Date: 1934

 

Description: This pin comes from the Cudahy Packing Company declaring its membership to the National Recovery Administration (NRA) along with its slogan, “We Do Our Part.” The NRA was a New Deal agency set up by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to to set up “fair competition” between businesses in certain industries. The agency required businesses to come together and establish “fair practices” within the industry, such as minimum wages, maximum weekly hours and minimum prices at which products could be sold. All of these measures were in attempts to try to standardize business practices and proceedings to make things fairer for wage employees and for general consumers. Cudahy was one of the many businesses all over the nation that became a member of the agency, with good reason. Though membership was technically voluntary, businesses that did not join were often boycotted or incurred financial penalties. The blue eagle and the NRA slogan was prominently displayed in advertisements, shop windows, and packages for all participating businesses including Cudahy. In 1935 the Supreme Court ruled the NRA as unconstitutional as it violated the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution by involving the government too much in business affairs. However, many of the more vital parts of the agency would be repeated in the National Labor Relations Act, which passed the same year. Thus after 1935 the power of labor unions increased and began to demand more and more provisions for wage workers.

 

Donor: Ray Reister

 

On display