Evening star. [volume], June 01, 1937, Page A-11, Image 11

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Pay-Hour Bill
Affects
All
Vast Centralization of
Power in Plan
Cited.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
EVERY mRn and woman who
works for a living will be af
fected in some way if the pro
posed wage control bill is
adopted by Congress and enacted into
law.
Only a handful out of the 45,000,
000 persons gain
f u 11 y employed
will e'er see or
read the 10.000
word bill which
seals their fate as
workers in Amer
ica, and probably
only a small num
ber of legislators
will ever read it
either.
It therefore
becomes a public
duty to tell what
the unprece
dented bill con
tains and what
David Lawrence.
extraordinary power over the life of
the citizen will be assumed by the
Federal Government in the event the
bill should become law.
In the first place, the bill empowers
the commission of five who are to ad
minister the proposed law to include
in its scope whatever classifications
it may desire. As finally introduced
In Congress, the bill docs not say
whether employers of less than 20 or
less than 15 or less than 8 will be
covered by the measure, but leaves
this to be determined in the future,
presumably by Congress, but with
broad powers to the commission to
make changes.
It is for this reason difficult to say
how many workers will be affected by
the minimum wage provisions, be
cause so many industries already have
what is conceded to be the minimum
that probably will be adopted, namely,
around $15 a week, and many in
dustries likewise have a work week of
<0 hours or less.
The measure, however, is not merely
a means of controlling minimum wages
and maximum hours. It is broad
enough so that, with slight changes,
the whole subject of wage control can
be covered. If put into law. the Cor
roran bill—so named after its author,
Tommy Corcoran of the "brain
trust"—will really put all employers
and employes under such rigid Gov
ernment regulation as to working
conditions and possible compensation
that wage scales as a whole are bound
1o be affected as well as the cost of
living for those who have to purchase
the products in which price increases
will inevitably result from the Gov
ernment's system of wage control.
The Corcoran bill would really make
labor unions superfluous. Afier read
ing its provisions one wonders what
there is left for a labor union to do
and just why any worker should
3x>ther to pay dues when all the
functions of wage regulation will be
supervised by the Federal Govern
ment through the Wage Control
Hoard.
Likewise there will be little use for
State governments when this bill is
enacted. Their powers over local in
dustry and wages and hours will con
tinue in so far as they may seek to
improve the minimum wage or de
crease the maximum work week.
The discretionary powers vested in
the Federal Wage and Hour Board
sre incredibly far-reaching. Take the
following paragraph as an example:
"Having regard to the policy of the
Congress to extend the applicability
Pf the provisions of this act with
respect to an oppressive work week !
to all employments within the scope
of this act as rapidly as possible,
the board shall from time to time
by regulation or order declare such
provisions applicable to employments
Within the scope of this act as rapidly
as the board finds that such pro
visions can be made applicable to
such employments without unreason
ably curtailing the earning power of
ihe employe in such employments.”
Not content with this virtual grasp
f»f the whole law-making function,
the Corcoran bill goes on to vest
discretion of even wider sort as fol
lows:
"Having due regard to the mini
mum wage standard established, the
board shall by regulation or by order
vary such standard upward or down
ward as to all employes or as to any
class or classes of employes to the
extent that the board finds a varia
tion necessary or appropriate to pre
vent the depression of general wage
levels below those consistent with the
maintenance of a minimum wage
standard of living necessary for health
»nd efficiency without unreasonably
curtailing opportunities for employ
ment.”
There's enough in these paragraphs
of a contradictory character to make
tiie provision seem unworkable, be
cause it is next to impossible to de
termine some of the broad questions
ipecified, but the board nevertheless
fcould issue its orders right and left
• nd cut through the whole struc
ture of business and industry as well
tvs all service businesses and profes
sions, because the Corcoran bill pro
vides:
“Any person who willfully per
forms or aids or abets in the per
formance of any act declared to be
unlawful by any provision of this act
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction, shall be fined not
more than $500 or imprisoned for
not more than six months, or both.
Where the employment of an em
ploye In violation of any provision
of this act or of a labor standard
order is unlawful, each employe so
employed in violation of such pro
vision shall constitute a separate
offense.”
So it doesn’t matter what experi
menting the Federal Wage and Hour
feoard may do, if any of its multi
farious orders or rules are violated
the employer may go to jail. He can
go to jail, too, for failing to keep
“records required by this act or any
regulation or order thereunder.
If all this seems complex and ex
cessively governmental the reader will
find that the Corcoran bill omits
Itething that anybody could possibly
think of to include. Thus it says:
“For the purpose of regulations
and orders the board may classify
persons and matters within its juris
diction and prescribe different re
quirements for different classes of
persons or matters.”
Evidently Tommy Corcoran didn’t
miss a thing, but the prize sentence
In the bill reads as follows:
"The singular Includes the plural,
and the plural includes the singular."
(Copyright, 1937,)
What’s Back of It All
Memorial Day Also Might Well Have Marked the
Political Death of Ex-Gov. McNutt.
BY H. R. BAUKHAGE.
THE west wind that blew over Washington's Memorial day week end
brought a mournful strain from the banks of the Wabash far away.
It was an ill wfnd and blew nobody good.
It carried the dirge played at the political interment of the
once favorite son of Hoosierdom, Paul V. McNutt, now high (hatl com
missioner of the Philippines. It disturbed the notes on the trade-conference
table of the new Philippine-American Commission, which may cause the
United States to do some reorienting of its Oriental problems.
* * * *
The political funeral concerned chiefly, if not only, the debonair
Legionnaire whose presidential aspirations for 1940 were buried. Of
more immediate concern is the possible interference with the deli
cate deliberations now going on in Washington with the Filipinos.
* * * *
Official attempts have been made to forget the issue raised by Mr.
McNutt's ukase that, when the toast is passed in Manila, the President of
the new Commonwealth is No. 3
man (President Roosevelt No. 1,
high commissioner No. 2). But the
issues isn't as dead as Mr. McNutt's
career.
Once more a very human in
cident plays its part in the rela
tions of nations.
Friendly, able and alert little
Quintin Paredes, keen-minded jur
ist and resident commissioner of
the Philippines in Washington,
C-O' r v. rn
i«t
V .. & >
AfMJt,
leeis that it is the man rather than the situation that has started the
trouble.
* * * *
The situation has existed ever since President Roosevelt decided
on the high commissioner’s rank, even before President Quezon's
inauguration. But High Commissioner Murphy and President Quezon
had a working agreement. They were alternately indisposed on
official occasions and never happened to appear simultaneously.
Hence, there were no drinking troubles.
* * * *
Now McNutt rushes In where Murphy feared to tread and where
diplomats were preparing to walk very gingerly.
But. walk they will, before they finish their deliberations.
"This Is more than a trade conference,” says Mr. Paredes, smiling
through the smoke of a fragrant Manila cigar. "It is a readjustment con
ference.”
And the readjustment, It is hoped, will include all of the relations
between the two countries, economic, political and social, and including,
presumably, those raised by Mr. McNutt when he didn't raise his glass.
Whether our high commissioner is a martyr or merely a martinet Is a
moot question.
* * * *
The State Departr?:cnt says nothing, of course, but certainly
there is no doubt that the cx-Governor of Indian followed his
protocol 100 per cent.
# * * *
There are those, of course, who are very, very happy to see one of the
mast popular commanders of the American Legion from the "right State"
politically, a persuasive speaker, suddenly pulled out of the presidential race
There is always danger of a succession of World War veteran candidates
once they get started.
♦ * * *
This run on the banks of the Wabash, of course, looked very sweet
from the Susquehanna. Pennsylvania's Gov. Earle, having tossed the "full
VKuAT/ iKOTulE.
WOMAN 9
crew bill to the railroad men,
naturally watched the Hookier fade
out with glee.
Old soldiers don’t need to die,
If they’ll Just fade away like this.
* * * *
But men don't make all the
trouble for your uncle:
When Secretary of State Hull
was looking around for a place for
a lady envoy, wuth Mrs. Borden
Hamman in mind, he Just natu
rally turned toward Denmark, where ex-Ministress Ruth Bryan Owen
(.now ex-Owen) had served so wisely but loved too well.
* * * *
H hen. ns is the custom, it iccls nsked if she would he pcTSono,
grata, the frightened Danes hesitated. The King, perhaps, what with
all this armament going on. could not risk further depletion in the
ranks of the royal guards. Now Norway's worrying.
* * * *
There's always some good comedy relief in relief.
This is the latest:
Tlie Workers’ Alliance, organization of the pinker shades of W. P, A.
employes, recently staged a woman's brigade ’'march'’ on Washington
There was great excitement over the first arrival at the W. A. H. Q.
When the lady had shut the door on the newspaper men she was heard
through the transom:
' Gosh, I'm tired. I’ve been breaking in a new car all the wav from
Florida.
(Copyright, lfi.tr, by North American Newspaper Alliance.)
CTHE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in
The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions max/ be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
"Dictators” on Relief
------
High-Handed Attitudes of Some U. S. Beneficiaries
Puzzles Observer.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
ABOUT the matters herein men
tioned, I ought to say, like
the late Will Rogers, that
“all I know is what I read in
the papers.” The clippings here
quoted deal with relief in various
parts of the country. They suggest
a condition that
must be as puz
zling to others as
to me:
In the N e w
Yolk Times is a
report of a gath
ering of 4,000
policemen in
Bro o k 1 y n. The
gathering was ad
dressed by the
managing editor
of the Brooklyn
Tablet Mr. Pat
rick F. Scanlan.
Mr. Scanlan said:
“It's terrible to
Mark Sullivan.
see the pickets outside of relief bu
reaus spitting and calling vile names
at policemen. I saw that happen and
an officer said to me, ‘And we have to
take it.’ . . . But why do the men
have to stand the insults of a lot of
professional parasites?”
Traditional Gallic Defiance.
Why, indeed: I wish some one would
tell me. Does ‘'spitting” in this con
nection mean actually spitting on a
policeman or at him? That has long
been a way of agitators in Europe. A
French word for spit, ‘‘conspuez,” is
a traditional Gallic defiance to au
thority. If New York relief agitators
actually spit at policemen, who made j
the rule that the policemen must j
“take it?” Does the rule limit this j
privilege to persons on relief? Do
any other groups of citizens have the ;
privilege of spitting at policemen? I
imagine not, but I'd like to know.
Again in the New York Times:
“W. P. A. writers, beginning a com- I
bination sit-down strike and walk
out yesterday against prospective cuts !
in the congressional appropriation for
relief, instructed their families to ap
ply at once for home relief to carry
them through the period of the strike.
Insisting that the city, through its
Emergency Relief Bureau, foot the
bill for the writers' demonstration,
officials of the Workers' Alliance an
nounced that the strike would con
tinue until the House of Representa
tives substituted a larger sum for the
$1,500,000,000 it lias voted for 1938
* * * Work in the offices of the W. P.
A. Federal writers project on the sec
ond floor of 235 East Forty-second
street was halted by the strike • • •
At the request of the Strike Strategy
Committee 160 men nad women sat
down and the others walked out to
picket and to muster support for the
sitters.”
Strike of Writers.
If I understand this newspaper ac
count, the condition is this: Writers
say they cannot get jobs writing from
private employers. So they get jobs
writing on a reiief project. While
writing on the W. P. A. Federal writers’
project and getting pay from the Gov
ernment relief funds, they go on
strike. While they thus stop working,
and therefore, I assume interrupt
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Many other models in stock. Moderately priced!
their own pay from the Government,
they demand tnat the relief authori
ties provide for their families.
In the Bronx (New York) Home
News is a statement by a former New
York W. P. A. administrator, Mr. Vic
tor F. Ridder:
“He declared the local precinct ad
ministrators are helpless, because
agitators can take possession of the
offices with impunity and if there Is
any trouble the 'higher-ups’ fire the
administrator. * * * "Tire administra
tor is controlled by the agitators and
he is forced to do what they wish or
lose his job, because the higher-ups
say to him that “if you can’t run
your bureau, get out.” So the ad
ministrator just stays there and the
agitators run everything. Tilings have
reached such a state that these agi
tators even discuss relief situations
with the administrators and give or
ders as to how their requests shall be
carried out.’ ”
“Workers’ Alliance” Doings.
In Tire Evening Star is an account
of doings by the "Workers’ Alliance,”
an organization composed of persons
on relief:
“Overpowered by police, 30 mem
bers of the Workers’ Alliance, who
had staged a two-hour ‘sit-down’ in
Commissioner Allen's office at the
District Building, were forcibly ejected
late today. • • • The delegates had
marched into Allen's office in an effort
to force approval of their demands
for increased relief. They also de
manded the dismissal of Mrs. Flor
ence Huff, supervism of the relief sta
tion at 2529 Pennsylvania avenue.”
Apparently the Washington offi
cials and police are not completely
intimidated by the reliefers. But
| what an odd condition and state of
mind: Persons receiving relief de
mand discharge of the official ad
ministering the relief. And appar
ently the public is so used to this
sort of thing that the incident gets
only a few lines in the newspapers.
An Associated Press dispatch from
Americas. Ga , quotes the superior
judge of the local courts as telling the
Sumter County grand jury:
"It would seem that the relief meas
! ures that were adopted by the Fed
eral Government some four years ago
| have given rise to some unwholesome
I conditions. It is apparent that many
grown-ups are equally as easily spoiled
| as children and, when once spoiled,
j are much harder to cure.”
(Copyright, 1037.)
SHIPSTEAD RECOVERED
—
! ROCHESTER. Minn., June 1 <7Pi —
The condition of United States Sena
tor Henrik Shipstead, farmer Labor,
of Minnesota was described as "A-l”
yesterday by his physician, who, how
ever. ordered him to continue indefi
nitely a convalescence rest from a
gall bladder operation last December.
"Senator Shipstead would like to
; go back to work,” his Mayo Clinic
j physician said, "but six months is by
I no means a long enough period in
which to recuperate.”
We, the People
Next Attack on Social Security Will Ask a Pay-as
You-Go Policy.
BY JAY FRANKLIN.
HE second attack against the New Deal's social security program has
been defeated by the Supreme Court.
The first took the form of the "pay envelope" propaganda
during the last campaign and was defeated by the voters them
selves. The conservatives then put their faith in the Federal judiciary,
but Roosevelt had the judges on the run as early as February and the
good old 5-to-4 decisions against the New Deal changed to 5-to-4 decisions
in favor of every New Deal measure to come before the Supreme Court.
SOCIAL SECURITY
'PAY-AS-YOU-GO'
PE.OGR.AM.
The next line of attack on the
program will come through con
gressional legislation, to urge a
“pay-as-you-go” policy, and to
prevent the creation of the bg
social security reserve fund, which
should approximate 46 billion dol
lars by I960.
SociaJ security taxes are already
flowing into the Treasury at the
rate of $75,000 (lOO a month and by
the end of the year the take
should be running around a billion dollars per annum. Gov. Eccles of
the Federal Reserve Board is already including these revenues in his
forecast of a balanced budget.
* * * *
This is high finance. What the fund amounts to is an organized
effort to buy up the entire national debt and administer it as a
trust fund for the aged and the unemployed. Economically, this
need cause no confusion. It simply means that the Government irill
collect the pay-roll taxes, pay out the pensions, etc., and release,
the balance by purchasing Government bonds. It means that the
bankers will lose their control of Federal credit and will be forced
to invest their depositors’ funds in productive enterprise or release
purchasing power by dividends.
* * * *
It means that in future the Federal Government can finance its
own program of productive or socially necessary public works through
taxes Instead of through borrowing.
Tliis means that Tugwell's “third economy” is on the way to creation.
It is true that the fund lags behind the actuarial estimates for the
first six months of 1937. It should have been a quarter of a billion by
June 30. At the present rate It will barely reach $200,000,000, but that is
largely because of the lag in getting collections Into the treasury and the
apparent doubt of employers in New York and Boston of its constitutional
ity. This doubt has now been settled and the fund should now begin its
flight to the stratospheric billions.
So the conservatives must brace themselves to whittle down
the security taxes by amending the law and by a campaign of educa
tion calculated to persuade workers that they are bring gyped by
the Government. With an “economy bloc” breaking Hew Deal party
lines in the House of Representatives, the bankers have not shot
their bolt and friends of the third economy will have to look to
their defenses.
* * * *
This fits into the weeding-out process in the New Deal ranks, which
began with A1 Smith's walk In 1936 and continues with the battle for the
Roosevelt reform bill. The sheep and the goats are dividing themselves
automatically and those who oppose
adequate relief and repacking the
Supreme Court will also urge the
amendment of the social security
program from a right to a chari
table pittance, under the "pay-as
you-go” slogan.
In the meantime, the Supreme
Court issue is losing its practical
force and is becoming a convenient
symbol around which the con
servatives and liberals can group
themselves. Its value as a touchstone for New Dealism is too great to be
dissipated by the reversal of the court on the major Issues of the Roose
velt program.
The President's message on hours ar.d wages turns additional heat on
Congress and the process of converting Mr. Roosevelt's personal leader
ship into liberal party leadership and principles continues.
For even though it may not be the same battle, it is the same war.
Both sides realize this at last and the country as a whole realizes it. This
is all to the good.
fCopyrleht. lPHT.)
Internal Embargoes Banned.
China's executive. Yuan, has ruled
that local authorities may not place
embargoes on shipments of foodstuffs !
within the country, the national gov
ernment having the sole right.
5,000 at Meeting.
A reoent meeting of the Social Mass
party at Tokio attracted 5 000 more
than the number that gathered the
dav before to hear the premier and
the home minister of Japan.
An American
You Should
Know
Robert H. Jackson Has
Brilliant Legal Record
Under New Deal.
BY DELIA rYNCHOW
ROBERT H. JACKSON, Assist
ant Attorney General, is that
brilliant, progressive young
lawyer who is credited with
the most able defense of the Pres
ident's Supreme Court plan. He did
not discuss size or aee. He simply
reviewed decisions. “These decision*
I Robert II. Jarkson.
have more and
more limited
both Federal and
State powers to
deal w'.th eco
nomic problems,”
Jackson said.
This vital, blue
eyed legal lumni
nary, with ins
contagious smile,
strains at the
leash of estab
lished legal pro
c e d u r e. He is,
he says, no un
reasoning devo
tee to precedent.
that custom which actuates the
“courts to go forward by looking back
ward.” He makes concessions to the
times, feels that “the New Deal Is an
effort to make our existing system
humane enough so it ran survive.”
Before the Bar Association he de
clared: “The Constitution is not a
legal document. It is a general out
line of great powers and institutions.
In dealing with a nation whose genius
is invention we cannot outlaw every
action that cannot show a prece
dent.”
Jackson's specific work in the
Justice Department involves repre
senting the Government in anti-trust
cases. He protects the little fellow
from the big fellow. In 1890 the
Sherman anti-trust act was passed.
Two other acts took steps forward to
prevent monopolies. Abuses continue.
Concentration of wealth continues,
Jackson thinks. “The Government
must be centralized only so far as
it is forced to centralize to deal with
the problems of centralized business,"
Jackson says.
His cases cover a multitude of
abuses. Since starting law Jackson
says that he has taken a hand at
every kind of law case from a horse
law suit in justice courts on up. His
arguments have been successful. To
j cite a few cases: The Electric Bond
A- Share Co. was compelled to rom
' ply w ith the public utility holding
act.
Born on a farm at Spring Creek,
Pa., 44 years a bo. his grandfather
i having been the first white settler
; in that region. Jackson attended
I schools there, the Jamestown Hi~h
School, the Albany Law School. He
was admitted to the New York bar m
1916. practiced law in Jamestown,
N. Y.t served as Securities and Ex
change Commission assistant general
counsel. Bureau of Internal Revenue,
where he tried the Andrew Mellon
tax evasion rase: was appointed to
his present position in 1936. He likes
country life, has his own horses, rides
whenever possible. Eyes are focused
on him. He may well find himself
1 in the Supreme Court some day.
“Mr. MacCrummon
and mysel'are no’ exactly
organ experts but we
vurra soon will be."
THE MEAN MAN
OF GENOA
by
Guy Gilpatric
IMAGINE the seagoing Mr. Glencannon,
and a few assorted monkey wrenches,
turned loose on a church organ! A
profitable cargo dangled in reach as
reward. He discovered the lost chord
all right, but not one the organ builders
ever heard of! (You readers have been
yelling for more Glencannon stories—
here's one you’ll thank us for.)
at your newsstand today in
IN THIS ISSUE
Fiction
The Rotnance of
Rosy Ridge
MacKINLAY kantor
The Mean Man
of Genoa
GUY GILPATRIC
Sour Honeymoon
GEORGE S. BROOKS
Thomashecn James
and the Absent
Minded Professor
MAURICE WALSH
The Case of the
Lame Canary
(Second part of Eight)
ERLE STANLEY
GARDNER
Death on The Nile
(Fourth port of Eight)
AGATHA CHRISTIE
Features
Will There lie Wheat?
NEIL M. CLARK
A Truce With Men
GRETTA PALMER
The Colonel Left
Tracks
BOYCE HOUSE
The Great Goldwyn
ALVA JOHNSTON
Reds and Rackets in
Work Relief
JOHN PUTNAM LOOMIS
Father Meets Son
J. P. McEVOY
Editorials
Post Scripts
The Poet’s Corner
Keeping Posted