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¶Problem of the rubber industry is the elasticity of crude rubber prices (from $3 a Ib. in 1910 to 2¢ lb. in 1933), controlled by conditions abroad. General Johnson & aides will have to allow for a wide basic price range in manufactured rubber products.
¶Any regulatory code in the copper business will have to allow for: 1) a wide range of production costs between U. S. refineries; 2) new sources of cheap foreign copper, against which the Administration may not want to erect a higher tariff wall.
¶The automobile industry may ask for an average 36-hr, work week, since during its rush months (April, May, June) the industry is geared to a 48-hr, week, tapering off in autumn and winter to less than half of that.
¶Organizing labor will be a major difficulty in the bituminous coal business, one-fifth of which is mined by union men. The other 300,000,000 annual tons is dug by non-union workers.
Possibly to avoid having all these matters dumped on his lap at once until he can think his way through them. General Johnson is not to be found in Room 3053 at the Commerce Building, as advertised. Instead he sits alone behind an unmarked door many yards away.