Statement on Resolutions of the Business Advisory Council of the Department of Commerce.

The Business Advisory Council today reaffirmed the resolution passed by it on March 13, 1935, recommending the continuance of N.I.R.A. with the necessary changes outlined in that resolution, as an emergency measure, for a further trial period of two years.

The Business Advisory Council believes that any briefer extension with changes less adequate than those outlined in the resolution will lead to a period of non-compliance, uncertainty and confusion.

The resolution follows:

The National Industrial Recovery Act has not been in effect long enough to demonstrate whether or not it will be effective for its purposes. Its accomplishments in connection with child labor, maximum hours, minimum wages and collective bargaining are noteworthy. We believe that further progress will best be brought about by its continuance for a further period of two years, rather than the enactment of different and alternate legislation.

It is recommended, therefore, that Federal legislation on these subjects during the present session of Congress should be limited to the extension of the present Act along lines suggested in the resolution approved by this Council on January 17, 1935, copy of which is attached, for a further trial period of two years. Such legislation as the Black 30-hour Bill (S. 87), the Wagner Labor Disputes Bill (S. 1958), and the Connery Equal Representation Bill (H.R. 4884) should not be enacted.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ACT

We recommend that the Act be continued as an emergency measure for a further trial period of two years with the following modifications:

NEGOTIATION OF CODES

It should be made clear that the approval of a Code of Fair Competition must be on the basis of a mutual agreement between the industry and the President, the primary responsibility for formulating and presenting a code to rest with the industry. The President should have the power to withhold such a code unless he is satisfied that its provisions are in the public interest. On the other hand, he should have no power to impose fair trade practice provisions against the wishes of an industry, with the exception of those of Section 7.

Industry should have the right, by petition of a trade association or group truly representative, to withdraw from any code provisions which it may have voluntarily accepted. Provision should be made to permit codified industries to continue under agreements and codes approved under N.I.R.A. if the industry so desires.

The President should have the right to cancel outright an entire code where it appears that provisions of such code are working to the detriment of the public interest, but he should have no authority to modify existing codes without the consent of the industry.

Section 3(d) of the present Act, which empowers the President to impose a code, should be modified as follows:

GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE LABOR PROVISIONS

All codes should contain provisions against child labor and should provide for minimum wages and maximum hours, either to be negotiated under Section 7(b) or imposed by the President under Section 7(c). Under the authority of Section 7 the President should impose codes only if he finds that conditions in a particular industry make such imposition desirable in the public interest. In the formulation of such imposed codes, the setting of wages and hour provisions should be for the protection of labor and industry against unsocial practices.

PENALTIES

The Act should be written as involving civil rather than criminal liabilities.

Violations of code provisions should preferably receive injunctive relief only. Criminal proceedings should be confined only to those offenders who knowingly falsify statistical data or statements with intent to mislead the Government.

The Members of the Business Advisory Council are:

Winthrop W. Aldrich, New York City James F. Bell, Minneapolis, Minn.

Charles A. Cannon, Kannapolis, N.C. David R. Coker, Hartsville, S.C.

Karl T. Compton, Cambridge, Mass. F. B. Davis, Jr., New York City

Henry S. Dennison, Framingham, Mass. R. R. Deupree, Cincinnati, Ohio

Ernest G. Draper, New York City Gano Dunn, New York City

John H. Fahey, Worcester, Mass. Lincoln Filene, Boston, Mass.

T. Austin Finch, Thomasville, N. C. Ralph E. Flanders, Springfield, VT

James D. Francis, Huntington, W. Va. Walter S. Gifford, New York City

A. P. Greensfelder, St. Louis, Mo. Lew Hahn, New York City

Henry I. Harriman, Washington, D.C. W. A. Harriman, New York City

Henry H. Heimann, Niles, Mich. Howard Heinz, Pittsburgh, Pa.

William A. Julian, Cincinnati, Ohio H. P. Kendall, Boston, Mass.

Fred I. Kent, New York City de Lancey Kountze, New York City

Morris E. Leeds, Philadelphia, Pa. C. K. Leith, Madison, Wis.

Robert L. Lund, St. Louis, Mo. Thomas H. McInnerney, New York City

George H. Mead, Dayton, Ohio James H. Rand, Jr., New York City

Edward L. Ryerson, Jr., Chicago, Ill. Harold C. Smith, Chicago, Ill.

E. T. Stannard, New York City Robert Douglas Stuart, Chicago, Ill.

Gerard Swope, New York City Myron C. Taylor, New York City

Walter C. Teagle, New York City Edmond C. Van Diest, Colorado Springs, Colo.

W. J. Vereen, Moultrie, Ga. Thomas J. Watson, New York City

Sidney J. Weinberg, New York City R. E. Wood, Chicago, Ill.

William E. Woodward, New York City