THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1934. THE CODE IN INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 14

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 1, 1934. THE CODE IN INDUSTRY

The code lias been claimed to represent the establishment of law and order in American industry. None the less in the United States the strike mood is much in evidence. The outstanding manifestation of the moment is the prospect of a strike in the textile industry threatening to involve, it is stated, over 7 50,000 workers. If the New Deal is solving problems it is also creating them. The National Industrial Recovery Act, horn in June of last year, gave the President discretionary powers in approving industrial codes to have effect for a period of two years, and it is of interest to recall that the cotton industry was the first to present a code. The codes approved thus far number over 450, affecting, it is stated, two and a-half million firms, 91 per cent, of industry, and twenty-two million workers. The N.R.A. process of codification recognised seventeen industrial groups, and in the textile group alone there are sixty codes, of which the labour unions are demanding complete revision permitting of shorter hours of work and higher wages. An interesting and rather droll feature of the situation is that the union leaders, though realising that the resources available for strike purposes are inadequate, believe that a strike could be won through the extension of Government unemployment relief to those participating in it. Apqrt from this industrial aspect further changes in the National Recovery Administration are in contemplation, and a reclassification of codes is indicated which may be expected to cut down their number somewhat drastically. Rumours of General Johnson’s resignation which have been again in circulation have been officially contradicted. The N.R.A. has had a stormy existence thus far, and seems to be more than ever the subject of controversy. In the course of a recent article appearing in the Observer Professor Moley, one of President Roosevelt’s advisers and one of the initiators of the reconstruction programme, wrote :—“ In creating his organisation General Johnson moved with incredible speed. No one of less understanding and imagination, no one of less resourcefulness and purpose, no one of less devotion and energy could have begun or carried on this task. With something like exaltation employers and employees joined in the work of setting up and perfecting a principle wholly new to our economics —self-government of industry.” He has claimed that “The code is the most practical means yet devised to permit the experience of industry to spread out and become the guiding force in its growth and development.” But much of the first “ exaltation ” has apparently departed as theory and practice have clashed, and there seems to be a good deal of evidence in support of the contention that the New Deal policies, as exemplified by N.R.A., so far from promoting better relations between industry and labour, hate tended to make them worse. There could be no satisfying both, which was the N.R.A. ideal. In the opinion of the Socialists General Johnson’s N.R.A. has proved not a boon but a blow to labour. In convention they have declared : “ The actual administration of the law has in fact robbed labour of most of the privileges theoretically granted,” and they contend that employers have with impunity defied the law. Republican Party criticism is that American institutions and American civilisation are in “ greater danger to-day than at any time since the foundation of the republic,” and that “a small group in Washington, with temporary authority, is seeking covertly to alter the framework of American institutions.” Thus as to the effects of the great work of reconstruction there are distracting differences of testimony.