NEW CODE SYSTEM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 164, 14 July 1933, Page 5

NEW CODE SYSTEM

AMERICAN INDUSTRIES COMPLETE REGULATION HOURS, WAGES, CONDITIONS START OF ROOSEVELT PLAN .By Telegraph—Press AssoJlation—Copyright; WASHINGTON, .July 12. With President Roosevelt’s signa ture attached to the so-called “Cotion Textile Code” approving a vulun taiy system for fair competition, agreed upon by members of this industry under the provisions of the Industrial Recovery Act, the complicated machinery for regularisations of hours and conditions of labour in the chief manufacturing trades of America is believed to be finally in the movement. The Textile Code comes into operation on July .17. It abolishes child labour, and establishes a forty-hour week, fixing the minimum wage at thirteen dollars in the North and twelve in the South weekly. Seventyseven per cent, of the cutton textile industry comes under the regulations, and the remainder must accept, or it will be licensed and forced to accept. It is computed that the code enacts an average mill wage increase of 30 per cent., and 25 per cent, reduction in hours. It is hoped that only moderate increases in prices to consumers will result, and 100,000 more persons than in the peak year of 1929 will be employed by that industry. Model for the Rest The Cotton Textile Code is expected to be a 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 reforestation, the reduction of the maximum week from 48 to 40 hours, and a minimum wage of from 22| to 42A cents per hour. Eighty-five per cent, of the forest industry has approved, and, whereas it is expected that the paylolls at the beginning of August will be increased by ten million dollars, it is not expected that much re-employ-ment will result, although the industry was employing far below its normal of 750,000. Now the bituminous coal industry has agreed upon a live-dollar a day wage, 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 code, providing for 35 to 100 cents an hour wage, and a forty-hour week. The code will probably shortly be submitted. 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, chemist shops, lamp makers, printers, and paper makers. It is interesting to note that its basic code issued on June 21 by the Administrator (Mr. Johnson) stresses that the codes should aim at re-em-ploying the numbers normally applied to 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 then fix maximum wages as well as minimum must be avoided. Imponderable Trades That imponderables iu the vast recovery scheme for industry arc already giving President Roosevelt and his advisers much concern can be seen by intimations to-day that, due to the lapse of time necessary before the working out of even the first codes can be effective, it is proposed to press immediately for the blanket adoption by industry of a 35-hour week, and a .14 dollar minimum 'wage. It took a fortnight to frame the Cotton Textile (’ode, and the great bulk industries have not yet even begun their consultations. The first hope tn get the nation’s industry codified within sixty days has been virtually abandoned. Moreover, in the three weeks since the Recovery Act became law, businss has a boom in anticipation of price increases to the extent which the Government considers dangerous since it is unaccompanied by an increased purchasing power of the public. IN THE MEANTIME A BLANKET ORDER WASHINGTON, July 12. President Roosevelt, while pleased with the progress towards the establishment of industrial codes in the United States, is considering a blanket order to provide, minimum wages and limited hours until the recovery programme goof into effect. TWO MORE CODES. Received Julv 13, 11.55 p.m. WASHINGTON. July 12. Two more codes were submitted to (he Government to-day, the electrical manufacturers agreeing to a 36-hour minimum week with a 35 cents an hour minimum wage, and the shipbuilding industry offering a 40-hour week with .">5 to 40 cents, an hour.