Evening star., 1939-10-22
By Bruce Dickson.

IedQ, LL. col. FHulp Ftemlng. -
wage OF 40 cents an hour for 4o-hour
week-will have been attained.
Wage and Hour officials review the first
year of the laws operation with satisfac-
ton. They are jubilant that the dire
predictions of those who held that wages
and hours are not the proper concern Of
Government have not been fulfilled. They
point with pride to the fact that industry
has not been forced-as was prophesied-
to make sweeping readjustments in order
to meet the standards imposed by the
law.
All has not been clear sailing this past
year. however. There have been thou
sands of complaints Of violation of the
law. Mr.. Andrews revealed to the last
session Of Congress that there had been
upwards Of 10000 complaints, with per-
haps half of them valid. "Chiseling" by
employers has been common, although
officials are quick to say no one type of
violation has been alarmingly wide
spread.
The 'chiselers" in many instances have
shown amazing ingenuity.
One employer was handed a stiff fine
after inspectors discovered he was fore
ing his workers to punch their time
cards hours after they went to work and
then punch them again hours before
quitting time. Some days they weren't
permitted to punch their cards at all.
Another manufacturer scorned all
f1nesse in evading the law. He was pay
ing his workers cents an hour-88 cents
a week. He pleaded that they were
learners; that 1t took from nine months
to year for them to learn to operate
a sewing machine. He had no answer
to the question why he was training
learners" when so many skilled workers
were walking the streets looking for a
job.
Gypsy" manufacturers, who 60 from
place to place to get cheap labor plus
whatever concessions they can wangle
from small communities, are another
type. One was found paying cents
an hour. His employees were on the pub
lie relief rolls. A Federal injunction
slapped on him quickly showed him the
error of his ways.
During the first year of the laws op-
Grafton, Mr.. Andrews general strategy
has been to move slowly and patiently,
allowing time for employers to become
familiar with the law and to get ad-
justed to it. The coming year promises
to be different. The administration ap-
pears convinced the time has come for
a sitter policy-really to go after the
violatofs.
Andrews Easy Going.
Gossip has it that this is the reason
for Mr.. Andrews retirement as admins
traitor. He is still in the good graces
Of the White House, and will get job
in keeping with his dignity and ability.
The truth Of the matter is, that while
Mr.. Andrews heart is with labor and
against its exploitation, his even-mind-
edness and fairness have made slow
going Of enforcement of the law. Col.
Fleming has been picked as Mr.. An
drews' successor on his record for clean
ing up other trouble spots in the admin
istration. Also, he is credited with being
a better executive than Mr.. Andrews.
Despite criticism and violations, wage
and hour officials are convinced that
the great majority Of employers are con-
tent with the law. They point to big
hosiery manufacturer in Philadelphia,
who wrote he was highly pleased at q
recommended minimum wage above 30
cents an hour. He said 1t would be a
boon to the industry, because it would
prevent harassing competition which
had been based solely on cheap wages in
marginal plants. There are hundreds Of
similar instances on file.
But Noncompliance with the law Is