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NFU at Labor's Side in Drive For $1.25 Wage

WASHINGTON -- Labor is driving hard for a $1.25 an hour minimum wage, and right at its side is the National Farmers Union.

James G. Patton, president of the big farm organization, made that crystal clear in recent testimony before the Senate Labor Committee.

"National Farmers Union considers this particular legislation as vital to the welfare of its farm family members as any agricultural bill which will be considered by Congress this year," declared Patton.

The NFU leader asserted that "the economic welfare of farmers and city people is completely interwoven. Our efforts to obtain a higher minimum wage will be as great as our efforts to obtain much needed improvements in the farm price support law."

Union leaders, including AFL President George Meany and CIO President Walter Reuther, have had their position for the $1.25 minimum take on new vigor by Patton's determined stand for upping the minimum from 75 cents to $1.25.

"Very definitely," said Patton, "farmers becoming increasingly aware of the political, legislative and economic interest they share with workers . . . Over a period in our history, this divide-and-conquer technique met with limited success; but in this enlightened age of truly representative farmer and labor organization, it has been possible to present facts to both farmers and workers."

And the Administration's bid for a 90-cent minimum came in for criticism from the NFU chieftain.

"We are just as concerned by the reluctance of Labor Secretary Mitchell and the Administration to support a realistic increase in the minimum wage level," he declared, "as we are by the sliding-scale philosophy of Secretary of Agriculture Benson."

Others who testified recently before the Senate committee urging the $1.25 minimum were: George R. Donahue, national director of Association of Catholic Trade Unionists; Leon H. Keyserling, speaking for himself and Americans for Democratic Action; A. F. Hartung, president of CIO Woodworkers; Msgr. George Higgins, director of National Catholic Welfare Conference's Social Action Dept., and Isador Lubin, New York State Industrial Commission.

"Look at where we are now and where we need to go - looking ahead--a $1.25 minimum wage, which is at best a $2,500 annual income for the responsible and industrious American breadwinner at the bottom of our economic structure, is well within the range of our current and prospective capabilities," asserted Keyserling.

And Monsignor Higgins declared: "If a few companies or industries find it necessary to increase their prices to meet an increase in the minimum wage, that is a relatively small thing to pay in the interest of wage justice."

Leon Ginsberg, a director of Clothing Manufacturers Association of America; Morton Levy, president of Pennsylvania Clothing Contractors' Association, and Marie D. Lane, Washington representative of American Public Welfare Association, urged a minimum wage beyond the 90 cents sought by the Administration.