Composite Opinion

PERSONNEL Composite Opinion

For ten years politicians and reformers have kept U. S. business in the doghouse. It was reputed antisocial, partly because of a few unsavory incidents, but mainly because the prosperity of the 20s did not last forever. It was tacitly assumed that businessmen as a group were reactionary. But neither the few who spoke for business nor the many who spoke against it had much if any evidence of what businessmen really thought. Recently FORTUNE decided to find out.

Last week FORTUNE published the first (of a series of) findings. Obtained by the FORTUNE SURVEY'S method of scientific sampling, these first results were somewhat experimental (it is harder to calculate what is a scientific cross section of business than to poll members of each age group, geographical group, social group, etc.) Findings on this first attempt:

New Deal. If businessmen don't like Franklin Roosevelt, they do not indiscriminately condemn New Deal measures. Their votes on which measures should be kept, modified or repealed ("Don't knows" not listed) :

Kept Modified Repealed Deposit Insurance 84.7% 3.9% 3.1% CCC 78.1 11.4 7.4 Banking Act 64.7 14.0 3.8 Housing Act 56.9 19.0 19.6 Securities Exchange Act 44.5 34.2 3.6 Holding Co. Act 33.7 35.5 9.1 Wages & Hours Law 29.8 47.0 21.4 Social Security 24.3 57.9 17.3 WPA 12.1 41.7 44.4 Wagner Act 9.8 41.9 40.9 Undistributed Profits Tax* 8.1 22.5 66.2

No big manufacturer ($50,000,000 and over) wanted Social Security repealed, but 92.9% wanted it modified. Among small retailers (under $30,000), 20.4% wanted it repealed and 40.9% wanted it kept unchanged. For the Wagner Act. the biggest vote for repeal (48-49.1%) was among small manufacturers and big retailers, but big manufacturers gave the smallest vote for outright repeal (14.3%). Small retailers split, voting 32.6% for repeal and 25-5% (the highest) for keeping the act as is.

Unions. To the question "Do you approve of the idea of labor unions?" manufacturers voted 78.5% "yes" and 11.4%.

"no" (and retailers about the same) with big manufacturers standing out by voting 100% "yes." They also believe that unionism has hurt (48.4%) the U. S. more than it has helped (31.8%), that if the unions were to merge into one big powerful union business would be better off (42.9%), worse off (38.5%). Greatest faults of unions at present: unreliable, racketeering, unreasonable leadership. Greatest virtues: raised wages, maintained a living wage, improved working conditions.

Progress. To the chemical industry in general, to Du Pont de Nemours in particular, business gave top billing for the greatest technological progress (second were automakers and General Motors). Rated highest in the handling and treatment of labor were the auto industry and Ford, in putting their best foot forward to the public: automakers and General Motors.

Foreign Trade. Useful to 1940 plat form makers should be businessmen's opinions on tariffs:

> 57.5% favor Secretary of State Cordell Hull's reciprocal-trade-agreements policy, 18.9% oppose it outright, 16.4% haven't yet made up their minds.

> In spite of this they think that present U. S. tariffs on manufactured products should be higher (26.6%), lower (10.7%), the same (34.5%). Retailers are slightly more on the high side than manufacturers (for whose benefit tariffs are chiefly supposed to exist) and most strikingly big business is on the low side while small Business is on the high side. Among big manufacturers (over $50,000,000), 7.2% favor higher tariffs with or without qualifications, 32.1% favor lower tariffs with or without qualifications, 25% for no change; small (under $1,000,000) business votes 41.6% for higher tariffs, 9.9% for lower, 27.7% for no change. The percentage who dont know is 35.7% among big manufacturers, 20.8% among small manufacturers (only 14.9% among small retailers)--thus indicating that those most concerned with tariffs have gradually opened their minds to and begun to accept the idea that it pays to buy from foreigners in order to sell to foreigners.

*Abolished by Congress last June.

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