Richmond Times-Dispatch
PUBLISHED MORNING AND SUNDAY

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Sept. 2, 1936

Dear Charlie:

If you are using the article about labor conditions, I would suggest that you cut out of it the clause which says the Friedman-Harry Marks Clothing Co. of Richmond has long been "notorious for paying low wages", or words to that effect. I haven't the article available at the moment, and hence can't quote the exact language.

While I think the statement is correct, and I am sure that many people regard the concern as notorious for its low wages, I find that its reports to the State Labor Department show it to be paying about the same wages that other large industries pay in this section. Of course, the entire wage scale in Virginia is too low, and even assuming that the company's reports are accurate (which I do not believe is a safe assumption), it could be argued that the whole scale in Virginia is notoriously low.

However, rather than risk any trouble with the company, which might possibly sue for libel, I think it would be well to cut out the passage in which the concern is described as notorious for its low wages. I hope I am not too late with this suggestion.

With apologies for troubling you, I am

Dr. Chas. W. Pipkin, Editor,
The Southern Review,
Baton Rouge, La.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Sept.5,1936

Dear Mr. Erskine:

Thank you so much for giving the matter I wrote you about
such prompt attention. I appreciate also your raising the question as to
the effect of the migration of low-wage factories from the North to the
South, on the Southern wage scale.

I do not pretend to be an economist, but I think the answer
to your argument is that there is such a vast oversupply of unskilled labor
in the South. The low wage scale prevailing here has always been partly
due to that fact. Hundreds of thousands of tenant farmers who barely eke
out a living on their farms, can be attracted to the factories for a very low
rate of compensation.

I think my argument is clarified by the insertion of the
words "with its great surplus of unskilled workers", and I am grateful to
you for pointing out the need for such clarification. With that addition,
I believe it meets the situation adequately.

You have cut the "notoriously low wage scale" phrase in
just the right way. Many thanks.

Mr. Albert R. Erskine Jr.,
The Southern Review,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.