Time's Industrial Recovery Act survey

Title

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XIII (No. 7) July 1933

Year

1933

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

THE J €H AfiBE RjZcOMMERCf Single Copies: 35 Centavos WALTER ROBB Editor and Manager July, 1933 Governor General Murphy Lunches at Chamber of Commerce The Speakers’ Table: Luncheon to Governor General Frank Murphy Left to right:—’Vice President C. S. Salmon, Rear Admiral C. E. Courtney, Ilis Excellency, Governor General Frank Murphy, President II. M. Cavender, Major General Edwin E. Booth, lT.S.A., commanding the Philippine department, President S. F. Caches of the Ileacock company, Joseph E. Mills, financial adviser to Governor Murphy, and Director P. A. Meyer. Some 120 representative business men, members of the chamber of commerce, participated in the chamber of com merce’s pleasure in having His Excellency, Governor General Frank Murphy at luncheon Wednesday, June 28. Among the other prominent guests were Admiral Courtney and Major General Booth’. Managing the introductions, President Howard M. Cavender introduced President Samuel F. Gaches of the Heacock company to speak on behalf of the chamber of commerce and'the American community in the Philippines. This task Mr. Gaches performed with grace and point. Governor General Frank Murphy’s response, sincere and cordial, was well received and made an excellent impression. Prior to the luncheon every one present had opportunity to meet Governor Murphy. Time's Industrial Recovery Act Survey Out from under the final scrimmage on Capitol Hill last week squeezed a final version of the National Industrial Recovery Act, ready for the President’s signature. A compromise between House and Senate, this titanic measure contained the following features: Control. The 7,000 industries of the U. S. are brought under Government control by in vesting them with a public interest. Control takes the form of executive approval of voluntary trade codes reducing working hours, fixing wages, rationing production, regulating com petition. License. To bring balky industries into line the President can clamp a licensing system down on them. .By canceling a license he may put one concern or a whole industry out of business until it is ready to subscribe to a fair trade code. The licensing period is one year instead of two. Last week many a manufac turer was threatening to shut up shop altogether rather than submit to this gun-at-head provision of the law. Embargo. Because cheap goods from abroad may undermine the U. S. market and defeat domestic recovery, the President is authorized to embargo any and all imports. Anti-Trust Laws. The President is to set aside at will the Sherman and Clayton Acts to permit industrial work & wage codes to operate legally. The Senate attempted to nullify in dustrial control by prohibiting price-fixing. A tacit admission that price-fixing is to form apart of most trade agreements was made when that prohibition was finally knocked out. Labor. No employer may require his men to join a company union to get a job or keep them out of a regular one to hold it. “Open shop” manufacturers loudly lamented this section as giving an undue advantage to or ganized labor. Public Works. To make several million new jobs the President is handed S3,300,000,000 for public works. Part he will spend on Federal buildings, new warships, the Tennessee Valley development, river <fc harbor improvements. The rest he may give, not loan, to states and cities to build roads, sewers,bridges, water-works, docks. There are no strings about self-liqui dating projects and only his own conscience limits the President’s giving power. To provide money the House passed a $3,459,480,903 deficiency appropriation bill—largest in U. S. peacetime history.* Loud were the Re publican yells that this monster appropriation hopelessly unbalanced the budget. So it would have if President Roosevelt had met it out of ordinary treasury receipts. But he is to borrow the 83,300,000,000 from the U. S. public and put it aside in a special emergency budget. Though such borrowing may pile up the Public Debt to an all-time high, the regular budget will be unaffected. Many a financial commen tator considered this a deceptive if not dishon est form of Federal bookkeeping; many another thought it the only sane thing to do. Taxes. To pay the interest on these public works borrowings and amortize them, $227,000,000 per year is to be raised in special taxes to accord with the special budget idea. Mississip pi’s Pat Harrison, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, successfully framed the final revenue section which replaced the House schedule for increased income taxes. Funds will be raised as follows: 1) A 1/10 of 1% tax on the capital value of all corporations, each company being free to fix its own worth. If it underestimates its value to reduce this levy, it will be caught at the other end by a.5% penalty tax on allprofitsover 12-1/2% of its own valuation. Estimated yield: $80,000,000. 2) A 5% tax on all dividends to be paid by the company declaring them. If a stockholder is voted a $1,000 dividend, he will get a check for S950 and the balance will go to the Treasury. As now, such dividends will not be taxed under the normal income rates. Generous companies may pay the tax without cutting dividend checks. Estimated yield: S73,000,000. 3) An increase in the gasoline tax from 1^ to 1-1/2^ per gal. Estimated yield: $62,000,000. 4) Administrative changes to prevent tax payers from carrying security losses over to the next year, partners from deducting partnership losses on securities from their personal returns, private bankers from deducting their short term capital losses. Estimated yield: $15,000,000. President Roosevelt had been given every thing lie asked for in the National Recovery Act. All that remained was for him to make it live up to its name.

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