The Leicester Knitting Co., Rochdale, Mass., manufacture fullfashioned hosiery. The prevailing wages are from $8 to $10 per week, and the working hours from 54 to 80 hours per week.

William Wright & Sons, West Warren, Mass., manufacture bias tape. They are paying their workers as low as $10 per week.

The Warren Fabrics Co., West Warren, Mass., are manufacturers or knitters of outerwear. They are paying their workers as low as $10 a week.

The Fitchburg Yarn Co., Fitchburg, Mass., manufacture cotton yarn. Their wages are as low as $7 and $8 per week.

The President Suspender Co., Shirley, Mass., manufacture elastic webbing. Their wages are down as low as $8 per week.

The Samson Cordage Co., Shirley, Mass., manufacture cordage. Their prevailing wages are from $8 to $9 and their working hours from 40 to 48.

The Warren Woolen Co., Warren, Mass., are manufacturers of woolens. The workers are forced to work over the 40-hour period weekly. No extra compensation is paid for the extra work. The workers are threatened with the loss of their jobs if they do not work overtime at the request of the company.

The Coe Woolen Co., Worcester, Mass., manufacture woolens. The machine load was increased and the workers forced to work more than 40 hours.

The Uxbridge Worsted Co., as well as the American Woolen Co., is installing the Bedaux system, or a similar plan, as fast as they can. By paying small bonuses and putting a premium on every last ounce of energy the work has to draw on, they succeed in getting some workers not only to double but triple their ordinary speed of work, resulting not only in throwing people on the street and burning out those who remain at work, but also in demoralization of the industry. The Newmarket Manufacturing Co., Lowell, Mass., manufacture rayon. The weavers' work load has been increased from 8 to 15 looms, without any increase in wages. The loom-fixers' work load has been increased on a certain loom 20 percent. On what is known as the high-speed loom it has been increased 9 percent. This company has applied the stretchout system all through its mill since the termination of the N. R. A.

The United Elastic Webbing Co., Lowell, Mass., manufacture elastic webbing. They have increased the machine load on rubber covering from one to two machines, an increase of 100 percent, without any increase in the wages of the workers that remain on the job.

The Beaver Brook Mill, Dracut, Mass., which is a branch of the American Woolen Co., manufacture woolens. This company is discontinuing mule spinning and putting in frames instead. The mules were operated by men receiving approximately $30 a week for 40 hours. The frames are operated by women who receive the sum of $14. In the weaving department, this company has installed highspeed looms, and in addition to this increased the work load per weaver from four to six, and, in some cases, eight looms.

The United States Bunting Co., Lowell, Mass., is one of the chain of Stevens mills. They manufacture woolens. They have installed. the high-speed warp dressing machines whereby one dresser and the girl attending on the back of the machine automatically take the place of four dressers. While this is not an unlawful act on the part

of this company, if this condition is allowed to continue, there will not be anybody working in the mill after a while outside of the fellow that turns the switch on and off to start the mill. But the questio is: Who is going to buy this cloth when everybody is out of work? When everybody's purchasing power is shut off, what is going to happen in the United States?

The Merrimac Woolen Co., Dracut, Mass., manufactures woolens. They reduced the wages of the spoolers 25 percent.

The Suffolk Knitting Co., Lowell, Mass., are manufacturers of knitted goods. Their minimum wage is down as low as $9 per week. When the code of fair competition went out of existence because the N. R. A. had been declared unconstitutional, the officials of this company said this was a mighty good thing for the employer and proceeded to slash the wages of the workers.

The Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co., Salem, Mass., manufacture cotton goods, sheets and pillow cases. They have reduced wages ranging from 11 to 18 percent.

I will now refer to the State of Maine.

The Lockwood Manufacturing Co., Waterville, Maine, manufacture cotton goods, sheets and pillow cases. This company reduced. the wages in all departments of the mill. They have also increased the machine load and increased the working hours to 54.

The Old Town Woolen Co., with mills in Guilford and Old Town, Maine, manufacture woolens. They have reduced the wages below the minimum of $14 and are operating many of their departments on the basis of 54 hours.

The Daniel Cummings Co., Newport, Maine, are manufacturers of woolens. It is working some of the workers 60, 70, and we have known some of the workers to work as long as 100 hours in a week, since the N. R. A. has been declared unconstitutional. Even with those long hours, wages are below the minimum in many cases.

The Winthrop Woolen Co., Winthrop, Maine, manufacture automobile cloth and woolen shirting. They operate 54 hours in many departments.

The Wilton Woolen Co., Wilton, Maine, manufacture automobile cloth and woolen clothing. They operate the finishing department on 54 hours.

The Lancey-Millikan Co., Pittsfield, Maine, are manufacturers of woolens, and they are operating over 40 hours. Reports show they work 54 hours.

The Amos Abbott Co., Dexter, Maine, manufacture woolen goods. They are operating 54-hour shifts in most departments.

The Dumbarton Woolen Co., Dexter, Maine, manufacture woolen goods. They are operating 54-hour shifts in many departments.

The Bates Manufacturing Co., Lewiston, Maine, manufacture cotton and rayon cloth and bedspreads. They are operating many departments on the 54-hour basis. Stretch-out is practiced from the picker room to the finishing room. Wages have been reduced to the form of a so-called adjustment.

The Hills Manufacturing Co., Lewiston, Maine, manufacture cotton goods. They are operating 54-hour shifts in many departments. Wages have been reduced in the form of a so-called adjustment. Where wages have not been reduced the workers have been given a larger work load to carry.

The Androscoggin Manufacturing Co., Lewiston, Maine, manufacture cotton and rayon. They operate some departments on a 54-hour shift. Wage reductions have been put into effect, or, where the wages of the workers have not been reduced, the work load has been increased.

The Libby Manufacturing Co., Lewiston, Maine, manufacture blankets. They are operating 54-hour shifts in some of the departments, principally the finishing.

The Cowan Manufacturing Co., Lewiston, Maine, are manufacturers of woolens, and they are operating certain departments, principally finishing, 54 hours.

In the State of New Hampshire there are the following:

The Elm Mills corporation, Tilton, N. H., controlled by the Goldstein interests, manufacture cheap woolens. This mill is paying workers as low as $8 per week for 40 hours.

The Cocheco Mill, East Rochester, N. H., manufactures woolens. This company reduced wages of their workers to the extent of 20 percent, with the result that the workers went out on strike, and the strike has been in existence since. This mill is controlled by the Rindge interests. Fulton Rindge is the treasurer, and they are well known in New England for their ability to exploit their workers. The Gonic Mill, Gonic, N. H., manufactures woolens.

This mill is also controlled by the same interests that control the Cocheco Mill. The stretch-out system is very prevalent, especially in the weaving department of their mill, where the work load of the weavers has been increased from four to six looms.

The Troy Blanket Mills, Troy, N. H., manufactures woolen blankets.

The New Hampshire Valley Mill, Marlboro, N. H., are manufacturers of woolen goods.

The L. M. Packard Mills, Ashland, N. H., manufacture woolen goods.

Mr. KELLER. I am going to suggest that when you make these statements as to the percentage of wage reductions and increases of load that you show what the real effect is of the wage reduction. For instance, if you double the amount of work you cut the wages in two.

Mr. RIVIERE. Not only where you double the amount of work do you cut the wages in two, Mr. Chairman, but you do it otherwise.

Mr. WOOD. I think all of that should go into the record, Mr. Chairman. And I hope the gentleman will compile a brief of all of this information in all of those States where they have increased the load and decreased the wages.

Mr. RIVIERE. Where they double the load and in addition reduce the wages it does not mean only that the wage of one person has been reduced; it means that, in addition, one fellow is walking the street who formerly worked there. That is exactly what it means.

Of course, it may be contended by some that wages have not been reduced. But I have here a letter that was sent out to the manufacturers by Mr. Van Horn, and this letter admits many things, and among them he admits wage reductions in the silk industry. This has been given to me by a kind employer who received the letter. He says that he does not agree with wage reductions and if this can be

of any use to us, he left it to me whether or not we could use the letter.

This letter was sent out on October 21, 1935, this is what it says, in part:

"Confidential-Not for publication.

"National Textile Act.

"The former code authority, with its original chairman and vice chairman, met on Tuesday, October 8, to give careful consideration to this proposed legislation, after the act had been thoroughly analyzed by members of the staff.

"It was decided that the act contained so many radical labor provisions that no support of any kind could be given to it.

"Apparently, it was the consensus of opinion of the members of the committee who attended this meeting that some legislation is necessary fixing minimum wages, maximum hours and permitting at least a measure of production control, provided such legislation be constitutional and could be rigidly enforced. A resolution was passed requesting the staff to prepare a bill incorporating these features."

Then a little further it goes on discussing another subject. "Comparing August 1934 with August 1935, the following interesting statistics were computed on the basis of a large number of reporting mills:

The decline in wage rates, employment and number of looms operated, concurrent with the increase in the volume of product on, operation of third shift and longer hours, would appear to indicate somewhat lower production cost. There are two principal causes for the present deplorable low prices:

1. Overproduction-principally caused by three shift operations (over 10 percent of the looms which operated under the silk code and 20 percent of the looms which operated under the cotton code). This actual and potential condition of overproduction has demoralized market prices and will continue to do so.

2. Labor chiseling carried on in part by the converter-commission weaver manufacturing and selling groups, which undermine even the depressed prices resulting from overproduction indicated in no. 1 above.

The fact of the matter is that we will be told by many groups of employers that this bill must not be enacted into law. They are going to do what they have done in the past, when they went to the State legislatures and said: "We have no opposition to your bill. Fundamentally we think it is absolutely all right", just as Mr. Nickerson said the other day, "We believe that some form of legislation should be enacted and that this should be done by the States, that the States rights are concerned in this matter and that the passage of any such law by the Federal Government we believe is unconstitutional."

I am not going to discuss the constitutionality of this bill. I am not a lawyer. But I think that in the many years that I have lived I have learned something about common sense; and I think I have also learned something about the activities of our employers in New England. Many speeches are made over the radio from time to time on the question of child labor. When we want the enactment of a law by the respective States that will safeguard the interests of labor, they refer us to the Federal Government and say, that if we ever presented any legislation to the Federal Government where it would affect all of the employers alike that they would be quite willing to go down the line with us. I have heard that said before the legislature of the State of Massachusetts, I have heard it said before the legislature of the State of Connecticut, I have heard it said before the legislature of the State of New Hampshire, and I have heard it said before the legislature of the State of Maine. And it is the same group that refers us to the Federal Government that is here today.

And they have as much right to be here as we have. And, in a sense, I am glad that they are here, because they have the opportunity to know first-hand at least what I think about it.

They do not want any legislation of any kind. They are not interested in safeguarding the States' rights. The question of States' rights with them is a question of low wages, long hours, and the continuation of their past opportunity to continue to exploit their workers, as they have done in the past, up North, as well as in the East. They will say, as they have said in the past, "This fellow is a bad man to come up here and say that about us." And then they have the audacity to deny these matters.

On the matter of the constitutionality, Mr. Chairman, yesterday you asked if such a law were passed and the Supreme Court throws it out, then what?

I said I am not a lawyer. But I have read the Constitution. I see where the Supreme Court has the right to interpret the Constitution; but I cannot see where they have the power to nullify an act of the Congress of the United States, although learned lawyers come here and tell us about that. But behind all that, Mr. Chairman, what is there? There is the very thing I have referred to. It is all a question of their continuing to run their mills as they see fit. The American Woolen Co., for example, which company has mills in New England, are putting in the Bedeaux system. That is a bonus system. You might as well put a worker on a strap and keep it going. And he will keep going at that rate until he is 40 years of age or thereabouts, and then out he

goes.

These people want to be permitted to continue with this system. That gigantic corporation all over New England has been reducing wages, they have increased the work load and speeded up the workers, and they have created an unemployment situation in New England that is greater than it would have been if they had not insisted upon putting into effect the stretch-out. That has continually been put into effect in their mills.

What is true of them is also true of the Uxbridge chain of mills. And before your committee is through, Mr. Chairman, you will be told that the bill is unconstitutional and we must not do anything to interfere with the States rights. But so far as I am concerned as an American, if the protection of the States rights means the ex