DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE.

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1921.

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to the call at 10.30 a. m. in the committee room, Capitol, Senator William S. Kenyon presiding.

Present: Senators Kenyon (chairman), Warren, Shortridge, Sterling, Walsh (Massachusetts), McKellar, Jones (New Mexico), Borah, and Kellogg.

Also present: Brig. Gen. Charles E. Sawyer.

The committee then proceeded to a consideration of the bill (S. 408) to provide for the establishment of a Department of Social Welfare, which is here printed as follows:

A BILL To establish a Department of Social Welfare.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be at the seat of Government an executive department to be known as the Department of Social Welfare, and a Secretary of Social Welfare, who shall be the head thereof, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of $12,000 per annum, and whose term and tenure of office shall be like that of the heads of the other executive departments; and section 158 of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to include such department, and the provisions of title 4 of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments thereto, are hereby made applicable to such department. The said Secretary shall cause a seal of office to be made for the department of such device as the President shall approve, and judicial notice shall be taken of the said seal.

SEC. 2. That there shall be in said department an Assistant Secretary of Social Welfare, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of $5,000 a year. He shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by the Secretary or required by law. There shall also be one chief clerk and a disbursing clerk and such other clerical assistants as may from time to time be authorized by Congress; and the Auditor for the State and Other Departments shall receive and examine all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of Social Welfare, and of all bureaus, offices, and other divisions and branches of the public service under his direction, and all accounts relating to any other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of Social Welfare, and certify the balances arising thereon to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants and send forthwith a copy of each certificate to the Secretary of Social Welfare.

SEC. 3. That is shall be the province and duty of said department to safeguard and promote the social welfare of the people of the United States, and to this end it shall be vested with jurisdiction and control of the bureaus, offices, and other divisions and branches of the public service hereinafter specified and with such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by law. All unexpended appropriations which shall be available at the time when this act takes effect in relation to the various bureaus, offices, and other decisions and branches of the public service which shall, by this act, be transferred to or included in the Department of Social Welfare, or which may hereafter, in accordance with the provisions of this act, be so transferred, shall become available from the time of such transfer for expenditure in and by the Department of Social Welfare and shall be treated the same as though said branches

3

of the public service had been directly named in the laws making said appropriations as parts of the Department of Social Welfare under the direction of the Secretary of said department.

SEC. 4. That the following-named bureaus, offices, and other divisions and branches of the public service, now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury, and all that pertains to the same, known as the Public Health Service and the Hygienic Laboratory, respectively, be, and the same hereby are, transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Social Welfare, and the same shall hereafter remain under the jurisdiction and supervision of the last-named department, and that the Bureau of Education, and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby is, transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Social Welfare, to remain henceforth under the jurisdiction and be a part of the latter; and that the Children's Bureau, and the Bureau of Industrial Housing and Transportation, and now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor, and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby are, placed under the jurisdiction and made a part of the Department of Social Welfare; and that the United States Employment Service, now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor, and the United States Employees' Compensation Commission be, and the same hereby are, placed under the jurisdiction and supervision of the Department of Social Welfare; and that the Office of Home Economics, now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby is, placed under the jurisdiction and made a part of the Department of Social Welfare; and that the Secretary of Social Welfare shall have control of the work of gathering and distributing statistical information naturally relating to the subjects confided to his department; and that the Secretary of Social Welfare is hereby given the power and authority to rearrange the statistical work of the bureaus, offices, and other divisions and branches of the public service confided to said department, and to consolidate any of the statistical bureaus, offices, divisions, and branches as aforesaid transferred to said department; and said Secretary shall also have authority to call upon other departments of the Government for statistical data and results obtained by them; and said Secretary of Social Welfare may collate, arrange, and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as to him may seem wise.

That the official records and papers now on file in and pertaining exclusively to the business of any bureau, office, or other division or branch of the public service in this act transferred to the Department of Social Welfare, together with the furniture now in use in such bureau, office, or other division or branch of the public service shall be, and hereby are, transferred to the Department of Social Welfare.

SEC. 5. That the Secretary of Social Welfare shall, annually, at the close of each fiscal year, make a report in writing to Congress, giving an account of all moneys received and disbursed by him and his department and describing the work done by the department in safeguarding and promoting the social welfare of the people of the United States, and making such recommendations as he shall deem necessary for the effective performance of the duties and purposes of the department. He shall also from time to time make such special investigations and reports as he may be required to do by the President or by either House of Congress or as he himself may deem necessary and urgent.

SEC. 6. That the Secretary of Social Welfare shall have charge, in the buildings or premises occupied by or appropriated to the Department of Social Welfare, of the library, furniture, fixtures, records, and other property pertaining to it or hereafter acquired for use in its business; and he shall be allowed to expend for periodicals and the purposes of the library, and for the rental of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of the Department of Social Welfare within the District of Columbia, and for all other incidental expenses, such sums as Congress may provide from time to time: Provided, however, That where any bureau, office, or other division or branch of the public service transferred to the Department of Social Welfare by this act is occupying rented buildings or premises, it may still continue to do so until other suitable quarters are provided for its use: And provided further, That all officers, clerks, and employees now employed in or by any of the bureaus, offices, or other divisions or branches of the public service in this act transferred to the Department of Social Welfare are each and all hereby transferred to said department at their present grades and salaries: And provided further, That all laws prescribing the work and defining the duties of the several bureaus, offices, and other divisions or branches of the public service by this act transferred to and made a part of the Department of Social Welfare shall, so far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this act, remain in full force and effect until otherwise provided