UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 3 1262 08486 7430 Registry No. 215—1—13 NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION PROPOSED CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION FOR THE COAT FRONT MANUFACTURERS INDUSTRY AS SUBMITTED ON AUGUST 31, 1933 .... o- ; L WE DO OUR PART DRY The Code for the Coat Front Manufacturers 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 Submitted by NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COAT FRONT MANUFACTURERS, INC. (H) CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COAT FRONT MANUFACTURERS, INC. Pursuant to Title 1 of the National Industrial Recovery Act. I — Application of Code This code of fair competition, formulated in compliance with, and to effectuate the policy of, an Act of Congress known as the " Na- tional Industrial Recovery Act", shall be applicable to all manu- facturers of coat fronts in the United States. (1) The term "manufacturer" as used in this code shall include any natural person, partnership, business trust, association, or cor-' poration engaged in the manufacture of coat fronts. (2) The term " coat front " as used herein is defined to mean a combination of some or all of the following materials : Canvas, hymo, haircloth, and felt, for the purpose of reinforcing, shaping, and facilitating the tailoring of men's coats. (3) The term " employees " as used herein shall include all persons employed in the conduct of such operations. (4) The term " productive facilities " as used herein is defined to mean " coat-front machinery." (5) The term " effective date " as used herein is defined to be August 3, 1933, or if this Code shall not have been approved by the President two weeks prior thereto, then the second Monday after such approval. II — General Purpose It is the purpose of this code to establish standards of practice which will improve conditions in the coat front industry, increase its sales, and assure equitable distribution of business among its mem- bers through fair competitive relations; to provide for the welfare of the coat front industry's employees, and to secure to them con- tinuity of employment and an appropriate share of the benefits of the industry's improvement; and to safeguard the interest of the buying public through the elimination of discrimination and diversity in price structure, and by securing a freer distribution of the in- dustry's products. Ill — Prices Section 1. Specific Inducements. — No rebates, bonuses, discounts, freight allowances, delivery allowances, storage allowances, overship- ments without charge, gifts, advertising allowances, or other tangible inducement or economic advantage shall be given to any customer unless such rebates, bonuses, discounts, freight allowances, storage allowances, overshipments without charge, gifts, advertising allow- 10182—33 (1) ances, or other tangible inducements or economic advantages are announced or filed and allowed to all other customers. Sec. 2. Sales Below Cost of Production. — A. No coat fronts shall be sold or offered for sale for less than cost. B. The Board of Directors of the National Association of Coat Front Manufacturers, Inc., shall proceed at once to provide for the industry standard methods of cost finding which thereafter shall be used by all manufacturers ; and shall ascertain and establish for the industry from time to time, the costs of the items manufactured by the industry. C. The term " cost " shall include, among other items, labor, pre- vailing market price of raw materials, shrinking, marking, spreading, and cutting, stitching, pressing, packing, and shipping, selling, dis- counts, insurance, interest on investment, office, and administration expense. IV — Employment and Wages Section 1. Employment of Minors. — Employment of any person under the age of 16 years is prohibited. Sec. 2. Collective Activities. — Provisions pursuant to Section 7 00- A. Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collec- tively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from 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. B. 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 a labor organization of his own choosing. Sec. 3. Maximum Hours of Labor. — Forty hours of labor shall constitute a week's work and no employee shall be required or per- mitted to work any longer time. Sec. 4. Minimum Bates of Wages. — On and after the effective date, the wages that shall be paid to any employee shall be at not less than the rate of 35 cents per hour, or $14 per week. Floor boys and apprentices shall be paid a minimum wage of not less than 30 cents per hour or $12 per week, provided that no employee shall be classified as an apprentice for a period exceeding 12 weeks. Sec. 5. Working Conditions. — Safe, healthful, and otherwise sat- isfactory working conditions shall be provided for all employees, which conditions shall as a minimum comply with the highest stand- ards, respecting sanitation, cleanliness, light, and safety, specified in the factory laws of any State in which the manufacturer operates. V — Maximum Hours of Machinery The productive facilities of any plant, shop, or factory shall not be operated for more than one shift of 40 hours in any one week. VI — Overtime Excepting executives and shipping department, on and after the effective date, manufacturers shall not operate on an overtime sched- ule for their employees or machinery in excess of one hour per day, five hours per week, or fifty hours per year. Overtime pay shall be at the rate of time and one half. VII — Sales Terms and Conditions Section 1. Credit Terms of Individual Manufacturers. — Identical credit terms and discounts shall be offered to all customers by each manufacturer, irrespective of quantity purchased, distribution or extension of delivery dates, or any other factor of advantage or dis- advantage in any offered order. Nothing contained in this section shall affect or impair existing contracts. Sec. 2. Uniform Credit Terms. — Terms for the industry shall be 2% 10 days E.O.M. or net 30 days E.O.M. No dating prior to the 25th of the month. Sec. 3. Future Delivery. — No order for coat fronts shall be taken where delivery is to be made beyond 90 days from the date of the acceptance of the order. Sec. 4. Sale on consignments. — The sale of coat fronts on con- signment is prohibited as an unfair method of competition. The term " consignment " as herein used shall include the delivery by a manufacturer to any distributor, as agent, purchaser, or other- wise, under any agreement or understanding, expressed or implied, pursuant to which the seller retains any lien upon or title to or inter- est in the goods delivered, or pursuant to which the distributor may at his option return any of the goods or claim any credits with respect thereto. VIII — Return of Merchandise The unjust return of merchandise constitutes one of the greatest evils in the industry. It involves an enormous loss and waste due to cost of resale, cost of reshipment, damage incident to transporta- tion, and absence of merchandise from stock at a time when it might be readily disposed of. It is, therefore, agreed that no merchandise purchased and shipped in good faith and in accordance with the buyer's specifications may be returned for credit by any purchaser, or if returned, such merchandise shall not be accepted for credit if the same was retained by the purchaser for more than five (5) days. IX — Assignments No person shall hereafter take or receive directly or indirectly from any customer an assignment of accounts receivable, or security in any form whatsoever for the payment of merchandise, without notifying the Association that such assignment or security has been received. X — Contracts Section 1. Conditional Contracts. — Every order accepted by a manufacturer shall be a firm and unconditional contract. The solici- tation or acceptance of contracts or orders to be shipped when or- dered, or subject to confirmation, or subject to cancellation, or with the privilege to return the merchandise or any of it, or subject to any agreement, understanding, or arrangement with the purchaser that such contracts or orders shall be binding only in the event of some unknown or undetermined contingency, is prohibited. Sec. 2. Cancellations and Returns. — The acceptance by a manu- facturer of cancellations of orders, or of the return of merchandise delivered in compliance with contracts, is hereby prohibited. Sec. 3. The making of oral or incomplete and ambiguous written contracts for the sale of coat fronts for delivery beyond a period of two weeks shall contain a definite statement of price, quantity, and grade, terms of payment, time, rate, and place of delivery, and all other elements necessary for a complete contract and shall contain a provision reciting that the prices therein contained shall be sub- ject to modification from time to time to include increases in cost made mandatory upon the industry by the National Recovery Ad- ministration, insofar as such cost was incurred before delivery to the purchaser. Sec. 4. Adjustment of Contract. — Where the costs of executing contracts entered into in the coat-front industry prior to the presen- tation to Congress of the National Industrial Recovery Act are in- creased by the application of the provisions of that Act to the industry, it is equitable and promotive of the purposes of the Act that appropriate adjustments of such contracts to reflect such in- creased costs be arrived at by arbitral proceedings or otherwise, and the National Association of Coat Front Manufacturers, Inc., is con- stituted an agency to assist in effecting such adjustment. XI — General Unfair Practices Section 1. Trade Marks and Trade N amies and Labels. — The imi- tation of the trade marks, trade names, slogans, labels, or other marks of identification of competing manufacturers, having the tendency to mislead or deceive customers or prospective customers or consumers, or the tendency injuriously to affect the business of such competing manufacturers, is prohibited as an unfair method of competition. Sec. 2. False Labeling. — The false marking, labeling, or branding of any coat front, which has the tendency to mislead or deceive cus- tomers or prospective customers or consumers as to the quality, size, material, character, or grade of such coat front, is prohibited as an unfair method of competition. Sec. 3. Commercial Bribery. — The direct or indirect giving, per- mitting to be given, or offering of money or anything of value, by a manufacturer, or his agents, employees, salesmen, or representa- tives, to the agents, employees, buyers, or representatives of cus- tomers or prospective customers, or to the customers themselves, for the purpose of inducing such customers or their agents, employees, buyers, or representatives, to purchase or contract to purchase from the manufacturer making such gift, or suffering the same to be made, or to refrain from dealing or contracting to deal with competing manufacturers, is prohibited as an unfair method of competition. Any employer or principal who learns of a violation of this section by any agent, employee, salesman, or representative, shall immediately terminate the employment of such agent, employee, salesman, or representative. Seo. 4. Defamation of Competitors. — The defamation or dispar- agement of competing manufacturers by falsely imputing to them dishonorable conduct, inability to perform contracts or to make deliveries, questionable credit standing, or by other false reports having the tendency to mislead or deceive customers or prospective customers, is prohibited as an unfair method of competition. Any employer or principal who learns of a violation of this section by any agent, employee, salesman, or representative, shall immediately ter- minate the employment of such agent, employee, or representative. Sec. 5. — Substitution of Materials or Grades. — Substituting other materials or grades for the kind ordered without written approval of the purchaser, is prohibited as an unfair method of competition. XII — Monopolies and Discrimination This code is not intended to and shall not be construed in a man- ner that will promote monopoly or oppress, eliminate, or discriminate against, small competitors in the industry. XIII — Administrative and Advisory Agency Section 1. Reports. — A. For the purpose of enabling the agency to coordinate the efforts of members of the industry toward indus- trial improvement, and to assure the National Recovery Adminis- tration that the provisions of this code are being observed, and that the coat-front industry is taking appropriate action to effec- tuate the declared policy of the National Industrial Recovery Act, each manufacturer shall file with the agency every four weeks upon forms prescribed by it, a report indicating: (1) The number of employees working during each week of such period, and the total hours of employment. (2) The number of beginners employed and the proportion of the total pay roll paid in the aggregate to all of such beginners during each week of such period. (3) The total number of employees whose employment was be- gun or terminated in each week or such period, together with the number of employees hired as beginners, or whose period of instruc- tion was completed, in each week of such period. (4) The number of hours the productive facilities of each of his plants, shops, or factories was operated during each week of such period. B. Such reports are to be retained for permanent filing in the office of the agency and shall be available for inspection at any time by any agent or other representative of the National Recovery Administrator. Monthly summaries of reported information shall, if requested, be forwarded to the National Recovery Administrator! Sec. 2. Establishment of Agency. — A. The Board of Directors of the National Association of Coat Front Manufacturers, Inc., is constituted the agency to collect and receive such reports under such conditions as will insure that their contents will not be improperly divulged. B. To further effectuate the policies of the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Coat Front Manufacturers, Inc., is set up to cooperate with the Administrator as a planning and fair-practice agency for the coat front industry. C. Such agency may from time to time at its own instance, or on complaint by any person affected, investigate as to the function- ing and observance of any of the provisions of this code, and present to the Administrator recommendations based on conditions in the industry as they may develop from time to time, which will tend to effectuate the operation of the provisions of this Code and the policy of the National Industrial Recovery Act, and in particular along the following lines : 1. Recommendations as to the requirements by the Administrator of such further reports from persons engaged in the coat front industry of statistical information and keeping of uniform accounts, as may be required to secure the proper observance of the Code and promote the proper balancing of production and consumption and the stabilization of the industry and employment. 2. Recommendations for the setting up of a service bureau for manufacturing, accounting, credits, and other purposes to aid the various plants in meeting the conditions of the emergency and the requirements of this Code. 3. Recommendations for changes in, or exemptions from, the pro- visions of this Code as to the working hours of machinery, which will tend to preserve a balance of productive activity with consump- tion requirements, so that the interests of the industry and the public may be property served. 4. Recommendations for the making of requirements by the Ad- ministrator as to practices by persons engaged in the coat-front in- dustry as to methods and conditions of trading, the naming and reporting of prices which may be appropriate to avoid discrimina- tion, to promote the stabilization of the industry and to eliminate unfair and destructive competitive prices and practices. 5. Recommendations for regulating the disposal of distress mer- chandise in a way to secure the protection of the owners and to promote sound and stable conditions in the industry. 6. Recommendations for making available credit information con- cerning customers or prospective customers to those engaged in the industry, of information regarding terms of, and actual functioning of any or all of the provisions of the Code, the conditions of the industry, and regarding the operations of any and all of the mem- bers of the industry covered by such Code, to the end that during the period of emergency available credit may be adapted to the needs of such industry considered as a whole and to the needs of the small as well as the large units. 7. Recommendations for dealing with any inequalities that may otherwise arise to endanger the stability of the industry and of production and employment. D. Such recommendations when approved by the Administrator, shall have the same force and effect as any other provisions of this Code. E. In the event that such agency shall find the rules of fair com- petition or any provisions of this Code have been violated, it shall take such action as it deems proper in accordance with this Code, including in appropriate cases report to the United States Attorney, the Federal Trade Commission, or the recommendation that appro- priate proceedings be taken in accordance with the National Indus- trial Recovery Act. XIV — Participation Participation in any subsequent revision of, or addition to, this Code, shall be extended to any person, partnership, or corporation in the coat-front industry who accepts his share of the cost and responsibility, as well as the benefit of such participation by becoming a member of the National Association of Coat-Front Manufacturers. Inc., provided, however, that no inequitable restrictions shall be imposed on admission to membership. XV — Conciliation and Arbitration The industry approves the practice of handling disputes in a fair and reasonable manner, coupled with a spirit of moderation and good will, and every effort should be made by the disputants them- selves to arrive at an agreement. If unable to do so, they should agree, if possible, upon arbitration under some one of the prevailing codes. XVI — Revision Such of the provisions of this Code as are not required to be in- cluded therein by the National Industrial Recovery Act may, with the approval of the President, be modified or eliminated if it appears that the public needs are not being served thereby and as changes in circumstances or experience may indicate. They shall remain in effect unless and until so modified or eliminated or until the expira- tion of the act. It is contemplated that from time to time supple- mentary provisions to this Code or additional codes will be submitted for the approval of the President. XVII — Provision Pursuant to Section 10 (b) The President, in accordance with the provision of Clause 10 (b) of the National Industrial Recovery Act, may, from time to time, cancel or modify any order, approval, license, rule, or regulation issued under Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act. o