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| Date | Bill | Summary | Page | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 13, 1938 | S. 2475 | Fair Labor Stanards Act of 1938 | 9075 | (83 Cong. Rec. 9075, 1938) |
| June 14, 1938 | S. 2475 | Fair Labor Stanards Act of 1938 | 9246 to 9268 | (83 Cong. Rec. , 1938) |
| June 14, 1938 | S. 2475 | Further Messages from the Senate | 9306 | (83 Cong. Rec. , 1938) |
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9075 CONGRESSIONAL
RECORD - HOUSE
June
13,
1938 (83
Cong. Rec. 9075, 1938)
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FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I submit a unanimous conference report and statement on the bill (S. 2475) to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes, for printing under the rule.
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Page
9246 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -
HOUSE June 14,
1938 (83 Cong. Rec. 9246,
1938)
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I call up the conference report on 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 ask unanimous consent that the statement may be read in lieu of the report.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from New Jersey?
Mr. SNELL. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, may I ask how much time the gentlewoman expects to use in the consideration of this report?
Mrs. NORTON. We do not expect to use more than an hour.
Mr. SNELL. In the consideration of such an important matter as this, does not the gentlewoman think it would be all right to extend the time a little? There are some Members over here who want to discuss this report and I think they are entitled to that right. I wish the gentlewoman would give us a little more time. I do not want to delay consideration of the report at all.
Mrs. NORTON. I will give what time I can. We really have no requests for time on this side and I think an hour will cover it.
Mr. SNELL. Could you give the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. HARTLEY] 10 minutes?
Mrs. NORTON. Yes; I think I can.
Mr. SNELL. And the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. LAMBERTSON] 10 minutes?
Mrs. NORTON. How about 5 minutes?
Mr. SNELL. The gentlewoman said she had plenty of time. There is no desire to delay this, but I think it is important that Members who really have something to say on the subject should have the opportunity. I am not asking for any time myself, but I think this is important enough so that they should have a reasonable time.
Mrs. NORTON. Suppose I yield 30 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. WELCH] to dispose of as he sees fit? I am perfectly willing to divide my time with him.
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. NORTON]?
Mr. TABER. Mr. Speaker, I object.
Mr. SNELL. I think that will probably work out all right, but I want an understanding. The gentleman from California [Mr. WELCH] does not seem to be here at the moment. I want it understood that the people who are opposed to this measure may have an opportunity to discuss it.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman from New York [Mr. TABER] objects to the request of the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. NORTONl. The Clerk Will read the conference report.
The Clerk read the Conference report.
The conference report and statement are as follows:
CONFERENCE REPORT
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S. 2475) to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting Interstate commerce, and for other purposes, having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:
That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the House, and agree to the same with an amendment as follows: In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the House amendment, insert the following:
"That this Act may be cited as the 'Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.'
"FINDING AND DECLARATION OF POLICY
"SEc. 2. (a) The Congress hereby finds that the existence, in industries engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, of labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, eft1ciency, and general well-being of workers (1) causes commerce and the channels and instrumentalities of commerce to be used to spread and perpetuate such labor conditions among the workers of the several States; (2) burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; (3) constitutes an unfair method of competition in commerce; (4) leads to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; and ( 5) interfetes with the orderly and fair marketing of goods in commerce.
"(b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act, through the exercise by Congress of its power to regulate commerce among the several States, to correct and as rapidly as practicable to eliminate the conditions above referred to in such industries without substantially curtailing employment or earning power.
"DEFINITIONS
"SEC. 3. As used in this Act—
"(a) 'Person' means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any organized group of persons.
"(b) 'Commerce' means trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or from any State to any place outside thereof.
"(c) 'State' means any State of the United States or the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession of the United States.
"(d) 'Employer' includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee but shall not include the United States or any State or poltical subdivision of a State, or any labor organization (other than when actmg as an employer), or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization.
"(e) 'Employee' includes any individual employed by an employer.
"(f) 'Agriculture' includes farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities defined as agricultural commodities in section 15 (g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended), the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations
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including preparation for market, dellvery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market.
"(g) 'Employ' includes to suffer or permit to work.
"(h) 'Industry' means a trade, business, industry, or branch thereof, or group of industries, in which individuals are gainfully employed.
"(i) 'Goods' means goods (including ships and marine equipment), wares, products, commodities, merchandise, or articles or subjects of commerce of any character, or any part or ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.
"(j) 'Produced' means produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any other manner worked on in any State; and for the purposes of this Act an employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods if such employee was employed in producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on such goods, or in any process or occupation necessary to the production thereof, in any State.
"(k) 'Sale' or 'sell' includes any sale, exchange, contract to sell, consignment for sale, shipment for sale, or other disposition.
"(l) 'Oppressive child labor' means a condition of employment under which (1) any employee under the age of sixteen years is employed by an employer (other than a parent or a person standing in place of a parent employing his own child or a child in his custody under the age of sixteen years in an occupation other than manufacturing or mining) in any occupation, or (2) any employee between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years is employed by an employer in any occupation which the Chief of the Children's Bureau in the Department of Labor shall find and by order declare to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children between such ages or detrimental to their health or well-being; but oppressive child labor shall not be deemed to exist by virtue of the employment in any occupation of any person with respect to whom the employer shall have on file an unexpired certificate issued and held pursuant to regulations of the Chief of the Children's Bureau certifying that such person is above the oppressive child-labor age. The Chief of the Children's Bureau shall provide by regulation or by order that the employment of employees between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years in occupations other than manufacturing and mining shall not be deemed to constitute oppressive child labor if and to the extent that the Chief of the Children's Bureau determines that such employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with their schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with their health and well-being.
"(m) 'Wage' paid to any employee includes the reasonable cost, as determined by the Administrator, to the employer of furnishing such employee with board, lodging, or other facilities, if sucn board, lodging, or other facilities are customarily furnished by such employer to his employees.
"ADMINISTRATOR
"SEC. 4. (a) There is hereby created in the Department of Labor a Wage and Hour Division which shall be under the direction of an Administrator, to be known as the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division (in this Act referred to as the 'Administrator'). The Administrator shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive compensation at the rate of $10,000 a year.
"(b) The Administrator may, subject to the civil-service laws, appoint such employees as he deems necessary to carry out his functions and duties under this Act and shall fix their compensation in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. The Administrator may establish and utilize such regional, local, or other agencies, and utilize such voluntary and uncompensated services, as may from time to time be needed. Attorneys appointed under this section may appear for and represent the Administrator in any litigation, but all such litigation shall be subject to the direction and control of the Attorney General. In the appointment, selection, classification, and promotion of officers and employees of the Administrator, no political test or qualification shall be permitted or given consideration, but all such appointments and promotions shall be given and made on the basis of merit and efficiency.
"(c) The principal office of the Administrator shall be in the District of Columbia, but he or his duly authorized representatives may exercise any or all of his powers in any place.
"(d) The Administrator shall submit annually in January a report to the Congress covering his activities for the preceding year and including such information, data, and recommendations for further legislation in connection with the matters covered by this Act as he may find advisable.
"INDUSTRY COMMITTEES
"SEC. 5. (a) The Administrator shall as soon as practicable appoint an industry committee for each industry engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.
"(b) An industry committee shall be appointed by the Administrator without regard to any other provisions of law regarding the appointment and compensation of employees of the United States. It shall include a number of disinterested persons representing the public, one of whom the Administrator shall designate as chairman, a like number of persons representing employees in the industry, and a like number representing employers in the industry. In the appointment of the persons representing each group, the Administrator shall give due regard to the geographical regions in which the industry is carried on.
(c) Two-thirds of the members of an industry committee shall constitute a quorum, and the decision of the committee shall require a vote of not less than a majority of all its members. Members of an industry committee shall receive as compensation for their services a reasonable per diem, which the Administrator shall by rules and regulations prescribe, for each day actually spent in the work of the committee, and shall in addition be reimbursed for their necessary traveling and other expenses. The Administrator shall furnish the committee with adequate legal, stenographic, clerical, and other assistance, and shall by rules and regulations prescribe the procedure to be followed by the committee.
"(d) The Administrator shall submit to an industry committee from time to time such data as he may have available on the matters referred to it, and shall cause to be brought before it in connection with such matters any witnesses whom he deems materiaL An industry committee may summon other witnesses or call upon the Administrator to furnish additional information to aid it in its deliberations.
"MINIMUM WAGES
"SEc. 6. (a) Every employer shall pay to each of his employees who is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce wages at the following rates—
"(1) during the first year from the effective date of this section, not less than 25 cents an hour.
"(2) during the next six years from such date, not less than 30 cents an hour,
"(3) after the expiration of seven years from such date, not less than 40 cents an hour, or the rate (not less than 30 cents an hour) prescribed in the applicable order of the Administrator issued under section 8, whichever is lower, and
"(4) at any time after the effective date of this section, not less than the rate (not in excess of 40 cents an hour) prescribed in the applicable order of the Administrator issued under section 8.
"(b) This section shall take effect upon the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the date of enactment of thia Act.
"MAXIMUM HOURS
"SEC. 7. (a) No employer shall, except as otherwise provided in this section, employ any of his employees who is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce—"
(1) for a workweek longer than forty-four hours during the first year from the effective date of this section,
"(2) for a workweek longer than forty-two hours during the second year from such date, or
"(3) for a workweek longer than forty hours after the expiration of the second year from such date, "unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.
"(b) No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection (a) by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of that specified in such subsection without paying the compensation for overtime employment prescribed therein 1f such employee 1s so employed—
"(1) in pursuance of an agreement, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, which provides that no employee shall be employed more than one thousand hours during any period of twenty-six consecutive weeks,
"(2) on an annual basis in pursuance of an agreement with his employer, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, which provides that the employee shall not be employed more than two thousand hours during any period of fifty-two consecutive weeks, or
"(3) for a period or periods of not more than fourteen workweeks in the aggregate in any calendar year in an industry found by the Administrator to be of a seasonal nature, "and if such employee receives compensation for employment in excess of 12 hours in any workday; or for employment in excess of 56 hours in any workweek, as the case may be, at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.
"(c) In the case of an employer engaged in the first processing of milk, whey, skimmed milk, or cream into dairy products, or in the ginning and compressing of cotton, or in the processing of cottonseed, or in the processing of sugar beets, sugar beet molasses, sugarcane, or maple sap, into sugar (but not refined sugar) or into syrup, the provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to his employees in any place of employment where he is so engaged; and in the case of an employer engaged in the first processing of, or in canning or packing, perishable or seasonal fresh fruits or vegetables, or in the first processing, within the area of production (as defined by the Administrator), of any agricultural or horticultural commodity during seasonal operations, or in handling, slaughtering, or dressing poultry or livestock, the provisions of subsection (a), during a period or periods of not more than fourteen workweeks in the aggregate in any calendar year, shall not apply to his employees in any place of employment where he is so engaged.
"(d) This section shall take effect upon the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the date of enactment of this Act.
"WAGE ORDERS
"SEc. 8. (a) With a view to carrying out the policy of this act by reaching, as rapidly as is economically feasible without substantially curtailing employment, the objective of a universal
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minimum wage of 40 cents an hour in each industry engaged tn commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, the Administrator shall from time to time convene the industry committee for each such industry, and the industry committee shall from time to time recommend the minimum rate or rates of wages to be paid under section 6 by employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce in such industry or classifications therein.
"(b) Upon the convening of an industry committee, the Administrator shall refer to it the question of the minimum wage rate or rates to be fixed for such industry. The industry committee shall investigate conditions in the industry and the committee, or any authorized subcommittee thereof, may hear such witnesses and receive such evidence as may be necessary or appropriate to enable the committee to perform its duties and functions under this Act. The committee shall recommend to the Administrator the highest minimum wage rates for the industry which it determines, having due regard to economic and competitive conditions, wlll not substantially curtail employment in the industry.
"(c) The industry committee for any industry shall recommend such reasonable classifications within any industry as it determines to be necessary for the purpose of fixing for each classification within such industry the highest minimum wage rate (not in excess of 40 cents an hour) which (1) will not substantially curtail employment in such classification and (2) wlll not give a competitive advantage to any group in the industry, and shall recommend for each classification in the industry the highest minimum wage rate which the committee determines will not substantially curtail employment in such classification. In determining whether such classifications should be made in any industry, in making such classifications, and in determining the minimum wage rates for such classifications, no classification shall be made, and no minimum wage rate shall be fixed, solely on a regional basis, but the industry committee and the Administrator shall consider among other relevant factors the following:
"(1) competitive conditions as affected by transportation, living, and production costs;
"(2) the wages established for work of like or comparable character by collective labor agreements negotiated between employers and employees by representatives of their own choosing; and
"(3) the wages paid for work of like or comparable character by employers who voluntar1ly maintain minimum-wage standards in the industry. No classification shall be made under this section on the basis of age or sex.
"(d) The industry committee shall file with the Administrator a report containing its recommendations witb respect to the matters referred to it. Upon the filing of such report, the Administrator, after due notice to interested persons, and giving them an opportunity to be heard, shall by order approve and carry into effect the recommendations contained in such report, if he finds that the recommendations are made in accordance with law, are supported by the evidence adduced at the hearing, and, taking into consideration the same factors as are required to be considered by the industry committee, will carry out the purposes of this section; otherwise he shall disapprove such recommendations. If the Administrator disapproves such recommendations, he shall again refer the matter to such committee, or to another industry committee for such industry (which he may appoint for such purpose), for further consideration and recommendations.
"(e) No order issued under this section with respect to any industry prior to the expiration of seven years from the effective date of section 6 shall remain in effect after such expiration, and no order shall be issued under this section with respect to any industry on or after such expiration, unless the industry committee by a preponderance of the evidence before it recommends, and the Administrator by a preponderance of the evidence adduced at the hearing finds, that the continued effectiveness or the issuance of the order, as the case may be, is necessary in order to prevent substantial curtailment of employment in the industry.
"(f) Orders issued under this section shall define the industries and classifications therein to which they are to apply, and shall contain such terms and conditions .as the Administrator finds necessary to carry out the purposes of such orders, to prevent the circumvention or evasion thereof, and to safeguard the minimum wage rates established therein. No such order shall take effect until after due notice is given of the issuance thereof by publication in the Federal Register and by such other means as the Administrator deems reasonably calculated to give to interested persons general notice of such issuance.
"(g) Due notice of any hearing provided for in this section shall be given by publication in the Federal Register and by such other means as the Administrator deems reasonably calculated to give general notice to interested persons.
"ATTENDANCE OF WITNESSES
"SEC. 9. For the purpose of any hearing or investigation provided for in this Act, the provisions of sections 9 and 10 (relating to the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents) of the Federal Trade Commission Act of September 16, 1914, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 15, secs. 49 and 50), are hereby made applicable to the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the Administrator, the Chief of the Children's Bureau, and the industry committees.
"COURT REVIEW
SEC. 10. (a) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Admintstrator isued under section 8 may obtain a review of such order in the circuit eourt of appeals of the United States for any circuit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, or in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, by filing in such court, within sixty days after the entry of such order, a written petition praying that the order of the Administrator be modified or set aside in whole or in part. A copy of such petition shall forthwith be served upon the Administrator, and thereupon the Administrator shall certify and file in the court a transcript of the record upon which the order complained of was entered. Upon the filing of such transcript such court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to affirm, modify, or set aside such order in whole or in part, so far as it is applicable to the petitioner. The review by the court shall be limited to questions of law, and findings of fact by the Administrator when supported by substantial evidence shall be conclusive. No objection to the order of the Administrator shall be considered by the court unless such objection shall have been urged before the Administrator or unless there were reasonable grounds for failure so to do. If application is made to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence, and it ts shown to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence may materially affect the result of the proceeding and that there were reasonable grounds for failure to adduce such evidence in the proeeeding before the Administrator, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the Administrator and to be adduced upon the hearing in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as to the court may seem proper. The Administrator may modify his findings by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and shall file with the court such modified or new findings which if supported by substantial evidence shall be conclusive, and shall also file his recommendation, if any, for the modification or setting aside of the original order. The judgment and decree of the court shall be final, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in sections 239 and 240 of the Judicial Code, as amended (U. S.C., title 28, secs. 346 and 847).
"(b) The commencement of proceedings under subsection (a) shall not, unless specifically ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the Administrator's order. The court shall not grant any stay of the order unless the person complaining of such order shall file in court an undertaking with a surety or sureties satisfactory to the court for the payment to the employees affected by the order, in the event such order is affirmed, of the amount by which the compensation such employees are entitled to receive under the order exceeds the compensation they actually receive while such stay is in effect.
"INVESTIGATIONS, INSPECTIONS, AND RECORDS
"SEC. 11. (a) The Administrator or his designated representatives may investigate and gather data regarding the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment in any industry subject to this Act, and may enter and inspect such places and such records (and make such transcriptions thereof), question such employees, and investigate such facts, conditions, practices, or matters as he may deem necessary or appropriate to determine whether any person has violated any provision of this Act, or which may aid in the enforcement of the provisions of this Act. Except as provided in section 12 and in subsection {b) of this section, the Administrator shall utilize the bureaus and divisions of the Department of Labor for all the investigations and inspections necessary under this section. Except as provided in section 12, the Administrator shall bring all actlons under section 17 to restrain violations of this Act.
"(b) With the consent and cooperation of State agencies charged with the administration of State labor laws, the Administrator and the Chief of the Children's Bureau may, for the purpose of carrying out their respective functions and duties under this Act, utllize the services of State and local agencies and their employees and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, may reimburse such State and local agencies and their employees for services rendered for such purposes.
"(c) Every employer subject to any provision of this Act or of any order issued under this Act shall make, keep, and preserve such records of the persons empl!)yed by him and of the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment maintained by him, and shall preserve such records for such periods of time, and shall make such reports therefrom to the Administrator as he shall prescribe by regulation or order as necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act or the regulations or orders thereunder.
"CHILD LABOR PROVISIONS
"SEC. 12. (a) After the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the date of enactment of this Act, no producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in commerce any goods produced in an establishment situated in the United States in or about which within thirty days prior to the removal of such goods therefrom any oppressive child labor has been employed: Provided, That a prosecution and conviction of a defendant for the shipment or delivery for shipment of any goods under the conditions herein prohibited shall be a bar to any further prosecution against the same defendant for shipments or deliveries for shipment of any such goods before the beginning of said prosecution.
"(b) The Chief of the Children's Bureau in the Department of Labor, or any of his authorized representatives, shall make all investlgations and inspections under section 11 (a.} with respect to
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the employment of minors, and, subject to the direction and control of the Attorney General, shall bring all actions under section 17 to enjoin any act or practice which is unlawful by reason of the existence of oppressive child labor, and shall administer all other provisions of this Act relating to oppressive child labor.
"EXEMPTIONS
"SEC. 13. (a) The provisions of sections 6 and 7 shall not apply 'With respect to (1) any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, professional, or local retailing capacity, or in the capacity of outside salesman (as such terms are defined and delimited by regulations of the Administrator); or (2) any employee engaged in any retail or service establishment the greater part of whose selling or servicing is in intrastate commerce; or (3) any employee employed as a seaman; or (4) any employee of a carrier by air subject to the provisions of title II of the Railway Labor Act; or (5) any employee employed in the catching, taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacea, sponges, seaweeds, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life, including the going to and returning from work and including employment in the loading, unloading, or packing of such products for shipment or in propagating, processing, marketing, freezing, canning, curing, storing, or distributing the above products or byproducts thereof; or (6) any employee employed in agriculture; or (7) any employee to the extent that such employee is exempted by regulations or orders of the Administrator issued under section 14; or (8) any employee employed in connection with the publication of any weekly or semiweekly newspaper with a circulation of less than three thousand the major part of which circulation is within the county where printed and published; or (9) any employee of a street, suburban, or interurban electric railway, or local trolley or motor bus carrier, not included in other exemptions contained in this section; or (10) to any individual employed within the area of production (as defined by the Administrator), engaged in handling, packing, storing, ginning, compressing, pasteurizing, drying, preparing in their raw or natural state, or canning of agricultural or horticultural commodities for market, or in making cheese or butter or other dairy products.
"(b) The provisions of section 7 shall not apply with respect to (1) any employee with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act, 1935; or (2) any employee of an employer subject to the provisions of Part I of the Interstate Commerce Act.
"(c) The provisions of section 12 relating to child labor shall not apply with respect to any employee employed in agriculture while not legally required to attend school, or to any child employed as an actor in motion pictures or theatrical productions.
"LEARNERS, APPRENTICES, AND HANDICAPPED WORKERS
"SEC. 14. The Administrator, to the extent necessary in order to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment, shall by regulations or by orders provide for (1) the employment of learners, of apprentices, and of messengers employed exclusively in delivering letters and messages, under special certificates issued pursuant to regulations of the Admtnistrator, at such wages lower than the minimum wage applicable under section 6 and subject to such limitations as to time, number, proportion, and length of service as the Administrator shall prescribe, and (2) the employment of individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury, under special certificates issued by the Administrator, at such wages lower than the minimum wage applicable under section 6 and for such period as shall be fixed in such certificates.
"PROHIBITED ACTS
"SEC. 15. (a) After the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from the date of enactment of this Act, it shall be unlawful for any person—
"(1) to transport, offer for transportation, ship, deliver, or sell in commerce, or to ship, deliver, or sell with knowledge that shipment or delivery or sale thereof in commerce is intended, any goods in the production of which any employee was employed in violation of section 6 or section 7, or in violation of any regulation or order of the Administrator issued under section 14; except that no provision of this Act shall impose any liability upon any common carrier for the transportation in commerce in the regular course of its business of any goods not produced by such common carrier, and no provision of this Act shall excuse any common carrier from its obligation to accept any goods for transportation;
"(2) to violate any of the provisions of section 6 or section 7, or any of the provisions of any regulation or order of the Administrator Issued under section 14;
"(3) to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or has served or is about to serve on an industry committee;
"(4) to violate any of the provisions of section 12;
"(5) to violate any of the provisions of section 11 (c), or to make any statement, report, or record filed or kept pursuant to the provisions of such section or of any regulation order thereunder, knowing such statement, report, or record to be false in a material respect.
"(b) For the purposes of subsection (a) (1) proof that any employee was employed in any place of employment where goods shipped or sold in commerce were produced within ninety days prior to the removal of the goods from such place of employment, shall be prima facie evidence that such employee was engaged in the production of such goods.
"PENALTIES
"SEC. 16. (a) Any person who willfully violates any of the provisions of section 15 shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. No person shall be imprisoned under this subsection except for an offense committed after the conviction of such person for a prior offense under this subsection.
"(b) Any employer who violates the provisions of section 6 or section 7 of this Act shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages, or their unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. Action to recover such liabtlity may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated, or such employee or employees may designate an agent or representative to maintain such action for and in behalf of all employees similarly situated. The court in such action shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow a reasonable attorney's fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action.
"INJUNCTION PROCEEDINGS
"SEC. 17. The district courts of the United States and the United States courts of the Territories and possessions shall have jurisdiction, for cause shown, and subject to the provisions of section 20 (relating to notice to opposite party) of the act entitled 'An act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes', approved October 15, 1914, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 28, sec. 381), to restrain violations of section 15.
"RELATION TO OTHER LAWS
"SEC. 18. No provision of this Act or of any order thereunder shall excuse noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a minimum wage higher than the minimum wage established under this Act or a maximum workweek lower than the maximum workweek established under this Act, and no provision of this Act relating to the employment of child labor shall justify noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance estabUshing a higher standard than the standard established under this Act. No provision of this Act shall justify any employer in reducing a wage paid by him which is in excess of the applicable minimum wage under this Act, or justify any employer in increasing hours of employment maintained by him which are shorter than the maximum hours applicable under this Act.
"SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS
"SEC. 19. If any provision of this Act or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the appUcation of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
And the House agree to the same.
MARY T. NORTON,
ROBERT RAMSPECK,
M.A. DUNN,
KENT KELLER,
JENNINGS RANDOLPH,
RICHARD J. WELCH,
FRED A. HARTLEY. Jr.,
Managers on the part of the House.
ELBERT D. THOMAS,
DAVID I. WALSH,
WILLIAM E. BORAH,
CLAUDE PEPPER,
ALLEN J. ELLENDER,
JAMES E. MURRAY,
RoBERT. M. LA FoLLETTE, Jr.,
Managers on the part of the Senate.
STATEMENT
The managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the House to the bill (S. 2475) to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes, submit the following statement in explanation of the effect of the action agreed upon and recommended in the accompanying conference report:
The House amendment strikes out all of the Senate b1ll after the enacting clause. The Senate recedes from its disagreement to the amendment of the House, with an amendment which is a substitute for both the Senate bill and the House amendment.
SENATE BILL
Summary of provisions
Short title
SeCtion 1 of the Senate bill provides that it may be cited as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1937.
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Legislative declaration
Section 1 of the Senate bill, the legislative declaration, recites the adverse effects upon interstate commerce of the employment of workers under substandard labor conditions in occupations in and affecting interstate commerce. It contains also a declaration that the correction of such conditions affecting interstate commerce requires congressional action prohibiting the shipment in interstate commerce of goods produced under such substandard conditions, and providing for the elimination of substantial labor conditions in occupations in and directly affecting interstate commerce. This section is very similar to the corresponding section of the House amendment.
Definitions
Section 2 (a) of the Senate bill contains a series of definitions used in the bill.
"Person" is defined to include an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, receiver, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy, or liquidating or reorganizing agent.
"Interstate commerce" Is defined to mean trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or from any State to any place outside thereof.
"State" is defined to mean any State of the United States or the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession of the United States.
"Board" is defined to mean the Labor Standards Board created by the bill.
"Occupation" is defined to mean an occupation, industry, trade, or business, or branch thereof, or class of work or craft therein in which persons are gainfully employed.
"Employer" is defined to include any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee but does not include the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof or any labor organization except when that organization acts as an employer.
"Employee" is defined to include any individual employed or suffered or permitted to work by an employer, but does not include any person employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, professional, or local retailing capacity. It excludes all persons employed as seamen, fishermen, any railroad employee subject to the Hours of Service Act, any employee of a common carrier by motor vehicle subject to the Motor Carrier Act. Air transport employees subject to title II of the Railway Labor Act are also excluded from the definition of "employee" as are all persons employed in agriculture.
"Agriculture" is defined to include, among other things, practices ordinarily performed by farmers or on a farm as an incident to farm operations.
"Oppressive wage" is defined to mean any wage lower than that set by order of the Board under the provisions of section 4 of the bill.
"Oppressive workweek" is defined to mean a workweek or workday longer than that set by order of the Board under the provisions of section 4 of the bill.
"Substandard labor condition" is defined to mean employment under which any employee is employed at an oppressive wage, or any employee is employed for an oppressive workweek.
"Fair labor standard" is defined to mean employment under which no person is employed at an oppressive wage, or no person is employed for an oppressive workweek.
"Unfair goods" is defined to mean any goods produced under "substandard labor conditions" as defined in the bill.
"Produced" means produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any other manner worked on, in any State. This definition further provides that any employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods if he was employed in producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on such goods or in any process or occupation necessary to the production thereof, in any State.
The term "person employed in agriculture" as used in the bill, insofar as it refers to fresh fruits or vegetables, includes persons employed within the area of production engaged in preparing, packing, or storing such fresh fruits or vegetables in their raw or natural state.
"Labor standard order" is defined as an order of the Board under sections 4, 6, or 8 of the b111.
"Goods" is defined as goods (including ships and marine equipment), wares, merchandise, or articles or subjects of commerce of any character, or any part of ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.
"Fair goods" is defined as goods in the production of which no employee has been employed in any occupation under any substandard labor conditions.
"Sale" or "sell" is defined to include any sale, exchange, contract to sell, consignment !or sale, shipment !or sale, or other disposition.
"To a substantial extent" is defined as meaning not casually, sporadically, or accidentally, but as a settled or recurrent characteristic of the matter or occupation described, or of a portion thereof, which need not be a large or preponderant portion.
Evidence of employment under substandard labor conditions
Section 2 (b) of the Senate bill provides that proof that any employee was employed under any substandard labor condition, in any place of employment where goods are produced, within 90 days prior to the removal of goods therefrom, shall be primacie evidence that such goods were produced by such employee employed under such substandard labor condition.
Labor Standards Board
Section 3 of the Senate bill provides for the creation of a Labor Standards Board composed of five members appointed for staggered terms of 5 years each, except that the members first appointed are appolnted for terms of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years respectively. The members of the Board must be appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate. The section contains the usual provisions regarding the filling of vacancies, the salary of the Board members, the maintenance of offices, and the filing of reports.
Establishment of fair labor standards
Part II of the Senate bill provides for the establishment of labor standards with respect to minimum wages and maximum hours, the application of such standards to particular employments and classes of employments, and appropriate exemptions from such standards. This part deals only with the fixing of the standards and the consequences of noncompliance. The powers of the Board to require compliance are defined in parts III and IV.
Section 4 (a) of the Senate bill declares, for reasons specified in such section, that it is the policy of the act to maintain, so far as and as rapidly as is economically feasible, minimum-wage and maximum-hour standards consistent with health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers and the maximum productivity and profitable operation of American business.
Establishment of minimum-wage standards
Section 4 (b) of the Senate bill directs the Board by order to declare from time to time, for such occupations as are brought within the operation of the bill, minimum wages which shall be as nearly adequate as is economically feasible without curtaillng opportunity for employment to maintain a minimum standard of living necessary for health, eftlciency, and general well-being. The Board's jurisdiction, however, does not include the power to declare minimum wages in excess of 40 cents per hour, but it is the objective of the bill to attain a minimum wage of 40 cents per hour as rapidly as practicable without curtailing opportunities for employment and without disturbance and dislocation of business and industry, and the attainment of higher minimum wages by collective bargaining and otherwise is to be encouraged. In declaring such minimum wages the Board is directed to consider among other relevant circumstances the cost of living, such considerations as would be relevant in a court in a suit for the value of services rendered, wages established for work of like or comparable character by collective labor agreements, and wages paid for like work by employers voluntarily maintaining minimum-wage standards.
Establishment of maximum-hours standards
Section 4 (c) of the Senate bill authorizes the Board by order from time to time to declare for such occupations as are brought within the provisions of the bill a maximum workweek (and the maximum workday therein), which shall be as nearly adequate as is economically feasible without curtailing earning power to maintain health, efficiency, and general well-being. There are exempted from the provisions of this subsection persons employed in connection with the ginning and baling of cotton; canning or other packagmg of fish, sea foods, or sponges; or picking, canning, or processing of fruits or vegetables; or the processing of beets, cane, and maple into sugar and sirup, when the services of such persons are of a seasonal nature. There are also exempted from the provisions of this subsection employees employed in a plant located in dairy production areas in which milk, cream, or butterfat are received, processed, shipped, or manufactured, if operated by a cooperative association as defined in the Farm Credit Act of 1933.
The Board's jurisdiction, however, does not include the power to declare a maximum workweek of less than 40 hours; but it is the objective of the bill to attain a maximum workweek of not more than 40 hours as rapidly as practicable without curtalling earning power or reducing production, and the attainment of a shorter workweek by collective bargaining or otherwise is to be encouraged. In declaring maximum hours the Board is directed to consider among other relevant circumstances (1) the relation of the work to the physical and economic health, eftlciency, and well-being of the employees; (2) the number of persons available for employment in the occupation; (3) the hours of employment established for work of like or comparable character by collective bargaining agreements; (4) the hours of employment for work of like or comparable character maintained by employers who voluntarily maintain a maximum workweek; (5) the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to employees engaged in processing or packing perishable agricultural products during the harvesting season; and (6) the average minimum wage ordered by the Board to be paid by private employers in any State shall be the minimum wage paid by the Works Progress Administration to its employees in that State.
Collective bargaining agreements protected
Section 5 of the Senate bill provides that nothing in the act or in any regulation or order of the Board shall be construed to interfere With the right of employees to bargain collectively or otherwise engage in concerted activities to obtain a wage in excess of the applicable minimum under the bill or to obtain a shorter workweek than the maximum workweek under the bill or other benefits or advantages. Minimum wages and maximum workweeks so sought or obtained are not to be construed or deemed to be lllegal
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because they are tn exeesa of the applicable minimum wage or maximum workweek, as the case may be, under the bill.
Exemptions from wage-and-hour standards
Section 6 of the Senate bill provides certain exemptions from the wage-and-hour standards established under the bill. Subsection (a) introduces flexibility in the regulation of hours by authorizing employment for more hours per week than the applicable maximum upon condition that payment for such overtime is made at one and one-half times the regular rate. The Board is authorized to remove or qualify this exemption if it finds that the maintenance of the appropriate workweek is necessary or appropriate in order to prevent the circumvention of the act. Subsection (b) authorizes the Board to make appropriate exceptions from the wage-and-hour standards for special cases such as learners and apprentices, and disabled persons, to whom special licenses are to be issued, deductions for board and lodging necessitated by the nature of the work, overtime employment in seasonal or emergency work, and other similar situations.
Prohibitions relating to interstate commerce, tariff provisions
Part III of the Senate bill contains the provisions (1) barring from interstate commerce goods which were produced under substandard labor conditions set forth in the bill, (2) prohibiting the employment under substandard labor conditions of any employee engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods intended for transportation in violation of the provisions of the bill, and (3) protecting interstate commerce from the effect of substandard labor conditions. This part also contains provisions relating to imports.
Prohibited Shipments and Employment Conditions in Interstate Commerce and Production for Interstate Commerce
Section 7 of the Senate bill makes it unlawful among other things to sell or ship in interstate commerce any unfair goods, i. e., goods on which any employee has been employed under any substandard labor condition. It also makes it unlawful to employ, under any substandard labor condition, a person engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of unfair goods intended to be sold or shipped in interstate commerce.
Protection of Interstate Commerce from Effects of Substandard Labor Conditions
Section 8 (a) of the Senate bill authorizes the Board to make orders requiring elimination of substandard labor conditions existing in the production of goods which are not sold in interstate commerce but which compete to a substantial extent with fair goods brought in from another State.
Section 8 (b) of the Senate bill makes it unlawful to violate an order issued under section 8 (a).
Tariff Provisions
Section 8 (c) of the Senate bill provides that the Tariff Commission, upon request of the President, or upon resolution of either or both Houses of Congress, or upon request of the Board, or upon its own motion, or when in the judgment of the Commission there is good and sufficient reason therefor, upon application of ay interested party, shall investigate the differences resulting from the operation of the bill in the costs of production of any domestic article and any like or similar foreign article, with a view to determining whether or not any increase should be made in the duty upon such foreign article for the purpose of equalizing such difference. All provisions of law applicable with respect to investigations under section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930 are to be applicable with respect to investigations under this subsection.
General administrative provisions
Part IV, the last part of the Senate bill, contains the general administrative, procedural, and enforcement provisions.
Labor standard order
Section 9 of the Senate bill contains provisions applicable to orders of the Board made under sections 4, 6, and 8. It provides among other things that such orders may be made only after a hearing, shall define the occupations to which they relate, may classify employers, employees, and employment according to localities, population, and other circumstances and make appropriate provisions for different classes. The section provides that it shall be the policy of the Board to avoid any classification which effects an unreasonable discrimination against any person or locality. The Board is directed to avoid unnecessary and excessive classifications. Provision is made for the inclusion in orders relating to wages of such terms and conditions as the Board may consider appropriate to prevent the minimum wage from becoming the maximum wage. And the policy is declared that orders relating to wages shall affect only those employees who need legislative protection and shall not interfere with the voluntary establishment of appropriate differentials and higher standards for other employees in the occupation.
Hearings
Section 10 of the Senate b111 contains provisions regarding the hearings which are to be held by the Board before orders are made, modified, extended, or rescinded. This section states the conditions under which the Board shall order a hearing.
Advisory committee on wage-and-hour standard
Section 11 of the Senate bill requires the Board to appoint advisory committees composed of representatives of employers, employees, and the public before making an order under section 4 establishing a minimum wage or a maximum workweek, and contains provisions regarding the composition and procedure of such committees.
Investigations and testimony
Section 12 of the Senate bill authorizes the Board to conduct investigations subpena witnesses and compel testimony.
Injunctions to enforce compliance with act
Section 13 of the Senate bill provides for the enforcement of the act and the orders thereunder by authorizing the Board to instithte suit in the United States district courts to enjoin violations.
Records and labels
Section 14 of the Senate b1ll requires employers to keep such records as the Board may prescribe as necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of the bill. It further provides for the posting of orders in each place where employees in any occupation subject thereto are employed.
Prosecutions of persons other than producers
Section 14 (c) of the Senate b1ll provides that no person other than the producer shall be prosecuted for the transportation, shipment, delivery or sale of unfair goods who has secured a representation in writing from the person by whom the goods transported, shipped, or delivered were produced, resident in the United States, to the effect that such goods were not produced in violation of any provisions of this act.
Powers of the Secretary of Labor
Section 15 of the Senate bill provides that the Board shall, so far as practicable, make its investigations and inspections through the Secretary of Labor and his representatives, and authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make such investigations and inspections. This section further provides that the Secretary of Labor may utilize the services of State and local agencies, officers, and employees, and reimburse them for such services.
Regulations and orders
Section 16. of the Senate b1ll confers upon the Board to power to make, issue, amend, and rescind such regulations and orders as it deems necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of the act.
Validity of contracts
Section 17 (a) of the Senate b111 declares void any contract made in violation of any provision of the act.
Section 17 (b) makes void any contract binding on any person to waive compliance with any provision of the act.
Reparation
Section 18 of the Senate b111 provides for the payment of reparation to employees who have been paid a lower wage or employed for longer hours than the applicable standards allow. In the case of wages this reparation amounts to the difference between the wages received and that which should have been paid. In the case of hours, additional compensation is required for the overtime (where the act requires overtime) at the rate of one and one-half times the regular wage. The right to this reparation is granted when the condition of employment in question is required to be maintained under the act as well as when goods are shipped in violation of the act, but in the latter case the employer is entitled to prove that he had no reasonable ground to believe tbat the goods would be transported in violation of the act. And the Board may exempt goods from the prohibition against interstate shipment if it is established to the satisfaction of the Board that every person having a substantial proprietary interest in the goods had no reason to believe that any substandard condition existed in the production of the goods, or that the exemption is necessary to prevent undue hardship or waste and is not detrimental to the public interest; but in order to secure such exemption, provision must be made for the payment of reparation by every employer having a proprietary interest in the goods who failed to maintain the required wage or hour standard.
Relation to other laws
Section 19 of the Senate bill provides that the b111 shall not justify noncompliance with any other Federal, State, or municipal regulation imposing higher standards.
Common carriers not liable
Section 20 of the Senate bill provides that common carriers shall not be liable under the bill for the shipment of goods in the regular course of their business, and shall not be excused by the bill from their obligations to accept goods for transportation.
Court review of orders
Section 21 of the Senate bill provides for review in the circuit court of appeals of orders of the Board.
Jurisdiction of offenses and suits
Section 22 of the Senate bill confers appropriate jurisdiction on the district courts over civil and criminal proceedings under the act.
Penalties
Section 23 of the Senate bill provides appropriate penalties for violation of provisions of the bill.
Separability of provisions
Section 25 of the Senate bill provides that all of its provisions shall be separable.
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Effective date of act
Section 26 of the Senate bill provides that the btll shall take effect immediately, but that no provision requiring the maintenance of any fair labor standard or giving e1fect to any substandard labor condition shall take effect until the one hundred and twentieth day after the enactment of the act, and that no labor standard order shall be effective prior to that day.
HOUSE AMENDMENT
Short title
The first section of the House amendment provides that the act may be cited as the "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938."
Finding and declaration of policy
Section 2 of the House amendment states that the employment of workers under substandard labor conditions (1) causes commerce to be used to spread among workers of the several States conditions detrimental to their well-being, (2) burdens commerce and a free flow of goods in commerce, (3) constitutes an unfair method of competition in commerce, (4) leads to labor disputes which burden and obstruct commerce, and ( 5) interferes with orderly and fair marketing of goods.
The House amendment states that the above-described situation requires that Congress exercise its power under the Constitution to regulate commerce among the several States in order to prevent the instrumentalities of interstate commerce to be used to spread and perpetuate such substandard labor conditions by prohibiting the shipment in interstate commerce of goods produced under substandard labor conditions and providing for the elimination of substandard labor conditions among employers engaged in industries affecting interstate commerce.
Deftnitions
Section 3 of the House amendment contains definitions of terms used.
"Person" is defined as an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any organized group of persons.
"Commerce" is defined to mean trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or from any State to any place outside thereof.
"State" is defined as any State of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or any Territory.
"Employer" is defined to include any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but does not include the United States or any State or political subdivision of a State, or any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer), or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such a labor organization.
"Employee" is defined to include any individual employed or suffered or permitted to work by an employer.
"Agriculture" is defined to include farming in all its branches, and among other things to include the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities, the raising of livestock, bees, foxes, or poultry, and any practices performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market.
"Employees engaged in agriculture" is defined to include individuals employed within the area of production, engaged in the handling, packing, storing, ginning, compressing, pasturizing, drying, or canning of farm products and in making cheese and butter.
"Employ" is defined as including to suffer or permit to work.
"Industry" is defined to mean a trade, business, industry, or branch thereof, or group of industries in which individuals are gainfully employed.
"Industry affecting commerce" is defined to mean an industry with respect to which an order issued under section 6 is in effect.
"Employer engaged in commerce" is defined to mean an employer in commerce, or an employer engaged, in the ordinary course of business, in purchasing or selling goods in commerce.
"Secretary" is defined to mean the Secretary of Labor.
"Oppressive child labor" is defined as a condition of employment under which (1) any employee under the age of 16 years is employed by an employer (other than a parent or a person standing in place of a parent employing his own child or a child in his custody under the age of 16 years in an occupation other than manufacturing or mining) in any occupation, or (2) any such employee between the ages of 16 and 18 years is employed by an employer in any occupation which the Chief of the Children's Bureau shall from time to time find and by order declare to be particularly hazardous for the employment of such children or detrimental to their health or well-being. Oppressive child labor is not deemed to exist by virtue of the employment in any occupation of a person with respect to whom the employer shall have on file a certificate issued and held pursuant to the regulations of the Chief of the Children's Bureau certifying that such person is above the oppressive child-labor age. The Chief of the Children's Bureau is to provide by regulation or by prder that the employment of employees of or above the age of 14 but under the age of 16 in occupations other than manufacturing and mining shall not be deemed to constitute oppressive child labor if and to the extent that the Chief of the Children's Bureau determines that such employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with health and well-being.
Minimum Wages
Section 4 of the House amendment provides that every employer engaged in commerce tn an industry altecting commerce must pay during the first year (computed from the effective date of the orig1nal order issued under section 6 with respect to the industry) each employee employed by him a wage at a rate not less than 25 cents an hour, and during each succeeding year increase such wage 5 centS an hour until the wage reaches 40 cents an hour. Hence the 40-cent rate in a particular industry will be reached at the end of 3 years from the effective date of the order under section 6 with respect to the industry.
Maximum hours
Section 5 of the House amendment provides that no employer engaged in commerce in an industry affecting commerce shall employ any of his employees for a workday longer than 8 hours or during the first year (computed from the effective date of the order issued under sec. 6 with respect to the industry) shall employ any of his employees for a workweek longer than 44 hours. In each succeeding year the employer is required to reduce the weekly hours by 2 hours until a 40-hour workweek is reached. No employee is to be deemed to be employed in violation of thie section if he receives additional compensation for his overtime employment at the rate of one and one-half times the regular hourly rate at which he is employed, or times the rate applicable under or pursuant to the act, whichever is higher.
In the case of an employer engaged in the first processing of milk, whey, skimmed mllk, or cream into dairy products, or in the ginning and compressing of cotton, or in the processing of cottonseed, the provisions of this section are not to apply to his employees in any place of employment where he is so engaged; and in the case of an employer engaged in the first processing of, or in canning, fresh fish or fresh sea food, or perishable fresh fruits or perishable fresh vegetables, or in handllng, slaughtering, or dressing poultry or livestock, the provisions of this section are not to apply for 12 workweeks in any calendar year to his employees in any place of employment where he is so engaged.
Industries affecting commerce
Section 6 of the amendment directs the Secretary, as soon ns practicable after the enactment of the act, to determine the relation of the various industries to commerce. The Secretary is to give due notice to interested persons and an opportunity to be heard. If in the case of any industry the Secretary finds that the activities of the industry are Nation-wide in their scope, or that the industry is dependent for its existence upon substantial purchases or sales of goods in commerce and upon transportation in commerce, or that the relation of the industry to commerce is in other respects close and substantial, the Secretary is required to issue an order declaring the industry to be an industry affecting commerce, but no such order is to be applicable to any retail industry the greater part of whose sales is in intrastate commerce. The order is to take effect at such time not more than 120 days after it is issued as the Secretary designates in the order.
Attendance. of witnesses
Section 7 of the House amendment provides that for the pupose of the hearing to determine the facts upon which an order under section 6 is based the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act relating to the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents are to be applicable to the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the Secretary.
Court review of orders
Section 8 of the House amendment provides for the review of an order issued under section 6 by any person aggrieved thereby, in the circuit court of appeals for the circuit in which is situated his principal place of business, or in the Court of Appeals of the United States for the District of Columbia. The court is given exclusive jurisdiction to affirm, or if it is not in accordance with law to modify or set aside, the order in whole or in part.
Investigations, Inspections, and records
Section 9 of the House amendment provides that the Secretary, may investigate and gather data regarding the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment in any industry subject to the act, and may enter and inspect such places and records, question such employees, and investigate such facts, conditions, practices, or matters as the Secretary may deem necessary or appropriate to determine whether any person has violated any provision of the act, or which may aid in the enforcement of the provisions of the act. Except in connection with investigations and inspections relating to the employment of oppressive child labor, the Secretary is to utilize the Bureau of Labor Statistics for all investigations and inspections.
The Secretary, for the purpose of making the investigations and inspections above referred to, is authorized, with their consent, to utilize the services of State and local agencies and their employees, and to reimburse such State and local agencies and their employees for services rendered for such purposes.
Every employer subject to the amendment or to any other thereunder is required to make, keep, and preserve such records of the persons employed by him and of the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment maintained by him, and to preserve such records for such periods of time, and to make such reports therefrom to the Secretary as the Secretary shall prescribe by regulation or order.
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Child-labor provisions
Section 10 of the House amendment provides that no producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in commerce any goods produced in an establishment situated in the United States in or about which within 30 days prior to the removal of such goods therefrom any oppressive child labor has been employed. A prosecution and conviction of a defendant for a shipment or delivery for shipment of any goods under the conditions prohibited in this section is to be a bar to any further prosecution against the same defendant for Shipment or de11very for shipment of any such goods before the beginning of such prosecution.
Every employer engaged in commerce in an industry affecting commerce is prohibited from employing any employee under any oppressive child-labor condition.
The Chief of the Children's Bureau is to make all the investigations and inspections referred to above with respect to the employment of minors and to bring all actions under section 15 (relating to injunctions to restrain violations of the act) to enjoin any act or practice which is unlawful by reason of the existence of oppressive child labor, and is to administer all other provisions of the act relating to oppressive child labor.
Exemptions
Section 11 of the House amendment contains the exemptions from its provisions. Exemptions were made in the Senate bill by the device of excluding the individuals to be exempted from the definition of "employee." The wage-and-hour provisions are not to apply to—
(1) Any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, professional, or local retalllng capacity, or in the capacity of outside salesman (as such terms are defined and delimited by regulations of the Secretary);
(2) Any employee employed as a seaman;
(3) Any air-transport employee subject to the provisions of title II of the Railway Labor Act;
(4) Any employee employed in the catching, taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacea, sponges, seaweeds, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life, including the going to and returning from work, and including employment in the loading, unloading, or packing of such products for shipment, or in propagating, processing, marketing, freezing, canning, curing, storing, or distributing the above products or byproducts thereof;
(5) Any employee employed in agriculture; or
(6) Any employee to the extent that such employee is exempted by regulatlons or orders of the Secretary issued under section 12 (relating to partial exemptions for learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers) or to weekly or semiweekly newspapers with a circulation of less than 3,000, the major part of which circulation is within the county where printed and published.
The hour provisions of the act are not to apply to any employee with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to estab1ish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act, 1935, or to any employee of an employer subject to part I of the Interstate Commerce Act.
The child-labor provisions are not to apply to any employee employed in agriculture, or to any child employed as an actor in motion pictures or theatrical productions.
Learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers
Section 12 of the House amendment requires the Secretary, to the extent necessary in order to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment, by regulation or by order to provide for (1) the employment of learners, and of apprentices under special certificates as issued pursuant to regulations of the Secretary, at such wages lower than the applicable minimum and subject to such limitations as to time, number, proportion, and length of service as the Secretary shall prescribe; and (2) the employment of individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury, under special certificates to be issued by the Secretary, at such wages lower than the applicable minimum and for such period as shall be fixed in such certificates.
Prohibited acts
Section 13 of the House amendment makes it unlawful for any person—
(1) To violate any of the wage or hour provisions, or any of the provisions of any regulation or order of the Secretary issued under section 12 (relating to learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers);
(2) To transport, offer for transportation, ship, deliver, or sell in commerce, or to ship, deliver, or sell with knowledge that shipment or delivery or sale thereof in commerce is intended, any goods in the production of which any employee was employed in violation of the wage or hour provisions, or in violation of any regulation or order of the Secretary issued under section 12. No provision of the amendment is to impose any liability upon any common carrier for the transportation in commerce in the regular course of its business of any goods not produced by such common carrier, and no provision is to excuse any common carrier from its obligation to accept such goods for transportation;
(3) To willfully discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to the act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding;
(4) To violate any of the child-labor provisions; or
(5) To violate any of the provisions relating to the requirements of keeping records and making reports therefrom, or to make any statement, report, or record filed or kept pursuant to such provisions, knowing such statement, report, or record to be false in a material respect.
For the purpose of the prohibition relating to transportation in commerce of goods produced in violation of the amendment, proof that any employee was employed in violation of the wages or hours provision, or in violation of any regulation or order of the Secretary under section 12 (relating to learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers) in any place of employment where goods were produced, within 90 days prior to the removal of the goods therefrom, is to be prima facie evidence that the goods were produced by such employee.
Penalties
Section 14 of the House amendment provides that any person who violates any of the provisions of section 13 shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than $500, or to imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both.
Injunction proceeding
Section 15 of the House amendment vests the district courts of the United States and the United States courts of the Territories with Jurisdiction to restrain violations of section 13.
Relation to other laws
Section 16 of the House amendment provides that no provision of the act is to justify noncompliance with any other Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a higher minimum wage or a shorter maximum workday or workweek than that established under the act, and that no provision of the act relating to the employment of child labor is to justify noncompliance with any Federal, State, or municipal ordinance establishing a higher standard than the standard established under the act.
Separability of provisions
Section 17 of the House amendment contains the usual separability clause.
Effective date
Section 18 of the House amendment provides that no order under section 6 shall take effect prior to 120 days after the enactment of the act.
CONFERENCE AGREEMENT
Short title
Section 1 of the conference agreement follows the provisions of the House amendment in providing that the act may be cited as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Findings and declaration of policy
Section 2 of the conference agreement follows generally the provisions of both the Senate bill and the House amendment, except that it states that the existence, in industries engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, of labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being causes the effects on commerce described in the Senate bill and House amendment. It is declared to be the policy of the act to correct, and as rapidly as practicable to eliminate, these conditions in such industries without substantially curta111ng employment or earning power.
This is the policy which has guided the Congress in the prescription of the definite wage, hour, and child-labor provisions; this is the policy which the Congress has set to guide the Administrator and the industry committees in working toward progres- sive improvement of labor standards. It by no means follows that the highest minimum wages or the lowest maximum hours authorized by the act are adequate to maintain what should be regarded as the minimum fair standard of living. But certainly conditions which fall to conform with the requirements of the con- ference agreement cannot be deemed adequate to maintain even a rudimentary minimum standard of living.
Definitions
Section 3 of the conference agreement contains definitions of the terms used in the conference Agreement.
"Person" is defined in the same way as in the House amendment.
"Commerce" is defined in the same way as in the House amendment.
"State" is defined as in the Senate blll to include any State or the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession. But as is the case with all other provisions of the act, each term therein is to be treated as separable.
"Employer" is defined in the same way as in both the Senate bill and the House amendment.
"Employee" is defined as any individual employed by an employer. Taken in conjunction with the definition of "employ," which 1s defined as including suffering or permitting to work, the substance of the definition of employee in the conference agreement is contained in both the Senate bill and the House amendment.
"Agriculture" is defined 1n the same way as in the House amendment with the following exceptions: (1) The production of commodities defined as agricultural commodities in section 15 (g)
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of the Agricultural Marketing Act is included within the definition of agriculture, (2) the raising of all fur-bearing animals is included within the definition of agriculture, and (3) forestry or lumbering operations when performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with farming operations is also included within such definition.
"Industry" is defined in the same way as in the House amendment.
"Goods," "produced," "sale," and "sell," which are defined in the Senate bill but not in the House amendment are defined in the same way as in the Senate bill.
"Oppressive child labor" is defined in the same way as in the House amendment with minor clerical changes.
"Wage," which was defined in neither the Senate bill nor the House amendment, is defined as including the reasonale cost, as determined by the Administrator, to the employer of furnishing his employee with board, lodging, or other fac111ties, where it is customary for the employer to furnish such fac111ties.
Administration
As the conference agreement provides for a limited degree of flexibility in the application of minimum-wage rates, it was impossible to avoid the creation of some administrative machinery to administer the act. Section 4 of the conference agreement provides for the creation of a Wage-and-Hour Division in the Department of Labor, under the direction of an Administrator to be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Industry committees
Under section 5 of the conference agreement the Administrator is empowered to set up an industry committee for each industry engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. An industry committee is made up of an equal number of persons representing the public, employers, and employees; and its members are to be selected with due regard to geographical considerations.
Minimum wages
Section 6 of the conference agreement provides for the establishment of minimum wages for employees engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. The House amendment provided for the establishment of minimum wages if the employer was engaged in commerce in any industry affecting commerce. The conference agreement contains the definite minima of 25 cents and 30 cents per hour prescribed by the House for the first and second year, respectively, but allows 7 instead of 3 years for the minimum of 40 cents per hour to be reached, except in the case of an industry in regard to which it is definitely established, by the preponderance of the evidence, that a rate of 40 cents an hour would substantially curtail employment in such industry. After the second year the absolute floor is 30 cents per hour. Superimposed upon, and constitutionally separable from, these relatively inflexible requirements of the conference agreement is a provision that enables separate, and, when substantial curtailment of employment will not result, requires higher, minimum rates (not exceeding 40 cents an hour) to be fixed industry by industry.
Maximum hours
Section 7 of the conference agreement provides for the establishment of maximum hours of employment for employees engaged in commerce or the production of goods for commerce. The House amendment provided for the establishment of maximum hours of employment if the employer was engaged in commerce in an industry affecting commerce. The conference agreement contains in section 7 (a) the definite maximum hours of employment, 44 hours a week for the first year, 42 hours a week for the second year, and 40 hours a week thereafter, with overtime work permissible upon the payment of one and one-half times the regular wage rate. Provision is made for certain exceptions in the provisions of subsections (b) and (c). The validity or invalidity of these exceptions would not, of course, affect the validity of the balance of the act.
The general exceptions in section 7 (b) are drawn so as to encourage under appropriate safeguards continuity or regUlarity of employment. Thus an exemption is accorded for employees under bona fide collective bargaining agreements which provide that no employee shall be employed more than 1,000 hours during any period of 26 consecutive weeks. A further exemption is accorded for employees employed on an annual basis under bona fide collective bargaining agreements which provide that no employee shall be employed more than 2,000 hours during any period of 52 consecutive weeks, and a further exemption is provided for periods of not more than 14 weeks in the aggregate in any calendar year for industries found by the Administrator to be of a seasonal nature. These exemptions are further restricted by the requirement that employees coming under these exemptions must receive compensation at one and one-half times the regular rate for employment in excess of 12 hours in any workday or in excess of 56 hours in any workweek.
The specific exemptions (beginning with the exemption of the first processing of milk, raw or pasteurized, into dairy products) from the hours provisions which were contained in the hours section of the House amendment have been retained with the following changes other than clerical changes: (1) It is made clear that the processing of sugar beets, sugar-beet molasses, sugarcane, or maple sap into sugar (but not refined sugar) or into sirup is included within the absolute exemption, (2) the period of weeks for the partial exemption has been increased to 14, and (3) there is included within this partial exemption the first processing within the area of production (as defined by the Administrator) of any agricultural or horticultural commodity during seasonal operations.
Wage orders
Section 8 of the conference agreement provides the procedure to be followed in the establishment of separate minimum wages, industry by industry. Since the rigid minima establish an absolute fioor, so long as they are legally effective, the flexible minima in order to serve any useful purpose would have to be higher. With a view to effectuating the declared policy of the act, section 8 requires the administrator to convene the industry committee for each industry from time to time to recommend minimum wages for such industry.
Section 8 (c) of the conference agreement requires an industry committee to make such reasonable classifications within an industry as it determines to be necessary to fix the highest minimum wage rates consistent with the declared policy without substantially curtailing employment in any such classification and without giving a competitive advantage to any group in the industry. In determining whether such classifications should be made in any industry, and in making and determining the minimum rates for such classifications, no classification is to be made and no minimum rate is to be fixed, solely on a regional basis and no classification is to be made on the basis of age or sex, but the industry committee and the administrator are to consider among other relevant factors, competitive conditions as affected by production, living, and transportation costs, wages established by collective bargaining agreements, and wages paid by employers who voluntarily maintain fair minimum-wage standards.
Section 8 (d) provides that an industry committee, after investigating conditions in the industry, is to make a report to the Administrator containing its recommendations regarding the minimum-wage rates to be established for the industry. Upon the filing of the report, the Administrator holds a hearing after giving due notice to interested persons. If upon consideration of the evidence submitted. by the industry committee and. others, he is satisfied that the recommendations are made in accordance with law, are supported by the evidence, and, taking into consideration the same factors as the industry committee is required to consider, carry out the purposes of the act, then the Administrator enters an order putting the recommendations into effect. If the Administrator disapproves the recommendations, he must reconvene the same committee or appoint a new industry committee, for further consideration and recommendations.
This carefully devised procedure has a double advantage. It insures on the one hand that no minimum-wage rate will be put into effect by administrative action that has not been carefully worked out by a committee drawn principally from the industry itself and on the other hand that no minimum-wage rate will be put into effect by administrative action which has not been found by an administrative official of the Government, exercising an independent judgment on the evidence, and responsible to Congress for his acts, to be in accordance with law.
Section 8 (e) provides that no order is to be made or continued into effect after the expiration of 7 years from the effective date of section 6 unless the industry committee by a preponderance of the evidence before it determines, and the Administrator by a preponderance of the evidence adduced at the hearing finds, that such order is necessary to preyent substantial curtailment of employment in the industry. If no order is effective in an industry after the expiration of 7 years, the 40-cent rate automatically applies.
Section 8 (f) provides that orders issued under section 8 shall define the industries and classifications to which they are to apply and shall contain terms and conditions necessary to carry out their purposes, to prevent their circumvention or evasion and to safeguard the minimum rates established therein.
Section 8 (f) and (g) provides the method of giving due notice of the putting into effect of orders and of the holding of hearings.
Attendance of witnesses
Section 9 of the conference agreement confers the necessary powers for the summoning of witnesses and the production of documents for the purpose of any hearing or investigation under the act. It is substantially the same as in the House amendment.
Court review
Section 10 provides for the judicial review of orders. It follows substantially the corresponding section of the Senate bill.
Investigations and inspections
Section 11 of the conference agreement provides for investigations, inspections, and records. Its provisions do not substantially depart from the corresponding provisions of the House amendment except that "Administrator" is substituted for the "Secretary of Labor." The Administrator is directed to utilize the divisions and bureaus of the Department of Labor, of which the Wage and Hour Division itself is a part, for investigations, the gathering of data, and inspections necessary under the act. The Administrator, except in connection with the child-labor provisions, is given power to bring all actions to enjoin violations of section 15.
Child-labor provisions
Section 12 of the conference agreement adopts the child-labor provisions of the House amendment, with one exception. In view
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of the omission from the conference agreement of the principle of section 6 of the House amendment, subsection (b) of section 10 of the House amendment has been omitted.
Exemptions
Section 13 of the conference agreement contains the same exemptions as were contained in the House amendment with the following changes and additions: (1) It includes an exemption from both the wage and hour provisions of employees of retail or service establishments the greater part of whose business is in intrastate commerce; (2) it includes an exemption from both the wage and hour provisions of employees of any street, suburban, or interurban electric railway, or local trolley or motor-bus carrier not included in other exemptions contained in this section; (3) the provisions of the so-called Biermann amendment have been transferred to this section as an exemption from both the wage and hour provisions; in this amendment the Administrator is to define the area of production, and the making of dairy products is included within its terms; and ( 4) a minor change has been made in the exemption of employees employed in agriculture from the child-labor provisions; the child will be affected by the exemption only while he is not legally required to attend school. As in the case of other exemptions and exceptions the validity or invalidity of any of the above exemptions will not affect the validity of the act.
Learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers
Section 14 of the conference agreement makes special provision for learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers. It follows in the main the provisions of the House amendment, but includes within its terms messengers employed exclusively in delivering letters or messages.
Prohibited acts
Section 15 of the conference agreement makes it unlawful to ship or sell in commerce or to ship or sell with knowledge that shipment or sale thereof in commerce is intended, any goods in the production of which any employee was employed in violation of section 6 or section 7 or section 14, or to violate the provisions of such sections, or to do certain other acts which violate provisions of the act or obstruct its administration. Except insofar as modification was necessary to conform with other provisions of the conference agreement, the section follows closely the corresponding section of the House amendment.
Penalties
Section 16 of the conference agreement provides a fine of not more than $10,000, or imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both, for violations of the act. No person is to be imprisoned upon conviction for a first offense. This section also provides for civil reparations for violations of the wages-and-hours provisions. If an employee is employed for less than the legal minimum wage, or if he is employed in excess of the specified hours without receiving the prescribed payment for overtime, he may recover from his employer twice the amount by which the compensation he should have received exceeds that which he actually received.
Injunction proceedings
Section 17 relating to the jurisdiction of the courts to restrain Violations of the act follows substantially the corresponding proVision of the House amendment.
Relation to other laws
Section 18 which deals with the relation of the act to other laws follows the corresponding provision of the House amendment with the addition of a provision to the effect that nothing in the act is to be deemed as any justification for a reduction in wages or a lengthening of hours.
Separability of provisions
Section 19 contains the usual separability provision. Illustrations of its application have been discussed supra in connection with various provisions.
MARY T. NORTON,
ROBERT RAMSPECK.
M.A. DUNN,
KENT KELLER, JENNINGS RANDOLPH,
RICHARD J. WELCH,
FRED A. HARTLEY, Jr.,
Managers on the part of the House.
Mr. TABER. Mr. Speaker—
The SPEAKER. For what purpose does the gentleman from New York rise?
Mr. TABER. Mr. Speaker, I make a point of order against the conference report.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman will state his point of order.
Mr. TABER. Mr. Speaker, about six or seven different items are involved in my point of order, so I shall go through them quickly.
In the first place, I call the attention of the Chair to page 3, where there is created an administrator, and to section 5, where it is provided that industry committees shall be appointed by the administrator. Nothing of this kind was in the bill as it passed the House. In the bill as it passed the Senate there was provision for a general board having charge of all industries, which was to pass on the questions that came up. Under section 5, an industry committee in each industry involved is to be set up by the administrator, and this is beyond the scope of the conference.
I shall state these items, if I may be permitted to do so, before I get to the argument.
On page 4, paragraph (c), provision is made with reference to the quorum of the industry committee and with reference to the compensation, and this is entirely beyond the provisions of either bill.
Then I call the attention of the Chair to this provision on page 5, paragraph (b):
No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection (a) by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of that specified in such subsection without paying the compensation for overtime employment prescribed therein if such employee is so employed—
(1) In pursuant of an agreement, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, which provides that no employee shall be employed more than 1,000 hours during any period of 26 consecutive weeks.
This is clearly beyond the scope of either bill; that is, to set up here a provision by which an exemption can be created as a result of a certificate that the representatives of the employees are bona fide, this certificate being issued by the National Labor Relations Board, is clearly beyond the scope of the conference.
Likewise, paragraph (2) of paragraph (b) on page 5 is clearly in the same way in violation of the rule and beyond the scope of the conference, as is paragraph (3), the exemption for a period of not more than 14 workweeks in the aggregate.
On page 6 the following provision appears in paragraph (c):
The industry committee for any industry shall recommend such reasonable classifications within any industry as it determines to be necessary for the purpose of fixing for each classification within such industry the highest minimum wage rate (not in excess of 40 cents an hour).
There is nothing whatever in either bill which sets up classifications of this character, and this provision setting up classifications within an industry is clearly beyond the scope of the conference.
Further in paragraph (c) is a provision setting forth at least three factors that shall be considered in arriving at a conclusion. Nothing or that sort was set up in either bill, and these proVisions are clearly beyond the scope of the conference.
Further, the provisions of paragraph (d) are clearly beyond the scope of the conference.
It is perfectly clear, Mr. Speaker, that the conference committee clearly has gone beyond the scope of the conference in respect of the exemption in instances arising in pursuance of an agreement, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, and in the provisions relating to the classification proposition and the set-up of the industry committees. I can see no possible way in which any one of these items can be considered within the scope of the conference and of the difference between the two Houses.
The SPEAKER. The Chair is ready to rule on the point of order raised by the gentleman from New York [Mr. TABER].
The gentleman from New York has raised a point of order against the conference report in the several particulars pointed out by him on the ground that the conterees exceeded the authority they had to reach an agreement upon the subject committed to them.
The legislative history of this bill is that the Senate passed a bill affecting wages and hours. The bill came to the House and the House committee struck out all the Senate bill after the enacting clause and presented to the House for its consideration one entire substitute amendment covering all subjects embraced in the matter, which the House adopted. The bill then went to conference upon this basis.
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The Chair is reasonably familiar with all the provisions of the Senate and House bills touching this subject, and the Chair is in position to state that the House bill set up a very great number of detailed administrative features that were not included in the Senate bill. There were wide differences with reference to some of the provisions of the bill such as have inferentially been suggested by the gentleman from New York. This is not at all a matter of first impression. This question has been raised heretofore, and I call the attention of the gentleman from New York to the decision contained in section 3265, volume 8, of Cannon's Precedents, where this identical question was raised. The decision was by Mr. Speaker Gillett. The Chair will refer very briefly to that ruling and read the following language:
The first point made by the gentleman from Illinois, it seems to the Chair, is thoroughly disposed of by the decision of Speaker Clark, quoted in the Manual.
The very question was raised that is now presented by the gentleman from New York, that the conferees exceeded their authority in reporting the provisions of which the gentleman complains.
Further quoting from the decision:
It says:
"And it has been held so often and so far baek and by so many Speakers that where everything after the enacting clause is struck out the conferees have carte blanche to prepare a bill on that subject, that it seems to the Chair that question is no longer open to controversy."
Following this precedent, the Chair overrules the point of order made by the gentleman from New York [Mr. TABER].
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 10 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I feel greatly privileged to present this conference report today, on the eve of the anniversary of the death of our late beloved colleague, Bill Connery. I want to think when we pass this conference report today that it is our tribute to a gallant worker in the cause of the great army of underprivileged workers in the country; and, Mr. Speaker; I feel that his spirit is with us today in successfully finishing legislation that is going to mean more to the underpaid and underprivileged people of this country than anything that has ever been enacted by the Congress of the United States. May I say, too, Mr. Speaker, that I am deeply appreciative of the splendid work that has been done by the conferees on this bill. We met every day for 12 days and the bill was written around the conference table. We took into consideration every request that was brought before us and we tried to bring you a bill that we hope we can all agree upon. I believe it is the best bill on wages and hours that has ever been before the Congress of the United States. and I sincerely hope that my colleagues will agree with me that when this conference report is adopted today it is the work of not one man or one woman or one Member of Congress but that it is the work of every Member of Congress who is interested in human justice. This is the objective we axe reaching for, and I sincerely believe, Mr. Speaker, we have taken the first step to attain that objective. [Applause.]
Before proceeding to discuss in detail what is contained in the conference report, let me say that the House conferees stood out for, and finally obtained an agreement retaining the basic principles of the House bill.
You will recall that the House bill contained three basic principles:
First. An absolute floor on wages and an absolute ceiling on hours;
Second. A definite time fixed in the future for the attainment of the 40-cent minimum wage and the 40-hour week; and
Third. No geographical di1Ierentials.
On the other hand, the Senate bill contained just the reverse of these principles—a ceiling on wages and a floor on hours—no fixed time in the future for the attainment of the 40-cent rate and the 40-hour week—geographical differentials.
Under the House bill, the absolute floor for wages during the first year was to be 25 cents an hour, during the second year 30 cents an hour, during the third year 35 cent's an-hour, and thereafter 40 cents an hour. The ceiling on hours was to be 44 hours during the first year, 42 hours during the second year, and 40 hours thereafter. The administration of the House bill was confided to the Secretary of Labor.
What does the conference agreement provide with respect to wages? During the first year the absolute floor below which nobody covered by the bill can go is 25 cents an hour. There is an additional provision found in the conference agreement, however. which was not contained in the House bill, and which is a distinct improvement on the House bill. There are undoubtedly many industries to which a minimumwage rate in excess of 25 cents an hour could be applied now without curtailing employment. Under the House bill, there was no way of applying a higher rate to these industries—and by industries I do not mean individual employers but, on the contrary, industries in the national sense. The conference agreement provides that the industry committees at any time may recommend to the Administrator, and the Administrator may at any time by order prescribe, minimum wage rates for these industries; and so it is possible, under the conference agreement—and I feel confident that in many cases it is very likely—that the 40-cent rate will be reached during the second year.
Under the conference agreement, 30 cents an hour is the absolute floor during the second year. Nobody covered by the bill can go below this, although, as I have just said, some industries may be required to go higher.
Between the absolute floor of 30 cents an hour after the first year and the floor of 40 cents an hour after the seventh year, the conference agreement provides for a 1imited degree of flexibility. The industry committee for each industry is required to recommend to the Administrator, and the Administrator is required to prescribe by order, the highest minimum-wage rate for the industry which will not substantially curtail employment. And so it is very possible, as I have said before, that the 40-cent rate will be reached even during the first or second year in the case of some industries, during the third year in the case of still others, and so forth. Let me say here that this procedure of having recommendations made by industry committees on which employers, employees, and the public have equal representation is the procedure which has been in effect and has been eminently successful in England since, I believe, 1909.
After the seventh year the floor is to be 40 cents an hour, except in exceptional circumstances. What are these circumstances? Before the 40-cent rate can be set aside the industry committee—On which, as I have said, employers, employees, and the public have equal representation and equal voting power—must find by a preponderance of evidence before it, and the Administrator must find by a preponderance of the evidenece at the hearing before him, that the application of the 40-cent rate to the industry would substantially curtail employment in the industry. And so the rate of 40 cents an hour automatically applies after the seventh year except in the circumstances I have outlined. I cannot think of anything fairer than that.
Now, let me describe the provisions of the conference agreement relating to the classificationswWithin an indusry so that there will be no misunderstanding. The industry committees are required to recommend reasonable classifications in the industry and the highest minimiun rates for each such classification, which will neither substantially curtail employment in the classification nor will give a competitive advantage to any group in the industry. The factors to be taken into consideration in making these classifications and in fixing the minimum wage rates for each classification are clear. No classification is permitted solely on a regional basis, so we have outlawed geographical differentials in the fixing of these classifications. The differences that will exist between the
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wage rates applicable in each classification must be justified by facts and not geography.
The hours provisions of the conference agreement are virtually identical with those in the House bill, except that we have done away with the requirement of an 8-hour day. It seemed to the conferees that if employees wanted to work an extra hour each day so that they could have all of Saturday and Sunday to themselves, Congress ought not by legislation to deny them that right. The weekly hours are the same as in the House bill, however.
In addition to the specific exemptions from the hours proVisions which were contained in the House bill, particularly in my amendment, the conference agreement contains general exemptions to allow for further flexibility. We believe that every meritorious complaint relating to the hours provisions has been met. We have provided that the basic hours provisions are not to apply where there is a collective-bargaining agreement providing for employment in excess of Lhe basic maximum hours per week, but not for more than 1,000 hours in any period of 26 consecutive weeks. This exemption is hedged about, however, by the requirement that overtime compensation be paid for work in excess of 12 hours in any day, or 56 hours in any week, as the case may be.
This exemption will take care of the peculiar situation which exists in isolated mining and timber camps which are located in some cases 75 or 100 miles from civilization. We have also provided an exemption from the basic maximum hours for employers who have adopted the annual wage plan. We provide that where employees are employed on an annual basis in pursuance of a collective-bargaining agreement which provides for employment not in excess of 2,000 hours in any period of 52 consecutive weeks, the employer is not covered by the basic maximum hours if he pays overtime compensation for work in excess of 12 hours in any day, or 56 hours in any week, as the case may be. We further provide for exemptions of seasonal industries for not more than 14 workweeks in any calendar year under the same conditions. These general exemptions to a certain extent overlap the specific exemptions, and so there can be no question but that all meritorious cases are covered in some cases twice.
The child-labor provisions of the conference agreement are virtually identical with those of the House bill.
Every amendment which was adopted on the floor to the House bill we have retained. We have a bill better than the House bill, infinitely better than the Senate bill. This is not a northern bill—it is not a southern bill—it is a labor bill and the conference report should be adopted overwhelmingly. [Applause.]
We have kept faith with the House. We have gone far in attempting to take into consideration all of the matters that were brought before us. We are presenting a unanimous conference report with the sincere hope that it may be adopted. In concluding may I thank the Labor Committee, the unofficial steering committee, and every Member who supported the committee in their difficult task of bringing this bill to a happy conclusion [Applause.]
[Here the gavel fell.]
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. WELCH].
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, as the record will show, I signed the conference report which was unanimous on the wage and hour bill which was changed from the bill which passed the House on May 24. I sincerely regret that in order to get a bill which would give relief to the underprivileged workers of this country, it was necessary to change the bill as it passed the House which provided for statutory wage increases, commencing at 25 cents per hour and running over a period of 3 years to 40 cents per hour.
The conference report provides a floor of 25 cents per hour, commencing on the effective date of the act. It further provides for an increase to 30 cents per hour begining the second year.
The hourly provision in the bill starts at 44 hours and is reduced to 40 hours in 2 years. The wage rate commencing at 25 cents and then to 30 cents per hour the second year, and the weekly hour rate commencing at 44 and reduced to 40 are statutory and over which no administrator or board will have control.
When you stop to consider the thousands upon thousands of unfortunate people, some of whom are being paid as low as $3 a week and working as long as 60 hours a week, there is great merit in this bill. There will be an immediate reduction from 60 to 44 hours and in 2 years thereafter to 40 hours and an immediate raise in hourly wage for those who are now receiving from $3 to $6 a week to $11 a week.
Another important provision in this bill which should not be overlooked is the fact that it contains the best childlabor provision ever preseted to Congress. [Applause.]
[Here the gavel fell.]
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 7·minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. HARTLEY].
Mr. HARTLEY. Mr. Speaker, the title of the bill being reported to the House today should be, "A bill to further harass industry and to extend the New Deal depression."
Even if we admit that this bill will raise the wages of a part of the exploited or the lower paid workers of the country, this bill as written will so affect the economic structure of the Nation as to nullify those increases, and in addition will create such dislocation that everyone will suffer thereby. This final draft is based upon the New Deal obsession that there ought to be a law although no one gives a damn what kind of a law.
I expect that someone will charge me with being inconsistent for opposing this measure now after having signed the conference report. However, after careful deliberation I have come to the conclusion that the consistent thing for me to do is to vote against the bill. Last December I offered the motion to recommit the wage and hour bill, which provided for a board and differentials. This bill as reported by the conference committee has many more boards than the bill recommitted, and more serious differentials.
I voted for the House bill, and during the conference on every occasion and on every test stood firm for the philosophy of the House bill, and if this report maintained the philosophy of the House bill, I would be glad to stand here and defend it. However, this bill is being accepted only because it is the only kind of a bill that certain Members of the other body would permit the House to have without a filibuster. In other words a handfull of filibusterers have said to the House, "You will take this kind of bill or get no bill at all."
As for me, I would much rather have an honorable defeat than a dishonorable victory. This bill has been so amended that it is neither fish, fowl, nor beast. It is a legislative duckbill, platypus.
Mr. EATON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. HARTLEY. I will yield to my distinguished colleague from New Jersey.
Mr. EATON. The gentleman is using a very technical phrase here, and I regret I do not recognize the friend he mentions. I wonder if he would tell us what that is?
Mr. HARTLEY. For the information of my colleague from New Jersey, a duckbill, platypus, is an Australian mammal that has the bill of a duck, has web feet, is covered with both fur and feathers, and swims backward because it does not give a darn where it is going—it only wants to know where it has been. [Laughter.]
Political expediency rather than relief for the exploited workers of America has dictated the terms of this bill. We are told that this measure will raise the wages and lower the working hours of the exploited workers of America. If that is the case then why is it that the poorest paid labor of all, the farm labor whose weekly average for 1937 was $4.76 has been omitted from this bill? The answer is that the votes of the farm bloc in the House, the best organized bloc we have here, would have voted against the bill and defeated it.
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If this is a bill to help labor why should not labor, whether on the farm or in the factory be treated on equal terms?
And when one looks further at the list of exemptions under section 13 it is difficult to understand why so many have sought to be excluded from the bill's alleged humanitarianism. As a matter of fact, the only real beneficiaries under this bill will be the 35,000, 40,000, or 50,000 politicians who will be added to the Federal pay roll to run the works, or should I say ruin the works.
This bill provides for a newly created industrial dictator, holding the power of life or death over American industry. I say industrial dictator because he will have the authority to appoint industry committees for every industry in the United States. If their conclusions do not suit him, he can fire them and appoint a new one until decisions satisfactory to him have been reached.
These industry committees are empowered to provide differentials in such a manner as to fade into insignificance the differentials in the bill recommitted by the House last December. I cannot see how anyone who voted to recommit the House bill last December can consistently vote for this bill.
These differentials may be effected within industry, not alone between the North and South, but between industries within a State and even within the same community.
The industry committee and Administrator, and I am reading from the bill, shall consider among other relevant factors in providing differentials:
1. Competitive conditions as affected by transportation, living, and production costs.
2. The wages established for work of like or comparable character by collective labor agreements negotiated between employers and employees by representatives of their own choosing.
3. The wages paid for work of like or comparable character by employers who voluntarily maintain minimum wage standards in the industry.
Just what does this mean? It means that every efficiently managed industry must suffer because of its efficiency. In other words, by legislation we are rewarding incompetency. It means further that the wages of those who work for inefficient management will be paid at no more than 30 cents an hour.
We have been told that this bill will merely affect the lower wage scales. To the contrary it will have a serious effect on the general wage structure, inasmuch as the requirement for payment of time and a half for overtime is based upon the regular rate of pay, whether that be 40 cents an hour or $1 an hour.
It is amazing to note that American industry is denied the right to ship in interstate coml!lerce if it fails to meet the requirements of this bill, but that there is no prohibition against the products of Chinese coolies, Russian slave labor, Argentine peasants, or Japanese labor, paid $2.70 for a 60- hour week. So we say American industry ought to raise wages while its market is turned over to foreign low-wage competitors. Is this legislation for the benefit of the United States or the rest of the world? Some of our labor will get a pay raise all right, but for how long will they have jobs?
This House is being forced to accept this measure by the threat of those who would keep us here until the "snow flies." Rather than pass this face-saving measure we should be willing to remain here until the "snow flies" or until "hell freezes over" so that a decent minimum wage law may be enacted for the benefit of the exploited workers of America. [Applause.]
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. RANDOLPH].
Mr. RANDOLPH. Mr. Speaker, I am amazed and at a distinct loss to understand the changed attitude of the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. HARTLEY] in rising on this floor in opposition to the conference report which he joined in signing on Sunday.
As one of the seven conferees on the part of the House he affixed his signature but 2 days ago, which I show to you at this time, in favor of bringing before this body a unanimous report of the House conferees. Such report was joined in by the seven conferees of the Senate. Differences between members of the conference were reconciled in our efforts to enact a fair measure.
I read to you from the first page of the conference report:
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S. 2475) to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes, having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:
That is the report and approval in which the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. HARTLEY] joined the other 13 members of the conference committee.
There are, of course, compromises in the conference report on the final draft of the wage and hour bill which comes before us. They are reasonable and sensible compromises, but the principles remain the same. I ask you as a plain matter of policy in this connection, Is it not best in this first Federal bill, designed to bring up a little the wages at the bottom of the scale and regulate also the hours for the needy and underpaid workers of this country, to make certain con- cessions.? Is it not better that we have exemptions, so that in future years, if found necessary and advisable, we can bring under this law other business or industry exempted in this first bill which establishes the principle of ending starvation wages and unfair competition? Certainly those who have had long experience as legislators in this body know that there must be some compromise made in bringing out a measure of this kind. We go into a new field.
This bill properly enters the field of aiding and protecting those men and women in industry today who have no organization or collective bargaining agency to speak for them. The Congress of the United States on this occasion speaks for that group of individuals. So instead of being harsh your conferees have attempted to be sensible in this matter, and exemptions have been made and definitions have been placed in the bill which make it possible to bring a measure here which retains the best features of the House bill and good features of the Senate measure. And, after 10 or 11 days in a conference in which a very full and free discussion was undertaken, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. HARTLEY] joined in a unanimous report, and by his signature approved the work done. We come to you and say that, of course, this measure is not 100 percent perfect. Of course this bill does not involve all of the propositions many of us would like to have seen written into law; but certainly this measure is a well-balanced bill and takes into account the very ideas expressed by this body when the legislation was before us; I feel that it will take its place, along with the Social Security Act, as a great humanitarian effort. I trust, and I have reason to believe, that men and women on both sides of the aisle will join in almost unanimous approval of this fair, sensible, and trail-blazing conference report. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman from West Virginia has expired.
Mr. WELCH.· Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. LAMBERTSON].
Mr. LAMBERTSON. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, everybody on both sides ought to vote against this conference report, send it back to the committee, and wait until next year, when we can all think it over carefully before we pass a wage-and-hour bill. How ridiculous to bring a bill of this magnitude before a great legislative body with only 1 hour to consider it! You cannot even ask questions on a new bill that neither the House nor the Senate passed, a bill that was rewritten in conference. Here is one thing that is not in the House bill. The administrator appoints industry committees. It does not say how many he can appoint on each committee. He can appoint a hundred for each one of the hundreds of industries of the United States, and each member of that committee has his expenses paid and a per diem allowed when on duty, and may have legal and clerical help. There is no limit to the number of committees he may appoint. Here is another thing that is in this bill that was
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not in the House bill. This industry board that is appointed by the administrator can classify labor in industry. Think of the power that you give to a committee appointed by the administrator to classify labor. The gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. NoRTON] spoke about the power of classification by these industry committees just a few moments ago.
We know what controls the National Labor Relations Board and all collective-bargaining agreements have got to be 0. K.'d by them. They put that provision into this report, but it was not in either the House bill or the Senate bilL This is the point I wanted to emphasize particularly. Take that home with you; take that home to your A. F. of L., you men. You are voting for a bill here that gives to this C. I. 0. Board the duty of passing on whether your collective-bargaining agreement is bona fide. I wonder how Mr. Green will like that when he finds it out? The C. I. 0. will pass on the good faith of the agreement, and this industrial Board is going to classify each industry, endless in number. Answer me now, any of you, in your own time, if it is not in there just exactly like I say it is.
Full of exemptions! Yes; naturally it would have to be. The administrator alone, too, is given authority to determine whether an industry comes in or not. That is in the hands of one person to decide, and that means that person will decide whether they shall come under provisions of this act. More centralization of power. [Applause.]
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has consumed 5 minutes.
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. BOILEAU].
Mr .. BOILEAU. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have the opportunity of following the distinguished gentleman from Kansas, because this is a matter about which I want some information. It was called to my attention this morning that the conference report contained a provision to the effect that these agreements, the result of bargaining with organized labor with reference to hours, must have the approval of the National Labor Relations Board. The gentleman from Kansas made that very affirmative statement, that these agreements that exist must be approved by the National Labor Relations Board with reference to hours, otherwise the agreement would be meaningless. After having had that called to my attention I got hold of this report.
I have read the report very carefully, and I got an entirely different meaning than what I was told about it, an entirely different meaning than the gentleman from Kansas has given on this matter. Because of the fact that he is one of the conferees, I am glad to have this occasion to try to get the matter clarified here on the floor.
Section 7 (b), at the top of page 5 of the conference report, reads:
No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection (a) by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of that specified in such subsection without paying the compensation for overtime employment prescribed therein if such employee is so employed (a) in pursuance of an agreement, made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, which provides that no employee shall be employed more than 1,000 hours during any period of 26 consecutive weeks.
As I understand it—and I ask the distinguished gentlewoman from New Jersey if my interpretation is correct—as I understand it, this clause being set off by commas—
Made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board.
My understanding of that is that the representatives of the employees shall be certified as bona fide representatives of the employees; that it does not mean that the agreement is bona fide.
Mrs. NORTON. The gentleman's interpretation is absolutely correct.
Mr. BOILEAU. The gentlewoman from New Jersey agrees that my interpretation is correct?
Mrs. NORTON. Yes.
Mr. BOILEAU. If that be the case, then the gentleman from Kansas is entirely wrong in his interpretation, and I assume the gentlewoman from New Jersey is correct. It seems to me the language is very clear. It does not provide that the National Labor Relations Board shall certify the agreement as bona fide; but, rather, they shall determine that the representatives who enter into this agreement are the bona fide representatives for bargaining purposes of the laboring group; and I suppose that is in conjunction with the general philosophy of the National Labor Relations Board that the employees shall select the representatives of their own choosing.
Mr. RAMSPECK. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BOILEAU. I yield.
Mr. RAMSPECK. The gentleman is entirely correct. The question that he is discussing was discussed very carefully by the conferees; and the proviso is so worded that the single function of the National Labor Relations Board is to see that it is not a company-controlled union. They have nothing to say about the agreement.
Mr. BOILEAU. That is my interpretation of the language, I take it it was the thought of the conferees that the National Labor Relations Board should not take the side of one labor organization as against another labor organization insofar as bargaining agreements are concerned.
I stated a moment ago that the gentleman from Kansas, one of the conferees, had made a certain statement that I thought was important. I wanted to be sure to have an understanding as to the authority of those making statements. I understand now that the gentleman from Kansas was not one of the conferees, and I do not say that in a critical way. It is my opinion the gentleman was in error in his interpretation of this language. I am glad that the distinguished gentlewoman from New Jersey and other members of the conference committee have clarified the matter.
Mr. BRADLEY. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BOILEAU. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. BRADLEY. Can the gentleman tell us whether the gentleman from Kansas voted for the bill as it passed the House or not?
Mr. BOILEAU. I have a recollection, but I do not desire to enter into that controversy with my distinguished friend.
Mr. BRADLEY. I cannot see why he would get so enthusiastic about labor right now.
[Here the gavel fell.]
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. SCHNEIDER].
Mr. SCHNEIDER of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, the conference report on the bill calling for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor is now before us. I believe that this report should and will be adopted by this House. And when it will be passed by both House and Senate and signed by the President, history will record that it took three sessions of the present Congress to force this achievement.
On August 17, 1937, in connection with the bill then pending, providing for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor, I declared:
Regardless of what happens to the present bill at this session, I am convinced that a minimum-wage and maximum-hour law will be enacted by Congress in the very near future. The abominable conditions which the hearings on this b111 reveal must bring action soon. I am certain that the American people expect Congress to act and to act without delay.
PRESENT BILL A BEGINNING IN RIGHT DIRECTION
At that time—about a year ago, during the first session of this Congress—I pointed out that I was not completely satisfied with all of the provisions contained in the then pending bill. Nevertheless, I declared that as a Progressive, I was glad that the Congress was moving along the right road. To be frank, I must state that some of the provisions embodied in this conference report are not altogether to my liking or to the liking of friends of labor. However, I accept the present report as a beginning, with the firm expectation that the law will be amended and improved by succeeding Congresses.
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In that spirit I hail the report and congratulate the President of the United States and the forward-looking legislators who sponsored and fought for this labor bill. As a member of the Labor Committee of the House of Representatives, I may be pardoned in claiming a modest part in the formulation and advocacy of legislation calling for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor.
The measure as reported out by the conference report applies to interstate business exclusively. This is, of course, very well known. It must be repeated, however, to avoid any misunderstanding of the bill, that it does not in any way, shape, or form affect intrastate or purely local or State business. It covers only interstate commerce; that is, business which is interstate in character.
MAIN PROVISIONS OF BILL
Mr. Speaker, the present bill provides for an absolute bedrock minimum wage for the first year of 25 cents an hour, and for the second year of its operation of 30 cents per hour. The law does not go into effect until 120 days after it is signed by the President. This period of time is to enable those employers affected to adjust themselves to the new provisions.
By starting with such a low minimum wage of 25 cents an hour for the first year, the law will not affect any industry disastrously. However, it is well to realize that Congress, by the passage of this act, is going on record to the effect that an industry or business of an interstate character which cannot pay at least 25 cents an hour to its employees has no justification or reason for existence.
In the matter of maximum hours, the proposed act provides for 44 hours per week for the first year, 42 hours the second year, and 40 hours thereafter, with certain exceptions. Now, on the basis of 44 hours per week and 25 cents per hour the first year, a minimum wage of $11 a week is thus provided for. Will anyone say that a worker should receive less than the paltry sum of $11 a week to keep body and soul together? Then, after a whole year goes by, with a maximum workweek of 42 hours and a wage of 30 cents an hour, a minimum wage of $12.60 per week is thus called for. The measure also permits a higher wage, up to 40 cents per hour, barring certain exceptions.
Mr. SAUTHOFF. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. SCHNEIDER of Wisconsin. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
Mr. SAUTHOFF. Does not the gentleman believe it is rather absurd for us to be debating $11 a week, which means about $572 a year, not including a vacation, when we ourselves are drawing considerably more than that in a single month. And does not my colleague, who has always stood by and for the farmer, also agree that we cannot hope to get 40 cents for our butter and better prices for all our farm products, unless the wages of the underprivileged and undernourished worker is raised?
Mr. SCHNEIDER of Wisconsin. I entirely agree with the gentleman.
An administrator of the law is to be set up, appointed by the President, who will issue the official orders. He and his division are to be located in the Department of Labor. He is to appoint representative advisory boards for an industry, to investigate and recommend what exceptions, if any, are to be made for certain industries from the 40 cents minimum wage per hour, or the 40 hours maximum work week. The goal set for the act is 40 cents per hour and 40 hours per week.
Mr. Speaker, this bill provides for the abolition of child labor in the production of goods for interstate commerce. The labor of children is defined to include all those under the age of 16, and also those between 16 and 18 in hazardous occupations. The Chief of the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor will provide by special order for the employment of children from the age of 14 to 16 in any occupation in which employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with their schooling, and under conditions which will not interfere with their health and well-being.
DOES NOT COVER AGRICULTURE
As already pointed out, the bill does not apply to local or exclusively intrastate business. Likewise, it does not cover those engaged in agricultural pursuits. Nor do the provisions embrace those employed in the first processing of dairy products. Similar exceptions are made for perishable fruit and vegetable first processing during busy seasons for limited periods. The bill also exempts those who are employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, professional, or local retailing capacity.
HUMANITARIAN REASONS
So much for the provisions of the act. Now, what is responsible for this piece of legislation? The answer should be obvious. This bill calling for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor is the result of years of education. The evils which it seeks to remedy have been brought vividly to the attention of the American people and Congress. First and foremost, there is an overwhelming sentiment, as indicated by national polls, in favor of this act, based on humanitarian grounds. The American people are now aware of a situation where the helpless, unorganized, and submerged one-third of the population are being exploited mercilessly and ruthlessly. They are determined to put a stop, once and for all, to the human degradation caused by the payment of sweatshop and starvation wages by the working of men and women for very long hours, and the employment of children in their tender years. The Congress now has a chance to speak out and adopt this proposed measure, which, despite any of its shortcomings, will go a long way to end the exploitation of the poorest paid, the hardest worked, and the most defenseless toilers. In this rich country of ours there is absolutely no justification whatever for starvation wages, overlong hours of toil, and child labor.
The demand for the passage of this legislation is not based solely on humanitarian grounds. From a purely business and financial standpoint, as well as for humanitarian reasons, a law providing for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor is absolutely necessary.
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL REASONS
As illustrative of this practical or business standpoint, compare two communities. In the one, there are fair and decent employers. They pay their workers sufficient wages so that they can enjoy at least some of the benefits of American civilized living. The whole community benefits from their high purchasing power. Real-estate interests are enabled to sell homes to the workers. The retail-business man has a market for his goods. Service and amusement trades sell their services. Education, religion, and the spiritual side of life are given an opportunity to thrive and flourish. Let us not forget that a starved body cannot normally be the home of a contented, patriotic, and spiritual soul.
Now, contrast this community with another. Here are located employers who were invited to settle because of special tax exemptions and other inducements. The factory building itself may have been donated. It may well be the boast of the local chamber of commerce that the workers in this community are docile and will accept any wages and work any period of hours per week. There are no adequate restrictions against child labor in the State. Practically no community services exist for the welfare of the workers, were they permitted any leisure to enjoy them. The corporation may actually own everthing in sight, including the homes, churches, and schools, and may run the only stores, charging the workers exorbitant prices. There is no economic freedom; there is no political freedom in this type of community. In a very real sense, the workers in such a community live under a form of industrial serfdom.
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Mr. Speaker, from a business and financiai standpoint, it must be remembered that the decent employer and decent community are in competition with the unfair employer and low-standard community. In fact, the situation now faces us in the United States where the fair employer and the decent community can no longer survive against the cutthroat competition of the ruthless, chiseling, and exploiting employer and his industrial serflike community. The issue then becomes clear: Who shall be favored? Shall it be the fair employer and the decent community of free workers, or shall it be the unfair and exploiting employer and the community of serfs? Congress can give its answer by the passage of the pending bill and the conference report.
MIGRATION OF INDUSTRY TO LOW-WAGE AREAS
Am I exaggerating the situation? Here are some facts concerning the migration of industry. The American Federation of Full-Fashioned Hosiery Workers recently listed 58 mills which sold their equipment and moved from the city of Philadelphia and immediate vicinity since 1929. Between 1929 and 1937 there was an increase of full-fashioned hosiery machines in the South from 730 to 2,807, or an increase of 385 percent. The low-wage areas are drawing the industry to themselves like magnets. A full-fashioned hosiery worker reported his own experience where he was employed by a firm which had three plants, one in a community 22 miles outside of Philadelphia, and two others in the South. In January 1938 this company closed its plant in Pennsylvania for a period of from 4 to 6 weeks, throwing 400 people out on the streets, while it kept its southern plants going full blast, working of course longer hours at a lower piece rate than in Pehnsylvania. The question was put to this workingman: "What is the differential in wage rates paid by the company in question in their southern plants, compared with the Pennsylvania rates?" And the worker answered: "From 30 to 40 percent."
The question was then put: "How about hours?" And the answer came: "Forty hours per week in Pennsylvania, and no limitation on hours in the South." That is the situation in one industry.
Migration of industry is not only taking place from the North to the South; it is also occurring from high-wage to low-wage areas inside the North and within Northern States. The needle trades—making men's and women's clothing and accessories—are in a state of flux, as well as textiles, where industry is constantly going "out of town;" that is, leaving the cities for the small towns and rural areas. Some of the lowest wages are found in these out-of-the-way places in the North. It is hardly necessary to pile up evidence; the facts are so numerous and well-known. The evils attendant to migration· of industry come home to the older worker especially. The full-fashioned hosiery worker, whose plant has gone South, said before a group of Pennsylvania Congressmen in March 1938:
I have spent the best years of my life in this industry, and as the saying goes, am a little too old to take up any other trade. And I am today pleading with you, for the sake of hundreds of others like myself, that you will do all within your power to create legislation that will at least give us some sense of security.
NO DEMOCRACY CAN SURVIVE WITH SUBMERGED WOltKERS
Mr. Speaker, a new sense of stability and security will enter communities which have been threatened with unfair competition and the great fear of migration. The hearings and the debates on this legislation have proved beyond any question of doubt that it is not only the representatives of labor and liberal thought who favor it. Industry after industry and State after State, which are suffering from the disastrous effects of unfair competition, have demanded a floor to wages. The fair employer and the decent community are united with all progressive and humanitarian folks on behalf of this bill. And who are the opponents of it? Do they wish to contend that the fixing of 25 or 30 cents as a minimum wage is an outrageously high wage? Do they wish to argue that American business should be run on coolie wage standards? Do they wish to contend that purchasing power to buy the output of mass production industry is possible on starvation wages? Do they wish to declare that competition in business should take place without any restriction on the exploitation of human lives and little children? If they do wish to make these contentions, let them realize the consequences in a demoralized and exploited people. The people of America cannot accept their contentions and the results. If they did our American civilization would disintegrate. No democracy can thrive or survive with a debased and poverty-stricken mass. No; the people cannot and will not tolerate exploitation, sweatshop wages, killing hours, and child labor, regardless of the callousness, selfishness, and indifference of a few.
LOW WAGES PAID IN NORTH AND SOUTH
There are those, of course, who show no concern that workers are receiving sweatshop and starvation wages. A few facts—and only very few can be presented in this brief space—may interest and awaken them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor investigated the hourly earnings in the cotton-goods industry in April 1937. It found that in the South 4.3 percent of the skilled men were earning less than 321/2 cents per hour, 16.6 percent of the semiskilled men, and as much as 42.3 percent of the unskilled men. And as to the women, the percentage were much higher among those getting under 321/2 cents per hour. Furthermore, about one-quarter of the unskilled men and 30 percent of the unskilled women were earning less than 271/2 cents an hour. Now, the cotton-goods industry is one of the better-paying industries of the South. Imagine what the hourly wage rates are in the poorer and worst-paying industries.
Entrance rates for common labor in July 1937 in the lumber industry (sawmills) in the South may help the imagination. In this industry 72.8 percent of the adult common laborers received an hourly entrance rate under 271/2 cents. And 32.9 percent of the laborers were getting an entrance rate under 221/2 cents per hour. Again, in the fertilizer industry of the South, 84.3 percent of the common laborers were receiving entrance hourly rates under 321/2 cents. As many as 62.5 percent of the laborers were getting below 271/2 cents.
Let it not be thought for a moment, however, that low wages are only found in the South. In the knitted underwear industry in New York State the average wage in April 1937 was 42.9 cents an hour, as compared with an average wage in Indiana of 28.7 cents per hour. And, if the average in Indiana was but 28.7 cents per hour, then it is clear that a large percentage received very much less than that sum per hour. Here is a town in New Jersey, where an experienced sewing-machine operator is employed in a factory making silk dresses. Consider the wages paid, as shown on her pay envelopes: The week of October 25, 1937, $6 for 40 hours of work. In the week of November 29, 1937, the pay is $3.13 for 391/2 hours of work. Again, here is a belt factory which moved from New York City to West New York, N.J., and is paying $10 a week for 483/4, hours a week, or at a rate of 20.5 cents per hour. An investigation of certain factories in Boston, Mass., revealed their full-time wages ranging from $7 to $10 per week. A report of the Connecticut Department of Labor and Factory Inspection brought to light horrible conditions among home workers. There are several instances where these home workers were earning at a rate of less than 5 cents an hour. Up and down the Northern States, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, as well as Wisconsin, my own home State, there are plenty of cases where very low wages are being paid for overlong hours of work. This bill is not a sectional measure. Its benefits will extend from one end of the country to the other, from Maine to Florida, from New York to California.
NUMBER OF WORKERS AFFECTED
Mr. Speaker, the Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, in a radio address on May 17, 1938, declared that "it is estimated that a minimum of 40 cents per hour would have affected 1,250,000 to 2,000,000 workers in the summer of 1937, including those in manufacturing, in wholesale trade,
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and other industries engaged in interstate commerce, except on railroads and interstate motor carriers." She also stated that "it is estimated that eventually the pending bill will shorten the hours of about 2,500,000 workers." In connection with the statement of the Secretary of Labor, where she does not include the workers on railroads, it is important to note the testimony of Mr. L. E. Keller, representing the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, at the joint hearings on the wage-hour bill, in June 1937.
LOW WAGES IN RAILROAD INDUSTRY
Mr. Keller filed with the committee a statement showing minimum rates of pay paid to section and extra gangmen on 98 railroads located in all parts of the United States and covering a very substantial percentage of the entire railroad mileage within the colintry. To quote from his testimony: "It will show rates as low as 171/2 cents an hour and other rates of 20 cents, 21 cents, 221/2 cents, 23 cents, 24 cents, 25 cents, and on up to a maximum of 45 cents which is received by a relatively small number of trackmen. It will also explode the fallacy that these lowest wages are restricted entirely to the southeastern section of the country. It will show rates of 221/2 cents an hour on a major railroad system operating throughout the Northwest, 30 cents an hour on another major road in the Northwest, and which are paid in such industrial centers as Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities. It will present an indefensible wage policy on the part of the Class I carriers in this country which exists today after our organization has exhausted every lawful means in its efforts to correct them short of calling a strike, which wisely or unwisely we have so far avoided." The conclusion from this testimony is that certainly tens of thousands of railroad employees will be benefited by the passage of the proposed measure.
PREVENTS REDUCTIONS IN WAGES
There is an aspect to the pending bill which has not received much, if any, attention, and which I regard as very important. During depressions—and we are in the midst of a serious one—there is a tendency on the part of employers to reduce wages, and especially of the unorganized and the poorest paid, those least able to resist. Under date of May 20, 1938, a release from the office of the Secretary of Labor states that—
Wage rates of more than 40,000 factory workers in 36 industries reporting to the Bureau of Labor Statistics were affected by rate reductions, chiefly in brass, shoe, and cotton factories.
Of course, these figures cover only factory employers reporting to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are plenty of other factory and nonfactory employers who have reduced the rates and who do not regularly report to the Bureau at all. In the months of January and February 1938 wage cuts reported in the Daily News Record, a trade paper devoted to news of the textile and clothing industries, affected thousands of workers, with reductions running to 10 and 121/2 percent. Obviously the items do not begin to include all the reductions which actually took place. But the Bureau of Labor statistics data and the Daily News Record reports serve to prove the point, that reductions on a wide scale have taken place in the present depression.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation providing for minimum wage, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor is most necessary at this time to restore wages to the barest minimum and to prevent any further cuts below it. The mistaken belief that some employers have, that we can promote recovery by means of wage reductions, is checked by strong labor organizations which have the power of resistance. But the employer intent on wage cuts meets with little or no resistance from the poorest paid and poorest organized workers. Hence, he reduces purchasing power still more, and depresses the industry still further, and tears down old standards. By the passage of this legislation the wage-cutting employer will be prevented from trying to smash his way to recovery over the living standards of the defenseless and helpless submerged one-third of the population, whose standards are already too low, and which, instead of being further reduced, should and will be raised by the pending measure.
In the radio address, already referred to, made by the Secretary of Labor, Miss Frances Perkins quoted excerpts from letters of employers urging the enactment of a wage-hour bill. The fair employer is not opposed to this legislation. He knows its effects will help him and his workers. The farmer will also be benefited. True, it has been argued that he may have to pay more for some goods. But the farmer will not be fooled by this fallacious appeal made to him. The way to insure prosperity for the farmer is to help him obtain the cost of production of his own products, reduce monopoly prices where they exist on the things he buys, and help him secure a larger market for his output. The present bill, calling for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor, will benefit the farmer, because it will increase the purchasing power of his best customers, the workers in the cities, and especially those who need more food and will be enabled to buy it.
Both the monopoly and highly competitive industry can still pay a minimum wage, as fixed under this act, and will not need to charge the farmer a single penny more for their goods. The monopolist, of course, fixes his price according to what the traffic will bear and not according to the cost of labor. The competitive industry can introduce more efficient methods and thereby offset any slight wage increase without raising its prices. No; the solution to the agricultural problem is to give the farmer his cost of production. The farmer has nothing to lose by the city worker's obtaining at least a bare minimum wage.
CONCLUSION
Mr. Speaker, this legislation constitutes a historic beginning in the United States. It is a declaration by Congress, after a lapse of 22 years since the passage of the Child Labor Law of 1916, which was declared unconstitutional, that it can and will abolish child labor in interstate commerce. In the field of wages and hours it is truly a tremendous stride forward as a piece of Federal legislation. This law, by applying to the entire country, so far as interstate commerce is concerned, treats all industries, all areas, all employers alike. It is fair and just to all, while at the same time it reaches out and protects the weakest and most exploited of workers. It brings at least some necessities and comforts into the lives of millions of Americans. From the humanitarian and materialistic standpoint, I am certain this legislation will be accepted almost everywhere by the overwhelming majority of the people. Mr. Speaker, I shall close as I began with the thought that this bill, when enacted into law, will receive constant study in practice, and from our experience we will improve it in succeeding Congresses. Meanwhile and today, the conference report should be supported so that legislation providing for minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition of child labor may be placed on the statute books of the United States.
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York [Mr. FISH].
Mr. FISH. Mr. Speaker, this is probably the most important, the most momentous and far-reaching measure that has reached the stage of final passage in the Congress that we have considered for many years. It strikes an effective blow against sweatshop hours, wages, and conditions that should have been done long ago. It affects the welfare of millions of poor wage earners, mostly unorganized, and who have little voice for themselves. In answer to the gentleman on the Republican side who asked why we did not wait until next year, may I say that we have been waiting far too long to pass minimum-wage standards for those wage earners receiving under $12 a week, which means $600 a year. It seems to me that we should not delay any longer in passing this bill which is fair, just, and humane.
I am not willing to predict how certain features of thie bill will work out, or whether they will be for better or worse, but I can predict, and will predict, that it will be in the interest of those wage earners who receive less than 30 cents
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an hour in the North and in the South, and those are the ones I am primarily interested in.
This bill provides a uniform wage scale of 25 cents for the first year and 30 cents for the second year. I would have preferred a uniform law all the way through to 35 or 40 cents. I would have preferred even to have this bill stop at 30 cents by uniform law rather than provide industry boards to determine the rates between 30 and 40 cents for the next 7 years. In view of the fact it is a compromise and that every single conferee signed the report, although the gentleman from New Jersey has now repudiated his signature, it seems to me the Congress can well afford to pass legislation of this kind providing for a square deal to underpaid labor which has the unanimous report of the conference committee.
For the information of the House I want to read what the Boston Herald, a conservative Republican paper, has to say about this particular bill editorially:
The pending bill has many obvious defects, but it is at least a beginning, it is fair to everybody, and therefore it wlll be received thankfully throughout New England.
The New York Times, which has bitterly opposed wage and hour legislation from the very beginning, has this to say in one of its editorials:
'THE FINAL WAGE-HOUR BILL
The Federal wage-hour b1ll as it emerges from conference is in some respects an improvement over either the Senate or the House measure. It eliminates the Labor Standards Board created under the Senate bill with its broad discretion and sweeping powers. It gets away from the complete rigidity of the wage provisions of the House bill. Instead it sets up a well-considered administrative procedure, based on the precedent of most of the State minimum wage laws, under which an administrator of the Department of Labor appoints and must be guided by the recommendations of "industry committees" consisting of an equal number of representatives of the workers, employers, and of the general public for each industry.
I submit, Mr. Speaker, that the only discretion in this bill is handed over to the industries themselves and to the public and they can only fix wages by their own agreements between 30 and 40 cents an hour. This certainly is not very much of a discretion to give to the industries, and they aie not apt to abuse their own interests and welfare.
The bill contains the good features of the N. R. A., which were the elimination of child labor and the establishment of minimum wages and maximum hours. These were the best features of the N. R. A., and if they had stood alone in the N. R. A., we would still be for it in America. Instead, the N. R. A. put business in a strait jacket, unable to move in any direction because of fear of governmental edicts and bureaucratic rules and regulations.
[Here the gavel fell.]
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may desire to the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. McREYNOLDS],
Mr. McREYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the wage and hour bill which has caused so much dissension since last fall is finally drawing to a close.
You are all well aware of the fact that I have opposed the wage and hour bill heretofore submitted for various reasons stated, but I am glad to know that the conference report on this bill submitted today is more in accordance with the views that I have been advocating. In all my speeches I have stated that I would support a reasonable wage and hour bill and that I was opposed to low wages wherever industry could afford it and without detriment to those employed. I have undertaken to point out that the discrimination in freight rates and the classification of labor in the South, under certain conditions, would be detrimental to us under the wage and hour bill. I have also insisted that if our industries are to pay the same wage as is paid in other parts of the United States for unskilled labor, then the same should be recognized by our Government in the payment of our W. P. A. employees.
You will remember that I offered an amendment to the relief bill when it was before the House, providing that the same base pay should be paid for unskilled laborers all over the United States without discrimination, and pointing out the fact that the base pay in the South was $21 per month and in some portions of the North, under the same conditions, $40 per month.
In the discussion of the wage and hour bill the discrimination of freight rates for the South has been brought to the attention of the general public and I feel that it will probably result in this differential being done away with to a great extent.
The amendment offered by me to the relief bill in the House providing that the same base pay should be paid for unskilled workers by the W. P. A. was voted down. The conferees of the House have provided in their conference report that if minimum rates of pay for persons employed by private employers in any occupation are established by or pursuant to the authority conferred by any Labor Standards Act enacted at the third session of the Seventy-fifth Congress, not less than the minimum rates of pay so established shall be paid to persons in similar occupations in the same locality employed on projects under the appropriation in subsection 1 of section 1 of this title. This means that the wage and hour bill, having become a law during this session of Congress, and if this amendment is agreed to in the House, which I think it will be, then the minimum pay per hour of the W. P. A. workers in the South will be 25 cents per hour the first year and 30 cents per hour the second year, in accordance with the terms placed in the Labor Standards Act, known as the wage and hour bill.
I have just conferred with the W. P. A. authorities and they advise me that as soon as the wage and hour bill becomes a law, they will at once raise the W. P. A. workers to the same rate. As this was started by me in the House as before stated, I feel that I have been able to accomplish something for the workers in the South.
I have also been fighting against the discrimination of freight rates and pointed this out as one reason why the wage and hour bill should not have passed in the form it was in. I am advised by Senator PEPPER, of Florida, that he is going to introduce a resolution calling on the Interstate Commerce Commission to furnish the Senate a complete report on these rates at the next session, with the view of proper legislation.
The present bill being more in harmony with my views than any other bill we have had, and since I especially feel that we have made headway relative to doing away with the discrimination of freight rates in the South, and, further that our southern W. P. A. workers shall be recognized upon the same base-pay footing as those of other sections, and, further, since the bill has been in conference, I have kept in close contact with the conferees to aid in working out the best bill possible and this bill having been unanimously agreed upon by the conferees, it is my purpose to vote for the bill.
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may desire to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. DUNN].
Mr. DUNN. Mr. Speaker, this wage and hour bill, when enacted into law, will undoubtedly do a tremendous amount of good for millions of people in our country. The purpose of this measure is to create employment and wipe out sweatshops, child labor, and other social evils prevailing throughout our land. It is true the bill will not solve the whole unemployment problem but it will give millions of people who are now unemployed a job and will also go far in wiping out sweatshops which can be found in almost every State in the Union.
No Member of Congress should hesitate to support legislation which will benefit poor humanity.
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may desire to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. KELLER].
THE WAGE AND HOUR BILL
Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, after years of struggle to enact a wage and hour bill, a conference committee of the two Houses of Congress has been able to report a national labor-standards bill by unanimous decision of the conferees. It was my responsibility and my great good fortune to be
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one of those who reported this historic measure. Out of the separate bills which had been previously passed by the House and Senate and sent to conference a new bill has been written. It was written around the conference table by seven House Members and seven Senators. From the moment the conferees met a spirit of conciliation pervaded our deliberation. I am able to say to you that fairness was the watch-word of the conference. A genuinely democratic spirit of adjustment characterized everything that was done and said by members in a resolute effort to write a bill that would be practicable, fair, and at the same time constitutional, so much so that this consistent purpose reconciled honest differences of opinion into an agreement on detailed terms and provisions that now express the best judgment of experienced men who represent, in the House and Senate, every section of the Nation and every phase of its industrial life.
This is not a sectional bill; it is national in scope and purpose. That purpose is to establish and maintain better national labor standards--not the standards which we hope labor may eventually and should attain and enjoy-but minimum standards below which labor cannot be compelled to work and live. This measure when enacted into law will outlaw the degrading standards of sweatshops. It will liberate children from the cruel bondage of industrial child labor. It will substantially raise the income of large numbers of men and women whose earnings are now inadequate on a full-time work basis to self-sustaining and self-respecting standards of life. On these foundations both labor and business can begin to build a house of greater security.
The Administrator and the industrial boards which he will appoint for each industry will be democratically representative. Each board will contain an equal number of public, labor, and business members. They are not governed by arbitrary rules of discretion but will proceed to examine into the facts and circumstances of each industry, into the wages and living conditions of its labor, hold hearings at which all interested parties will have an opportunity to appear, testify, and give their opinions. Upon the factual record of these hearings the boards will make findings of fact and recommendations to the Administrator. From this very brief explanation you will observe that the powers granted by the Commission are intended to be exercised by a fact finding process which is not only consistent with, but essential to, the protection and security of business, labor, and what we call the general public. It is the democratic process. It takes the place of the arbitrary and dictatorial fixing of labor standards by private corporate boards. In this sense this measure is truly an expansion of democratic principles extended trom the political life into the business life of the Nation.
Among the provisions for the enforcement of the act an old principle has been adopted and will be applied to new uses. If there shall occur violations of either the wages or hours, the employees can themselves, or by designated agent or representatives, maintain an action in any court to recover the wages due them and in such a case the court shall allow liquidated damages in addition to the wages due equal to such deficient payment and shall also allow a reasonable attorney's fees and assess the court costs against the violator of the law so that employees will not suffer the burden of an expensive lawsuit. The provision has the further virtue of minimizing the cost of enforcement by the Government. It is both a common-sense and economical method of regulation. The bill has other penalties for violations and other judicial remedies, but the provision which I have mentioned puts directly into the hands of the employees who are affected by violation the means and ability to assert and enforce their own rights, thus avoiding the assumption by Government of the sole responsibility to enforce the act.
This bill eliminates the defects and preserves the best features of the National Industrial Recovery Act. In doing so a better procedure is provided, so that no rights may be affected without opportunity to be heard. N. R. A. put down a floor for wages and a ceiling to hous of work. The health and economic security of every class of workers require such standards. Nor will it operate to the prejudices of any business. National standards alone are essential to fair competition. The present unregulated system is productive of competitive advantages and disadvantages. A manufacturer who pays $5 for $5 worth of work in New England, in the South, or in the West, is entitled to protection against his competitor who pays less than $5 for $5 worth of work. The employee who performs $5 worth of work in Pennsylvania, Alabama, or Illinois is entitled to the value of his work. Where in exceptional instances differentials or exceptions appear to be necessary they must be justified by economic facts and not by the emotions generated by an imaginary boundary-line. This is one country; it is one people; it must live under the same standards. This bill is a long step toward these objectives.
The enactment of this law will directly and indirectly help agriculture. An increase in the income of one large group of consumers creates a correspondingly better market for all producers. The two large consuming classes, laborers and farmers, are also the principal producing groups. The income of these groups automatically rise and fall together. When in the depression that began in 1929 wage income dropped more than $6,000,000,000 farm income dropped correspondingly and immediately. Farmers cannot get increased income out of 12,000,000 idle men and women and their families who have no income except front public relief and public works. Farmers cannot get an increased crop income out of the 35;000,000 workers who are employed so long as the employment pays an insufficient amount to purchase a wide variety and an adequate supply of healthful food products. It is only in the security we provide for both these groups that national prosperity can be recovered. When industry fails to meet its responsibilities Government must assume those responsibities. When business management fails to employ our people Government must provide employment to take up the slack until industry meets its obligations. To accomplish this rules and regulations must flow from political action. The principles of the democratic processes must be expanded and extended into business functions until both render the social and economic services that are indispensable to a healthful, social, and economic life.
It was out of these and other considerations which I do not have time to mention that this national labor-standards bill emerged. It will injure no businessman who accepts it in good faith. He will have the assurance that his competitors are subject to the same obligations that the measure imposes upon him. If it is accepted in good faith by both business and labor, it will be the beginning of stabilizing processes out of which business will derive increasing benefits in a more stable market, and the men and women who perform the Nation's work will enjoy a more secure and a happier existence.
This Nation cannot build a stable industry that can adequately support all its people until those who work are given a larger share in the yield or realization from industrial operations. Continued low wage incomes and low farm incomes will continue to undermine the stability of markets for both farm and factory products. It ls only by a wider distribution of our national income that we can expand our markets, increase production, and gradually eliminate unemployment.
In closing let me again repeat what has been during the past many years, and shall continue to be, my slogan until its acceptance and achievement are an accomplished fact; that is, when industry fails to provide universal employment it is the duty and obligation of government to provide the opportunity for "A job for every man and woman who wants to work."
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. WOOD].
Mr. WOOD. Mr. Speaker, I am very glad that we have eventually come to an agreement upon this most important legislation, wage-hour legislation. I am quite sure that both
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the House and the Senate will accept the report of the con- ferees and pass this bill by an almost unanimous vote.
Mr. SNELL. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield for a question?
Mr. WOOD. No; I cannot yield.
I believe this is the best-balanced bill we have ever had before us for consideration since I have been coming to Congress. This bill takes, into consideration the element of competition, brought about by transportation, living conditions, and production costs. The bill not only benefits the several millions of substandard and under-privileged workers of this Nation but is of great benefit to the more privileged workers. It will prove to be boon to manufacture and industry and will tend to prevent a repetition of the dark days of 1932 and 1933, when we were almost consumed by the flames of cut-throat competition during the depression.
I do not know of any piece of legislation whose passage will have a more far-reaching effect than the passage of this measure, not only because of the wage-hour provisions of this bill but because the bill eliminates child labor in industry in interstate commerce.
Another feature of this bill which I believe makes it far superior to any bill we have consdered is that bureaucratic administration of this law is eliminated. The boards or committees that are to be set up under the law, appointed by the administrator, are not permanent.
The membership of the boards will include representatives of the employers and equal representation by the employees and the public. The bill does not set up a bureaucracy. Power and authority is at all times vested in the Administrator to appoint the temporary boards by industries. When the boards have finished their labors, they cease to exist. To my mind, this is a very strong feature of the bill, and I believe it will meet with the approval of a great many Members of the Congress who are opposed to bureaucratic government.
Mr. ANDERSON of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield for a question?
Mr. WOOD. I have only 3 minutes.
Mr. ANDERSON of Missouri. Does not the gentleman believe this is a better bill than when it was recommitted at the last session?
Mr. WOOD. I believe this bill is far superior to any bill we have ever had an opportunity to consider. It is the best balanced bill we have had an opportunity to consider. The bill is not all that I wanted, but it is a fine beginning and is one of the most humane pieces of legislation with which we have ever been privileged to deal.
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may desire to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. MAVERICKJ.
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. HEALEY].
Mr. HEALEY. Mr. Speaker, I am very happy in the realization that this humane legislation has reached the stage of a conference report after its tortuous journey. It has surmounted the many obstacles in its path and is now on the way to final action by the Congress. I wish to compliment the conferees for their splendid work. I know they have labored very long and very earnestly. They have had to deal with some very perplexing and complex problems. In view of the very diverse views that had to be reconciled the conference report represents an outstanding achievement.
The enactment of this bill, and I believe it will be speedily enacted by both Houses of the Congress, culminates half a century of struggle to establish the principles embodied in this legislation. Over 40 years ago the first official recognition of the principle that we should conserve the health and efficiency of human beings was encompassed by the legislative enactment of a State—my own Commonwealth of Massachusetts—soon in many other States legislation was passed providing minimum wages for women and children in industry. The measure now before us recognizes the fact that men, too, have been exploited by sweated industry and should be protected. Through passage of this measure we should once and for all effectually eliminate child labor in industry and should establish a minimum wage which will tend to guarantee to those underpaid and underprivileged workers who are unable to organize for themselves at least an approach to a subsistence wage. This is not alone demanded by the conscience of the American people but is also a great step toward restoring the balance of purchasing power so vital to our industrial economy. The brief time allotted to me does not permit me to enumerate the many benefits that should flow from this legislation. I want to take the few seconds remaining to pay tribute to the gracious and gallant tady who so ably stepped into the breach left by the untimely death of our late loved colleague, Billy Connery. In a few moments, when the vote has been recorded, she will have had the satisfaction of seeing this great cause carried to a triumphant victory-a victory to which she contributed in so generous a measure.
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. RAMSPECKJ.
Mr. SNELL. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield for a question or two?
Mr. RAMSPECK. I should like to make a brief statement first, if the gentleman does not mind.
Mr. SNELL. I do not want to interfere with that, but I have tried to ask questions and have not been permitted to do so. There are one or two matters in this conference report about which I should like to get some information.
Mr. RAMSPECK. I must insist that I make my statement first. The gentleman's side has had half of the time, and the gentleman could have gotten the information then.
Mr. SNELL. No one of whom I wanted to ask questions yielded to me.
Mr. RAMSPECK. I cannot yield to the gentleman now.
Mr. SNELL. If it is the administration policy not to give any information regarding this conference report, I just want to know it, that is all.
Mr. RAMSPECK. Mr. Speaker, I do not yield to the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is not entirely satisfactory, perhaps, to any of us. The Senate passed a bill containing one philosophy and the House passed a bill containing another philosophy. My views in reference to this matter have been more in line with the Senate philosophy, which involved a very flexible plan of dealing with wages and hours and provided a fact-finding process.
In line with that belief I supported, last December, a motion to discharge the Rules Committee and voted against recommittal of that bill which was in line with that policy. When the matter came up in this session of the Congress I did not support the House version of the bill, which was an inflexible, rigid, criminal statute. The conference report which I signed and which I am going to support I think is neither a victory for one philosophy nor for the other. It is not a victory for the North or for the South. It is a fair compromise between people who wanted to get legislation, and therefore I am glad to support it. It has some of the philosophy of the House bill in that in the flrst year there is a rigid wage of 25 cents and thereafter a rigid wage of 30 cents, below which nobody can go.
The hours follow the policy of the House bill. We have injected flexibility into the wage between 30 cents and 40 cents based upon a consideration of economic and competitive factors, which will give business an opportunity to be heard, and therefore I feel that the conferees have done the best that could be done; and I wish to express to my fellow conferees, both of the House and the Senate, my appreciation of the splendid spirit in which they considered this matter and took into consideration the various viewpoints represented in the conference.
I now yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. SNELL. When this bill was before the House there was some discussion about the lumbering industry being exempted, and it was said at that time by someone that it was intended that the lumber industry should be exempted from the provisions of the bill, and that the provision would
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be put in by the Senate. I cannot find it in the pending bill, and I would like to ask the gentleman if he can tell me whether the lumbering industry is exempted or not?
Mr. RAMSPECK. According to my understanding of the bill, the lumber industry is not exempted, although such forestry or lumbering as may be done by a farmer on his own farm is exempted.
Mr. SNELL. But the industry as a whole is not exempt?
Mr. RAMSPECK. It is not; according to my understanding.
Mr. SNELL. That is what I thought from a reading of the bill.
Do I understand there is a definite time when this 40-cent rate shall go into effect?
Mr. RAMSPECK. In 7 years it is directed that all wages shall go to 40 cents, the only exception being that if an industry committee finds by a preponderance of the evidence that to do so would create substantial unemployment, then they do not have to put into effect the 40-cent rate for the particular industry.
Mr. SNELL. Then, of course, that is a loophole for the whole proposition, because it would be very easy for certain industries in certain parts of the country to make out what could be a sufficient case showing that they could not pay 40 cents an hour in the manufacture of the products they were engaged in handling.
Mr. RAMSPECK. If they can show that to require them to pay 40 cents an hour would create substantial unemployment, then the industry—not in some particular area, but the industry as a whole—can have the matter stayed, but they cannot make a classification solely on the basis of regional or geographical location. They must take into consideration the economic factors set out in the bill, such as competitive conditions, and they must not make a classification which gives any group a competitive advantage over any other group.
Mr. SNELL. It specifically mentions living conditions.
Mr. RAMSPECK. Yes; it mentions living conditions as well as other things.
Mr. SNELL. And it is definitely understood that living conditions at the present time in the southern part of the United States are cheaper on account of climatic conditions and other things than they are in the northern part of the United states. With that specific exemption in there, could you not give the same classification as to wages to a man manufacturing lumber in Florida as you would in northern New York?
Mr. RAMSPECK. I will say to the gentleman that would be a question of fact, but I do not assume that living costs in all sections of the South are lower than in the North. I think it is a question of fact. I represent a city in regard to which the statistics show that the living cost is just about the average of the 59 leading cities of the United States, and I do not want any employee in my district paid a lesser wage than any employee in the gentleman's State.
Mr. SNELL. Why did they mention living conditions if they did not mean something by it?
Mr. RAMSPECK. It was just one of the factors to be considered. Does not the gentleman think that it is a factor that should be considered?
Mr. SNELL. I think it should, and I am agreeable to it, but I know there is something back of it and I know that as a whole living conditions in the southern part of the United States, where they do not have to pay out as much money for heat and for clothing and for heavy food as they do in the northern part, must be cheaper, and that is one way that will make differentials in pay in different parts of the country.
Mr. RAMSPECK. But there is a safeguard against the very argument the gentleman is laying down. If the only difference within an industry should be found to be a lower cost of living to the employees of an employer in the South, then to provide lower wages on that account would give an advantage to his employer over an employer in the North, and that is strictly prohibited by this acf, and it ought to be prohibited.
Mr. SNELL. I know, but you take all of those provisions that are set forth in the bill, and there are enough of them to make at least a considerable discrimination in wages for a long time, and there is nothing that I can see that is absolutely definite as to wages or hours.
Mr. RAMSPECK. I do not agree to that.
The gentlemen from Louisiana [Mr. DEROUEN and Mr. MOUTON] have questioned me in regard to the matter appearing on page 5 in section 7 of the conference report where in line 5 of subsection C the processing of sugar beets, sugarbeet molasses, sugarcane, maple sap into sugar or maple sirup is exempted from the provision regarding hours, but from which refined sugar is excepted. They wish to know what the intention the conferees had in regard to this exemption.
It is my understanding that the intention was to exempt those who process these agricultural products into sugar, but not to exempt the operations of refiners when melting imported or purchased raw sugar.
It was my belief last year that some legislation regulating wages and hours would eventually be passed by the Congress, and for that reason I urged those who discussed the matter with me to support the philosophy of the Senate bill which provided every opportunity for the determination of such questions through a fact-finding process.
I have never advocated an arbitrary fixation of wages, nor have I advocated an arbitrary differential between the North and South. In fact, I refused to support a bill handed to me for the administration which would have fixed an arbitrary wage which would have been lower in the South than in the North.
In discussing this matter last December on the floor of the House, I called attention to the fact that the cost of living in Atlanta was approximately the same as the average for the 59 leading cities in the United States, and stated that I did not want the people of my district to be paid lower wages than those of other sections, but I did think and do still believe that the proper method of fixing wages is through a fact-finding process rather than by a rigid statute.
The bill agreed to by the conferees has been very carefully considered, and does furnish a fact-finding process for wages between 30 and 40 cents per hour. If properly administered by a person of reason and common sense, it is my belief that the matter can be satisfactorily handled without doing an injustice to any person or to any section of the country. I am therefore willing to support the bill adopted by the conferees and will cast my vote for the conference report.
The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman from Georgia has expired. All time has expired.
Mrs. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I move the previous question on the adoption of the conference report.
The previous question was ordered.
The SPEAKER. The question is on agreeing to the conference report.
Mr. SNELL. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The question was taken; and there were—yeas 291, nays 89, not voting 48, as follows:
[Roll No. 114]
| Aleshire | Biermann | Buck | Clason |
| Allen, Del. | Bigelow | Buckler, Minn. | Claypool |
| Allen, La. | Binderup | Buckley, N.Y. | Cochran |
| Allen,Pa. | Bland | Bulwinkle | Coffee, Wash. |
| Amlle | Bloom | Burch | Cole, Md. |
| Anderson, Mo. | Boileau | Burdick | Colmer |
| Arnold | Boland, Pa. | Byrne | Connery |
| Barry | Boren | Cannon, Mo. | Cooley |
| Bates, Ky. | Boyer | Cannon, Wis. | Costello |
| Bates, Mass. | Boykin | Carter | Creal |
| Beam | Boylan, N.Y. | Casey, Mass. | Crosby |
| Beiter | Bradley | Celler | Crosser |
| Bell | Brewster | Chandler | Crowe |
| Bernard | Brooks | Citron | Crowther |
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| Cullen | Hancock, N. C. | Mahon, S. C. | Sacks |
| Cummings | Harlan | Mahon, Tex. | Sadowski |
| Daly | Harrington | Maloney | Sanders |
| Delaney | Hart | Martin, Colo. | Satterfield |
| DeMuth | Harter | Martin, Mass. | Suthoff |
| DeRouen | Havenner | Massingale | Schaefer, Ill. |
| Dickstein | Healey | Maverick | Schneider, Wis. |
| Dies | Hennings | May | Schuetz |
| Dingell | Hildebrandt | Mead | Schulte |
| Dirkson | Hill | Meeks | Scott |
| Dixon | Honeyman | Merritt | Secrest |
| Dondero | Houston | Mills | Seger |
| Dorsey | Hull | Mitchell, Ill. | Shanley |
| Dowell | Hunter | Moser, Pa. | Shannon |
| Drew, Pa. | Imhoff | Mosier, Ohio | Sheppard |
| Duncan | Izac | Mouton | Sirovich |
| Dunn | Jenckes, Ind. | Murdock, Ariz. | Smith, Conn. |
| Eberharter | Jenkins, Ohio | Nelson | Smith, Maine |
| Eckert | Johnson, Lyndon | Nichols | Smith, Wash. |
| Edmiston | Johnson, Minn. | Norton | Smith, W. Va. |
| Eicher | Johnson, Okla. | O'Brien, Ill. | Snyder, Pa. |
| Elliott | Johnson, W. Va. | O'Brien, Mich. | Somers, N. Y. |
| Engle | Jones | O'Connell, Mont. | South |
| Englebright | Kee | O'Connell, R. I. | Sparkman |
| Evans | Keller | O'Connor, N. Y. | Spence |
| Faddis | Kelly, Ill. | O'Leary | Starnes |
| Farley | Kelly, N. Y. | O'Malley | Stefan |
| Ferguson | Kennedy, Md. | O'Neill, N. J. | Sullivan |
| Fish | Kennedy, N. Y. | O'Toole | Sumners, Tex. |
| Fitzgerald | Keogh | Palmisano | Sutphin |
| Fitzpatrick | Kirwan | Parsons | Swope |
| Flaherty | Kniffin | Patrick | Teigan |
| Flannagan | Kocialkowski | Patrick | Terry |
| Flannery | Kopplemann | Patterson | Thom |
| Fleger | Kramer | Pearson | Thomas, Tex. |
| Fletcher | Kvale | Peterson, Fla. | Thomason, Tex. |
| Forand | Lanzetta | Pfeifer | Thompson, Ill. |
| Ford, Ca. | Larrabee | Phillips | Tobey |
| Frey, Pa. | Lea | Pierce | Tolan |
| Fries, Ill. | Leavy | Poage | Towey |
| Fulmer | Lesinski | Polk | Transue |
| Gambrill, Md. | Lewis, Colo. | Powers | Treadway |
| Garrett | Lewis, Md. | Quinn | Umstead |
| Gavagan | Long | Rabuat | Vincent, Ky. |
| Gearhart | Lord | Ramsay | Voorhis |
| Gehrmann | Lucas | Ramspeck | Wallgren |
| Gifford | Luckey, Nebr. | Randolph | Walter |
| Gilchrist | Ludlow | Rayburn | Wearin |
| Gildea | Luecke, Mich. | Rees, Kans. | Welch |
| Gingery | McCormack | Reilly | Wene |
| Goldsborough | McFarlane | Richards | Whelchel |
| Gray, Ind. | McGrath | Rigney | Wigglesworth |
| Gray, Pa. | McGroarty | Robinson, Utah | Williams |
| Greenwood | McKeough | Robison, Ky. | Withrow |
| Greever | McLaughlin | Rogers, Mass. | Wolverton |
| Gregory | McReynolds | Rogers, Okla. | Wood |
| Griffith | McSweeney | Romjue | Woodrum |
| Haines | Maas | Roy | Zimmerman |
| Hamilton | Magnuson | Sabath |
NAYS—89
| Allen, Ill. | Ford, Miss. | McClellan | Shafer, Mich. |
| Andersen, Minn. | Fuller | McGehee | Short |
| Arends | Gamble, N. Y. | McLean | Simpson |
| Bacon | Guyer | Mansfield | Smith, Va. |
| Barden | Gwynne | Mapes | Snell |
| Barton | Halleck | Madwon | Taber |
| Brown | Hancock, N. Y. | Michener | Tarver |
| Carson | Hartley | Mott | Taylor, S. C. |
| Case, S. Dak. | Hobbs | Oliver | Taylor, Tenn. |
| Chapman | Holmes | O'Neal, Ky. | Thurston |
| Church | Hope | Owen | Turner |
| Clark, N. C. | Jarrett | Pace | Vinson, Ga. |
| Cluett | Johnson, Luther A. | Patton | Wadsworth |
| Collins | Kerr | Peterson, Ga. | Warren |
| Cooper | Kinzer | Pettengill | West |
| Cox | Kitchens | Plumley | Whittington |
| Cravens | Kleberg | Rankin | Wilcox |
| Crawford | Knutson | Reece, Tenn. | Wolcott |
| Culkin | Lambertson | Reed, Ill. | Wolfenden |
| Doxey | Lambeth | Rich | Woodruff |
| Drewry, Va. | Lamneck | Robertson | |
| Driver | Lanham | Rockefeller | |
| Eaton | Luce | Rutherford |
NOT VOTING—48
| Andrews | Dempsey | Hook | Ryan |
| Ashbrook | Disney | Jacobsen | Scrugham |
| Atkinson | Ditter | Jarman | Smith, Okla. |
| Boehne | Dockweiler | Lemke | Stack |
| Caldwell | Doughton | McAndrews | Steagall |
| Cartwright | Douglas | McGranery | Sweeney |
| Champion | Fernandez | McMillan | Taylor, Colo. |
| Clark, Idaho | Gasque | Mitchell, Tenn. | Thomas, N. J. |
| Coffee, Nebr. | Green | Murdock, Utah | Tinkham |
| Cole, N. Y. | Griswold | O'Connor, Mont. | Weaver |
| Curley | Hendricks | O'Day | White |
| Deen | Hoffman | Reed, N. Y. | White, Ohio |
So the conference report was agreed to.
The Clerk announced the following pairs:
On this vote:
Mrs. O'Day (for) with Mr. Ditter (against).
Mr. Curley (for) With Mr. Douglas (against).
Mr. McAndrews (for) with Mr. White of Ohio (against).
Mr. Griswold (for) with Mr. Reed of New York (against).
Mr. Dempsey (for) with Mr. Cole of New York (against).
Mr. Clark of Idaho (for) with Mr. Hoffman (against).
\Mr. Andrews (for) with Mr. Gasque (against).
Mr. Lemke (for) with Mr. Tinkham (against).
Mr. O'Connor of Montana (for) with Mr. Jarman (against).
General pairs:
Mr. Daughton with Mr. Thomas of New Jersey.
Mr. Scrogham with Mr. Ashbrook.
Mr. Hook with Mr. Cartwright.
Mr. Murdock of Utah with Mr. Champion.
Mr. Boehne with Mr. Fernandez.
Mr. Deen with Mr. Hendricks.
Mr. Sweeney with Mr. McM1llan.
Mr. Weaver with Mr. Ryan.
Mr. Green with Mr. Coffee of Nebraska.
Mr. Mitchell of Tennesse with Mr. Dockweiler.
Mr. Steagall with Mr. White of Idaho.
Mr. Jacobsen with Mr. Smith of Oklahoma.
Mr. Disney with Mr. Atkinson.
Mr. Taylor of Colorado with Mr. Caldwell.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider the vote by which the conference report was agreed to was laid on the table.
Mr. GREENWOOD. My colleague Mr. BOEHNE is unavoidably absent today. If present he would have voted "yea" on agreeing to the conference report on the wage-hour bill.
Mr. McGRANERY. Mr. Speaker, it is with regret that circumstances over which I had no control prevented my being present in the Chamber of the House when consideration was given to the conference report on the wage and hour legislation. I was in attendance in a conference at the Navy Department in connection with a matter vitally affecting the city of Philadelphia.
I do wish to say, however, that I did sign the original petition to discharge the Rules Committee from further consideration of the first wage and hour bill and later voted for the passage of that bill. I also signed the second discharge petition at this session of the Congress and voted for passage of the present wage and hour bill. Had I been present, I would have voted for the adoption of the conference report passed by the House this afternoon, although, in my opinion, this bill does not go far enough to give to the working people of America a high enough standard of a living wage, to which I sincerely believe they are entitled.
I am convinced, however, that the adoption of this conference report will establish a principle for the further relief of the greater mass of American workers.
THE LATE WILLIAM P. CONNERY, JR.
Mr. LUCE. Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. NORTON] has brought to our recollection that it was a year ago tomorrow that our good friend, Representative Connery, went to his reward. It chanced that yesterday I had prepared remarks to appear in the memorial volume, and it occurs to me It may not be inappropriate that they be inserted at this point, in view of his connection with the legislation that has just taken another step toward enactment, and I submit the remarks for that purpose.
The SPEAKER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
There was no objection.
Mr. LUCE. Mr. Speaker, one word can sum up the character of William P. Connery, jr., and that word is "joyous." He lived to make others happier, and therein found his own happiness. Whether in the sober fields of legislation or in the cheerful fields of social intercourse his impulse always was to brighten the lives of others. Of course, this made him hosts of friends, and he deserved their friendship. So we all knew him as Billy Connery, and we called him so in no spirit of flippancy or disrespect but because we loved him and knew no better way to show it.
His years were too few, but they were crowded years, and in them he accomplished more than most men would in 3 score and 10, for he was a man of unbridled nervous energy and he wasted no moments. Who dares measure achievement only by length of days?
As to his part in the World War, he will be remembered most by what he did to cheer up his comrades. He came back
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with intense desire to lessen the sufferings of those of them who survived only to find themselves with broken bodies or shaken minds, racked with pain or helpless from disease. For them he believed the Nation could not do too much. Those who yet live, whether on hospital beds or suffering in their homes, together with the widows and orphans of those who have paid the full price of martial honor, owe him much for his persistent zeal in their behalf.
In the same spirit of sympathy with those of mankind whom fate has not blessed, he had of late concerned himself, particularly with the toiling multitude. In the middle of his labors for the wage earners of the land, his life was cut short. Why he was forbidden to see the fruitage of his labors we cannot understand and we may not question. As best we can, we must content ourselves with gratitude for what he had done to the benefit of his fellows and with thankfulness for the privilege of his friendship.
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Page
9306 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -
HOUSE June 14,
1938 (83 Cong. Rec. 9306,
1938)
FURTHER MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE
The message also announced that the Senate agrees to the report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S. 2475) entitled "An act to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes."
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Page
9345 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -
HOUSE June 14,
1938 (83 Cong. Rec. 9345,
1938)
ENROLLED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS SIGNED
S. 2475. An act to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes;
[PAGE 9345]
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