In spotlight at U.S. Maritime commission hearing. Washington, D.C. Aug. 23. The U.S. Maritime Commission opened a general hearing on maritime labor conditions in an attempt to determine methods of avoiding costly industrial disputes which have hampered the American Merchant Marine and discouraged investment of Capital in shipbuilding. Among the first to be heard were, left to right, John W. Meal, of Marine Cooks and Stewards Association of the Pacific Coast; Mervyn Rathbone, President of the American Radio Telegraphists Association; and Francis J. Goodall, National Maritime Union of Cooks and Stewards. Rathbone told the commission that minimum wages fixed by the government become the maximum rates paid by ship operators. Many telegraphists have thrown out of work [...] the adoption of the automatic alarm system appro[...] [...] F.C.C., Rathbone also told the commission. 8/23/37