EXHIBIT 73

DATA PREPARED BY FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The data contained in the attached tables were taken from the annual reports filed by the telephone carriers with the FCC for the year ended December 31, 1944, which annual reports are public documents and are open to inspection. The telephone carriers covered are those outside the Bell System proper, classified as A and B filing the Form M annual report and having average annual gross operating revenues exceeding $50,000.

The carriers do not report the number of telephones to each exchange, but merely the number of exchanges and the number of telephones, and while the average number of telephones per exchange may be less than 500 in a few instances. it is assumed that the carrier may have at least one exchange with 500 or more telephones. In the computations, the midpoint of the hourly rate intervals wa used and time worked was considered on the basis of 40 hours a week, 52 weeks year.

There are 48 carriers included in the tables, divided into two main groups (1) Those having no affiliation with the Bell System, and (2) those having mino affiliation with the Bell System. The first group is further subdivided to show (a) the carriers other than the general telephone corporation group and (b) the carriers of the general telephone corporation group.

Analysis of the proposition of raising all employees below 65 cents an hour to 65 cents and all below 75 to 75 cents, of 48 independent telephone carriers having 500 or more telephones per exchange

[Prepared by Federal Communications Commission-Dec. 1, 1945]

Analysis of the proposition of raising all employees below 65 cents an hour to 65 cents and all below 75 to 75 cents of 28 independent telephone carriers not affiliated with the Bell System having 500 or more telephones per exchange.

Showing for 1946 the estimated effect on reduction in Federal taxes on income and wage increases on net operating income and the ratio of net operating income to net telephone plant in service, assuming 1944 data as base.

(Prepared by Federal Communications Commission December 1, 1945.)

Ratio of net operating income to net telephone plant in service:

Before Federal taxes on income.

After Federal taxes on income.

Frequency distribution of employees, excluding officials and managerial assistants. by hourly wage intervals, of 48 independent telephone carriers having 500 or mo telephones per exchange reporting to the Federal Communications Commission all end of October 1944

STATEMENT OF SENATOR FRANCIS J. MYERS, DEMOCRAT OF PENNSYLVANIA, BEFORE THE SENATE EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE REGARDING S. 1349, THE MINIMUM WAGE BILL

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I should like to urge that the bill before this committee, S. 1349, be given favorable consideration and that it be reported out of committee in its present form as soon as possible. By increas ing the present minimum wage rate to 65 cents and by extending coverage to maritime and agricultural processing workers who are not now effected by miti mum wage legislation, this bill goes a long way toward the recognition of the doctrine set forth in 1906 by the recently deceased Msgr. John A. Ryan. In book The Living Wage, Monsignor Ryan states: "The laborer's right to a living wage is as valid as his right to life; the difference is merely in degree of impor tance. The state is morally bound to compel employers to pay a living wage whenever and wherever it can, with a moderate degree of success, put into effect the appropriate legislation."

The enactment of S. 1349 is a step that is long overdue; furthermore failure to enact this bill will seriously effect the smooth operation of our economy.

Since 1938 when the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect the cost of living increased approximately one-third, causing the present statutory rate of 40 cents per hour (which even in 1938, according to budget estimates, failed to provide adequate subsistence) to trail far behind the living wage rate and the wage rate now being paid the majority of the workers. In the words of President Truman, the Fair Labor Standard Act, in its present form, has become "obsolete." The proposed 65 cents minimum which would be put into effect under this legisla tion and the 75 cent rate which would become effective two years hence would yield, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics an estimated $1,300 and $1,500 per year, respectively, provided continuous and regular employment were available to the workers. This is barely the minimum cost of an adequate family budget at the present time. Furthermore it is the rate that is now in effect among 80 percent of all factory workers.

In the State of Pennsylvania, where most of the major industries are already paying high wages, particularly the basic steel industry and nearly all branches of the metal-working industries, there are still a number of industries such as textile and apparel, tobacco, fertilizer, stone and clay products, and leather products where the workers receive less than 65 cents. The Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union of America has estimated that 11,250 cigar workers in Pennsylvania receive less than 65 cents per hour and a considerable number of

While

the 5,000 cannery workers in the State are paid under the 65-cent rate. no exact figures are available on the rates paid textile and lumber workers, it has been generally revealed that large numbers of the approximately 180,000 Pennsylvania textile workers and a considerable number of workers in the manufacture of pulpwood products receive less than 65 cents. The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America estimate that of their 150,000 members about 10 percent are paid below the 65-cent minimum. Of those plants that are not unionized the percentage is as high as 30 percent. It should also be noted that women workers in, this industry bear the brunt of the low wage rates.

I should like at this time to read you a portion of a letter from Mr. Batz, presilent of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Branch No. 10, who in his own words tells what this legislation will mean to the hosiery workers:

"DEAR SIR: On behalf of the thousands of hosiery workers who are members of Branch No. 10, American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Reading, Pa., I am calling your attention to the Pepper minimum-wage bill, H. R. 3914 and S. 1349, which will provide an immediate minimum wage of 65 cents per hour, and increase minimum wages to 70 cents per hour during the second year and 75 cents per hour Following the second year.

"We hear much talk about full employment. However, full employment at substandard wages can only become a disguise for human exploitation. A nation whose workers are paid so little that they cannot purchase the goods and services they produce can never be a fully employed nation. Workers must be able to earn enough money to maintain their health and welfare in order to live a truly democratic life in this great democracy of ours.

"Let us hope that victory has not been in vain, by forgetting our own people who have done so much to preserve a real honest-to-goodness democratic nation. I trust you can realize how important this 65-cent minimum wage is to our people and what it means not only to them, but to the whole Nation.

"Sincerely yours,

"JAMES W. BATZ."

The benefits of a living wage are confined not merely to the substandard worker. Its advantages extend to every class of worker and every type of employer. Increased wages among the lowest paid workers means an immediate expenditure for goods and services and this will tend to support a high level of production and full employment. Furthermore low wage rates tend to depress high wage rates in the same area and in neighboring areas.

The protests from employers who claim they will have to go out of business should 65 cents become the minimum wage rate do not seem to have much justifieation. Most employees of major manufacturing industry groups already receive 65 cents per hour. Only 330,000 employees in manufacturing industries receive less than 50 cents. Even among those industries that pay a substantial proportion of their workers less than 65 cents an hour many of the workers received almost as much as 65 cents. Thus, the increase in pay rolls that would be required to raise all these workers to the 65-cent minimum would be relatively small. In only three industry groups would pay rolls be increased by more than 5 percent: Tobacco, 11 percent; basic lumber and timber products, 9 percent; and textiles, 6 percent. Wage payments in these three industries typically constitute only about one-quarter of the value of the product and considerably less than this-about 6 percent-in the tobacco industry.

When the 40-cent minimum was proposed, examples were cited of establishments that would have to go out of business resulting in serious unemployment. Actually there does not appear to have been any serious result of this kind.

There are inefficient producers in practically all industries, and firms are constantly failing with or without a minimum wage. It is not surprising that some of these firms blame their failure on the minimum wage, other “Government interference." But it will usually be found that competitors of these firms in the same communities continue to operate and make money apparently uneffected by the minimum wage. The truth of the matter is, that some producers are so inefficient that they cannot stay in business without being subsidized from the wages of their own workers. The minimum wage is particularly designed to put an end to such practices.

It will be found that most employers will pay the minimum wage because it protects them from unfair competititon. Mr. Baer, manufacturer of Silk and Rayon Throwsters, supports the 65-cent minimum for this reason. In a letter

to me he writes:

"The Baer Co. has been in the business for 50 years and we consider that minimum wages are absolutely an essential thing if utter chaos is to be averted. We have seen the times when through competition we have been forced to bring wages to an absolutely ridiculous figure and we feel that if we, as well as our competitors, have an irreducible minimum it will endow to the advantage of not only our labor and ourselves but also to the industry as a whole. We likewie believe that the small added expense that would have to be made and the priz of the finished product would be that small that it would not harm the sales of the products representing these minimum wage structures. We have seen a lot of economic experiments in America-some have been good and some have been bad. However, this is to be expected. We feel that adequate wages and je minimum hours are things that should remain and stay with the textile industry. 66 "Bear in mind that textile in America create a large employment pool and our people can be given fair wages it must follow the collective purchasing power, This would be a very sizable sum. We therefore ask you to use your good influence in seeing that this textile field receives and gets a fair minimum was and that same shall be retained regardless of peacetime conditions. The opposite of any other action but this means a chaotic labor market with wages of 15 to 2 cents per hour. It will likewise mean labor disturbances, uncalled for mic: action, etc. The writer has gone to business school and knows there is something like the law of supply and demand. But at the same time can see no reason why this law can't operate at a fair livable minimum wage as well as an unfair, unlivable, unjustifiable starvation condition. We, likewise, feel that if all our competitors are made to pay the same irreducible minimum it would put none of us in an unfair competitive position."

It should not be overlooked that the minimum wage stimulates improved organization and the introduction of efficient equipment and methods. Ofter the savings resulting from these improvements more than offset the cost of the higher wage. In a study of the seamless hosiery industry, after the enactment of the FLSA in 1938, it appeared that about 10 percent of the establishments in the industry were faced with serious operating difficulties. On the other hand there were instances where an adaptation of the machinery permitted so grea an increase in the productivity of labor that labor costs were lower after the 25-cent minimum wage became effective than they had been before.

I am confident that just as occurred with the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, enactment of the 65-cent minimum hourly wage, and increasing this minimum to 75 cents in 2 years (which sum is barely adequate to provide minimum subsistence) will greatly benefit industry and labor. Furthermore these benefits will far outweigh any resulting hardship to individually isolated plants.

EXHIBIT 75

[From Survey of Current Business, October 1944]

RETAIL SALES AND CONSUMER INCOMES

By Louis J. Paradiso, Chief, Business Statistics Unit, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce

Although retailers as a group have experienced record sales throughout the war period, the uneven flow of civilian goods resulted in significant distortions and shifts in the volume of sales by various lines of trade. As a consequence. most retailers increased their sales with favorable profit returns; some that felt the full impact of shortages in particular lines were less favorably sitnated. All are now concerned about the prospect, once the flow of income turns downward as it will with the collapse of Germany.

The end of the European phase of the war will be the signal for the resumption of the production of numerous civilian goods whose supply has been greatly curtailed since Pearl Harbor. It is certain that not all types of these goods will come on the market at the same time. Increased supplies of some items will be available almost immediately-those requiring no conversion of facilities, such as gasoline and clothing. Many other products, however, such as passenger automobiles, will require months before the first units are produced, and a high volume of output will take a considerably longer period. During readjust