Evening star., 1940-05-12
Observer Finds Wage>Hour Act
Meriting Confidence Of Public
Significant Social and Economic Gains Credited to
Law Which Reveals Some Flaws in
Test of 18 Months
By Irpise billiard.

The intention Is that by the application
Of these standards workers viii be pro-
tected from actual want through m IRE.
ducible though low minimum below
which wages may not fall. It is intended
ut the same time to create additional
opportunities for employment and to
bring about . wider diffusion Of mass
buying power upon which industry itself
Is dependent.
The law casts its lot with no industry
or section, other than in saying in effect
that In the competition among communt.
ties for industries. substandard wages
and excessively long hours Of labor shall
no longer be determining factors.
Col. Philip B. Fleming, the wage-hour
administrator, told the writer in 4 soft,
mild voice with overtones Of firmness,
that the job Of the Wage and Hour Divi-
sion was still largely educational.
Obviously pleased with various court
rulings sustaining the constitutionali.y
OF the law and especially of that of
three judges Of the New Orleans Court
Of Appeals, COL Fleming promised that
come as more and more inspectors were
trained and placed in the field. He said
that there would be 800 inspectors by
the end of June and that this number
would be increased as rapidly as pos
sible toward staff of 1000, the number
estimated as required to provide peri.
odic check up on the 250,000 employers
OF the 100000 workers now under
the law.
Satisfying Worn.
1t was q greatly satisfying work he
was In. Col. fleming satisfying
because Of the obvious benefits the law
was bringing to marginal workers for
whom little or nothing has ever been
done before. Employers Of such labor
are now making restitution of an ac-
cumulation of 5000, 600 in wages which
were withheld until the Wage and Hour
Division investigated complaints and OBJ
tanned agreement for payment.
Only persons who read the letters
which laborers and mill hands and clerks
and many other kinds Of workers sit
down and write to their Government
could know how much few cents more
an hour and q reasonable working day
means to them, Col. Fleming said. Many
persons appear really to be living for
the first time, he said.
In Western North Carolina a lead.
ing textile operator said that he and
the manufacturers he knew had no OBJ
lection to the establishment of minimum
standards below which no one should
have to live. His factory and the other
factories with which he competed paid
well above the minimum rates and did
not work long hours. What he objected
to was "the administration" He said
that the Government worked hand in
glove" with labor unions and looked on
employers as "deadbeats and chiselers." :"
His factory. he said, was not a sweat
shop" and he did not think Government
representatives should treat 1t that way,
= On Ensure Ground.
Another textile executive in the same
North Carolina city said that the great
est difficulty was that an employer never
could be sure that he was doing the right
thing. He might ask an inspector. He
might get an opinion from Washington.
He might follow instructions to the let.
ter and still be forced to defend himself
against prosecution If some employe or
group of employees decided to bring suit
against him for failure to comply"
An outstanding newspaper executive
said that application of hours provisions
to professional workers, such as editorial
writer's, was creating a problem for en-
ployers who by no stretch Of the imagi-
nation were proper subjects for minimum
wage legislation. Only the beginning
office boys were paid less than the weekly
minimum in his plant, he said, and yet
the maximum hours provisions appeared
to apply to every one in the building.
He said he was heartily in favor of an
irreducible minimum wage for workers in
the poorly paid industries and accord
ingly thought it unwise that energies
which should be expended to extend the
benefits of the law to them were being
diverted into keeping track Of the hours
worked by salaried persons, well above
the minimum levels.
AAAo Aoos was d CoiiuloH CouPiaAnt O1
employers. Associated with 1t was the
belief that the Wage and Hour Division
should have extended the wage guaran-
tee Of the law to all workers who are
entitled to minimum wage protection be-
fore 1t began to jack up wages in certain
industries In anticipation Of the 1s45
minimum. through the formation Of In.
dustry committees.