hours. All such messengers have been limited by the company's 7 p. m. curfew for these messengers.

Now, on the all important subject of accident hazards. We have a legal as well as a moral obligation to the messenger and his parents to exercise great care for the safety of the individual. You will be interested in some of the safeguards we have adopted to that end.

The company has opened a number of branch offices in downtown sections and heavily congested traffic areas in order to shorten runs and make practical the substitution of foot messengers for bicycle. riders. Automobile messengers have replaced bicycles, even in suburban offices, for long runs, not alone as a safety measure but also to reduce the outside time of the bicycle rider so that he will report back to his office more frequently for rest periods. An added advantage is better supervision and control of the messenger.

Use of motorcycles was eliminated several years ago in favor of safer, although more expensive, automobiles, all of which are operated by persons over 18 years of age.

Safety principles are constantly drilled into messengers. We have the complete and active cooperation of local police forces in this connection, even to the patrolman on the beat. Delivery routes are so arranged that even foot messengers may avoid known bad traffic spots. This is carried to the point of mapping such danger points and instructing messengers on ways and means of avoiding them or, where that is not possible, emphasizing the need for extra caution.

Safety-incentive contests have been conducted system-wide with monetary awards to messengers and supervisors for best performance. Mock court sessions have been conducted with the messengers themselves acting as judge, prosecutor, and jury, and meting out the penalty for safety-regulation infraction. Bicycles are inspected daily for mechanical perfection and for warning devices and lights.

Our supervisory people hold memberships in national and local safety organizations and take full advantage of the opportunities thus afforded to gain the benefit of the experiences and methods of others in accident prevention. It is a fact that Western Union people are recognized by such agencies and by public authorities generally as being leaders in accident-prevention work and performance.

We are convinced that the lads in our service are well equipped to take care of themselves as a result of the practices we follow. As Senator Smith very aptly observed in the course of current Senate committee hearings, hazards exist in going to and from school.

Miss Lenroot referred to work under pressure of a time schedule for making deliveries. At one time messengers were compensated on a per-message basis so that the greater their production the more money they made. They are now paid 40 cents an hour regardless of production. We do try to maintain reasonable supervision over messengers and the amount of work they perform, but I think your own casual observations are all the proof needed that today's messenger, young and old, has a fairly comfortable time of it. In my own messenger days I could manufacture many good excuses for window gazing, occasional "cokes" and sidewalk conversations, which my delivery supervisor had to swallow up to a certain limit. I do not think the average boy has changed much since I was a youngster. True there

are time factors to control the outside time of messengers, but these are entirely reasonable and give full consideration to the safety element. It was no doubt unintentional, but the way Miss Lenroot referred to the accidental death of two boys, described by her as 15 years old, working as ground men with a telegraph-company construction crew, would make it appear that it is the Western Union practice to employ boys under 16 for such work. Let me assure you that we do not and have not. While Miss Lenroot did not identify the two cases, we have no record of any such accident involving anyone under 16.

I have available some data on the ages and mode of travel of Western Union messengers now and before the war which may be of interest to you. I shall be glad to offer that information at this juncture if you so desire.

Mr. RAMSPECK. We will be glad to have it. (The statement referred to is as follows:)

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH Co., OCTOBER 10, 1945

Messenger age and mode of travel analysis
AGE ANALYSIS

1. Number of messengers 18 years and over..

2. Number of messengers under 18 years...

3. Number of messengers under 16 years of age-full time (included in No. 2).

4. Number of messengers under 16 years of age-part time (included in

1939

1945 (average 7 months)

Num-
ber

2.788

8, 195

190

797

11, 970

11, 163

Mr. GITTINGS. If I may I would like to call attention to the September 1945 age distinction. Notice that the number of messengers under 16 on the full-time basis, system-wide, is 125; part-time, 1,223. I think you will find, too, that the mode of travel comparison, prewar and current is rather interesting. Notice particularly that the walking messenger has increased from 23 percent of the total force in 1939 to 47 percent today; that the bicycle riders have dropped from 69 percent to 29 percent, and that the motor vehicles have increased from 8 percent to 24 percent. Of course, the safety factor is quite an element in that changed picture.

With respect to the all-important problem of affording employment to youths of 14 and 15 as telegraph messengers, I would like to call

attention to the testimony of one of the labor witnessess who appeared before the Senate commitee the other day.

Mrs. Lucille Durham employed by a shirt manufacturing company in Fayetteville, Tenn., explained that she could not support her family on her own income. Her son, not yet 14, is therefore denied the opportunity to attend school and required to work full time for 75 cents a day. Would it not be better for this lad to work as a telegraph messenger, upon reaching the required age, for 2 or 3 hours a day? At 40 cents an hour he could attend school and still earn considerably more than he does now for a full day's work.

Before closing I should like to call attention to regulation No. 3 of the Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor, setting forth child labor regulations under FLSA, which made it possible for minors between 14 and 16 to engage in the distribution of newspapers. No such provision has been made for telegraph messengers. From this I am obliged to conclude that as compared to the newspaper route the path of the telegraph messenger is wetter, colder, that the ice is more slippery, and that in some mysterious way traffic hazards are made to disappear for the news carrier. I am not convinced that the weight of a telegram or two results in greater strain than a bag full of newspapers. Please do not infer from this that I believe the delivery of newspapers should be confined to adults. I do not. As you have probably gathered by now, I am very unhappy. in having my company held up as the villainous exploiter of child labor when the facts are otherwise. Could it be that we are being spanked for the mistake of taking our case to the Supreme Court and for the unforgivable sin of obtaining a decision in our favor?

May I again urge you not to prohibit the employment of youths as messengers. As to minimum wages I urge that Congress consider an amendment to be inserted as subdivision (5) of the proposed amended section 6 of FLSA, reading substantially as follows:

Provided, however, That the several increases in minimum wages herein provided for shall not apply to messengers under 18 years of age employed principally in picking up and delivering letters and messages.

So far I have confined my comments to messenger problems. In closing I should like to emphasize the effect of the initial proposed wage minimum on Western Union. A 65-cent minimum would increase our annual pay roll by $10,938,000 and that figure does not include the spiraling effect of an increased minimum on wage levels above it, nor does it take into consideration increased social security taxes, which amounted to $3,015,950 in 1944.

The effect of this proposed increased minimum can well be illustrated by applying it to our 1944 income statement. Western Union's gross revenue was at an all-time high that year, and its earnings before Federal income taxes were $13,567,392. Its net income after taxes and before dividends was $7;657,392. The added cost of $10,938,000 resulting from a 65-cent minimum wage would have left us with a net of only $2,629,392 before taxes. In prewar years this would have wiped out our net earnings and brought about sizable losses.

From this it must be obvious that we cannot afford the burden of a 65-cent minimum. Our labor costs are proportionately greater than those of any other industry and already represent 61 cents of every dollar of gross revenue.

I would like here, if I may, to explain that on Friday last the War Labor Board issued a publicity release saying that in the Western Union-AFL wage case it had decided on a messenger minimum of 45 cents, stepped up to 50 cents after 30 days, and for other than messengers a minimum of 55 cents; and then I understand, too, that in an A. C. A. case, on which a decision was issued by the regional board in New York, minimums were set of 55 cents for messengers and 65 cents for other than messengers. I want you to know that I have addressed myself to the present-day going rate of 40 cents for messengers in giving these views and figures to you.

Mr. RAMSPECK. Any questions? [None.]

Our time is up. The committee will stand adjourned until 10:30 tomorrow morning.

(Whereupon a recess was taken until the following day, Friday, October 26, 1945, at 10:30 o'clock.)