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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1955)
Friday, July 29. 1955 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE THREE Congressmen Differ on Effect Of Basic Wage on NW Economy By A. ROBERT SMITH Kail Tribune Correspondent V.'.-i-hiii-uon Two Northwest ::?i jrcssrrtn sharply differ on whether the now minimum wage law of SI per hour will have any appreciable effect on the econ omy of the Pacific Northwest. Hep. Th'.r Toikf.-on fR-Wash ) contends the new law "placed in jeopardy not only the jobs of 600,000 forest-product workers on the Pacific Coast, but the profitable operation of one of ti e industries of paramount im portance to the economy and well-bciiic of our area.'' Tollef son was referring to the lumber industry. Kep. Sam Coon fR-Ore.) claims !the bill will not adversely affect i the lumber industry or any other i industry in the region, because the prevailing va2e rate in the Northwest is already well above the minimum stipulated in the new act. Coon is a member of the House Labor and Education Com mittee which handled the bill. Exception Cited ' j Tollefson based his argument I on a section of the biil which I I exempts irom its provisions any forest-product operation employ ling 12 or fewer persons." I "Most of the lumber camps and mills in the South employ 12 or fewer persons: thus the operators can pay any wages they wish to tens of thousands ! of workers, giving the products they make an extremely favor able competitive advantage over those manufactured in our area where a decent wage prevails.' Tollefson declared. Ccon said he was convinced from listening to testimony of lumber operators from the South and the Northwest that this would not be the case. He said most of the small operators in the South were producing such items as wooden food crates and barrels which are not competi tive with Northwest lumber products.. 'Our people have been ship ping more and more lumber products into the South every year. Coon said, indicating that the South cannot offer great competition to the mills of the Northwest. He said that while wages are lower in the South, Northwest operators find they are getting a higher rate of pro duction from their workers who are paid higher wage scales. Although Tollefson was crit ical of this feature of the bill and Coon said it would not dis turb the economy of the North west. Tollefson supported the in crease in the minimum wage from 75 cents to SI and Coon opposed it. "I think we will probably do more harm to small business and those wage earners we are sup posed to be trying to help.' Coon said, explaining that many em ployers told the committee they might still operate profitably at 90 cents but were doubtful if they can do it at SI. Favored 90 Cents Coon favored the 90 cent level, as advocated by President Eisen hower; and he supported efforts on the floor to amend the bill to that effect. On the vote for the bill itself, Coon at first voted against it, then changed his vote in support of it "After doing all I could to change it to 90 cents," Coon said, "I thought I might as well go along with it (and vote for the SI amount in the final bill)." About 11 congressmen from the Pacific Northwest were among the 362 who voted for the bill on the final roll call, against 54 who opposed it. In another congressional ac tion affecting the lumber indus try to a degree. Congress turned down a bid by the domestic hard board industry for a boost in the tariff on imported hardboard from Canada and the Scand- anavian countries. i The tariff increase was at tached by the Senate as a rider to a bill allowing servicemen to import gifts duty free. The House had passed the gift bill earlier without the hardboard rider, which was then knocked off in conference. Ex-Rep. 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