UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 
 
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 3 1262 08486 7729 
 
 Registry No. 215—14 
 
 NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 PROPOSED CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 BUTTONHOLE INDUSTRY 
 
 AS SUBMITTED ON SEPTEMBER 2, 1933 
 
 WE DO OUR PART 
 
 u^'!V. c 
 
 ,... 
 
 U.S. DEPGS'iTCRY 
 
 The Code for the Buttonhole Industry 
 
 in its present form merely reflects the proposal of the above-mentioned 
 
 industry, and none of the provisions contained therein are 
 
 to be regarded as having received the approval of 
 
 the National Recovery Administration 
 
 as applying to this industry 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 WASHINGTON : 1933 
 
 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. Price 5 cents 
 
SUBMITTEa) BY 
 
 NATIONAL BUTTONHOLE MAKERS' ASSOCIATION 
 
 (II) 
 
PROPOSED CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION FOR THE 
 BUTTONHOLE INDUSTRY 
 
 To effectuate the policy of Title I of the National Industrial Re- 
 covery Act, during the period of the emergency, by reducing and 
 relieving unemployment, improving the standards of labor, eliminat- 
 ing competitive and trade practices destructive of the interests of 
 the public, employees, and employers; rehabilitating the industry 
 and otherwise to improve the condition of the Buttonhole Industry 
 and in other respects to foster the best interests of this industry and 
 those engaged in or having connection therewith, the following provi- 
 sions are established as a Code of Fair Competition for the Industry : 
 
 I — Definitions 
 
 As used herein, the term " Buttonhole Industry " shall include all 
 manufacturers of buttonholes and eyelets on women's wearing 
 apparel. 
 
 The term " employer " or " manufacturer " shall mean all persons 
 who employ labor. 
 
 The term " employees " shall mean all persons employed in the 
 shops or factories conducted in this industry by such employers 
 engaged in the making of buttonholes and eyelets. 
 
 The term " person " shall mean any individual, partnership, or 
 corporation. 
 
 The term " manufacturing employer ", as used herein, shall include 
 all employers who work in their shops or factories. 
 
 The term " effective date " shall mean the first Monday following 
 the expiration of a week after the President's approval shall have 
 been given to this Code. 
 
 Wherever the term " President " is used, it shall refer to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 II — Official Agency 
 
 In order that the President of the United States may be informed 
 of the extent of observance of the provisions of this Code and of 
 the extent to Avhich the declared policy of the National Industrial 
 Recovery Act, as stated herein, is being effectuated in the Buttonhole 
 Industry, all persons subject to the jurisdiction of this Code shall, 
 at its request, make, periodically, reports as hereinafter provided. 
 The Executive Board of the National Buttonhole Makers Association, 
 570 Seventh Avenue, New York City, is hereby constituted the agency 
 to provide for the collection and receipt of such reports. It shall 
 be the general planning and coordinating agency for the Industry. 
 The Executive Board shall forward the substance of all reports to 
 the President; the Board to provide for receiving and holding such 
 reports themselves in confidence. Such reports shall be in such form 
 
 9720—33 (1) 
 
and shall be furnished at such intervals as shall be prescribed by 
 the Board, and shall contain such information relevant to the pur- 
 poses of this Code as shall be prescribed by the Board from time to 
 time, including information with respect to the following or related 
 subjects : 
 
 (a) Membership, hours, wages, and wage rates. 
 
 (b) Production, orders, and billings. 
 
 (c) Financial and cost data, 
 
 (d) Activity, purchases, sales, and scrapping of machinery. 
 
 (e) Application shall be made by persons desiring to enter the 
 Buttonhole Industry to the Executive Board, and said Board shall 
 forward said applications, with its recommendations, to the President. 
 
 (f ) The Executive Board shall have full power to make rules and 
 regulations necessary for the administration and enforcement of this 
 Code. 
 
 (g) Upon complaint of interested parties, or upon its own initia- 
 tive, the Executice Board may make such inquiry and investigation 
 into the operation of the Code as it may deem necessary. 
 
 (h) It shall recommend to the Industry from time to time, modi- 
 fications of the hours for operating productive machinery as estab- 
 lished by this Code or curtailment of the number of operating 
 machines. Such recommendations to the Industry shall be operative 
 as part of this Code, provided (1) the}'' do not vitiate the main pro- 
 visions of this Code and (2) are approved by at least seventy (70%) 
 percent of the members affected. 
 
 (i) The Executive Board may require from all persons engaged 
 in the manufacture of buttonholes and eyelets registration of 
 machines engaged in this industry. 
 
 (j) The Executive Board may delegate any of its authority by 
 designating an agent, or agents, as it shall determine. 
 
 (k) The Executive Board, in cooperation with and subject to the 
 approval of the President of the United States, may (1) from time 
 to time submit supplemental provisions, amendments, or revisions 
 to this Code or additional Codes, as it may deem necessary. 
 
 (1) The Association imposes no inequitable restrictions on admis- 
 sion to membership therein, and is truly representative of the But- 
 tonhole Industry. 
 
 Ill — Child Labor 
 
 On and after the effective date employers shall not employ any 
 person under the age of sixteen (16) years. 
 
 IV — Minimum Wage 
 
 On and after the effective date the minimum wages that shall be 
 paid by any employer to any employee for ever}?^ working hour shall 
 be as follows : 
 
 Per hour 
 
 For making mannish buttonholes ' $0.75 
 
 For making straight Singer buttonholes . 50 
 
 For making eyelet buttonholes . 50 
 
 Unskilled labor shall be paid a minimum wage of $12.00 per week. 
 
V — Hours of Labor 
 
 On and after the effective date, no employer shall employ any 
 employee in excess of forty (40) hours per week. This does not 
 include office help and salesmen. 
 
 The employer or employee cannot work in his shop or factory 
 after the regular shop hours. 
 
 Factories or shops shall be open every day of the week, except 
 Saturday and Sunday, at 8.30 a.m. and operate until 5.30 p.m., 
 with the exception of one hour for lunch. 
 
 VI — Participation 
 
 An employer must participate in this Code and in any revisions 
 or additions thereto, and receive the benefits thereof. He shall 
 accept the proper pro rata share of the cost and responsibility of 
 creating or administering it, either by becoming a member of the 
 National Buttonhole Makers Association, or, by paying to it an 
 amount equal to the dues, from time to time provided to be paid, by a 
 member of the National Buttonhole Makers Association. 
 
 VII — Correct Eecords 
 
 Every employer shall keep clear and correct books and records 
 in order that he shall comply with the provisions set forth in this 
 Code with correctness and dispatch. 
 
 VIII — Eelations With Workers 
 
 As required by Section 7 (a) of Title I of the National Industrial 
 Recovery Act, the following provisions are hereby made conditions 
 of this Code : 
 
 "(1) That employees shall have the right to organize and bargain 
 collectively through representatives of their own choosing and shall 
 be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of 
 labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or 
 in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose 
 of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; (2) that 
 no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a 
 condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain 
 from joining, organizing, or assisting in a labor organization of his 
 own choosing; and (3) that employers shall comply with the maxi- 
 mum hours of labor, minimum rules of pay, and other conditions of 
 employment approved or prescribed by the President." 
 
 IX — Unfair Methods or Competition 
 
 Any violation of any provision or provisions of this Code, or of 
 any accepted rule issued thereunder, is declared to be an unfair 
 method of competition. The following trade practices are hereby 
 declared to be detrimental to the welfare of those engaged in the 
 Buttonhole Industry and, therefore, are unfair methods of compe- 
 tition : 
 
(1) Making false and derogatory reference — written, oral, or 
 printed — of competitors or their products. 
 
 (2) Circulating harmful rumors regarding competitors' products 
 or personal or financial rex^resentation. 
 
 (3) Incorporating in advertisting false or derogatory references 
 to the products of competitors or misleading comparisons therewith. 
 
 (4) AVorking or offering work to customers below cost, plus a 
 reasonable profit. 
 
 (5) Enticing employees away from a competitor without his con- 
 sent, for the purpose of injuring said competitor. 
 
 (6) Selling at a discount greater than two (2%) percent, for pay- 
 ment on the loth day of the month following shipment. 
 
 (7) Continuing to sell to customers who habitually and unjusti- 
 fiably make claims. 
 
 (8) Continuing to sell to customers who habitually refuse to pay 
 the agreed price for merchandise, in accordance with order. 
 
 (9) Giving secret or open rebates, refunds, or special discount in 
 any form to any purchaser, his representative or agent, on any 
 condition whatsoever. 
 
 (10) Securing or attempting to secure, illicitly, information re- 
 garding competitor, his method of doing business, lists of his cus- 
 tomers, etc. 
 
 (11) Giving certain customers confidential prices, special services 
 or privileges. 
 
 (12) Furnishing customers articles other than the product of the 
 factory or shop of the members of this Code at unreasonable prices 
 for the purpose of affecting or defeating the terms of this Code. 
 
 (13) Deviating from announced or published price lists, directly 
 or inclirectly, in any guise, by allowance of rebates, refunds, com- 
 missions, or discounts. 
 
 (14) Paying or promising to pay to employees or representatives 
 of a customer or prospective customer commissions in the form of 
 money or in the form of an article of value for the purpose of 
 inducing or compensating for a sale. (This does not apply to ordi- 
 nary Christmas gifts.) 
 
 (15) Not adhering to the terms of sale as provided in the order 
 placed by a customer. 
 
 (16) Not enforcing collection on a due date in accordance with the 
 terms of an order. 
 
 (17) Indulging in commercial bribery in any form. 
 
 X — No Pending Contracts 
 
 No manufacturer shall make contracts with customers — with price 
 quotations — while the adoption of this Code is pending, except sub- 
 ject to the provisions of this Code. 
 
 XI — Stabilizing Prices 
 
 As the Buttonhole Industry is entirely one of service to other 
 industries which it serves; and, as it is practically a worker using 
 the materials of its customers in the manufacture of its product, 
 labor forms the main part of its expense. Pending the duration of 
 
this Code, therefore, the following shall be the minimum prices 
 charged : 
 
 Per hundred 
 
 Straight buttonholes $1. 00 
 
 Eyelets . 75 
 
 Mannish buttonholes (dresses) 1.25 
 
 Mannish buttonholes (cloaks) 1.50 
 
 Mannish buttonholes (children's cloaks) 1.25 
 
 XII 
 
 This Code is not designed to promote monopolies or to eliminate 
 or oppress small enterprises, and will not operate to discriminate 
 against them. It is designed for the protection of consumers, fac- 
 tories, employees, and others, and in furtherance of the public 
 interest. 
 
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