Pending Legislotion Keeps Industry on 'Hot Tin Roof

\Aillen the gavels came down in the Senate and the House of Representatives January 6 to signal the opening of the second session of the 86th Congress, both bodies hid backlogs of potential legislation vitally affecting the nation's lumber industry.

_ Lumber, as the sixth largest industry in the United States, shares the particulai concern of-all industry regarding legislation affecting wages, prices, taxes, taiiffs, the Federal budget, and regulation of business.

In addition, being distributed widely throughout all 50 states_ and dealing with a commodity considEred one of America's most important natural resources, the lumber industry must concern itself as well with states' rights, forestry programs, land acquisition policies, roads, wilderness areas, Federal power programs, and water resources.

The upcoming session of Congress, aside from new bills and resolutions to be introduced, will deal with specific l_98,islation, hearings, and studies in each of these categories : Wage-Price capitol observcrs are certain that the outcome of the steel strike will have a decided influence upon the introduction or consideration of labor legislation in the areai of compulsory arbitration, antitrust and, the right-to-work. At the same time, efrorts will probably be ma$e_tg weaken the provisions of the Labor-Manage*"rri n.p*tirrg and Disclosure Act of 1959 (Landrum-Griffin ect) and tne fattl Hartley Act.

Labor relations, for instance, will attract front page attention again this session when consideration is given to bills introduced in both the House and Senate last session io inc.ease the minimum wage from $1.00 to $1.25 an hour, to greatly broaden the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and to repeal certain exemptions, including the l2-man logging exemption.

Hearings on these matters were held in the Senate Labor con.rmittee and a bill was actually approved by a subcommittee. No action was taken in the House. Although the White House is reported to be opposed to an increase in the minimum wage, it .uppo.i. certain extensions of coverage.

There is probably no bill before the Congress of more immediate concern to th'b lumber industry than this minimum wage proposal. Strong opposition was voiced to the measure by ,ep.ei"t"tiu.. "f the forest products industry, particularly from the South, at the S-enate hearings. It is expected that hearings will be held by the House Labor Committee early in the new session, and it is antici- pated that the AFL-CIO, which considers this legislation as one of the most important measures in its program, will press for passage.

As a corollary to increased minimum wage rates, Congressional attention w'ill also be focused again on the establishment oJ Federal standards for State unemployment compensation systems. Several bills to this end were introduced in the fiist session of th. g6th corrgress with the liberals strongly supporting federalization and the conservatives striving to maintain the status quo.

National Budget

Industry interest is high in administration efforts to control in_ flation and balance the natior-ral budget. president Eisenhower's de_ termination to balance _the budget, consistently supported by the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, may f"c. , ..rr.r. t"rt this year in the face of revenue losses through reduction in coroo_ rate and personal incomes brought about by the steel strike, ihe increasing competition business is encountering f.o- foreign imports, tight credit, and other economic factors.

Regulation of Business

In recent years, bills dealing with antitrust and trusiness regula_ tions have steadily increased in number. The first session of trrel6th congress was no exception to this trend. Extreme bills in this area hav.e.been bottled up in committee to a large extent, but observers anticipate a concerted drive for passage of restrictive legislation aimed at business this year.

Bills proposing premerger notification (5.442), and requirements that certain corporations file advance noiice of'pri.. itr.i"r... f5. 215), are both before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Another bill before that Committee will seek to nullify the ,,good faith', defense in price discrimination cases (S. l1).

Ifearings were held in the Senate on S.215 involving the require_ ment for major companies under certain conditions io notifv the government of price increases in advance whereupon the govern_ ment would review the proposed increases and, in effect, pass judg_ ment otl them before they could be adopted.

The House Government Operations Committee reported out H. R. 6263 requiring the President to hold public hearings on price-andwage increases which appear to him to threaten national economic stability.

Taxation

In addition to passing a bill in the first session which limited the states' power to tax income derived from interstate commerce within the facts of recent Supreme Court decisi.ons, provision was also made by the Congress for a study of all problems connected with such state taxation. Although it is doubtful that legislation will result from this inquiry during the present session, businessmen would be well advised to prepare to state their position clearly when the opportunity afiords.

No action was taken on the Herlong-Baker bill to revise downward the present individual and corporate tax rates, but the House Ways and Means Committee held hearings in November on the over-all tax structure and business will press for action during the coming session.

Housing

The last-minute housing bill, which was rushed to a vote and was signed into law in the last session after two previous bills had been vetoed by the President, will probably face revision and supplementation in the present session as political pressures, always ur- gent in an election year, are felt. There is little doubt that Congressional advocates of public housing, urban renewal, college housing and housing for the elderly will renew their efforts to find favor with segrnents of the population who will benefit from additional legis- lation of this kind. The success of such efforts is enhanced in an election year as even some conservative stalwarts may waver in the face of impending judgment at the polls.

Foreign Competition

Possible relief front low-wage area foreign competition may result from Senator Keating's (R-N. Y.) bill, introduced during the closing days of the last session, to provide tariff relief for American manufacturers of any commodity seriously threatened by foreign competition. The measure, 5.2663, would equalize conditions of com- petition relating to wage levels and working conditions between domestic and foreign industries in the production of imported articles. Specific legislation affecting the lumber industry's struggle with foreign competition failed of passage in the first session. Several bills to establish hardwood plywood import quotas were introduced but died in committee. The Senate, late in the session, struck from a tariff bill an amendment intended to clarify the tarifi classification of wood mouldings. The battle on these issues will be resumed in this session.

States' Rights

A bill which passed the House in June, the so-called States' Rights Bill, H. R. 3, has been watched carefully by the lumber induitry since, if enacted into law, it would provide much needed ,rules as to the effect of Federal statutes on state laws. The drive for enactment of this legislation will be renewed in January, but it will face serious difficulties in the Senate where strong opposition is known to exist.

Loans and Grants

Two pieces of legislation providing subsidies to local areas were considered in committee last session and the Senate, in fact, ap- proved a $390 million loan and grant program (5. 7ZZ) to assist economically depressed urban and rural areas. There will be strong pressures brought to bear on Congress by some local governmenti for enactment of such legislation.

Forestry and Natural Resources

It is considered likely that this year will see a battle to reconcile conflicting House and Senate-passed bills to establish an Agricul- tural Research and Development Commission which would attempt to expand markets for farm and forest products. Favorable action is expected on the House Agriculture Committee resolution endorsins the Administration's proposals for a long-range program for the development of the national forests which has been forwarded to the Appropriations Committee which must vote the necessary funds. There is widespread Congressional support of this program.

Bills were introduced in both the House and Senate (H. R. 8264 and S. 2193) to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to se1l, at not less than the appraised price, lands in national forests which are isolated parcels, or narrow projecting strips, or land immediately adjacent to urban areas. Hearings on these bills may be held in the second session.

Senator Russell Long of Louisiana has once more introduced a bill (5. 2729) to provide for the establishment of Federal-State Land (Continued on Page 49)