a plan be administered by a neutral agency, not one solely concerned as the Labor Department is with a single segment of our economy. There is no question but that the transfer would cost money. There can be no signficant reduction in expenditures as the President suggested in his recommendation to the Congress. The Federal Security Agency now administers the employment security program with about a dozen others through a regional office system. The Department of Labor has no national regional office set-up and would have to establish one for the sole purpose of administering the employment security program. The Unemployment Compensation program and the Federal Employment Service should continue as they are now being operated-within the Federal Security Agency. We respectfully urge you, therefore, to oppose Reorganization Plan No. 2 and to actively support such legislation as will prevent the plan from becoming effective. With best wishes, I am GEORGE E. SCHNEIDER, General Manager. TENNESSEE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION, Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: We are advised that the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, of which you are chairman, will start hearings on July 25 on the proposed transfer of the Bureau of Employment Security to the Labor Department, and the Tennessee Manufacturers Association would like to go on record as opposing this transfer. As we now recall, this is the third attempt that has been made to make this transfer, and on each occasion it has been found that the States were unanimously opposed to same. We presume that Congress has consistently refused to grant the request. It is our feeling that there is such a direct relationship between unemployment security and the labor employment activities that by all means the two should remain under the same general control, i. e., the States. We will appreciate your putting this protest in the record and respectfully urge that your committee, in conformity with previous action, refuse to grant the transfer. Sincerely yours, C. C. GILBERT, Secretary.* ADAMS BROS. SALESBOOK CO., INC., Subject: Reorganization plan contemplating transfer of social security functions to the Labor Department. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Senator from Arkansas, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. MCCLELLAN: Because the functions of social security do not under any circumstances belong in the Labor Department, it is our earnest recommendation that they be left where they are and your committee make an adverse recommendation to the Senate when the advocated transfer is brought up for consideration. Aside from the fact that the social-security functions should be administered by an unbiased agency for the benefit of all covered employees rather than by an agency whose interests are slanted in the direction of and in favor of a minority group, the advocated transfer is definitely not in the interests of national economy. As now constituted, the machinery is all set up and in working order with a trained personnel possessing the required know-how. If the transfer were made, the Labor Department would have to start at scratch, or practically so, and there would promptly result in another huge addition to the already inflated and topheavy pay roll of the United States Government. Moreover, this is a matter which has been fought over in the United States Senate with the result that every attempt heretofore made to transfer the socialsecurity functions to the Labor Department has been voted down and in at least one instance the legislation passed to keep it out of the Labor Department has been done over the President's veto. The importance of this matter is one that transcends petty political interests and is one that should be decided upon from the standpoint of that which is best for the country as a whole. It is requested that our views as expressed herein be made a part of the record relating to the proceedings in this connection. Respectfully yours, JOHN T. BRINK. MILWAUKEE, WIS., July 22, 1949. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Expenditures Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: We would like to register our protest to transferring Federal administration of unemployment compensation and the Employment Service to the United States Labor Department. We are registering this protest in the interest of the general public for which this program was developed. Also we do not believe that the Labor Department could administer this program unbiasedly. Sincerely yours, FEDERAL MALLEABLE CO., Executive Vice President. P. S.-We would like to have our statement recorded in the hearings record. GREDE FOUNDRIES, INC., Milwaukee 1, Wis., July 22, 1949. Senator JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Expenditures Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: We understand that next week your committee will conduct hearings on Reorganization Plan No. 2. My purpose in writing this letter is to register my opposition to that proposal for the reason that it seems clear to me that the administration of the social-security program should not be delegated to the Department of Labor which obviously, and as established by law, has as its function to "foster, promote, and develop the interests of wage earners." The Department has always functioned on that basis, and it is a well known fact that the three top positions in the Department are virtually selected by the major labor organizations. It seems obvious that social-security problems affect the Nation as a whole and should not be administered in the best interests of everybody on the basis of a Labor Department. Congress, in the past, has consistently followed the proposition that the socialsecurity program should be administered by an independent agency. If the basis for this change is that it is part of the Hoover reorganization plan, then the administration should include all phases of the Hoover plan, not only those that meet its wishes. It is a published fact that the Hoover Commission task force recommendations did not support this transfer. Our social-security program will be better administered by an independent agency than if it were transferred to the Department of Labor. In the interests of better government, Senator, I urge you to oppose this proposition. Yours very truly, JAMES J. EWENS. MILWAUKEE, WIS., July 22, 1949. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Expenditures Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: The Wisconsin State Brewers' Association wishes to go on record as opposing Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 2. During the past 13 years, Congress has decisively decreed that the Federal administration of unemployment compensation and the Employment Service program should be administered by an independent agency and not by one representing special groups. We are strongly in favor of the over-all Hoover Commission report as an economy measure, but since it appears that only parts of such report are being accepted while others are being ignored, we must therefore oppose the recommended transfer of these functions to the Department of Labor simply because it would be in a strictly biased department. It was the original intention of Congress that the social-security program, when conceived and enacted, be an independent general-interest agency and not one subservient to any pressure groups. Yours very truly, WISCONSIN STATE BREWERS' ASSOCIATION, Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, SOUTHERN STATES INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL, INC., Chairman, Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: The Southern States Industrial Council has consistently opposed the transfer of the Bureau of Employment Security to the Labor Department. This attitude has been consistent with that of the authorities of the various States on this particular subject. I do not remember now how many efforts have been made to secure congressional approval of this transfer, but am informed that your committee will take up on the 25th the matter of approving or disapproving the latest request for transfer submitted by the President. I will appreciate your having put into the record the fact that the Southern States Industrial Council still opposes this transfer. It is our belief that effective administration is being secured under the present set-up, and we know of no good reason why there should be a change. As a matter of fact, there is a direct relation between unemployment security and labor employment activities, which we believe would be disrupted by the proposed transfer. We therefore request that you place in the record this letter, constituting as it does the opposition of the Southern States Industrial Council to the proposed transfer. Sincerely yours, R. KIRBY LONGINO, President. VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES, July 22, 1949. Re: Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949. Chairman, Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: In the absence of a national convention mandate, it is the considered judgment of this office, as director of the employment and civil-service division of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, that our organization would have no objection to congressional approval of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, which would transfer the Bureau of Employment Security, the Veterans' Employment Service, the Federal Advisory Council, together with personnel, records, properties, and funds from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor. Personal conferences with appropriate officials of the Department of Labor with respect to the operation of these agencies under the transfer has given assurance to our office of satisfactory policy, particularly with reference to the Veterans' Employment Service. Respectfully yours, OMAR B. KETCHUM, Director. Mr. NELSON H. CRUIKSHANK, RAILWAY LABOR EXECUTIVES' ASSOCIATION, Director, Social Insurance Activities, American Federation of Labor, 901 Massachusetts Avenue NW., Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CRUIKSHANK: This will authorize you when you appear before the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments Tuesday, July 26, representing the American Federation of Labor in support of the President's Reorganization Plan No. 2, to inform the Honorable John L. McClellan, chairman, and the members of the committee that the position you present represents also the position of the Railway Labor Executives' Association. I am sure the members of the Senate committee are acquainted with the fact that railway employees are not covered by the State unemployment compensation laws and that in connection with the Nation-wide railroad unemployment insurance system an employment service is maintained for railway employees. However, the Railway Labor Executives' Association and the labor organizations affiliated with it are vitally concerned with the rehabilitation of the United States Department of Labor and are, therefore, glad to join the American Federation of Labor and other organizations in support of the President's plan to transfer the Bureau of Employment Security from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor. I should appreciate it if you would ask the chairman to include this letter in the record of the hearings on this plan. DEAR SENATOR: The Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce would appreciate being recorded in the proceedings respecting Reorganization Plan No. 2, as being unalterably opposed to the transfer of social-security functions to the Labor Department. The social-security legislation has always been considered to be in the interest of the general public and we are opposed to the transfer to a department set up specifically for the purpose of promoting and developing the interests of labor only. Under the existing administration State systems are recognized, and the transfer of these activities to the Labor Department will further contribute to the centralizaion of authority and will give to the Labor Department greater opportunity to force upon the States the system which they and representatives of organized labor have espoused and have for many years attempted to force onto the States. We can see no benefits whatever inuring to the public through such a transfer,' but believe the transfer to the Labor Department would cost additional money to administer, would further contribute to the centralization of government and would place in the hands of one element undue powers and weaken the entire structure upon which the program has been developed. Respectfully submitted. SALT LAKE CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, By Gus P. BACKMAN, Secretary. SCHLAFER SUPPLY CO., Appleton, Wis., July 23, 1949. Senator JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Committee on Expenditures, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: We most strenuously object to the Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 2. It is, in our honest opinion, not only unsound but also very unfair and will provide just another means to spend a lot of money needlessly as well as giving unreasonable power to a biased governmental bureau. Even though the above were not true, we cannot see where anything can be gained by this change. Yours truly, P. S.-We wish this placed in the record. K. M. HAUGEN, President. KENOSHA, Wis., July 23, 1949. Senator JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SENATOR: We wish to advise that we are not in favor of plan No. 2 which, if passed, would transfer Federal unemployment-compensation activities and Federal Employment Service functions from the Federal Security Agency to the Labor Department. We would appreciate your writing into the records our statement. This is not where the change should be made. I feel that if a change is made it will not benefit both the employer and the employee. Respectfully yours, BODE BROS. Co., DETROIT 32, MICH., July 25, 1949. Re: Transfer of the Unemployment Compensation Administration to the Labor Department Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Expenditures Committee, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I am strongly opposed to this proposal. The Labor Department is directed by the law which established it to function for the purpose of furthering and promoting the welfare of labor. The unemployment-compensation program was established to promote the welfare of the entire Nation. To accomplish this end, the unemployment-compensation program must be administered by an impartial administration. To provide otherwise will effectively destroy the present concept of unemploy ment compensation. The whole structure will swiftly deteriorate from its present sound insurance principle to a gigantic dole. The State unemployment compensation administrations will be effectively controlled toward this end through the persuasion of purse-string logic. Very truly yours, Senator JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, S. S. KRESGE CO., MILWAUKEE 5, WIS., July 25, 1949. Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: I understand that Reorganization Plan No. 2 which would transfer employment service from the security agency to the Labor Department is in your committee. We are opposed to this transfer because we believe that it is in the interests of all of our people that this service should remain with the Federal Security Agency for the reason that it is likely to be administered impartially by that Agency. We would like to have this statement presented in the records. Thanking you, we are, Sincerely yours, MILWAUKEE COOPERATIVE MILK PRODUCERS, T |