The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-01-11
S0UTH'S FIRST
need, A 65e
Minimum WAGE

The substandard wages paid to the
great majority of Southern workers
are the root of the South's economic
evils, declares the current Freedom
From Want" issue of the SOUTHERN
PATRIOT, which urges Southern sup
port for 65c minimum wage, as pro-
vided by Senator Claude Papper's bill,
S-1349, now before congress.
The Csc minimum wage holds out
benefits to every group in the South,
says the PATRIOT. To the business
man, large and small, it means pur-
chasing power and opportunity for
new industry; to the farmer, it means
bigger market for his products; and
to the community as whole, it means
more money available for education
hospitals, and community services.
Warning that Southern congression-
al opponents of Senator Peppers bill
speak for the interests that profit
from the South's misfortune" the PA
TRIOT calls upon the Southern peo-
pie to counterfeit propaganda and
pressure which threatens to defeat the
bill
Can Industry Pay?
The PATRIOT marshalls facts and
figures to support its claim that South
ern industries can well afford to pay
the wage increase without price in
creases:
in the Southern textile industry,
the cost of paying the Csc minimum
would amount to 33 million dollars;
this industry's profits before taxes in
1914 were 871 million.
I'm the Southern timber industry,
the cost to industry would be IS mil
lion; profits here were 156 million.
I'm the Southern tobacco industry
the cost would be seven miiiiar
against 154 million in profits
The protests of employer spokesman
today are as hollow as those of the
30s when Southern business solemn
Iy declared that wage-hour legislation
would end Southern industry and free
enterprise, says the PATRIOT.
Far from hurting business, the Csc
minimum would increase efficiency
and protect honest employers from
the unfair competition of sweatshops,
according to testimony before the SEN
ate hearings, quoted in the PATRIOT.
Low wages, on the other hand, de-
press Southern business by restricting
the purchasing power which is its life
blood; they distort the South's econ
omy by discouraging the production of
finished goods in our midst; they keep
the Southern farmer poor by under
the market for his product;
they keep large proportion of our
poorly fed, poorly clothed
and poorly house; and they mean a
general low level of income and prop
erty values, resulting in shrunken tax
revenues, which keep our education
health and social security standards
shamefully behind the rest of the ma
ton
Such low wages-less than Csc an |
hour-are being received today by AZ |
per cent of all Southern textile work |
srs, AZ per cent of all Southern lumber |
workers, So per cent of all Southern |
workers, or 1000 workers in
-hese three industries alone, the PA
TRIOT points out. Wartime develop
ments have increased rather than les
;ened the gulf between wages paid in
he South, and in the rest of the ma
ion for similar work, while cost of
living has increased proportionately
more in the South. The PATRIOT
,alls for the end of this Southern wage
Since the passage of the original
bill, providing a 40c mini
mum, many changes have occurred in
he nations economy. The cost of
wing has risen so sharply that the
DC goal has not actually been
chieved; the productivity per man
our has almost doubled; the nation
| income has more than doubled If
nation with national income of SO
illion dollars can set 40c minimum
rage, a nation with 160 billion ma
onal income can set Csc minimum,
oncludes the PATRIOT
Readers of The Peoples Voice can
ecure a free copy of the Freedom
rom Want" issue of the Patriot by
riting to 507 Presbyterian Building,
ashville 3, Tenn.
DEMAND THE UNION LABEL
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