"The Time Has Arrived . . ."

Events piled on Franklin Roosevelt thick & fast at last week's beginning: Justice Van Devanter's resignation, adverse committee's vote on his Supreme Court Plan, the Senate's "nomination'' of Leader Joseph T. Robinson for the Court (see p. 17). By the week's end, however, he was again pushing events before him, getting under way his first big project since his return from the tantalizing tarpon of Texas: his drive for wage & hour legislation.

By ones and twos and small platoons, Braintrusters, Congressmen and labor leaders passed before his desk, giving advice and taking orders. Representative Connery of Massachusetts, Chairman of the House Labor Committee, House Leader Sam Rayburn, Senator Black of Alabama, Chairman of the Senate Education & Labor Committee, Senate Leader Robinson, buzzed in & out. The Black-Connery Bill was whipped into shape--40 hours a week maximum, 40-c- an hour minimum were its terms as given to the press. Previews and consultations were provided, one day for A. F. of L.'s William Green, who would not firmly commit himself; another day for C.I.O.'s John L. Lewis and Sidney Hillman, who gave generalized approval. After four days of intensive staffwork, the drive began. A message sped to Congress.

"The time has arrived.'' the President said, "for us to take further action to extend the frontiers of social progress. . . . One-third of our population," he echoed his old refrain, ". . . is ill-nourished, ill-clad, and ill-housed. The overwhelming majority of this nation has little patience with that small minority which vociferates today that prosperity has returned. . . . All but the hopelessly reactionary will agree that to conserve our primary resources of manpower. Government must have some control over maximum hours, minimum wages, the evil of child labor and the exploitation of unorganized labor. . . .

"And so to protect the fundamental interests of free labor and a free people, we propose that only goods which have been produced under conditions which meet the minimum standards of free labor shall be admitted to interstate commerce. . . .

"Allowing for a few exceptional trades and permitting longer hours on the payment of time and a half for overtime, it should not be difficult to define a general maximum working week. Allowing for appropriate qualifications and general classifications by administrative action, it should also be possible to put some floor below which the wage ought not to fall. There should be no difficulty in ruling out the products of the labor of children from any fair market. And there should also be little dispute when it comes to ruling out of the interstate markets products of employers who deny to their workers the right of self-organization and collective bargaining, whether through the fear of labor spies, the bait of company unions, or the use of strikebreakers. . . .

"Legislation can, I hope, be passed at this session of the Congress further to help those who toil in factory and on farm. We have promised it. We cannot stand still."

The bill which obedient Messrs. Black & Connery popped into the hoppers provided for a five-man board to regulate maximum hours and minimum pay on a flexible basis, allowing for seasonal and industrial conditions. At the last minute the 40-hour and 40-c- ($16 a week) limits were taken out, leaving blanks for Congress to fill in. This was regarded as better political strategy. Franklin Roosevelt for once had enough specific personal proposals before the Congress.

P: Little but good news had Franklin Roosevelt ever had from the political surveys of FORTUNE, whose poll last autumn indicated his re-election with an error of only about 1% in the popular vote, whose poll in April indicated that 52.6% of the people favored a third term for him. Last week, FORTUNE'S June issue carried a special supplement giving a preview of its July poll on the President's popularity as affected by the Supreme Court issue. This showed a bigger change in his popularity than took place at any time during the campaign. Whereas 14 months ago 84.8% of those who were critical of the Court favored him, only 66.4% do so today, and among those who support the Court-as-is, his popularity has fallen from 35.9% to 23.6%. More to the point: although two months ago 52.6% of the voters in the FORTUNE poll favored giving him a third term, today only 45% do so and 55% oppose it--the most serious drop yet recorded in Franklin D. Roosevelt's popularity.

P: The President and his Secretary of State were conscious, if other citizens were not, that last week was Foreign Trade Week. The final day was called National Maritime Day. Because foreign trade is his particular baby, Mr. Hull read a radio address for Mr. Roosevelt. Excerpts: "Foreign trade is the lifeblood of shipping ... an indispensable part of prosperous economic activity throughout the land." Mr. Hull also made some remarks of his own. Aiming squarely at II Duce's week-old pronouncement of self-sufficiency for Italy, timed shrewdly for London's current Imperial Conference whose outcome may decide a U. S.-Great Britain reciprocal trade agreement. Secretary Hull damned self-sufficiency "unless a nation is content to 'sink into abject degradation, economic and spiritual impoverishment"; called for "a demobilization of ... stifling . . . mutual mistrust, of political hostility, of exhausting and suicidal race for military power, of continuing economic warfare."

P: When the National Press Club held its annual Anchors Aweigh party, the President motored down to Quantico, Va. to throw out the first ball in the game between Congressmen and Newshawks. Having waited at the Marines' ball park for 15 minutes in a downpour without seeing any signs of his hosts, he drove down to the dock where the party had remained weatherbound on the steamer which had brought it from Washington. On the gangplank he witnessed the presentation by Senator Tom Connally of a new Texas sombrero to Vice President Garner in restitution for one Mr. Garner lost umpiring the game two years ago. The Vice President livened the party by leading the band.

P: Presented with a bill creating a commission and authorizing the appropriation of $5,000,000 for U. S. participation in the New York World's Fair of 1939, Franklin Roosevelt imposed the first veto of his second term.* His reasons: the sum was too large and the proposed commission (three Cabinet members, seven Congressmen) would be given complete authority for the expenditure of public funds, "an unconstitutional invasion of the province of the Executive." Congressmen sniggered publicly at both reasons.

P: Secret buttons, like those used by bank tellers to call aid in case of robberies, were placed on the desks of the President's secretaries to enable them to summon the White House guards if visitors grew ugly. " Just a precaution," said the Secret Service.

P: Mr. & Mrs. Franklin Pierce Adams (Columnist "F. P. A.") were house guests at the White House for a couple of days.

P: Dr. Hans H. Dieckhoff presented Franklin Roosevelt: 1) his letters of credence as German Ambassador succeeding Dr. Hans Luther, 2) the personal greetings of Adolf Hitler.

P: A delegation of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity presented Franklin Roosevelt with the Gottheil Medal "for distinguished service to Jewry."

P: The President & Mrs. Roosevelt held their annual garden party for crippled veterans (Civil, Spanish and World Wars), shook hands for nearly an hour, applauded spirituals by a Negro chorus.

*In his first term he vetoed 221 bills. This made him runner-up to Grover Cleveland who imposed 312 vetoes in his first term, 163 vetoes in his second.

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