Summary of statistics on enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act, fiscal year 1945

Establishments in violation of minimum wage and/or .

overtime provisions

Summary of statistics on enforcement of the Public Contracts Act, fiscal year 1945

POSSIBILITY OF DECREASED APPROPRIATIONS IN THE FUTURE

Mr. ANDERSEN. Mr. Walling, in reference to the general picture, when do you anticipate that you will come before this subcommittee and ask for an appropriation below that of the previous year? Is there anything in the work load as you see it in the future which might lead us to anticipate that there will be a peak which will have been reached and from then on we may figure on a falling off in the demand for money?

Mr. WALLING. Well, I should say that at any time when the ratio of violations uncovered to inspections made drops materially below the ratio at which it has been consistently running, such a request could be made. But I would not think it prudent or fair to this committee or to the people who voted for this legislation originally, or those who are benefited by it, to give the impression that when one out of two cases inspected results in a violation, we have reached the point where we can say that we are spending too much money and using too many people to enforce the law.

Mr. ANDERSEN. It is not my assumption that you folks are using too much money. My question did not indicate that.

I should like to speak off the record at this point.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. KEEFE. Have you a recommendation to this committee that you think you can get along with the money that you had for the current year?

Mr. WALLING. No; I have not.

Mr. KEEFE. We have got to start reducing expenditures of Government. We just cannot stand still. If you start taking as a base last year's appropriation and you pat yourself on the back because you have asked only $612,000 increase over that base, we are not making any progress toward eliminating expenditures of Government.

Mr. WALLING. No; but my point is this. As I said a little while ago off the record, I came in here in good faith and showed that we had made a voluntary cut without prompting by the committee or the Bureau of the Budget, in the national office of the Division-a cut of 20 percent, in 1942. I said to you frankly, gentlemen, that I thought that ought to be taken into consideration and that that is all we ought to have to take at that time. We had done this on our own, we thought it was time to do it and we would have liked to have had you have enough confidence in me so that you would know I was acting in good faith and not feel that you had to take another slice out. But, as Mr. Hare said, you probably did not have enough confidence in me. You thought that if I could take 20 percent off, you could take another 20 percent off.

Mr. KEEFE. It is not a question of lack of confidence, Mr. Walling, at all. Many times it is a question of necessity. And I think you, as a citizen of the United States, realize the situation just as well as the men on this side of the table. We are headed toward a complete economic collapse unless we can do away with this policy of deficit financing of Government activities. I think that will be conceded by almost any thinking person. At least the President has indicated that it is his desire and hope, and that he expects to balance the Federal Budget and is making every effort in that direction.

But how we can ever balance it when we are confronted with constantly increasing expenditures all along the line, with every one of the departments of the Government coming in here and asking for more money I do not know. And I have reached the conclusion, as a member of this committee, and from some talks with people in the departments, that these department people anticipate that this committee is going to take a little whack at their estimates and when they bring them in, they have that already in mind. That may not apply to the present case, because we always absolve the people who are present from that sort of intention. But I have been told, nevertheless, by people who pleaded just as hard as you have for your agency, after it was all over and the cut was made, "Well, we did not fare so badly after all; we can get along."

As a matter of fact, how can we continue this program of constantly mounting expenditures?

Mr. WALLING. I think you will agree with me that we have not made any trouble for your committee in accepting with more or less of a smile the wartime cut which you made in our appropriations. We recognized that there was not only a shortage of manpower, but that we must do our part; that the Government was spending tremendously increased sums during the wartime period for wartime purposes and that the regular agencies of the Government must help out to avoid swelling that total.

All that we are saying to you now is that when the wartime agencies which were the ones really that swelled the Government deficit in a way which the regular peacetime agencies of the Government do not begin to do when those agencies are being cut off, that we be permitted to go back, perhaps not all the way, but part of the way back to where we were during peacetime. In other words, we want you to restore to us the status which we had and which we gave up voluntarily during the war period because of the necessity of manning the wartime agencies and providing them with the billions of funds which they needed.

Mr. HARE. The committee thinks you are doing a fairly good job, but when the committee feels it is necessary to do a better job, I think it will supply you the necessary funds.

If there are no further questions, I believe that is all, gentlemen.

MONDAY, MAY 20, 1946.

CHILDREN'S BUREAU

STATEMENT OF MISS KATHERINE F. LENROOT, CHIEF; DR. MARTHA M. ELIOT, ASSOCIATE CHIEF; MISS BEATRICE MCCONNELL, DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRIAL DIVISION; MRS. LAURA E. WARREN, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT; MISS ALICE SCOTT NUTT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF SOCIAL SERVICE; EDWARD E. SCHWARTZ, DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF STATISTICAL RESEARCH; AND JAMES E. DODSON, BUDGET OFFICER

GENERAL STATEMENT

Mr. HARE. Our next item for consideration is the justification for the Children's Bureau in the Department of Labor. We have with us the Chief of the Bureau, Miss Lenroot, whom we are glad to have back with us again.

I assume that you have a general statement you wish to make with reference to your work this past year.

Miss LENROOT. I have.

Mr. HARE. We shall be glad to hear it.

Miss LENROOT. This will doubtless be the last time I shall be appearing before this committee as head of the Children's Bureau with all its present functions, including child-labor administration. I should like to take just a few moments to review the aims and accomplishments of the Children's Bureau during its years of service in the Department of Labor and some of the basic principles which in my opinion should govern future work in behalf of children.

FUNCTIONS OF THE BUREAU

As stated in the justification of estimates submitted to this committee, the Children's Bureau has four functions as follows:

1. Under the act of 1912 creating the Children's Bureau, to investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life;

2. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, to administer the child labor provisions of that act;

3. Under the Social Security Act of 1935, as amended in 1939, to administer maternal and child welfare provisions of title V, parts 1, 2, and 3 of the act, providing for grants to State agencies of health and welfare, and State agencies for crippled children, for the development of health and welfare services for children;

4. To administer the emergency maternity and infant care program for the families of men in the lowest four pay grades of the armed services.

In addition, the Children's Bureau is actively cooperating with the other American Republics in activities relating to the promotion of maternal and child health and child welfare under the broad program of the Federal Government for which the Department of State, with the assistance of other Federal agencies, is responsible.