The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1947-11-20
MINIMUM PAY HIKE
URGED ON CONGRESS
BY |NDUSTR|AL|STS

Washington (LPA) - Four in
dustrialists, all of them in favor of
the Fair Labor Standards Act, and
supporting raise in the. minimum
wage from 4Cc to 65c, stole the
stage at the hearings before a
House Labor Subcommittee last
week.
Patrick w. McDonough, president
of the McDonough Steel Co. Of
Oakland, Calf, led off with a soft
spoken but sharply barbed attack
on his fellow industrialists who, he
maintained, have increased their
''take-home pay" by 1O4O percent
because Of the reduction in the cor
poration tax at the wars end. On
the other hand, he figured that the
rise in living costs has decreased
the buying power ofSthe 4Oc mini
mum wage to 2Oc.
"This reduction of corporation
tax from 95 percent to 38 percent" ;"
McDonough told the committee, "is
tantamount to changing the mini
mum wage from 40c an hour to $4.96
an hour. The 75c an hour mini
mum wage is certainly not as pre-
posterous. Seventy-five cents an
hour is a lower wage than 40c an
hour of 1889. 1t will still amount
to a subnormal wage for 5000, 900
workers, and substandard living
for their 100000 to 100000
dependents"
Ali three subcommittee members
present Reps. Mcconnell (R.,
Pa), Wint Smith (R., Kansas) and
Fisher 3D., Texas)-tried to pro-
test simultaneously when McDon-
ough attacked the corporations.
Talking almost in unison, they de-
manded evidence that any Of the
industrialists who have appeared
before the committee had demand
ed minimum wage lower than 40c.
1t soon developed, as McDonough
in turn asked them questions, that
the industrialists who had appeared
wanted the whole law repealed.
"These corporations may have
the workers at hear, don't you
Think" Fisher asked anxiously. 81
have never" the steel man asserted
flatly "given a worker a 1Oc-an-
hour raise voluntarily. Neither have
they. have never known of a sin
gle instance where an employer has
the conditions Of his
workers, or freely granted them
an increase in wages in a COM
petitive field where the end price
Of his production was determined by
competition only"
The Amalgamated Clothing
Workers-CIO gave up the time
scheduled for their testimony before
the committee to spokesmen for
the Clothing Manufacturers Assn
of the U. S., the Shirt Institute
Inc, and a group of manufacturers
of shirts and pajamas. Altogether,
the testimony represented more
than 1000 manufacturers in the
mems clothing industry. All sup
ported the Fair Labor Standards
Act, reporting that in the nine
years since it was passed by Con-
gress the industry as a whole had
benefited by improved working
and fair standards.
Raymond H. Reiss, speaking for
the Clothing Manufacturers Assn
of the u. S., stated his members
raising the minimum
wage standard set by the law is
Obsolete; second, because "We
sell over 75,000,0OO garments a
year to the consumers of America.
These consumers must be able to
pay for such garments if we are
TO maintain steady production and
in our industry /. Il
Unless the minimum is raised to a
realistic level, the clothing factories
will suffer severely when the cur
rent initiation ends and wages per-
laps decline" Also appearing with
testimony were Maurice
l. Rabbino of the Shirt Institute
me-, and Sylvan Geismar, vice
president of the Manhattan Shirt