Evening star., 1940-04-23
Wallace and FIemino
Tell How Labor Act
Affects Farmers
Forum Speakers Soy
Woee-Hour Law Helps
By Increasing Markets

.
Secretary Of Agriculture Wallace
and Col. Philip B. Fleming, admins
traitor of the Wage and Hour Di-
vision of the Labor Department, dis
cussed on the National Radio Forum
last night the relation of tho Fair
Labor Standards Act to agriculture
Arranged by The Star, the program
was broadcast over a coast-to-coast
network of the National Broadcast
ing Co.
The broadcast was in dialogue
form and the text follows:
Col Fleming-There is COM
munity of interest between the
farmer and the industrial worker
In our highly integrated society, the
welfare of each of us is dependent
in some degree upon the welfare OF
every one else. Thus, the merchant
is dependent upon the welfare of his
customers, and the manufacturer
upon the prosperity OF the merchant
I know, Mr.. Wallace, you've been
preaching this for long time.
Secretary Wallace-We are de-
pendent upon each other more than
is generally realized. When the dry
skies and hot winds of 1894 scared
the corn belt, few city people thought
that of any concern to them. But
without enough corn for feed, many
farmers had to sacrifice their live
stock A year or two later city peo-
pie paid higher prices for beef and
portland, as result, learned that
the size of the corn crop did mean a
lot to them. Since then we've de-
veloped our ever-normal granary
which has resulted in the storage of
lots of corn on farms, against other
possible bad years. This corn is just
as much a protection to the city
people as to the farmers who pro-
duce it.
Labor Provides a Market.
Col Fleming-Just as consumers
are affected by farm happenings,
farmers are affected by what hap
pens to city labor. A young woman
let us say her name is Mary Smith
works in a New York garment
factory. If she loses her job, she
must be taken care OF by friends or
relatives or go on relief. She is no
longer good customer for farm
products.
Secretary Wallace-If only one
person lost job. it would make
little difference, but when one Mary
Smith is multiplied by millions of
jobless workers, the effect of the
reduced buying power upon every
body is very great. City workers are
consumers of farm products. Farm
ers raise wheat and vegetables and
fruit to feed them, and cotton and
wool to clothe them. The price the
farmer receives for his products and
the quantity he sells, is directly af-
fected by the ability of city workers
to buy. How much farmers would
gain if city labor were more fully
employed at better wages was shown
recently by Milo Perkins, head of
our Federal Surplus Commodities
Corp, in a speech on THE Challenge
of Underconsumption." He showed
that two-ffths of our families live
on less than 500 a month. They
spend, on the average, not much
more than cents person a meal
on food. If incomes were increased
so these families had 500 month
to spend, they could spend 10 cents
a person a meal This S cents per
meal increase would add up to nearly
a billion dollars more for farmers
each year.
Col. Fleming-That level of $1O0 a
month is far above the minimum the
wage and hour law sets. The present
minimum-30 cents an hour for a
42-hour week-means only $3.50 a
week at full time, or $3.50 a year
even if the worker is able to get en-
ployment clear through the year,
which is not always the case
Secretary Wallace-The economic
bond between farmers and city
workers is shown also by the rela-
tionship between total incomes for
all farmers and all city workers.
Back in 1929, when pay rolls were
IL billion dollars a year, farmers
incomes also were about IL billion
dollars. Then, during the depres-
sion, they went down together, until
in 1882 both farmers income and
factory pay rolls were down to about
billions year Now they have both
climbed up again to where they're
around to billion dollars. The
farmers welfare is dependent upon
the ability of city people to buy his
products, just. as the welfare of city
people is dependent upon the ability
Of the farmers to buy their products.
Labor Act Explained.
Col. Fleming-It is evident then
that the poorer the city worker, the
poorer the farmer AS you know,
the Fair Labor Standards Act of
193S-usually called the wage and
hour LAWS an effort to prevent
people being employed at sweatshop
wages. If Mary Smith had been paid
$6 a week, for example, her pay,
under the act, has been raised to
$3.50, if she works the full AZ hours
a week. Do you think that would
benefit farmers?
Secretary Wallace-Certainly do,
think the Wage and Hour Act is a
decided benefit to farmers. Not all
farmers, unfortunately, understand
how the law works. Certain groups
have been able, apparently, to con-
vince some farmers that the wage
and hour law will injure them. For
instance, reports came to me recently
that some corn belt producers had
been told they were going to have
to pay more for plows, harrows and
other farm machinery because of
higher labor costs under the wage
and hour law. There are only three
things wrong with those reports.
First, there were practically no work.
ers at all getting less than 80 cents
an hour-the current minimum-in
the farm machinery industry or in
the steel industry, even before the
law went into effect. Second, there
were no significant changes in aver
age pay per hour in either the steel
a. 81 L.