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| Date | Bill | Summary | Page | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 21, 1937 | Fair Labor Standards — Statement of Sidney Hillman | 6018 | (81 Cong. Rec. 6018, 1937) | |
| July 1, 1937 | Labor Standards — Statement by William Green | 6648 | (81 Cong. Rec. 6648, 1937) | |
| July 8, 1937 | S. 2475 | Fair Labor Standards of Employment | 6894 | (81 Cong. Rec. 6894, 1937) |
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Page
6018 (81
Cong. Rec. 6018, 1937)
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PAGE 6018 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE June 21
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FAIR LABOR STANDARDs — STATEMENT OF SIDNEY HILLMAN
[Mr. BLACK asked and obtained leave to have printed in the RECORD a statement of Sidney Hillman on June 15, 1937, before the joint session of the Committee on Labor of the Senate and House of Representatives with regard to the bill for the establishment of fair labor standards, which appears in the Appendix.]
[PAGE 6018]
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Page 6648 - Petitions, Etc.
(81
Cong. Rec. 6491, 1937)
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LABOR STANDARDS — STATEMENT BY WILLIAM GREEN
[Mr. BLACK asked and obtained leave to have printed in the RECORD a statement on fair labor standards, made by William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, before the labor committees of the House and Senate, on June 4, 1937, which appears in the Appendix.]
[PAGE 6648]
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Page 6894 - FAIR LABOR STANDARDS OF EMPLOYMENT
(81
Cong. Rec. 6894, 1937)
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FAIR LABOR STANDARDS OF EMPLOYMENT
Mr. BLACK. Mr. President, will the Senator from Kentucky yield to me to submit a report?
Mr. LOGAN. I yield.
Mr. BLACK. From the Committee on Education and Labor I report back favorably with an amendment the bill (S. 2475) to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes, and I submit a report (No. 884) thereon.
It is my intention, at a later date, to file a more complete report on the measure. At this time, with the consent of the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. LOGAN], I wish to call the attention of the Senate--
Mr. McNARY. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. BLACK. I yield.
Mr. McNARY. The Senator states that the report is favorable. Is it a unanimous report from the Committee en Education and Labor?
Mr. BLACK. All members of the committee who were present voted to report the bill favorably.
Mr. McNARY. How many were present?
Mr. BLACK. As I recall, about nine. I did not attempt to count them. I will be glad to find out who they were. One member who was not present asked that he be not recorded either way until he could go over the matter more fully.
Mr. McNARY. What is the number of the membership of the Senator's committee?
Mr. BLACK. Thirteen as I recall; I have not counted them recently. There was a majority present. If there is any question about it I shall be glad to tell the Senator what members were present.
Mr. McNARY. There is no question at all. I was merely curious to know how many voted to report the bill favorably.
Mr. BLACK. I shall be very glad to count them in a. moment. The Senator from Louisiana [Mr. ELLENDER] was there, and if he will count them up while I am making the brief statement I desire to make I will be glad to have him do so. The Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. DAVIS] was also there. He can perhaps recall the Senators who were present.
I desire to read at this time a paragraph from the President's message asking for the enactment of legislation on this subject, which is as follows:
Today, you and I are pledged to take further steps to reduce the lag in the purchasing power of industrial workers and to strengthen and stabilize the markets for the farmers' products. The two go hand in hand. Each depends for its effectiveness upon the other. Both working simultaneously wlll open new outlets for productive capital. Our Nation, so richly endowed With natural resources and with a capable and industrial population should be able to devise ways and means of insuring to all ~ able-bodied working men and women a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
I call attention of the Senate to that part of the message for the reason that it is my hope — and I shall urge — that before the Senate shall finally adjourn it shall act upon legislation with reference to minimum wages, maximum hours, and child labor, and that it also act with reference to farm legislation. It is my belief —
Mr. WAGNER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. BLACK. I am going to make now a statement concerning the matter which I think the Senator from New York desires to ask me. Tomorrow the Committee on Education and Labor will meet with reference to the housing bill, at which time the Senator from New York is invited to be present.
It is my belief that all three of the legislative proposals referred to come within the direct scope of the Democratic platform of 1936, and that the people were promised legislation for the benefit of the American farmer and the American worker, and likewise legislation to carry out the housing program. I shall certainly urge that before final adjournment the Senate shall take up for consideration legislation for the benefit of the farm worker and legislation relating to the housing program. I believe our committees now should be working on an investigation preparatory to enactmg farm legislation. I sincerely hope they will begin with an investigation in order to determine whether they can and will report measures relating to the farm situation in keepmg With what we promised the people of the United States.
Mr. POPE and Mr. BURKE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Kentucky Yield; and if so, to whom?
Mr. LOGAN. I shall be glad to yield. but do not desire to yield to have started a discussion of the matter suggested by the Senator from Alabama. I yield first to the Senator from Idaho.
Mr. POPE. Has the Senator from Alabama in mind the so-called new farm bill which has been discussed on the floor and concerning which some mtormal hearings have been held?
Mr. BLACK. With the consent of the Senator from Kentucky, I will state that it is my understanding that a bill has been suggested and informal discussions have taken place. I believe that bill or any other bill could be used as a basis for study by the committee in connection with farm legislation. I would say that the bill could be considered as a basis for such study because it evidently represents the viewpoint of a large number of farmers.
In this connection I may state that present at the meetings of the Committee on Education and Labor were the Senator from Alabama [Mr. BLACK], the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. WALSH], the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. LA FoLLETTE], the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. DAVIS], the Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. LEE], the Senator · from Florida [Mr. PEPPER], the Senator from Montana [Mr. MURRAY], the Senator from Utah [Mr. THOMAS], and the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. ELLENDER].
Mr. POPE. With reference to the new farm bill I expect either today or tomorrow, at the first opportunity — and I hope in conjunction with the Senator from Kansas [Mr. McGILL], with whom I have been talking — to introduce a new farm bill with only one additional provision with reference to a referendum concerning the marketing-quota features of the bill. That is the only mandatory feature contained in the new bill, and the referendum will relate to it. I have the bill ready and hope to introduce it today or tomorrow to form the basis, as suggested by the Senator from Alabama, for consideration of further farm legislation.
Mr. McNARY. Mr. President, if the Senator from Kentucky will yield, I desire to ask the Senator from Idaho a question.
[PAGE 6894]
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[PAGE 6895]
Page 6895 - FAIR LABOR STANDARDS OF EMPLOYMENT
(81
Cong. Rec. 6895, 1937)
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Mr. LOGAN. I yield for that purpose.
Mr. McNARY. Has the Senator from Idaho in mind and is he now speaking about the so-called ever-normal trading bill?
Mr. POPE. I am speaking of the so-called new agricultural adjustment bill of 1937, to which the Senator referred sometime ago, the bill which has now been introduced in the House and concerning which some informal hearings have been had before the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry of the Senate. The bill has not been actually introduced in the Senate, but I expect to introduce it today or tomorrow; and I hope the Senator from Kansas [Mr. MCGILL] may join with me, as we have discussed the matter together.
Mr. LOGAN. I yield now to the Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. BURKE. Mr. President, with the permission of the Senator from Kentucky, I desire to ask the Senator from Alabama [Mr. BLACK] a question with reference to his statement.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Kentucky yield for that purpose?
Mr. LOGAN. I do.
Mr. BURKE. I understood the Senator from Alabama to say there are three matters which he thinks ought to receive the attention of the Senate before we conclude our labors, namely, the wages and hours bill, farm legislation, and housing legislation. The reason he gave for considering them is that they all come within pledges made in the national Democratic platform. The question I should like to ask the Senator is whether he does not believe it would be very wise for the Senate to consider no further and give no further attention to any measures not included within the provisions of the last Democratic national platform?
Mr. BLACK. Mr. President, will the Senator from Kentucky yield to enable me to answer the Senator from Nebraska?
Mr. LOGAN. I yield for that purpose.
Mr. BLACK. It had not been my intention at this time to enter into a discussion with any one of the members of the flying squadron who are opposed to the President's Court plan. Not having the floor in my own right, it is impossible for me to enter into that discussion with the Senator from Nebraska, who, as I understand, is, if not the general, at least the lieutenant general, or the major general, or the brigadier general of that squadron.
I did not mean by the statement I made that the present Congress should limit itself to consideration of the three measures to which I referred. The Senate is now considering and discussing the Court bill. As a member of the platform committee, one of the 10 members of the subcommittee which drew the platform, it is my belief that the Senate is now proceeding in accordance with another plank in the Democratic platform by which it pledged the people it would consider, in connection with legislation coming before the Congress, the bill it is now discussing. For that reason I favor proceeding with the Court bill, filibuster or no filibuster, until we complete its consideration.
Mr. BURKE. Will the Senator from Alabama kindly state what language he finds in the result of the labors of the platform committee at the last Democratic National Convention that gives any substance to the statement he just made?
Mr. LOGAN. I will answer that without yielding to the Senator from Alabama to do so, because the statement has been made several times. It was made by the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. BAILEY], who read the platform into the RECORD and said there was nothing in the platform that would even give an intimation that there would be any legislation of this kind. I state now that it is asserted in the Democratic platform positively that if no legal remedy can be found to do something about the questions we are considering, a constitutional amendment perhaps would be submitted, but a legal remedy was found and therefore we are seeking to carry out that provision of the Democratic platform.
(At this point Mr. LoGAN yielded for the transaction of several matters of routine business, which appear elsewhere in today's RECORD.).
[PAGE 6895]
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