sumably, considerations that we did not take into acc would have to take into account; but it is not, on either s of difference in objective as the effective organization o in the light of the existing Federal-State system that w Senator MURRAY. Well, the fact merely that unemp pensation is related to other insurance programs is no reason why it should be in the department that carrie insurance program.

Mr. COHEN. It is not conclusive. No, Senator, I th of the arguments on either side is conclusive. It is a v of the elements that you must take into consideration i decision.

Senator MURRAY. That is all.

Senator DONNELL. Thank you very much, Mr. Cohen ness. We appreciate greatly you gentlemen coming, such short notice.

Mr. Nelson Cruikshank, please use your own desire of to inquire, however, would you be willing to simply file and give us a summary of it orally, or would you pr entirely, and give it to us that way? You may follow w you desire. I make the inquiry, however, for your ow

STATEMENT OF NELSON H. CRUIKSHANK, DIRECT INSURANCE ACTIVITIES OF THE AMERICAN FE LABOR

Mr. CRUIKSHANK. Well, Senator, I assume that the been circulated among the members of the committe have had a chance to look it over, in the interest of would be willing to summarize it.

Senator DONNELL. I might say in frankness, Mr. C while it has been here, I have not personally read it. fairly well occupied today, and it just has not been do so. I do not know that I would have gotten to not been as crowded as it has been, although I want that your statement is valued, and we should be very ha Now, if you prefer to read it, it is perfectly all right to file it, that is perfectly all right.

he tripartite Federal Advisory Council.

that it may be perfectly clear that the position that I this committee is in complete harmony with the official the American Federation of Labor I should like at this ve included in the record a copy of a resolution which was y passed by the sixty-sixth convention of the American of Labor in San Francisco on October 16, 1947. This vas introduced by the committee on resolutions of which w Woll was chairman. [Reading:]

hat this convention emphatically endorses the statement of Presithat the Eightieth Congress has torn down the United States of Labor until it no longer can function to properly carry out the which the Department was founded and contained in the act Congress which created it; and be it further

hat the Department be restored to its proper and intended status n fulfill its responsibilities as required by the act which created ficial proceedings, sixty-sixth convention, American Federation of

convention of the American Federation of Labor also took -h is more specifically directed to the issue which your s now considering. The declaration on social insurance, y adopted by the convention on October 15, includes the ection:

peatedly called for the administration of the United States Employto be placed within the United States Department of Labor. In lose tie between unemployment compensation and the employment recommend that legislation be introduced providing for the transhe United States Employment Service and the Bureau of Employy from the Federal Security Administration to the United States of Labor (p. 609 official proceedings, sixty-sixth convention, Ameron of Labor).

tions were adopted by the delegates to the convention of an Federation of Labor reaffirming positions repeatedly the past on the basis of experience of the wide memberhey represented and in the belief that a proposal such as ntained in Reorganization Plan No. 1 provides the soundtration pattern for the economical and efficient operation yment security program.

apparently no disagreement concerning the necessity of two agencies which deal with the matter of employment

organizational pattern which would be in conformity dominant pattern of administration of the correspo within the States.

Attached to this statement there is a list of 15 States major industrial States as New York, Pennsylvania, Illi cut, and Massachusetts in which the unemployment agencies and employment services are located in the Sta of labor or comparable departments.

In addition, there is a list of six States which have t cated in departments having other labor functions. It portant to note that in not one State are these two ager in the State department of public welfare or other State responsibility for public health, education, or other ma those which constitute the main responsibilities of the F Agency.

Next week we will observe the thirty-fifth anniversar lishment of the United States Department of Labor. Federation of Labor had long urged the establishment partment, and was greatly encouraged when as his 1 President William Howard Taft signed the bill which Law 426 of the Sixty-second Congress. The purpose ment of Labor was declared by this law to be

* * * to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to portunities for profitable employment.

Through its 35 years of history the Department of I devoted to these purposes and in fulfilling its obligati dered valuable assistance to wage earners in achieving t ing standards enjoyed by workers anywhere in the worl so without being destructive of other interests, for w standards of American workers have steadily improve last 35 years industry has also prospered and agriculture The Department of Commerce has been of great asis bers of the business community and this is as it should the Department of Agriculture has been of tremendous ing the farmers of our Nation to improve their condi of Government which relate to industry and busines

properly belong within the Department of Commerce, and affairs of Government of special interest to farmers belong within the Department of Agriculture. We would not have it otherwise.

But we insist that affairs of Government which relate to employment and to labor belong within the Department of Labor. Otherwise there is no reason for having a Department of Labor. Surely no governmental function can be more closely related to the purpose of advancing "opportunities for profitable employment" than the United States Employment Service. It belongs in the Department of Labor by definition.

The limited responsibilities for the administration of unemployment compensation which under our laws belong to the Federal Government are likewise labor functions since they deal with the employment relationship, and since they are of direct concern to both industry and labor.

The unemployment-compensation program is an insurance system which provides partial compensation for wage losses arising from involuntary unemployment. It is not a relief program administered in relation to need and, is therefore not properly a responsibility of a department or agency whose main functions relate to the administration of public welfare. It is concerned with bringing about a greater measure of employment stability and job continuity.

American workers have viewed with dismay the way in which during the last few years, and especially within the life of the Eightieth Congress, the Department of Labor has been emasculated by stripping it of almost all of its major functions. The Department of Labor today is a department in name only. The Children's Bureau, the Conciliation Service, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have been removed from its jurisdiction.

For the current fiscal year its appropriations have been cut by almost 25 percent. The funds of the Wage and House Division have been cut so drastically that its capacity to carry out its responsibilities in connection with the Fair Labor Standards Act has been seriously impaired.

Gentlemen, we urge that the celebration of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding of this Department be observed by your permitting the reorganization plan proposed by the President to rebuild in part the shattered ruins of labor's department.

One phase of the President's plan has not in our opinion been given the attention that its importance merits. That is, that it includes broadening the functions of the tripartite Federal Advisory Council which was originally set up under the provisions of the WagnerPeyser Act to advise the Secretary of Labor.

Upon the adoption of the plan this Council will become the group where representatives of management and labor and the public will develop policies for the operation of the Employment Service and the unemployment compensation programs insofar as these policies are determined at the Federal level.

We, in the American Federation of Labor, have had long experience in serving on such advisory councils and we thoroughly believe that with the inevitable extension of administrative law such councils offer an appropriate and effective means of guiding bureaus and agencies of Government in the interests of those most directly affected and in

the interest of the general public without diluting administrative responsibility. When the manpower problem became acute during World War II the USES was in effect the operating division of the War Manpower Commission, and the policies of the WMC were developed by a management-labor policy committee which included in its membership the representatives of industrial management, of labor and of agriculture.

Under the policies and programs recommended by this tripartite committee this Nation not only achieved the greatest production record in history but remained throughout the war the only Nation engaged in that great struggle which did not have to resort to national service legislation.

It was my privilege to serve as the executive assistant to the labor members of this committee and while I can recall that many sharp differences developed between the representatives of management and labor, the policies agreed upon by that group were in the end accepted unanimously.

Surely nothing could be more appropriate to our democratic way of life than to provide that the guiding policies of a Federal office dealing with matters of employment and unemployment should come out of a free consultative process among the representatives of the groups most directly concerned with the operation of such programs. I stress this point because in looking over the hearings that were held before the House Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments and reading the majority report of that committee, it appears to me that some representatives of business management who expressed their distrust of the Department of Labor failed to recognize that the plan provides adequately for their participation in the development of the policies that would guide the Secretary of Labor and the Commissioner of Employment.

This advisory council is now in existence within the Department of Labor and there is attached to this statement a list of the representatives of the public, of industrial management, labor, and veterans' organizations which presently comprise its membership.

If I can interrupt the reading at this point, I should like to say that Mr. Cohen indicated that there were other considerations besides the fiscal and purely administrative that should be taken into account. From our point of view, one of those considerations is the fact that for the last three and a half years since I have been back with the American Federation of Labor, we have tried to get the Federal Security Agency or the Social Security Administration, previously the Social Security Board, to appoint just such an advisory council, because we like to develop policies in consultation with industrial management and others concerned, and we have not had any success in getting that administration to appoint such an advisory council. It is already in existence with the United States Department of Labor.

There has been some opposition to this plan based on the allegation that the United States Department of Labor is a protagonist of labor's special interest. These allegations can only grow out of the false conception that the interests of labor are opposed to the interests of other groups in our economy. American labor has never accepted that view.

The welfare of labor is prerequisite to the economic well being of the Nation. Though there are inevitably differences of opinion be