vicinity, none of whom vre co'ipoelled to poy the hio'h minimum rate of oay
which we have, and all other lines of such m.-nufacturer have a learners
provision in their Code, whereby they can em.loy green help for a certain
length of time at 80% of the minimum w ge until they learn, at least in
a measure, ho.7 to p-erform the work they are doin.- in a satisfactory vol-
ume. Of course, in these other lines whhre there are a lot of shoe fac-
tories in the state, a lot of garment manufc'cturere in the State, they
had sufficient representation when their codes were formulated to exert
an influence so as to enable them to get fair consideration 7e have
had no one to cooperate with us in our line of mpnufacture. Therefore,
the Code w..s formulated and put into effect and is being operated today
solely from the viewpooint of the eastern or New York manufacturers and
no consideration given to our concern."

 If conceded a differential in wage rate, the Lleeker Co. claims they
 would be in a position to employ more labor. The situation would
 apply alike to an, manufacturer in the industry wherever located,
 if he were accorded this advantage over all of his competitors in
 the industry.

 "We cannot maintain a representative in .-.shin.ton to attend -all the
 hearinizs and make effort to -et conditions or rulinf-s that '7e are justly
 entitled to. Therefore, our condition must be relived or else we will
 be compelled to :ass out of this line of manufacture, as much as we
 would regret to do so. If we are forced froa this field of manufactur-
 ing, it will mean the loss of employment for around 200 people, leaving
 our town without a )ayroll which is much needed, ..md -.iny heads of fam-
 ilies without employment and us with a lot of equipment for which we
 will have no use. Our )rorc-sz in this field will have been made in vain."

 The lAeeker Com-,n",r's 1e; that t.icy are alone in this particular
 territory is not due to any unfortunate circumstance. Th-ey evi-
 dentl-r intended it to be an ad'ivanta:.-e, otherwise they would not have
 made it their choice. Lifter 25 years, they .have just come to the
 realization that they are isolated. The rrnufacture of handba1;s is
 not a matter of geogrLphical location. It is mostly the efficiency
 of operation in a plant, no matter where located. We find the most
 efficient plants, those doing the largest volume of business, lo-
 cated in cities in Pennsylv-ania 4nd Connecticut. These ol.nts are
 operating efficiently; their MaFnae'ement is alive cnd wide a!wake,
 employing and creating new sy'stEins and machiner/ to produce their
 product at the lowest costs, while paying Code wages and more.

 "In gener,-1l, the Code we are opera tin- under nov, that is functioning ;
 against the interest of our business, is forcing us out of lines of ,]nu.-
 facturing, anu if continued, vill in all probability force us entirely
 out of the h-ndbaC business, '.nd to which we :.re. comroelled to -y Code
 fees that last year amounted to more thr.n $1,0000.0 a year *iurin.: vhich,
 on account of the restriction under 7.hich we ar,- compelled to operate,
 the heavy taxes of one kind or another that we h'.ve to ,.:-, caused us to
 do a year's business not at a profit, but at a hravy net loss for the
 year's operations, a loss we cannot continue to bear."'



1.9' 11

 iL_____