Cotton & Wages

When President Roosevelt last fortnight declared by radio that 90% of the cotton textile industry was good-hearted at bottom, he was only indulging in squirely politeness. Last week the directors of Cotton-Textile Institute, Inc. plumped for a 40-hr, work week and an 80-hr. weekly limitation on mill operations. But George A. Sloan, the Institute's able young head, was able to muster only ten of the industry's 30 million spindles for the Institute's plan.* He announced that when he had mustered 20 million spindles he would ask Mr. Roosevelt to use the New Deal as a club to bring the rest into line.

But Squire Roosevelt's allusion to the cotton industry--noted for long hours, low wages, child labor--had effect. Last week hundreds of cotton mills boosted wages 5% to 10%, and cotton mills were not alone. Headlines screamed across the country:

"SEVEN FIRMS REPORT RISE IN PAY RATES. . . . Brokers Pay Bonus. . . . THOUSANDS GET PAY INCREASES OF 5 TO 20%. . . . Plants Recall Workers, Lift Wage Scales. . . . 20% INCREASE BY PEANUT CONCERN. . . . 9,000 In Textile Mills Advanced. . . .WAGE RISES CONTINUE OVER NATION. . . ."

For each & every raise,, whether it affected ten or 10,000, the Press thumped and boomed on its big bass drum./- Errett Lobban Cord, whose companies have never been noted for high wages, upped all workers in his automobile and aviation units 5%. Up 12 1/2% went all Goodyear Tire & Rubber employes. Up 10% went wages in George E. Rogers & Co., Pittsburgh wholesale hay & grain dealers. The upping movement undoubtedly spread far & wide last week, but three things the Press did not report were: 1) What percentage of all U. S. workers received raises. 2) what the wages were before, 3) wage cuts.

*Merrily last week did Pepperell Mills of Lindale, Ga. report 24 hour-a-day operations, 500 added workers on its payroll.

/-Which set Colyumist Franklin Pierce Adams ("F. P. A.") to probing the theory of limits in his Conning Tower: "You get $100 a week and get a 50% cut. . . . Then things get better and you get a 50% rise: $75 a week. They get bad and you get a 50% cut: $37.50 a week. They improve and you get a 50% rise: you get $56.25. ... So in an infinite number of years you'll be getting $50 a week again."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.