Merchants 
 and the 
 
 Wage and Hour 
 Laiv 
 
Merchants 
 
 And the Wage and Hour Law 
 
 In the spring of 1939 the chamber of commerce in a southern city 
 adopted a resolution condemning the Federal Wage and Hour Law. 
 The resolution said it would ruin business. 
 
 Less than a year later, the same chamber of commerce adopted a 
 resolution endorsing the Wage and Hour Law and opposing any 
 movement to repeal or drastically amend it. 
 
 What had happened in the meantime? Simply this^ — the members 
 of the chamber, most of whom were retail merchants, had discovered 
 that they were among the principal beneficiaries of the law. 
 
 To the Nation's merchants, new and better customers are to be 
 found among the 1,000,000 workers who have had their wages raised 
 as a result of the Wage and Hour Law. Hundreds of thousands of 
 these workers had received less than 25 cents an hour before the law 
 became effective in October 1938. Some had been working for as 
 little as $4 or $5 a week. Nearly twice as many were receiving less 
 than 30 cents an hour, which became the minimum wage under the 
 law in October 1939. By March 1, 1941, wage orders issued for 
 many industries, including textiles and apparel, had raised the wages 
 of over half a million employees to between 30 and 40 cents an hour. 
 A great many workers are now receiving at least twice as much for 
 a week's work as they were paid only 2 or 3 years ago. 
 
 This has a direct bearing on the turn-over of the retail merchant. 
 Wage increases given those at the bottom of the economic ladder are 
 immediately transformed into retail sales. Money does not lie idle 
 in the pockets of men and women who have to support families on 
 $60 or $70 a month. It beats a quick path across a store counter in 
 exchange for more and better food and clothing, house furnishings, 
 and the small comforts of life. Whenever the low-paid worker receives 
 a wage increase, somewhere a merchant's cash register jingles. 
 
 This is not just theory. A large cigar factory was forced to 
 make restitution of $75,000 in back wages to some 3,000 of its 
 workers when it was found to have violated the Wage and Hour 
 Law. The next day a Wage and Hour inspector found the company's 
 employees crowding into the city's stores and coming out with pack- 
 ages under their arms. The merchants were highly gratified. "It's 
 just like Christmas, only better," they said. 
 
 A study made by the National Resources Committee shows that in 
 1935-36 one-third of all the families in the country had annual 
 incomes of less than $780. In this group, family expenditures for 
 food could average no more than 6 cents per person per meal. 
 
 276580°— 4 i 2 
 
Even then, few of them could break even. To live, they had to 
 spend 17 percent more than their income — $7 for every $6 they took 
 in. That extra dollar had to come from meager savings, from friends, 
 from loan companies, or from grocers or other merchants who ex- 
 tended them credit and "got stuck." Through this hidden subsidy, 
 the Nation's merchants have been helping to support those employers 
 who failed to pay a living wage. 
 
 Raising the wages of the Nation's low-income workers, even by a 
 nickel or a dime an hour, brings millions of extra dollars to the cash 
 registers of the grocer, butcher, baker, clothier, and dry goods mer- 
 chant. It also helps fill up that gap in his profits which, every year, 
 he has to label, "bad debts." 
 
 Note. — The Wage and Hour Law requires that workers employed 
 in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate 
 commerce must be paid not less than 30 cents an hour until October 
 24, 1945 (unless previously raised upward toward 40 cents by indus- 
 try wage orders) and 40 cents an hour after that date. Since October 
 24, 1940, they may not be worked longer than 40 hours a week with- 
 out the payment of time and a half for overtime. For a year before 
 that date, time and a half had to be paid after 42 hours a week. 
 
 Workers employed in a local retail or service establishment, the 
 greater part of whose selling or servicing is in intrastate commerce, 
 are exempt by statute. If a retail establishment also does some 
 wholesaling, however, some of its employees may be covered by the act. 
 
 If in doubt about the status of your own employees under this law, 
 talk to any Wage and Hour inspector, write to the Wage and Hour 
 Division, United States Department of Labor, Washington, D. C, or 
 to any of the Division's regional or branch offices listed below. 
 
 Wage and Hour Field Offices 
 
 Atlanta, Ga., Witt Building, 249 Peachtree Street. 
 
 Baltimore, Md., 606 Snow Building. 
 
 Birmingham, Ala., 1007 Comer Building, 2d Avenue and 21st Street. 
 
 Boston, Mass., 304 Walker Building, 120 Boylston Street. 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y., Pearl and Swan Streets. 
 
 Charleston, W. Va., 805 Peoples Building. 
 
 Charlotte, N. C, 221 Post Office Building. 
 
 Chicago, 111., 1200 Merchandise Mart, 222 West North Bank Drive. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, 1312 Traction Building. 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, 728 Standard Building, 1370 Ontario Street. 
 
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 3 1262 08859 0103 
 
 Columbia, S. C, Federal Land Bank Building, Hampton and Marion 
 
 Streets. 
 Columbus, Ohio, 211 Rowlands Building. 
 Dallas, Tex., 824 Santa Fe Building, 1114 Commerce Street. 
 Denver, Colo., 300 Chamber of Commerce Building. 
 Des Moines, Iowa, 227 Old Federal Building. 
 Detroit, Mich., 348 Federal Building. 
 Honolulu, T. H., 345 Federal Building. 
 Houston, Tex., 605 Federal Office Building. 
 Indianapolis, Ind., 108 East Washington Street. 
 Jackson, Miss., 402 Deposit Guaranty Bank Building. 
 Jacksonville, Fla., 456 New Post Office Building. 
 Kansas City, Mo., 504 Title and Trust Building, 10th and Walnut 
 
 Streets. 
 Little Rock, Ark., 333 State Capitol Building. 
 Los Angeles, Calif., 417 H. W. Hell man Building. 
 Louisville, Ky., 1106 Republic Boulevard. 
 Manchester, N. H., 227 Post Office Building. 
 Milwaukee, Wis., 298 Federal Building. 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn., 406 Pence Building, 730 Hennepin Avenue. 
 Nashville, Tenn., Medical Arts Building, 119 7th Avenue North. 
 Newark, N. J., 1004 Kinney Building, 790 Broad Street. 
 New Orleans, La., 1512 Pere Marquette Building. 
 New York, N. Y., 30th Street and 9th Avenue, Parcel Post Building. 
 Oklahoma City, Okla., 523 Federal Building. 
 Pawtucket, R. I., 214 Post Office Building. 
 Peoria, 111., 342 Post Office Building. 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., 1216 Widener Building, Chestnut and Juniper Streets. 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., 219 Old Post Office Building. 
 Portland, Maine, 309 Federal Building, 76 Pearl Street. 
 Portland, Oreg., 315 Customhouse. 
 
 Raleigh, N. C, 507 Raleigh Building, Hargett and Fayetteville Streets. 
 Richmond, Va., 215 Richmond Trust Building, 627 East Main Street. 
 Salt Lake City, Utah, 207 Boston Building. 
 San Antonio, Tex., 583 Federal Building. 
 San Francisco, Calif., 785 Market Street. 
 San Juan, Puerto Rico, Box 112 Post Office. 
 Seattle, Wash., 305 Post Office Building. 
 Spokane, Wash., 228 Hutton Building. 
 St. Louis, Mo., 100 Old Federal Building. 
 St. Paul, Minn., 137 State Office Building. 
 Worcester, Mass., 503 Federal Building. 
 
 U. E. eOVERNHENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1941