50 UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES
Mr. Hammer. Mr. Green, about how long, about how much
testimony, about how much time, would it occupy for the proponents
of the bill, or are you in a position to say?
Mr. Green. I am not in a position to say. We have some very
distinguished people here who have come a long ways.
Mr. HamumeR. The point is this: If this committee is going to have
hearings, they will have to sit almost continuously, if there is much
testimony from the proponents and the opponents of the measure;
because I think Congress is going to adjourn next week and it is very
important that we have hearings here even during the sessions of the
House, if we expect to try to get this bill through.
Mr. Green. I think we appreciate that.
Mr. Hammer. Another thing: While it is very important to have
this kind of legislation, there 1s a great deal of legislation that does
bear upon the cost of living. For instance, for the past 8 or 10 years,
there have been efforts of the Patents Committee to get out a patent
bill giving a patent on women’s shoes, children’s dresses, furbelows and
flounces, and everything that children and women wear. That bill
has been reported two or three times and emasculated to a great extent
so that it was not so very harmful, but it was reported yesterday and
came up in the House and there was objection to it. The whole pur-
pose of the legislation is te increase cost. I have received dozens and
in fact hundreds of letters in the last few years from opponents of that
measure. The newspapers are full of it. They want to copyright
roses, flowers, potatoes, and everything of that kind. That legislation
is very questionable as to whether it 1s of value to the country. You
can pass all of the legislation of this kind you want to; but, when you
pass legislation of that kind, you increase the cost of everything we
enjoy.
Mr. Green. I am not prepared to go into that.
Mr. Hammer. It is a very important matter.
The CHAIRMAN. But it is not related to this matter, Judge.
Mr. Hammer. I think it is, very greatly.
SaLes ConpiTioN PropUCTION
Industries are beginning to realize that sales policies condition profits equally
with production economies. Salesmanship and markets are essential to satis-
factory disposal of articles on the market.
Wage earners have been stating in emphatic terms that they would like to
live better and if they had the money there would be no surplus of bathtubs,
shoes, dentists’ services, books, automobiles, good clothing. Higher wage rates
and more stable employment would increase wage earners’ incomes so that they
might buy those things they want and need.
There is at our very doors a hugh potential market for American products
which should be used to turn the tide of business upward toward prosperity.
Over 7,000,000 families in the United States have no automobile; about
20,000,000 have no adequate radio set. In our cities alone, without counting
Farm population, there were in 1928 over 4,000,000 families who had no bathtubs
in their homes, and over 3,000,000 who had not even a kitchen sink with running
water, and probably no plumbing of any kind in their houses. Over 13,000,000
families in our cities have no telephones; over 4,000,000 live in homes not wired
with electricity.!
About 5,000,000 families ? in America today are living below the minimum of
health and efficiency level; they need furniture, clothing, food, better housing.
And the 4% million 2 who have barely enough to support themselves at a mini-
mum of health level are only too eager to raise their standard of living by buying
industrial products. All these are eager to be customers of our industries.
t Figures from “ Recent Economic Trends’ National Bureau of Economic Research.
1 Figures quoted by Paul Nystrom in ¢ Economics of Consumption,’
