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"Crack for Everybody." When this organized opposition popped up, Administrator Whiteside and General Johnson decided to do what had been done with few other codes—publish it in its final form before it was sent to the White House. "I want everybody to have a crack at it," said the General. Mr. Whiteside recommended that the price-fixing clause be approved. Onetime member of the War Industries Board and now president of Dun & Bradstreet, Mr. Whiteside is a pillar of the NRA and in line for head of one of the four permanent divisions. A sallow, bristle-haired credit man of 50, he handled the shipbuilding, woolen goods and underwear codes.
So except for phraseology, the Retail Code emerged from the back-room stage in much the same form that it went in. Wages & hours were changed so that a store might elect to operate in one of three groups, classified by number of hours per week that it remained open. But no store might operate less than 52 hours a week (except those that did so prior to June i). Maximum hours in each group ranged from 40 to 48, minimum wages in big cities from $14 to $15 a week. Lowest wage allowed was $9 for villages in the South.*
Publication of the code brought a new shower of protests. The mail order houses abruptly reversed their position when they discovered that NRA economists had changed "invoice price" to "wholesale price." That would mean that Sears, Roebuck or Montgomery, Ward would not get the full benefit of their huge-scale buying. When "invoice price" was reinstated and the rest of the section simplified, they fell back into rank—but grumbling that the whole thing was unworkable.
Buyers' Strike? Individual retailers (but not their trade associations) began to have misgivings. Perhaps price-fixing was not the Godsend they believed. Though it was estimated that September dollar sales were 8% to 10% above a year ago, the rise was more than accounted for by increased prices—proof that the volume of trade was off. Merchants talked nervously of a Buyers' Strike. Consumers feared that retailers would use the code as an excuse for general price-upping, particularly in communities where competition was slack. The NRA had been used as an excuse before. In July the price of cotton sheets was 85¢ wholesale, 99¢ retail. By September though the wholesale price was still 85¢, the retail price was $1.23. Excuse : cotton processing tax, which amounts to but less than 8¢ per sheet. In six weeks overalls jumped 38¢ a pair though raw cotton had declined and the processing tax per pair amounted to only 8¢.
"Buy Now." With President Roosevelt impatient to get his last major code out of the way, General Johnson gave his off-hand opinion of Article VIII: "Economists say this invoice cost plus 10% is pyramiding, but I can't see that. We want to stop widespread price-cutting. There isn't a business that can make a retail turnover on less than 10%. There are some esoteric arguments made against the plan, but I can't see them."