NRA
(National Recovery Administration/ National Industrial Recovery Act) 1933- 1936 (declared unconstitutional 1935).
The mission of the NRA was to draw up trade codes of fair competition, to set up a managed economy by relieving business of antitrust laws to eliminate “wasteful competition.” It was thought that creating an artificial scarcity of commodities would cause higher prices, yield higher profits and support higher wages. Each industry was tasked with creating their own code setting up quotas, limiting hours and restricting construction of new factories. Firms that participated displayed blue eagles to inform consumers of their patriotism. There were over 2 million participants.
One sample of a code is that for ICE HOUSES. Employees could work 48 hours a week averaged over 3 months with a maximum of 54 hours in a week. For this they were to be paid 25-30 cents and hour. Office workers were limited to 44 hours per week and no more than 8 hours in a day for which they should earn at least $14 a week with overtime paid at time 1 1/3%.
Not everything was based on employment. Industries set standards for prices, hours that a business could be open and more.
Enforcement efforts were often due to complaints from competitors or employees.
In Oakland, Monet Chevrolet was cited for giving more than allowed for used car allowances. In Oregon Fred Meyer was cited for using loss leaders. In San Francisco the Smith Lumber Company was criminally charged for pricing their supplies below “modal pricing.” Their lost eagle was reinstated when pricing was removed from issues covered in NRA codes.
Read more about the NRA and where you can find the records in the current issue of the CSGA newsletter….and I leave you with a little bit of fun.
It appears that just a month after it was set up the project is nearly complete. Over 98% of the images have been indexed and more than 90% have been arbitrated. There were over 5500 images and they had hundreds of names each, so this is an amazing achievement. Thank you to FamilySearch for setting up projects that benefit so many genealogists. And thank you to the indexers around the world that get them done at record pace. Watch for more California Projects in the near future and be sure to work on other items of interest while you wait.
