U.S. "BLANKET" CODE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 7

U.S. "BLANKET" CODE.

Period of Four Months from

January 1.

"PROGRAMME MUST SUCCEED."

(Received !)..'io a.m.) WASHINGTON, December 21

President Roosevelt to-day announced the renewal of the "blanket" industrial code, providing for higher wages and shorter hours of work for all industries, which was officially inaugurated from August 1. The renewal is for a period of four months from January 1. The President stated that "fair competition" agreements now cover 70 per cent of all employees, to which it is applicable, and he expressed the hope that the remainder will be covered by May 1. "With winter in the Middle West, and with many persons out of work," said the President, "it is essential that the New Year should not bring a 'let down' in the recovery programme in trades and industries, which at this time have not yet come under approved codes." Cheese Market Collapse. A story of deflated rather than inflated prices through the operations of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration was told to Mr. H. A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, by representatives of the cheese and butter industries. They com- • plained bitterly that he had failed to support the market as promised through Government purchases of cheese and butter up to a limit of 30,000,000 dollars. The Administration had expended 11,000,000 dollars in purchasing butter and nothing on cheese, they alleged, with the result that the prices had collapsed, involving a loss to the producers of milk for manufacturing purposes of from 30 to 35 per cent of their incomes, making their average return the lowest for" a generation. Mr. Wallace issued a sharp answer, indicating that the Government felt the industry had done little to regulate overproduction. The industry could not stabilise profits indefinitely on the basis of Government purchases. Hoover and Republicans, i Something of what the ex-President. Mr. Herbert Hoover, thinks of President Roosevelt's recovery programme was .revealed at a luncheon by prominent Republican leaders, several of whom recently visited Mr. Hoover at his home at Palo Alto, California. They declined to discuss his attitude in detail, but he counselled Republican members of Congress to refrain from attacking the Administration's policies until "errors in the economic programme" have accumulated. The Republicans admit that so far they arc divided on a positive monetary policy. On other issues they will probably not seriously challenge the President, at least during the' early days of the forthcoming session of Congress.