The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-07-27
Government
(Continued From Puge One)

reasonable hours of labor and that pay
good wages, so that when they sub
NIT their bids they will not be punish
ed and be subjected to the competition
from bids of sweatshop producers, but
will have an even chance because we
will compel those who operate sweat
shops to maintain the standards
which the others have.
That is the philosophy behind the
bill. The bill is just as much for the
benefit of the minded, progress
sive, liberal, decent employer as it is
for the welfare of employees.
If time permitted, l could give il
lustrations of the background Of the
proposed legislation.
A few minutes ago l gave an in
stance of what will be reached by it.
l know of an instance of an employer
calling his employees together and say
ing, 81 have chance to obtain big
contract from the Government. l can
not get it if l have to maintain the
same standards which my competitors
maintain, but if you will agree with
IlIC w WOIh IOIISSl llOuIS dIlU Luz lcSS
wages, l will get that contract"
Mr.. President, is such conduct fair
to the employer and to the business
man who is maintaining first-class
labor condition in his factory or shop?
Of course, it is not.
One Firm Breached % Contracts
In that connection let me read a
case which the Board has to deal with.
1t illustrates the necessities of law
Of this kind. merely read sum-
mary from the report:
"The Sigmund Eisner Co., a New
Jersey corporation, carrying on busi-
ness at four different points in New
Jersey, was found guilty of breach
ing % Government contracts"
Even after this law was passed
| that concern was found guilty of
preaching % Government contracts.
Falsified Workers Time Cards
"The corporation admitted that in
structions had been given to it's en-
ployes to punch their time cards in
such way that the wages earned on
a piece-rate basis divided by the hours
of labor punched on the time cards
would show earnings of at least 37R
cents an hour, even though the num-
Der of hours actually worked might
have far exceeded the hours punched
on the time card" &
In other words, they gave instruc-
tions to their employees so to manipu-
late the punch machine that it would
show that they were getting a mini
mum wage of 371s cents an hour,
when they were actually getting much
less than that because they were work
ing a greater number of hours than
shown on the machine.
That concern violated % Govern
ment contracts. Should it not be
punished; should it not be blacklisted
for resorting to such criminal meth
ods? And what about the rights of
competitors of this concern-the men
who lost the contracts to furnish the
Government the supplies because they
were willing to pay 37R cents an hour
and work their employees only 40
hours?
Government Must Not Aid Sweatshops
l wish to emphasize the fact that it
is not pleasant to undertake in the
Congress to regulate business. Only
a few persons, generally speaking,
violate an automobile law; yet we have
law limiting the speed at which one
may drive an automobile. The pur-
pose of the law is not to punish those
who live up to it, but to check some
of those who violate the law accasion-
ally.
So here we are making an effort to
provide that when the Government it
self spends the taxpayers money, even
| if it costs a little more, sweatshops
and chiselers and crooked business
establishments shall not get contracts
but employers who maintain decent
conditions for their workers shall be
rewarded with contracts.