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MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
45-Hour Week Is Backed In
Gallup Poll; Overtime Pay
After Only 40 Hours Opposed
- . . ;
PRINCETON. N. J. — Few controversies have stirr
ed the nation so deeply in recent months as the cur-;
cent controversy over the forty-hour week. P rom all i
over the country letters are pouring in on Congress
from the folks back home, expressing strong views
on the issue.
The basic question in the controversy is whether
time-and-a-half pay should be given to workers in war
industries for all work over forty hours a w£ek. If the
majority of the plain people throughout the country
had the final say in the matter overtime pay in war
production would not start at forty hours, as at pres
ent, but at forty-eight.
That is the median average figure named by the
voters of the nation who were polled in a survey by
the American Institute of Public Opinion.
The survey reveals the astounding fact that only one-;
fourth of the nation’s voters (27 percent) is satisfied
with the present arrangement by which overtime pay
begins at forty hours.
Tide Strong in All Sections
The tide of sentiment for a forty-eight hour week be
fore any overtime is paid is running strongly in all
sections of the country. In no section is the median fig
ure named by voters less than forty-eight hours. Pub
lic opinion in New England, the Middle Atlantic and
East Central areas—industrial heart of the nation —
wants a forty-eight hour week. The Middle West and
the Far West want a forty-eight hour week. The South
sets is sights even higher—fifty-six hours.
A forty-eight hour week before overtime would mean
the equivalent of one extra day’s work at straight-'
time paystn the war industries. This is further evidence
of the public’s desire for an all-out war effort in which
every one is called upon to make sacrifices. The public
;S not only taking a hard-boiled attitude toward labor
but is equally anxious, polls show, to see that employ
ers, farmers and even themselves are required to co
operate to the limit in pushing the war effort, even if it
means sacrificing many cherished principles.
The survey was conducted in such a way as to el
iminate all confussion in the minds of the voter be
tween the issue of how long th work-week should be
in the war industries, and the question of the point at
which overtime pay should begin.
The question put to voters dealt directly with the
overtime pay issue, as follows:
“How many hours do you think workers in war in
dustries should work in a week before time and one
half pay for overtime starts?”
The median average of all replies is forty-eight
hours. The vote in detail is shown below. Note the rel
atively low percentage in favor of having overtime
start at forty hours.
Forty hours 27
P’orty—firty-seven hours 4
Forty-eight hours .. 25
Forty-nine—Fifty-nine hours . 8
Sixty hours or more . 9
No overtime pay at all .21
No opinion 6
It will be seen that the number favoring the present
40-hour system (27 percent) is virtually offset by the
number who are opposed to paying any overtime at all.
With public opinion strongly headed in the direction
of a longer standard work-week what will become of
the forty-hour law? Will the pressure of public opinion
force Congress to amend it? And if it is amended will
the cry be raised that the social gains achieved under
the New Deal have been sabotaged? All in all, the 40
hour week issue gives every promise of being the hot
test politcial potato of the next few months.
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
Visions of a better world ahead, as entertained by
Henry Ford and others, throw open a vast new field to
the debunkers, as none of them yet has debunked the
future.—Detroit News.
If the tin shortage results in prohibiting canned beer,
some of our previously most scenic roadsides will grad
ually lose their resemblance to Fogarty’s dump.—Chris
tian Science Monitor.
“We are all under fire,” says the President, “soldiers
and civilians alike.” It is the Congressional farm bloc
which is shooting at the civilians.—New Yorker.
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR
★ ★ ★ * * * * * i *
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 'K?* * ★ * * ★
C. P A 'J.
NICARAGUA — OCEAN LINK OF TOMORROW
Nicaragua is the largest of the Central American
republics. Its territory, about that of Wisconsin, forms
an isosceles triangle wedged into the middle of Central
America, with the Pacific as the western boundary and
the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea, as the eastern.
From northwest to southeast
the extension of the Sierra M dre
mountain system cuts through1
Nicaragua, dividing it into two j
parts which have as yet little ae-!
cess to each other. The smaller
of these, the narrow Pacific
Coast region, is about a quarter
of the country's total area of
57,000 square miles. But here is
most of the agriculture of the
nation, and nearly half its pop
ulation of about a million and a;
half. Here, too, on the southern
shore of the famed Lake Man
agua, about 200 feet above sea
level, is Managua the capital
city.
Almost completely destroyed
by earthquake and fire in 1931, j
the city has risen again .more j
modern but fully as beautiful as
of old. The larger eastern section
of the triangle is for the most
pan mountainous. Most of the
large rivers emptying into the
Atlantic rise in the central'cor
dillera region. The Rio Grande
de Matagalpa flows eastward
through a large gap in the moun
tains, and in its valleys are most
of the cattle ranches of the
country.
Lying plac dly between moun
tains and coasts are the two fresh
water lakes for which Nicaragua
is famous. Into them empty the
mountain streams of the western
slopes. The smaller of these is
Lake Managua, 38 miles long and
10 miles to 16 miles in width.
The other. Lake Nicaragua, is an
eliptical body of water 90 miles
long and 39 miles at its widest, i
It is 135 feet above s?a level ami
has always been an important
lactor in the transportation of
the country. Davila, the first I
Spanish conqueror, called it j
“Freshwater Sea.’’ From Lake
Nicaragua, on its way to the At-1
lantic, f! ws the San Juan River.
Together, these lakes cover near
lv 3.500 square miles. These lakes :
and the San Juan River long;
have been discussed as possible j
One of a series descriptive
pared by the Pan American l
students participating in the
Forum, and for their parents,
routes of a second canal linking
A lantic and Pacific. In the days
of the California ‘Gold Rush”
there was lively interest in the
possibility. A definite step in the
direction of such a waterway is a
treaty recently entered into by
the governments of Nicaragua
and San Juan. This would open
the way for navigation of ships
of medium size from the Atlantic
to Lake Nicaragua and speed the
development of the whole region.
Columbus was the first white
man to set eyes on Nicaragua.
In September of 1502, according'
to the story, nearing the Cen
tra! American coast on his last
voyage, he was overtaken by a
storm. Finding safety in an un
known harbor, so great was his
relief that he called the jutting
point of land “Gracies a Dios,”
(Thanks Be to God's. So the
northeast corner of Nicaragua
got its name.
Conquest did not fol’ow close
on the heels of diocovery, how
ever. It was not until after Bal-I
boa discovered the Pacific and j
claimed it all in the name of |
the Spansh king that there was)
begun a period of conquest and
Spanish rule, to last for three!
years beyond three centuries.
Movements toward independence
there were, but the country’s de
velopment into a free nation was)
delayed by attempts of various!
foreign powers to administer the;
affairs of the Nicaraguans. At
last, rid of foreign interference.
Nicaragua was to enjoy a period
of tranquility which has been
marked by a steady advance in
‘lie political and economic life r>fi
the nation.
In the world-market of today.
Nicaragua can offer gold, coffee,
bananas, lumber, cutton. live
stock hides and sugar. To supply
its own needs, the country re-j
quires from other nations, cotton;
goods, machinery, tools, iron and
steel products, oil, chemicals, I
drugs, automobiles and trucks. )
of our neighbor nations pre
Inion for the information of
1942 Inter-American Student
teachers and friends.
Gratifying Response
The results of a recent Gallup Poll on the readiness
! of American workers to permit sizable pay deductions
for the purchase of defense bonds are extremely en
; couraging.
The poll discloses that two-thirds of all full-time
i employed persons are in favor of 10 percent wage de
ductions to buy defense bonds. More than 54 percent
i would sanction 15 percent deductions.
A maority of those who opposed the pay-reduction
plan either were purchasing bonds of 10 to 15 percent
of their incomes or were in favor of voluntary bond
buying.
The principal reasons given by voters who favor the
deduction plan are that the government needs the
, money to win the war, and that money saved now and
put into bonds will be of great use to families after the i
war when consumer purchasing power will have to be
bolstered.
Dr. Gallup notes that Treasury Department offic
ials probably will be surprised at the extent of these
j deductions which the American worker is willing to
accept. It is true that the Treasury has been discussing
! some kind of wage deduction plan, but action has been
postponed because of a feeling that the public will
) respond liberally on its own initiative.
So while Legislators and Government officials
search for relatively painless means to finance the war,
I the public apparently once again leads the way with
I its offer to dig down and deeply, into its pay envelope.
If the insomnia seems insurable, take up farming.
J With lamb chops at present quotations, counting sheep
! should be a pleasure.—Chicago News.
I . ' i • r - I'-in n
j Mayris Chaney, ex-employee of the OCD: “It is of
I no importance whether this program is carried out
! by me or someone else.”
--
; And when it comes to that, we could enter some
Welsh rabbits that we’ve met in the race for synthetic
' rubber supremacy.—Christian Science Monitor.
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FLEW TO AUSTRALIA WITH MacARTHUR
Major General Richard K. Sutherland (left), and Brig
adier General Harold H. George (right), accompanied
General Douglas MacArthur on his plane trip to Aus
tralia, the War Deptartment announced.