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I cite these figures to show you the justice in the wage differential which should exist in favor of these towns. It is because of that wage differential that they can pay the difference in freight rate, shipping the raw material in and the manufactured product out; and the additional cost of manufacturing in these small towns, because these country boys and girls produce slowly. They cannot produce like the highly skilled city laborer, and the additional labor

increases the cost.

Now, let us take as an illustration, Lebanon, Mo. That is a little town of 3,562 people. The cost of living was 60 percent, as compared with New York, and the annual average cost of the worker in that small town was $701, as compared with the cost in the larger cities. Now I desire to offer the following sheet as exhibit 2 to my remarks:

From table B it will be seen that St. Louis' own living cost is but 90 percent of that for the city of New York. We have taken the 16 towns and cities surveyed by the Industrial Bureau and placed them likewise in comparison with the New York cost of living. The tabulation below shows that the average for the 16 small cities and towns is but $799 per family per year, or 69 percent of the cost in New York.

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As illustrative of the fact that the amount of living costs bears a broad relationship to the size of the population, the following averages summarized below will be interesting:

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Mr. ZIMMERMAN. Now, gentlemen, in order to show you how carefully and scientifically they went into the cost of living in the little town of Lebanon, Mo., I would like to present to you a photostatic copy of one of the original work sheets which was used to get the information upon which to reach these results. I haven't time to go into that in detail, but I would like to offer this sheet. This deals with the cost of housing and of rentals, and I would like to file this sheet as exhibit 3 to my statement, as follows:

Costs of housing and rents in Lebanon, Mo., as of June 15, 1933

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Costs of housing and rents in Lebanon, Mo., as of June 15, 1933

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Mr. ZIMMERMAN. Then the price of clothes is taken into consideration, what they pay for clothing down there in that little town, and after careful investigation they calculated the retail prices of clothing for females on the following sheet, which gives you the cost of apparel for women workers, which I desire to offer as exhibit 5 to my statement, as follows:

Retail prices of clothing for females as of June 15, 1933
YEAR-ROUND CLOTHING

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Mr. ZIMMERMAN. Then in order to get a proper understanding of the cost of living they made an investigation of the price of men's clothing and wearing apparel in that little city, and that was tabulated, and I offer exhibit 6 as illustrative of the cost of men's wearing apparel in that town, as follows:

Hats, feltCaps---

Retail prices of clothing for males as of June 15, 1933

YEAR-ROUND CLOTHING

.50

1.50

.25

.59

.85

Overalls or work trousers.

Socks, cotton____

Shirts, cotton__

Pajamas or nightshirts.

Collars_.

Neckties_

Rubbers---

Caps, 12 years.

Stockings, cotton, 12 years__.

Shirts or blouses, cotton, 12 years..

Pajamas or nightshirts, 12 years-

Neckties, 12 years__

$2.45

1.00

.95

.25

1.00

1.50

.25

.65

1.00

.50

. 15

50

.50

.25

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Mr. ZIMMERMAN. Then food prices were taken into consideration. So they have tabulated the prices of foods consumed by these employees. Here is one of the original work sheets which I desire to file as exhibit 7 to my statement, as follows:

Retail prices of food in Lebanon, Mo., as of June 15, 1933

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Enter under "Remarks" the cause of any change in weight or of any advance or decline in the price since the middle of last month. Continue remarks on the back of this sheet if necessary.

Mr. ZIMMERMAN. Now, gentlemen of the committee, what I am trying to get over to you is this: Gentlemen, these figures show conclusively that the cost of living in the town of Lebanon, Mo., taking it as an example, reflects the wide difference between the cost of living in the average large city as compared to the average country town. For that reason, this wage differential should be maintained and must be maintained if these factories are to operate.

In conclusion-I would like 1 minute to conclude.

The CHAIRMAN. You have had 20. Go ahead, 1 more minute. Mr. ZIMMERMAN. All right. In conclusion, gentlemen, under this bill the same authorities that administered the N. I. R. A., selected from the large centers in New England and from other large cities in the North and East, will administer this bill; and, gentlemen, in my humble opinion and judgment, if this bill is enacted into law, with no provision for a wage differential, the little shoe factory, the little garment and glove factory in Missouri, Illinois, and other

States over the South and Middle West will go out of business; Boston and other big cities will have the business, and our workers and their families will be on relief.

STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL A. REED, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: I appreciate the courtesy extended to me by the chair and by the committee. I come from western New York. I believe that the district which I have the honor to represent is typical of most congressional districts of this country. My district is made up, of course, of both agriculture and industry. I am thinking now in terms of 2 cities, one being the city of Jamestown, N. Y., about 40,000 population, and the city of Salamanca, N. Y., about 12,000 population. Each of those cities has its fine schools, its playgrounds, its fine homes, its recreation facilities, and all has been the result of the frugality and the thrift of the people.

Jamestown was settled very early, largely by Swedish people. They are thrifty people. Little groups from time to time started into the furniture business, until Jamestown became the second largest furniture-manufacturing city in this country.

Those people saved their money. They built up their homes. They built up a city of which they might well be proud. The depression came. They little by little exhausted their bank accounts; then they mortgaged their homes, and finally they lost their homes, many of them, and several thousand of those thrifty, industrious Swedish workers went on the relief rolls.

At that very time the Government started into competition in the furniture business with the furniture manufacturers of Jamestown, N. Y. They attempted to establish a furniture factory at Reedsville, W. Va. That was blocked by Congress with the aid of Members on each side of the House.

Now the Resettlement Administration is setting up a furniture factory to employ 150 people at Tygart Valley, W. Va., and it is the plan to manufacture furniture at other Resettlement projects. I have an official communication saying that this is an established fact. You will recall that the Shannon Com

mittee, headed by Judge Shannon of Missouri, a very able man with an able committee, found that the Government was engaged in 240 different activities in competition with private business, using the taxpayers' money to compete with the taxpayers who are manufacturers.

Now, what I see in this bill-and I am not going into detail on it—is a set-up which, as the last speaker pointed out, will make it utterly impossible for the small industry, the small manufacturing plant, the furniture plant, to bid for Government work. Perhaps that is what this administration wants.

Not only that: the small industries of the country under this bill cannot receive one dollar of loans from banks and Federal agencies unless they comply with the provisions of this code.

It means that all over this land in every State in this Union people who supply materials to the Government or to industries that are manufacturing materials for the Government cannot bid.

What does that mean? Why, it means that a group here who are interested in socializing the situation and putting the Government farther into business will say, "Well, we can't get our materials from private industry. They won't bid. So we will set up a manufacturing plant and we will proceed to manufacture our own goods."

I say to you gentlemen that thing has gone far enough. Men on both sides of the House are interested in this. I never expected to live to see the day when an American citizen, a citizen in a free country, would have to have his Representative come before a committee of the Congress of the United States to endeavor to protect him against legislation of this character.

I cannot believe that the sponsor of this bill, from the great State of Massachusetts, a great manufacturing State, literally filled with little manufacturing plants that supply goods to the Federal Government, would ever present a bill here seriously and expect the Congress of the United States, a free country, to adopt such a program as is set forth in that bill. It is arbitrary, it is dictatorial, it is tyrannical, and it is unfair to the small industries of this country who bear the load.

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