CONTROL OF INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 14 July 1933, Page 11

CONTROL OF INDUSTRY.

♦ WIDE MEASURES IN AMERICA. MORK MONEY FOR LESS WORK. WHOLE INDUSTRIAL FIELD TO BE COVERED. (united rr.Ess association—ei slecteio TELEGRAPH —COPYRIGHT.) WASHINGTON, July 12.

With President Roosevelt's signature attached to the so-called cotton textile code, approving of a voluntary system for fair competition agreed upon by the members of this industry, under the provisions of the Industrial Recovery Act, the complicated machinery for the regularisation of hours and conditions of labour in the chief manufacturing trades of the United States is believed to be at last in operation. The textile code, which comes into force as from July 7, abolishes child labour, and establishes a 40-hour week, fixing a minimum weekly wage of 13 dollars in the north and 12 dollars in the south.

Seventy-seven per cent, of the cotton textile industry comes under the regulations, and the remainder must accept, or will be licensed and forced to accept it. It is computed that the code enacts an average mill wage increase of 30 per cent, and a 25 per cent, reduction in hours. It is hoped that only moderate increases in prices to consumers will result, and that 100,000 more persons than at the peak in 1929 will be employed in the industry. The cotton textile code is expected to be the model for the remaining 7000 industries which are to come under control. The timber trade code, submitted yesterday, will probably be the second to receive Presidential approval. It provides for a reafforestation undertaking, the reduction of the maximum week from 48 to 40 hours, and a minimum wage of 11\ to 42 J cents an hour. The bituminous coal industry has agreed upon a wage of 5 dollars a day, but its code is not yet ready for submission to the President. The New York City needle trades, the most important of the country, have completed their codes, providing for a wage of 35 to 100 cents an hour and a 40-hour week, and they will probably shortly be submitted.

Widespread Application,

There are under the process of drafting at the present time codes for such diverse industries and trades as steel, tobacco, petroleum, fur, retail grocers, optical goods, ceramics, jewellers, retail chemists, lamp-makers, printers, and papermakers. Eighty-five per cent, of the forest industry has approved of the timber trade code, but although it is expected that the pay rolls at the beginning of August will be increased by £10,000,000, it is not expected that much re-employment will result, although the industry is employing far below the normal number of 750,000 now. It is interesting to note that the basic code issued on June 21 by the administration stresses that the codes should aim to re-employ the numbers normally applied in each industry. Manufacturers should seek higher profits from increased sales rather than increased prices, monopolies, or the oppression of small enterprises, and classifications of labour that would fix minimum wages as well as minimum wages must be avoided.

General Scheme,

That the imponderables in the vast recovery scheme for industry are already giving Mr Roosevelt and his advisers much concern can be seen in the intimations to-day that, because of the lapse of time necessary before the working of even the first codes can be effective, it is proposed to press immediately for a blanket adoption by industry of a 35-hour week and a minimum wage of 14 dollars. It took a fortnight to frame the cotton textile code, and most industries have not yet even begun consultations. The first hope to get the nation's industry codified within 60 days has virtually been abandoned. Moreover, in the three weeks since the Recovery Act became law business has boomed in .anticipation of price increases to an extent which the Government considers dangerous, since it is not accompanied by an increased purchasing power on the part of the public.

TWO MORE CODES SUBMITTED. THIRTY-SIX HOUR WEEK OFFERED. (Received July 13, 11.50 p.m.) WASHINGTON, July 12. Two more codes were submitted to the Government to-day. The electrical manufacturers agreed to a 36 hour week, with a minimum wage of 35 cents an hour, and the shipbuilding industry offered a 44-hour week with a minimum wage of from 35 to 40 cents an hour. TOWARDS A MANAGED CURRENCY. SURVEY OF MONETARY POSITION. WASHINGTON, July 12. Professors George F. Warren, of Cornell University, and James Harvey Rogers, of Yale, both regarded as outstanding advocates of managed money, have been named by Mr Roosevelt to survey the fiscal situation. Their appointment leads to the belief that the foundation is being laid for a managed currency.