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Though he was letting down the bars of the anti-trust laws that industries might coalesce to regulate prices and wages, the President promised to "stand firmly against monopolies that restrain trade and price-fixing which allows inordinate profits or unfairly high prices. . . . I am fully aware that wage increases will eventually raise costs, but I ask that managements give first consideration to the improvement of operating figures by greatly increased sales to be expected from the rising purchasing power of the public. That is good economics and good business. . . . If we now inflate prices as fast and as far as we increase wages the whole project will be set at naught. . . . If we can . . . start a strong sound upward spiral of business activity our industries will have little doubt of black-ink operations in the last quarter of this year."
The Man who was to rally industry into line was General Hugh Samuel Johnson, West Pointer, lawyer, boys' book writer, associate of Bernard Marines Baruch and originator and administrator of the War-time selective draft. Like Col. Sawyer. General Johnson, as Administrator for Industrial recovery, was given the counsel of the Secretaries of Commerce. Agriculture, Labor; Attorney General. Director of the Budget, Federal Trade Commissioner Chairman. These in turn began last week to draw keymen from the ranks of economists, businessmen, labor leaders to make up advisory boards. The Industrial Advisory Board appointed by Secretary Roper included: General Motors President Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr.; Chairman Walter Clark Teagle of Standard Oil of N. J.; General Electric President Gerard Swope; Chairman Edward Nash Hurley of Chicago's Hurley Machine Co.; Louis Kirstein, vice president of Filene's, Boston department store; Austin Finch, president of Thomasville (N. C.) Chair Co., chairman of the Southern Manufacturer's Association's committee already at work in connection with the recovery act.
To the Labor Advisory Board were ap pointed by Madam Secretary Perkins: Economist Leo Wolman: Joseph Frey, president of International Boilermakers Union; William H. Green, president of the A. F. of L.; Father Francis Haas of the Catholic Welfare Council : Rose Schneiderman, Secretary of the Women's Trades Union League.
Next to be named was a Consumer's Advisory Board representing the public. As outlined by President Roosevelt the whole system would work like this:
When a trade group thought it had settled its wage, price and output problems, it would apply to General Johnson's office for a hearing. The advisory board would designate officials to find out if the trade group was representative of its industry. Other officials would bend their ears to representatives of labor in the industry, still others to consumers of the industry's products. The combined findings would be handed over to the Administrator, who would finally take them to the President for approval. Recalcitrants would be firmly kept in line by a licensing system, operative for one year, which when screwed down hard, would put them out of business.