Evening star., 1940-04-29

o@i@C VIC ioouc WIilCIl group OF
Southern Democrats are trying to
hand them, in the fight over the
proposed Barden amendments to the
wage-hour law, or whether, out of
blind opposition to the administra-
ton, they go along with these de-
structive amendments and so cancel
out the issue.
The question is whether or not
more than million workers en-
gagged in the processing" OF agri-
cultural products shall be deprived
OF the benefits of the wage hour
law. This IS the aim of the drastic
Barden amendments--to make 1t
possible for this group of industrial
workers, of the very class that the
wage-hour law was designed pri.
marily to protect, to be paid less
than the modest minimum scale
fixed under the act.
Those Who Would Be Hit.
The people who would be affected
by the exemptions are not doing
farm labor. Farm laborers are al
ready exempt. Those who would be
put outside the pale of the act by the
Barden amendments are performing
industrial operations on farm prod
ucts. They are working in canning
| and packing plants and other proc
esSing plants, and the beneficlaries
of the change. though it is offered
in the guise of farm relief" and is
mistakenly supported by a number
Of farm organizations. would be the
owners of those enterprises, not the
farmers.
Not all the Southern Democrats,
it should be added subscribe to the
short-sighted thesis of Mr.. Barden.
Notable in the opposition to his
amendments is Mr.. Ramspeck, from
the deep South-from Georgia. Mr..
Ramspeck is one of those who see
clearly that the way to help the
farmer is to increase the purchasing
power of the people who buy the
farmers products. Mr.. Ramspeck
Is also of that group of Southerners
who believe that ''the time has
come when the South can no longer
live on a stratum of economic life
different from that in other Sec
| tlons." that under the wage-hour
law I'VE have taken a step in a
direction which will be more benefi-
| clal to the South perhaps than to
any other section of the United
States"
His the Exceptional View.
But Mr.. Ramspeck's, if one may
Judge by the debates now going
forward in the House. is the excep-
tional view among his Southern
Democratic colleagues. On the
ground of the supposed sectional
interest of the South, these Demo-
Gratis, by and large, want the Bar
den amendments
Here is where the opportunity OF
the Republicans comes III. Here is
plain case where political expedi-
ency. from the standpoint of the
G. o. p, jumps with the larger
public interest
am going to let part of this
column be written by a Repub-
lican, Representative Barton of New
York, who is standing on the wage
hour issue with Mrs. Norton. the
Democratic chairman of the House
Labor Committee. Mr.. Barton has
an independent mind.
Barton's Stand.
What follows is condensed from
his remarks in the current House
debate:
Il favor the Norton amendments,
which were worked out with pains
taking care in the Labor Commit
tee. They remove hardships with
out weakening the act The Barden
amendments would exempt hum
dreds of thousands of the poorest
paid and most helpless workers. In
cluding large numbers of Negroes
and underprivileged white workers,
especially in the South, for whose
protection the act was especially
designed.
Il believe we now have (in Col.
Fleming) a reasonable, intelligent
and cooperative administrator (of
the Wage-Hour Act) who appreci-
ates the problems of both employer
and employe. For this reason I
favor adopting the conservative
amendments of the Labor Commit
tee and giving him another six
months or year to deal with
such individual situations as can be
ameliorated by changes in the regu-
lations and definitions. At our next
session the administrator, who is
directed to make recommendations
from time to time to the Congress,
may have discovered certain other
ways in which the act can be per-
fected and unnecessary hardships
and criticisms removed.
Changes Will Be Minor"
But such changes, I believe, will
be minor Neither the next session
of Congress nor any session will be
willing to repeal or undermine this
legislation.
1T has commended itself to the
social conscience of our people and
has even in these few months been
cheerfully accepted by the over
whelming majority of forward look
ing employers throughout the land"
e Thus Mr.. Barton, from the So
called silk stocking" Republican
Va lNCW
Mr.. Barton is talking the language
OF the Glenn Frank report, which
came out in terms for governmental
wage-hour regulation in situations
where workers are unable to protect
themselves through collective bar
gaining.
He is talking the language of ALI
Landon In his recent Wichita speech
warning the Republicans against
blind" antagonism to the social re-
form measures of the New Deal.
Are the Republicans Of the House
going to throw of partisanship and
stand behind the progressive views
Of Mr.. Barton on the wage-hour
issue? Or are they going to line
up for the economic Bourbonism
represented by the Barden amend
ments? d