Senator TUNNELL. Now, is there any difference between the large manufacturer of ice and the small one? That is, is there any difference in the cost of production? Mr. JOBE. The larger the company operating in the larger citiestheir costs are greater than in the small company operating in the smaller towns. Senator TUNNELL. And manufacturing on a wholesale basis does not lower the cost of production? Mr. JOBE. No, sir. Senator TUNNELL. Do they manufacture it pretty largely in cans? Mr. JOBE. Yes, sir, that is the predominantly accepted method today of manufacturing ice. Senator TUNNELL. Yes. Now, there are some chemicals necessary, are there not? Mr. JOBE. Well, you use salt for the brine, but the ice itself is crystal clear and chemically pure. There is no chemical in the ice. Senator TUNNELL. Do you use ammonia. Mr. JOBE. The ammonia is the refrigerant. Senator TUNNELL. That is the refrigerant; yes. Is that a great item of expense? Mr. JOBE. Well, it is a cost item. Senator TUNNELL. It is a cost item. Mr. JOBE. I am not in a position to tell you exactly what percentage it is. Senator ELLENDER. You can use it over and over? Mr. JOBE. It is used continuously and it has to be replenished every so often, but not too frequently. Senator SMITH. Did you say in your testimony what the percentage of labor cost is? Mr. JOBE. Forty-two. Senator TUNNELL. What was your question? What percentage of what? Senator SMITH. What percentage of the total cost was the labor item. I did not get in here in time to hear the first part of his testimony. Mr. JOBE. Forty-two percent. Senator ELLENDER. Do you know how many people would be affected by this bill? Mr. JOBE. I stated in my testimony that there were approximately 2,200 separate plants, or establishments. Senator ELLENDER. Well, how many people would that represent? Mr. JOBE. The total industry employs approximately 250,000 people. Senator ELLENDER. Now, as to those factories that sell interstate, is it not true that they must also pay the wages provided under this bill, if they sell locally and deliver locally? Mr. JOBE. Only the ice-the difficulty, Senator, comes in keeping them separate. The act says that any man having to do with the production, handling, or accounting of goods made for commerce is covered by the act. The difficulty in our industry is to separate our employees as to those devoting their entire attention to interstate business as compared to those doing intrastate business and interchangeably where they are doing both. A man may work half a day doing car icing and spend the afternoon delivering domestic ice. Senator ELLENDER. But the whole thing is put under it, is it? Mr. JOBE. That is correct. Senator ELLENDER. The point I had in mind is: Suppose you had two factories, two plants in a town of, say, 10,000, and one is engaged in interstate, and the other one in intrastate business. Mr. JOBE. Yes. Senator ELLENDER. As I understand the law, the factory that is engaged in interstate business must not only pay the fixed wage for the ice shipped out of the State, but also for the ice that is delivered from house to house within that area, within the town. Mr. JOBE. No; if he can separate it. The only ice that is covered is the ice that goes into interstate commerce. Senator ELLENDER. Well that should not be very difficult to separate should it? Mr. JOBE. Yes; it is. A man works 2 hours in the morning icing a car and he might spend the next couple of hours delivering domestic ice locally and go back in the afternoon and ice another car that they just got notice, 15 minutes in advance, was coming in. Senator ELLENDER. Well, what about the percentage of ice that is sold in interstate? Mr. JOBE. Well, we estimate that on an average it varies from a fraction of 1 percent. A company may ice only a dozen cars in the whole year, railroad cars I am talking about, just a fraction of 1 percent of their total business, whereas another company might be devoted exclusively to cars. Then, you have the plants all between. The general average, as we estimate it, would be around 7 or 8 percent of the total industry. Senator ELLENDER. Well, I am a little confused. That is why I am asking these questions. Is it your interpretation of the bill that although a factory sells both interstate and intrastate, that it is under the act only as to the part of the ice that is sold interstate? Mr. JOBE. The act is based on a workweek. If a man working during that week engages in the production of ice for interstate, he is covered. Senator ELLENDER. That is what I was saying, it covers the whole operation? Mr. JOBE. That is right. Senator ELLENDER. So that if he manufactures ice and sells it locally only, he is not concerned by the act? Mr. JOBE. Yes. Senator ELLENDER. That is all. Senator TUNNELL. Then, from what you say, the ice industry, as a whole, is paying to the great majority of its employees less than the present minimum wage law requires? Mr. JOBE. We have no definite statistics, Senator, as to what percentage that is. We know that through the South, we will say in the small towns and rural communities, they are prevailing wages or else they couldn't get the employees to work. Senator TUNNELL. I don't understand your statement as to the South. So many witnesses refer to the South, and yet, this morning, we had an uncontradicted statement that the State where the lowest wages were paid was Maine. Senator ELLENDER. I guess the South is so warm that it has most of the ice manufacturing in the Nation, Senator. Mr. JOBE. I happen to come from the South, and I know that you can live cheaper there than in the North. Forty cents in a small town in Alabama is equivalent to $1.50 in Washington. Senator TUNNELL. I would like to get that from somebody who works on this 40-cent rate. I would like to hear some of these people express themselves about that. We have already had some testimony from the South about inability to get the necessities of life. Senator ELLENDER. I would like to say something off the record. (Discussion was had outside the record.) Senator TUNNELL. All right. I have no further questions. Senator ELLENDER. That is all. Senator SMITH. That is all. Senator TUNNELL. I have a statement here from Reid Robinson, the president of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, CIO, which will be inserted in the record. (The statement referred to appears in the appendix.) Senator TUNNELL. There will be no hearing tomorrow because of another engagement that Senator Ellender and I have. Mr. KRAMER. I have a witness for tomorrow from New York. Senator TUNNELL. You can notify him of the postponement. The hearing is adjourned until 10 o'clock Friday morning. (Whereupon, at 3 p. m., an adjournment was taken until 10 a. m., Friday, October 12, 1945.) AMENDMENT OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1945 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a. m., in room 424-B, Senate Office Building, Senator James M. Tunnell presiding. Present: Senators Tunnell, Ellender, and Smith. Also present: Charles Kramer, consultant to the committee. Senator TUNNELL. Mr. Fraser, are you ready to proceed? TESTIMONY OF SAMUEL FRASER, SECRETARY, INTERNATIONAL APPLE ASSOCIATION Senator TUNNELL. Will you give the reporter your full name? Mr. FRASER. Samuel Fraser, International Apple Association, Rochester, N. Y. I am secretary of the association. My training is in farming, and I have been a farmer all my life. Senator TUNNELL. From where? Where do you farm? Mr. FRASER. Geneseo, N. Y. Senator ELLENDER. What size farm have you, Mr. Fraser? Senator ELLENDER. What do you grow? Mr. FRASER. Mixed farming. Fruit, cattle, general farming, I grow 80 acres of fruit-30 acres of cherries, 30 acres of apples, and some other fruits. I have been in farming as a laborer, or working a farm or owning one for the last 57 years. I have seen the ups and downs of farming. I realize this is a broad subject with many facets. I can bring you only one view, and I would like to develop that view as I see it. That, of course, is subject to someone else's interpretation as well as mine. I meant to bring this morning, and I am now trying to secure a bulletin issued by the Department of Agriculture on what peace can mean to the farmers. I will see that all members of the committee are handed a copy of this bulletin as soon as they are available. It was issued July 1945 as Miscellaneous Publication 570. I insert in my brief table 1 of this publication as my table 1. Of all things today, I think food is the most important and the production of food in the world today is 3 percent less than it was in the years 1935-39. That means that per capita we are 10 percent below the dietary of those years. That means that 1 day in 10 we |