Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-10
Text of Byrnes' Radio Address on Initiation

ton
paid occupations. They will make
unbearable the burden of the woman
who has been allotted $50 month
upon which to live while her hus-
band or her son has gone to the
front to fight and possibly die for
you and me.
No Retreat in Fight.
We must not retreat in our fight
to stabilize the cost of living. The
act of Congress provided that prices,
wages and salaries affecting the cost
Of living should be stabilized and
except as otherwise provided in the
act such sterilization should, so far
as practicable, be on the basis of
levels existing September IS, 1912
We must hold that line. We must
adhere firmly to that program.
There must be no further increases
IN wages beyond the Little Steel
formula except in limited and special
cases to correct patiently gross in
equities and to rectify plainly sub
standard wages. Today the National
War Labor Board reaffirmed this
policy in its decision in the meat
packers case. There must be no
further price increases unless and
to the limited extent required by law
to meet clearly established cost in
creases which cannot generally be
absorbed out of profits.
We must bring under effective
control all food prices. We must
break up the black markets. Some
Of the talk about black markets is
exaggerated, but by no means all.
Price Administrator Brown is max
ing a determined effort to extermi-
nate them. He needs money but
even more he needs your help. The
man who helped the bootlegger in
prohibition days hurt only himself.
The woman who today encourages a
merchant to bootleg food is hurting
her loved ones, her country and her
self.
To insure the effective and uni
form administration of the policies
which I have announced, I have
requested the National War Labor
Board to make no increase in wage
rates which will change existing
wage policies or which affects
directly or indirectly an entire in
dustry or substantial portion thereof
without prior consultation with me.
And I have also requested the price
administrator not to approve any
increase In general price ceilings
without first consulting me. It is
my purpose to exercise all the powers
granted by law to prevent any fur
ther increase in the basic and essen
t1al cost OF subsistence living. am
assured by all the agencies of
Government concerned that I shall
have in this effort their whole
hearted cooperation.
This policy of holding basic prices
and basic wages firmly at their
present levels does not preclude the
limited use of price incentives or
wage incentives to increase produc-
ton. But such incentive payments
must not be used as an excuse for
general increase in wages or prices.
We cannot hand out incentives so
freely that they only cancel each
other and add to our inflationary
gap.
In the labor field it has been Gus
tomary to pay overtime for work
In excess OF the normal hours.
Overtime payments have been an
effective aid to increase production
during the war. Paying more for
the same work makes for imitation.
Paying more for extra work does
not.
4SHour Work Week.
To make more effective use of
our manpower during the war period
the President has today signed an
executive order establishing a mini
mum 48-hour work week, without
affecting the workers existing right
to overtime pay.s Many war indus
tries are already working 48 hours
or more q week, but the order will
induce other industries to 60 on a
minimum 48-hour week wherever
feasible. The general adoption of
the 48-hour week will enable us to
get more work out of our limited
labor supply. While overtime pay
ments will add to the wage bill, the
addition will be largely made up
by the increased production secured.
And we shall thereby release man.
power for the armed forces, for war
industry and for the farms.
Secretary Wickard has recently
introduced incentive payments into
our farm program as a means Of
securing increased farm production.
Although the general relation Of
total farm costs to farm prices is
extremely favorable, the farmer
must incur unusually high costs in
expanding the output of some crops
beyond current peak level. To pro-
vide this additional output the
farmer must shift from nom
essential to essential war crops and
must bring less-fertile acreage into
use. He must expand output in
face Of inadequate supplies of fer
tiaizers, inadequate requirements of
equipment, and inadequate man.
power. Incentive payments will en-
able US to increase production
without increasing prices.
Some people have dubbed incen-
tive payments subsidies, thinking
thereby to condemn them. I disa-
gree. To me they seem essentially
sound economically. They will in
crease the production Of basic
foodstuf1s just as they have been
used to increase the production of
copper and other critical materials
They cannot be said to be unfair
to any one.
General and indiscriminate wage
and price increases will not solve
Dr.. J. X. FRElOT, DENTIST