Very rarely in the annals of American business history has an employer been penalized for raising the pay of his workers.* Last week Dallas' little Parkland Sportswear Co. was told by the regional War Labor Board that its entire payroll for Feb. 13 to April 24 ($4,532 for 47 employes) would be disallowed as an operating expense for tax purposes, because $600 of it represented raises put through without the routine, technical request for WLB's blessing.
*First was in Massachusetts Bay Colony, where a few fines were assessed against employers who violated the Act of 1633. The Act set the pay...