages
and hours, it must also have the
power to say whether the output is
being measured accordingly. For
the Government here to set stand
ards of production would be COM
parable to what some European gov
ernments have done in regulating
the national economy, but this is
part and parcel of the whole scheme
of governmental supervision of the
life Of the worker, which the wage
and hour law introduces.
Executive" Definition Ambiguous.
Although many industries and
businesses are not affected by the
new hours and wage rates, they are
affected by the necessity of keeping
records and of fixing overtime and
defining what workers shall or shall
not be kept overtime In some in
stances, where -salaried work.
ers would willingly work beyond AZ
hours, the employer is prevented
from accepting such offers and, on
the other hand, finds it too expen-
sive to pay already highly paid men
the rate of time and one-half for
overtime. The definitions, more
over, OF what constitutes an "execu-
tive are so ambiguous as to make
the average employer naturally hes
liant to give himself the benefit of
the doubt. Hence costs rise and
efficiency is to certain extent i'm
paired, especially in small businesses.
AS usual with most of the reform
laws, they help the big monopolies
and profitable businesses and play
havoc with the smaller concerns
and marginal companies, which have
a hard time making ends meet.
There has been, of course, some dis
cussion of regulating these matters
by the States, or industry by indus
try, but no plan has been offered
yet which takes care of the marginal
companies, which are struggling to
maintain employment, nor is there
any practicable plan for assisting
those employees who are above the
minimum wage brackets, but who
cannot be advanced in wage. till the
heavier costs due to the new law
have been absorbed.
40-Hour Week to Come.
Broadly speaking, the change this
year and the one coming a year
hence, when the work week must
be 40 hours, will take time to digest.
If America enters a period of pros
perity the schedules will be taken
in their stride by the business of
the country, but, unfortunately, the
prospect Of uniform prosperity has
rarely been realized because in a
period of widespread readjustment
some industries are down, while
others are up.
The net result will be to improve
the situation among those of lowest
income and defer improvement for
those who are above the minimum,
including possible loss of employ
ment to those of advanced age or
those partly handicapped in physical
strength. These disadvantages,
however, under the reform concept,
are offset by the advantages of a
redistribution of income for a larger