N. R. A., wages have been cut, hours lengthened, and workers laid off. Chicago Mill & Lumber Co. and other mill companies work 10 to 15 hours per day at a very low wage. Working hours increased after N. R. A. was declared void, mill employees working 10 to 15 hours. Wages range from 15 cents to 35 cents per hour. Wages are lower than ever before.--J. H. Gore, Helena, Ark.

Increases in hours of work were made after N. R. A. decision and are continuing.-V. V. Vaught, Pine Bluff, Ark.

CALIFORNIA

Most all business firms have increased hours and many cut down to skeleton force to evade provisions of State unemployment administration.-E. H. Dowell, San Diego, Calif.

Working hours are being increased from 30 to 40 a week, and jobs that, were 40 are changing to 44 and 45.-C. O. Johnson, San Diego, Calif.

A firm of the building-trades contractors cut wages after the N. R. A. went out. Hours have not been reduced, and, in addition, there is overtime.-H. L. Brown, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Unorganized workers, especially the "white collar" class, have been subjected to lower wages, longer hours, and lay-offs since the Supreme Court decision on the N. R. A.-W. O. Smith, Ventura, Calif.

Lower wages, longer hours, and lay-offs have resulted from the Supreme Court decision on the N. R. A.-James A. Sells, Watsonville, Calif..

COLORADO

Hours were lengthened after the N. R. A. went out.-H. A. Waldref, Grand Junction, Colo.

GEORGIA

The Swift Oil Mills lengthened hours from 8 to 12 per day, as did the Planters Cotton Oil Co. The Limbard Iron Works & Supply Co. lengthened hours from 8 to 9 per day, with no increase in pay.

Cotton-cil mills have lengthened hours from 8 to 12 per day, with cuts in wages, with one exception.-H. H. Stewart, Augusta, Ga.

Many businesses have increased hours, reduced wages, and increased the work lead. Company unions are developing fast, due to employers' control and starving workers into agreeing to such representation.-C. D. Puckett, Rossville. Ga.

ILLINOIS

Hours of work have been lengthened, especially in chain stores.-Walter J. Steube, Danville, Ill.

The main firms lengthening hours are Johns-Manville, Griess-Phleger Tanning Co., and Oakes Products Corporation.—George Nordstrom, Waukegan, Ill.

INDIANA

Since the Supreme Court decision on the N. R. A., laboring conditions as to. hours have come to a bad state. Very few, if any, of the shops are working only 40 hours. Most shops run 50 or more. Some case workers are putting in as many as a hundred hours a week. The Metal Forming Co. are running three shifts of 8 hours 7 days a week. Smoler Dress Shop is paying $8.50 per week.-A. J. Zollinger, Elkhart, Ind.

The effect of the Supreme Court decision is shown mostly in the elimination of overtime pay and in longer hours; by the extension of hours firms have been able to curtail the reemployment of furloughed workers.-C. O. Van Horn, Fort Wayne, Ind.

It is reported that the following firms have lengthened hours: Standard Packing Co., Reliance Manufacturing Co., Superior Tool Works, and the Kingston Products Co.-H. E. Vincent, Kokomo, Ind.

The Rund & Klenk Packing Co. has increased hours from 40 to 45 and put into effect a 10-percent pay cut.-Frank Fowler, Lafayette, Ind.

Several concerns have lengthened hours since the N. R. A. was discon tinued.-Alvin Barrett, Marion, Ind.

58539-ser. 12, pt. 2-36-16

Nearly all grocery stores, restaurants, and unorganized plants have lengthened hours.-Tom N. Fuson. West Terre Haute, Ind.

KANSAS

Only the small retail stores have taken advantage of the Supreme Court decision on the N. R. A. to lower wages, lengthen hours, and lay off workers.Thomas Crowe, Coffeyville, Kans.

Reports come in that hours have been lengthened in several business houses since Supreme Court decision on N. R. A.-W. S. Duncan, Salina, Kaps.

KENTUCKY

The Murphy Store has lengthened hours 6 a week.—F. C. Owens, Hardy, Ky. From a general survey in the industrial field, we find that working hours have been lengthened.-J. T. Woodward, Louisville, Ky.

MAINE

Many firms have lengthened hours since the passing of the N. R. A.-F. C. McDonald, Portland, Maine.

MASSACHUSETTS

Valley Paper Co. has increased hours of workers in their finishing department from 8 to 9 per day.-M. J. McLain, Hadley Falls, Mass.

increased working hours, with a cut in wages.

The workers

All shops taken a wage cut of 121⁄2 percent to keep working in the shops

have voluntarily
and to prevent the companies from leaving the city, as others have done.

Most firms have gone back to long hours, and wage cuts have been made ranging from 10 to 12% percent since N. R. A. was declared unconstitutional.

Boot and shoe workers have had hours increased and wages decreased.— John F. Tucker, Marlboro, Mass.

Loom loads are being increased by the William Skinner Silk Co., the Farralapac Co., and the Worsted and Cotton Textile Mills.

Joseph Skinner & Son Silk Co. cut wages and increased loom loads.-M. J McLain, South Hadley Falls, Mass.

MINNESOTA

Right after N. R. A. was discarded hours were lengthened.-John J. Baloc, Monticello, Minn.

Sewer Pipe Co. has added 1 day of 8 hours; now working 6 days per week.— Frank Koester, Red Wing, Minn.

Department stores have lengthened hours.

St. Paul Works Progress Administration labor trying to organize thèse workers.-E. D. McKinnon, St. Paul, Minn.

MISSOURI

The D. M. Oberman Garment Co. has increased hours by setting a standard which few can attain. They punch the clock out at quitting time and go back to work until the so-called standard is reached.-J. R. Andrews, Springfield, Mo.

MONTANA

All general stores have lengthened hours 8 per week.-Homer Whitmore. Great Falls, Mont.

NEBRASKA

Most firms have increased hours since N. R. A. was discarded.-Britt Pryor, Lincoln, Nebr.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Twelve thousand textile workers and 200 shoe workers out of employment.— Edward W. Holden, Manchester, N. H.

NEW JERSEY

Factories have been operating better than other industries, but they work their employees overtime; some girls in the box factory average 70 hours since the N. R. A. was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Wage levels have been greatly reduced.-Aaron B. Losey, Cedar Knolls, N. J.

The Johns-Manville plant at Manville have increased hours from 40 to 48.Edward V. Wood, Plainfield, N. J.

Most unorganized firms in this district have increased their hours since the collapse of N. R. A.

Most firms laying off workers.

A great many unorganized stores and firms

hare increased hours. Robert R. Doyle, Secaucus, N. J.

NEW YORK

Some machine bosses of the St. Regis Paper Co. who formerly worked 8 hours have been put on the 12-hour shift.-Joy M. Clarke, Norfolk, N. Y.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hundreds of textile workers are working 50 and 60 hours per week. Mills operate 24 hours daily. No wage increases reported. On the other hand, many workers on unskilled jobs are being handed wage cuts.-Paul R. Christopher. Shelby, N. C.

NORTH DAKOTA

Practically all retail stores lengthened hours. Meat cutters work 9 hours a day.-C. T. Vaughn, Minot, N. Dak.

OHIO

Merchants and chain stores have lengthened hours.-J. E. Wills, Elyria, Ohio. The Superior Body Works, Lima Locomotive Works, and Bernhards Paper Co. have lengthened hours.

Six hundred men have been laid off since December 15. Several firms have increased hours.-Alfred T. Murphy, Lima, Ohio.

Retail firms have increased hours.-Edgar E. Baker, Newark, Ohio. Reports show hours increasing both in stores and factories. This is being done without increasing wages in many instances, particularly stores.

There has been a lengthening in work hours, many shops working 44 and 48 hours. Stores back to where they were before N. R. A. No increase in wages. Stores have abandoned provisions set up by the N. R. A. Hours increased

and wages reduced.-C. W. Rich, Springfield, Ohio.

General Fire Proofing Co. is working 50 hours per week. Half of orders are for the Government. The company fails to pay overtime.-Ed. W. Miller, Youngstown, Ohio.

OKLAHOMA

A number of employers have lengthened hours.-G. E. Warren, Tulsa, Okla.

PENNSYLVANIA

The silk industry is lengthening hours. Wages have been reduced in the silk industry since the N. R. A. went under.--Samuel Macri, Allentown, Pa. The Colver Store Co. refuses to sign an agreement with retail clerks who have been on strike since December 18.-Wilbert Entwistle, Barnesboro, Pa. Several plants have attempted cuts, with varying success, Silk industry is at lowest point of employment in years.-Walter M. Trumbull, Easton, Pa.

The Duplan Silk Corporation lengthened hours. There is a strike at the Hazleton Silk Co. because there are some strikebreakers working in the mill. Workers in the Baer Silk Co. at Berwick. Pa., won an election, but company will not open mill.

A complete walk-out at the Baer Silk Throwing Co., located at Berwick. Pa., of some 200 workers, protesting against wage cus of from 3211⁄2 cents per hour to 25 cents.-Roy F. Kling, Hazleton, Pa.

Small employers have lengthened hours of work.--William H. Allison, Lewiston, Pa.

Textile mills, machine shops, shirt factories, chain works-in fact, all workers here have had their working hours increased.

A textile firms have increased hours.-Herman Stein, York, Pa.

SOUTH CAROLINA

The Spring Manufacturing Co. has lengthened hours in their Eureka and Larcerster mills.

Hours have been lengthened in several mills.-John Poole, Buffalo, S. C. The Hamick chain of textile mills has for the past 2 months run three shifts averaging 120 hours a week. In these mills the hours have been lengthened from 40 to 46 but not over 8 hours in any one day. The third shift employed approximately 500 extra hands in the 5 mills.

: One mil employing 75 worked 10 hours per day for the month of January. Another firm announced 25 percent reduction, effective January 20.-J. Í. Palmer, Gaffney, S. C.

Textile industry has increased hours and reduced wages.-E. P. Perry, Spartanburg, S. C.

Conestee running 46 hours, two shifts per week, plus a wage cut; Alpacha Mill running two 48-hour shifts; Slate Mill running two 55-hour shifts.-B. C. Comer, Tucapau, S. C.

TENNESSEE

All firms have lengthened hours.-W. I. Carrington, Jackson, Tenn.

TEXAS

Since the N. R. A. went out firms generally are going back to the old hours which, in most cases, were longer than the N. R. A. hours.

Since N. R. A., all industry has lengthened hours.-Loren P. Young, Dallas, Tex.

Hours have been lengthened where workers are not organized.-Lucian Andler, Houston, Tex.

Filling stations and restaurants have lengthened hours.--W. F. Hill, Port Arthur, Tex.

Most all firms have lengthened hours.-Charles J. Maunsell, Texarkana, Tex.

VIRGINIA

The Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. is now working a straight 40-hour week instead of 36, as under N. R. A. Hours have been increased by retail merchants.-Carl E. Gustafson, Hampton, Va.

WEST VIRGINIA

Department and other stores employing retail clerks have lengthened hours and in some cases have reduced wages.-Thomas Cairns, Charleston, W. Va. Mr. TRACY. I also submit an exhibit containing an excerpt from a hearing on "Title A (Labor Provisions) of Proposed Voluntary Agreement for the Fertilizer Industry."

(The exhibit referred to is as follows:)

EXCERPT FROM HEARING ON "TITLE A (LABOR PROVISIONS) OF PROPOSED VOLUNTARY AGREEMENT FOR THE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY"

Mr. TRACY. If it is at all possible could we have presented a little more definitely those plants which have departed from the former code provisions and the number of employees involved?

Deputy ROBERTS. Mr. Brand, could you give an answer to Mr. Tracy's question?

Mr. BRAND. I regret to say that I do not have the specific figures. These reports are reports that have come to us more in the way of complaints from competitors who are sustaining the rate, concerning the conduct of their competitors, and we do not have these figures.

Mr. TRACY. Are they in the small group, the intermediate group, or the larger group of the industry?

Mr. BRAND. I should say the greater number of complaints have come in the smaller group.

Mr. TRACY. As against the larger groups?

Mr. BRAND. Yes; as against the larger groups, because those companies in the larger groups, so far as I now recall, are now continuing to observe the labor provisions of the code.

Last week a very important member of the industry told me he did not know how long he could continue to do it with the growing competition of the smaller manufacturers who are no longer paying the code wages.

Deputy ROBERTS. Does that answer your question, Mr. Tracy?

Mr. TRACY. Yes, sir.

Mr. HOCKLEY. Mr. Chairman, I do not think this question of departure from the code rates, or the number of people that have done it, is of so great importance as the degree in which they have departed from the code rates.

We have a certain territory in which the number of departures are small, but the cost per ton of iates has been reduced below the code rates, and below our rates, which are the code rates, so greatly that the labor cost per ton is only about 50 percent of what the labor cost would be with the code rates prevailing. In that respect the break-down in the price situation which may develop is very serious, so far as those people who adhere to the code rates are concerned, and the price, unfortunately, is apt to be determined by the low producing cost, so that the price structure of a producer adhering to the code rates is apt to be below his cost, for the reason the cost spread of the product is not sufficient to carry it at a difference of 50 percent in labor cost.

Deputy ROBERTS. Mr. Hockley, you are from the Davison Chemical Co.?
Mr. HOCKLEY. Yes, sir.

Deputy ROBERTS. And your company is engaged in interstate business?
Mr. HOCKLEY. Yes, sir.

Deputy ROBERTS. Can you give us an idea of the extent to which these wages have been cut in the instances you know of?

Mr. HOCKLEY. As I say, they have been cut on an hourly basis to less than half of the code rates in some instances, and even with the larger production the labor costs per ton on the larger production with the higher rates is twice what it is on the smaller production at the lower rates.

Mr. HEALEY. I desire to have placed in the record at this point a letter to the chairman of this committee, from Irving C. Fox, general counsel for the National Retail Dry Goods Association, together with the statement which Mr. Fox desires to have made a matter of record.

(The letter and statement referred to are as follows:)

NATIONAL RETAIL DRY GOODS ASSOCIATION,
New York, N. Y., March 18, 1936.

Hon. HATTON W. SUMNERS.
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: I had desired to appear at the hearing of your committee on the Healey bill, but, unfortunately, will be unable to be in Washington on Friday of this week, at which time I understand opponents of the bill will be given an opportunity to be heard, and for this reason I am enclosing a statement of our opinion of this bill.

We would appreciate it very much if you will have this statement incorporated in the record.

Thanking you for this courtesy, I am,

Sincerely yours,

IRVING C. Fox, General Counsel.

STATEMENT BY IRVING C. Fox, GENERAL COUNSEL FOR THE NATIONAL RETAIL DRY GOODS ASSOCIATION

We believe that the proposed bill as applied to the "production or furnishing of articles", etc., is thoroughly unsound in almost every respect, will unneces sarily increase prices on Government contracts, and will give a tremendous