effect on prices of this country or business due to the war in Europe, long before the United States was a participant in the war. None of the things that had been foretold did happen. I think that it is time that we acted on the basis of the fact and the records rather than on the fears of some people as to what may happen. As to what is happening and will happen if this minimum is not raised, that we don't have to theorize about. Quite a large workshirt firm last week notified its employees that the wages would be reduced beginning next Monday morning. That infection will spread to other plants. I think it is quite possible-I am certain that if this minimum-wage law had been enacted at an earlier date, that that wage cut would not have been made. One final point I want to make with reference to this, and that is that the enactment of a 75-cent minimum wage will not equalize wages between the North and the South or the East and the South. The average wage in the dress-shirt industry, for example, as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, is about 96 cents an hour. The average in the union factories is, of course, above a dollar an hour. In addition to the higher prevailing wage level in the union factories, whether in the North or in the South, there are provisions for insurance so that, if the worker is sick, there is something to help out with the grocery bill while he is sick, hospitalization plans so that the worker is not burdened for years to come with the cost of an operation, a provision for paid holidays and paid vacations. The proposed bill here relates only to a minimum wage, and not to those other benefits which are necessary to workers and which the majority of workers in the men's apparel industry do enjoy. This bill does not require a firm which is paying an average wage less than a plant in California or in Missouri or in Pennsylvania-it does not require them to raise the wages to the level of the firm located somewhere else. It merely provides a floor below which wages may not fall. The essential necessity of such a provision in a highly competitive industry is demonstrated by what did happen during 1931 and 1932 when wages did go so terribly low, as I said before, $2 and $3 a week for 50 or 60 hours of work, so that the pressure to bring them toward 40 cents, if this wage is not very quickly raised, will be something that will be hard to stave off. It will bring labor difficulties, it will bring sorrow and suffering to human beings and to millions of them because in a competitive industry where you have one or two or a dozen of these [indicating clipping], one rotten apple spoils the barrel. The buyer for one large chain store or large mail-order house or large department store runs a special because he was able to get the goods made in this plant. Then every other retailer wants to get a special of the same kind, so the pressure goes on the manufacturer: "Reduce your costs so that you can give me the same bargain that this other retailer got." To preserve industrial peace and preserve the firms themselves as well as the jobs for the workers and to preserve a buying power which will enable the people to buy the goods the factories of this country can make, the enactment of this law is essential now and cannot be long delayed unless this country is to suffer from the effects that some low wage factories have on the whole industry. There are people literally-and I mean this literally-there are people praying that this Congress will act to raise this minimum. Those people know and those prayers are being offered in Mississippi and in Tennessee and in Georgia as well as any place else in this country. I have stood in those halls and listened to the prayers offered by those people because they do remember 1933 and they remember the wage cutting of 1938 before the minimum wage law went into effect. The people of this country have faith in the democratic system. They have faith in a system of free enterprise. For those of us who represent the working people in the shops and who spend our days and time with them, we need to tell them that democracy does work, that their faith is justified, and that this Congress will recognize their needs and that this minimum will be raised at this session and as promptly as possible. It is now an emergency situation, it is not something to be longer debated. Thank you. Senator THOMAS. Thank you very much. Is there someone here representing the International Woodworkers' Union of America? The Textile Workers of America? The Southern Pine Industry Committee, Mr. Higgins. STATEMENT OF JOHN M. HIGGINS, ON BEHALF OF THE SOUTHERN PINE INDUSTRY COMMITTEE Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Chairman, my name is John M. Higgins. I am president of the John M. Higgins Lumber Co., Thorsby, Ala. On June 1, 1937, at the age of 18, I started working for a small lumber manufacturer as a clerk and lumber grader at a salary of $10 per week. In 1939 I became manager of this company and upon its dissolution in 1941, I started my own small lumber manufacturing business which I have operated continuously, except for a period of 40 months during the war when I sold out and entered active naval service. Senator WITHERS. When did you start work? Mr. HIGGINS. June 1, 1937. Senator WITHERS. And in 1939 you became manager? Mr. HIGGINS. Yes. Upon my release to inactive duty, I came home and repurchased my former business and have been operating it this time continuously since December 1, 1945. I am speaking in behalf of the Southern Pine Industry Committee, which represents southern pine lumber manufacturers in 12 producing States from Virginia to Florida to Texas to Oklahoma. At this point I would like to insert in the record two brief letters from other associations which wish to express concurrence with the position of the southern pine industry. Senator THOMAS. They will appear in the record. Mr. HIGGINS. One is from the Associated Industries of Alabama, which represents 600 members in 62 different types of enterprises, and they have 60 percent of their members employing fewer than 100 employees. Therefore, they wish to speak as representatives of small business. I have also a letter from the Southern Lumber Wholesale Association, which is located in Birmingham, Ala., with 175 members, and they act as distributors for approximately 75 percent of the lumber which is produced in the Southern States. They particularly oppose any inflexible rate. (The letters referred to are as follows:) Wage-hour law. Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES OF ALABAMA, Chairman, Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, Birmingham 3, Ala. Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: Rather than unnecessarily burden the record of this hearing, the Associated Industries of Alabama endorses the views of the Southern Pine Industry Committee and has asked Mr. John M. Higgins, representative of one of its members, to read this endorsement to your committee. Associated Industries of Alabama has over 600 members representing 62 different types or classifications of business enterprises operating in Alabama. More than 60 percent of these members employ less than 100 employees, so we speak largely as the representative of small business. Very truly yours, L. B. BEWLEY, Chairman, Legislative Committee. Hon. CLAUDE PEPPER, SOUTHERN WHOLESALE LUMBER ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor and Public Welfare, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR PEPPER: The members of the Southern Wholesale Lumber Association, comprising approximately 175 firms distributing approximately 75 percent of the lumber produced in the South are vitally interested in the welfare of their suppliers, particularly the small manufacturing units that are responsible for the majority of the production of southern lumber. We have therefore asked Mr. John Higgins of Thorsby, Ala., to speak for us during the course of the hearings that your committee is conducting concerning changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Mr. Higgins is well informed on all matters pertaining to the lumber industry; hence, we are sure that he will contribute greatly in bringing before your committee intelligent information which might prove of value in your findings. In addition to what Mr. Higgins might present, we simply desire to express the opinion that any increase in the minimum wage that may be authorized by Congress should not be inflexible, particularly if the current legal rate is substantially increased. With assurance of our esteem, we are SOUTHERN WHOLESALE LUMBER ASSOCIATION, Mr. HIGGINS. Our industry, together with southern hardwood, employs approximately 250,000 people, which includes part-time as well as full-time workers, and there are a large number of part-time people, with a total annual pay roll of $300,000,000. Southern-pine production is the largest of any species of lumber in the United States. It furnishes 50 percent or more of the total lumber supply for home and other light construction. The southern-pine industry is predominantly a small mill industry; its operations numbering approximately 17,000. Less than 500 of the total number have an annual production of more than 5,000,000 board feet. The remainder are small units manufacturing 68 percent of the total annual production. Within the southern-pine industry there are three distinct types of manufacturing operations: (1) The integrated manufacturing plant, which performs all phases of manufacturing from the time the tree is cut until the finished product is dressed and loaded into the freight car for shipment. Some of these integrated units own their own timber stands and engage in tree farming for a sustained or perpetual yield. (2) The concentration yard, such as my own operation, numbering about 1,500, which gets rough green lumber from small mills for further processing, ultimately loading the finished product in the freight car for shipment. (3) The small portable, or so-called peckerwood mills, numbering 15,000 more or less (there were 25,000 in 1946) which cut rough green lumber for sale primarily to concentration yards for further processing. In the testimony presented to the House Labor and Education Committee on February 4, 1949, the effects of the wage-hour law on each of these types of operations were described by a witness actually engaged in each of these phases of lumber production. For the record, we submit a copy of this testimony, including a record of crossexamination, and we respectfully urge each member of this committee to read this transcript carefully, particularly the statistics comparing west-coast and southern lumber production. (Mr. Higgins submitted the following:) SOUTHERN PINE INDUSTRY'S POSITION ON THE WAGE-HOUR LAW (Presented in statements by R. M. Eagle, Carmona, Tex.; Arthur Temple, Jr., Diboll, Tex.; G. C. Rogers, Brunswick, Ga.; J. M. Higgins, Thorsby, Ala., in behalf of the Southern Pine Industry Committee before the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives, February 4, 1949) SOUTHERN PINE INDUSTRY COMMITTEE The Southern Pine Industry Committee was originally established at a mass meeting of southern pine lumber manufacturers held in New Orleans on June 4, 1937, primarily for the purpose of dealing with wage and hour problems. After the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, the committee supplied information to the industry relating to that law, in order to assist southern pine producers to understand and observe its requirements. When the Nation began to prepare for war, the industry organized the Southern Pine Emergency Defense Committee (in 1940), and after the formal entry of this country into conflict, that committee was succeeded by the Southern Pine War Committee. The sole function of the committee was to aid the Government. in every conceivable way in prosecuting the war, and the committee placed its complete facilities at the disposition of appropriate agencies of the Government Shortly after the termination of hostilities, the Southern Pine War Committee was merged with and became known as the Southern Pine Industry Committee. Its purpose now is to serve as the voice of the united industry and to represent the industry wherever necessary. Since its rebirth in January 1946, the committee's activities have pertained principally to relations with the legislative and executive branches of the Federal Government. In the establishment and execution of its policies, the committee solicits the views of the industry through industry-wide meetings and by mail. The present membership of the committee appears on the next page. C. C. Sheppard, chairman H. C. Berckes, secretary R. M. Eagle, vice chairman L. W. Morgan, Morgan Lumber & Manufacturing Co., Selma, Ala. J. W. Wells, J. W. Wells Lumber Co., Montgomery, Ala. W. S. Fox, Fox-Norton Co., Pine Bluff, Ark. Bruce Anthony, Urbana Lumber Co., Urbana, Ark. J. E. Crosby, Putnam Lumber & Export Co., Jacksonville, Fla. E. W. Thompson, Jr., E. W. Thompson Lumber Co., St. Cloud, Fla. M. L. Fleishel, Jr., St. Joe Lumber & Export Co., Port St. Joe, Fla. J. M. McElrath, Jeffreys-McElrath Manufacturing Co., Macon, Ga. Harold King, King Lumber Industries, St. Francisville, La. J. H. L. Myers, Jeffreys-Myers Manufacturing Co., Oxford, N. C. E. O. Lightsey, Lightsey Bros., Miley, S. C. W. B. McNeal, Argent Lumber Co., Hardeeville, S. C. W. I. Dooly, Conasauga River Lumber Co., Conasauga, Tenn. D. M. Rose, D. M. Rose Co., Knoxville, Tenn. J. K. Herndon, Kirby Lumber Corp., Houston, Tex. Lacy Hunt, J. S. Hunt Lumber Co., Nacogdoches, Tex. E. L. Kurth, Jr., Angelina County Lumber Co., Keltys, Tex. R. M. Eagle, Saner-Ragley Lumber Co., Carmona, Tex. J. B. Edens, Edens-Birch Lumber Co., Corrigan, Tex. Garland Gray, Gray Lumber Co., Waverly, Va. V. W. Stewart, Colonial Pine Co., Petersburg, Va. THE EFFECTS OF THE WAGE-HOUR LAW ON THE SOUTHERN PINE LUMBER INDUSTRY (By R. M. Eagle, Carmona, Tex.) The Southern Pine Industry Committee, representing the southern-pine manufacturing industry, which employs a quarter of a million part-time and full-time workers, pays $300,000,000 annually in wages, and supplies approximately 50 percent of the Nation's construction lumber requirements, has presented testimony relative to the Fair Labor Standards Act on prior occasions: On July 7, 1947, Mr. C. C. Sheppard, Louisiana Central Lumber Co., Clarks, La., appeared before the Wage and Hour Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee; on November 12, 1947, Mr. R. M. Eagle, Saner-Ragley Lumber Co., Carmona, Tex., was a witness before the same subcommittee; and on April 27, 1948, Gen. Joseph B. Fraser, Fraser Lumber Co., Hinesville, Ga., testified before the Wage and Hour Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee. The time allotted to witnesses before your committee is necessarily so limited, and the statements of those representatives of this industry were so comprehensive and detailed that, in this condensed presentation, only general conclusions are stated, the supporting facts and arguments for which may be found in the attached exhibits A, B, and C. The southern pine industry believes that- The Fair Labor Standards Act can interfere with individual freedom and can lead to a controlled economy. When distressed economic conditions put pressure upon the wage floor, legislative support of minimum prices and reduced output may become imperative. The act will prove no protection to the wage earner if the employer must close his plant because competition will not permit him to pay the minimum wage. Wage levels are established by the laws of economics and cannot be established by the laws of Congress. |