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Show BUSINESS ASKS FOR SHOWDOWN - NEW TORK,- Doc. 10 HNS) Responsible ipokcimM for American Ameri-can business today awaited the anawer of government and labor to! the 1931 platform adopted by thej National Association of Manufacturer! Manufac-turer! and to questions propounded by C. M. Cheater, chairman of General Gen-eral Foodi corporation. In hta ipeech at a dinner lt evening m-rkjng the cloae of the four-day convention of (he associations congress of Industry. In-dustry. Chester, who-Iscnalrmanonhe N. A. M , pointed out that the 3000 business leaders at the convention here have offered a frank program designed to end the present recession reces-sion and bring about prosperity that business has made no mystery out of "where it stands." Questions Asked "Has government or labor a better program?" he aaked. "Have they any clear-cut, long-range long-range program? "Has not the time arrived when all elements should fairly meet this question?" In its 13 platform the N. A. M. demanded the federal government remove "stop signals" alleged to be obstructing business. The platform' listed as among the "atop signals"! uncertainty aboutfederal jiolicies; legislation which restricts invest- ments; burdensome taxes; encour-i agement of labor troubles; the un- balanced national budget; moves to shift existing wealth; increased gov-1 ernment competition with private onternrise and tariff nnliciee an. couraging the importation of competitive com-petitive foreign goods. Program Adopted In addition, the industrialists sdopted an It-point program on labor la-bor relations, calling for amendment amend-ment of the national labor relations act to outlaw nine kinds of strikes and prohibit the closed shop. i Inviting the government to "sit : down with business and with labor ; to cure the present depression, be- i fore it gets beyond control," Chester ; said: "With our frank statement of ob- jective and method, we are ready j to enter the council chamber. It is pertinent to ask, however, in order I that we may not have a hung jury, j if the leaders of labor will be equal- ly frank. Are they now prepared I to give financial accounting of their J own union stewardship? Will they J voluntarily stop giving contribu- j Hons to any political party? j Agreement Wanted j "Will they agree to an amend- J mint to the Wagner act so that unions will be restrained from co- ercion of employes equally with em- J ployers? "Will they, on behalf of their J unions, assume full responsibility J for unwarranted destruction of any- I body's property on the part of their t members? " "Will government alt down with t business and labor? Will it invite t this cooperation? Will it put pa- J triotiam ahead of partisanship? Is I it prepared to recognize that busi- j ness experience may be a useful J asset In our present dilemma?" Discussing wages and hours. Ches- J ter said the average man working J in a factory gets considerably more than twice as much pay compared I with the time when the World war ! broke out; that during the same pe- riod the working hours per week f have declined from about 51 to 2 about SO; that the average wages I per week are almost double, and f that the improvement of women's ! status In industry has been even more rapid. I f Oiild Labor Hit , "This congress of American Indus- i try la determined that child labor in manufacturing shall be entirely J eliminated," he declared with em- b phasis. "Business was and la opposed to S the Wagner act." he frankly ad- k milled. Ha charged that this act f; created mors labor ditputea instead 5 of reducing them. k, Chester said business opposed the r undistributed profits tax not because 2 it waa opposed to ths principle of k,, taxing those who were best able to f pay, but because the tax would in- S evitably curtail business operations, bj decrease employment, discourage in- f vestment, and consequently freeze S the capital market and eventually j invite a further depression. ? Business does not oppose the pro- 5 poeed wage-and-hour bill because it hi is opposed to reasonable wages and ' t working hours, he asserted, but be-1 St cause "we are against the concen-1 i tration in the national government : fl of ao much authority over the lives 2 of the people, because there are not i enough wise men in ths country to i perform the regulatory duties pro- " posed by the bill, because a lot of W small business people will be hurt j by it, and because it will only add " to the confusion and uncertainty in K which we find ourselves." ( |