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HEARING

966-4 BEFORE THE

_a COMMITTEE ON

OR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

JN1TED STATES SENATE

1E GHTY-NINTH CONGRESS

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FIRST SESSION

ROSS, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE COMMISSIONER OF

THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

SEPTEMBER 16, 1965

Printed for the use of the

Committee on Labor and Public Welfare

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U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

53-776 WASHINGTON: 1965
COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

LISTER HILL, Alabama, Chairman

PAT McNAMARA, Michigan

WAYNE MORSE, Oregon

RALPH YARBOROUGH, Texas

JOSEPH S. CLARK, Pennsylvania

JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia

HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey

CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts

GAYLORD NELSON, Wisconsin

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, New York

JACOB K. JAVITS, New York

WINSTON L. PROUTY, Vermont

PETER H. DOMINICK, Colorado

GEORGE MURPHY, California

PAUL J. FANNIN, Arizona

STEWART E. MCCLTJRE, Chief Clerk

JOHN S. FORSYTHE, General Counsel

STEPHEN KURZMAN, Minority Counsel

FRANK CUMMINGS, Minority Labor Counsel
NOMINATION

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1965

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a.m., in room 4232,

New Senate Office Building, Senator Lister Hill, chairman of the

committee, presiding.

Present: Senators Hill (presiding), Morse, Yarborough, Javits, and

Murphy.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee Will Come to order.

The CHAIRMAN. We are very happy to have Secretary Wirtz with

us and Arthur Ross, nominee for Commissioner of the Bureau of

Labor Statistics.

Mr. Secretary, is there something you would like to say?

STATEMENT OF WILLARD W. 'WIRTZ, SECRETARY OF LABOR

Mr. WIRTZ. Very briefly, Mr. Chairman and members of the

committee, it is first with real regret I report officially to this committee the resignation of D. Ewan Clague as Commissioner of Labor

Statistics. His record goes back over 18 years and includes this

committee's talking with Mr. Clague about a great many matters.

He was originally nominated by President Truman and then nominated again by President Eisenhower and by President Kennedy, and

also received the acclaim and the complete support of this committee.

It is a matter of great personal regret he leaves now as he approaches

retirement age, and the regret I speak of is both on the part of the

country and on my own part because he has made a great contribution.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, will you yield?

Mr. WIRTZ. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to join you in your tribute to Mr.

Clague. I have not only known him as a member of this committee

but as chairman of the subcommittee that handles the appropriations.

I want to say this. He has certainly always done mighty fine and I

want to say he has always been able to have more management and

labor advisers to handle any conflicts in his work, and as far as program accomplishments were concerned he has done a wonderful job.

I certainly join in tribute to him.

Senator Morse.

Senator MORSE. Mr. Chairman, I certainly would like to associate

myself with those remarks. I have always been able to place complete

reliance on Mr. Clague's work as the head of a unit. Here was a man

whose job was to find out the facts and report on the facts and that he

did. I want to pay him my commendation. I don't want to involve

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the committee in any way that it is the unanimous feeling of the

committee, but I do feel it would be most appropriate, for the work he

has done for this committee over the years, if the Chair would have

Mr. McClure write a letter to Mr. Clague expressing our appreciation

for the many services he has rendered this committee in the name of

the Government.

The CHAIRMAN. I will certainly endorse Senator Morse's request

and if there is no objection, we will write that letter.

Senator MURPHY. Mr. Chairman, in the absence of my colleagues

on this side of the table, I would like to join in the endorsement of

the chairman and my good friend from Oregon, and I am sure they

will join with me in that expression.

The CHAIRMAN. Fine. Thank you. We will write the letter and

be happy to do so.

Anything you would like to add?

Mr. WIRTZ. Just a footnote to that conversation. Dr. Clague is

unfortunately not here this morning. He would otherwise have been,

but the meeting was a matter of short notice as far as he was concerned,

and he is out of town today.

I turn then, Mr. Chairman, to my introduction to this committee

of Prof. Arthur M. Ross, of California, who has been nominated by

President Johnson to succeed Mr. Clague. Mr. Ross is here and you

will hear from him, and on the basis of your own questioning what

you want to hear about him. I want only to say that he comes here

today as a Presidential appointee or nominee, so it becomes almost

appropriate for me to identify one other element in the record which

it has been my pleasure over the last 20 years, going back to the

period of the War Labor Board, to work with Arthur M. Ross.

I would add to what has already been reflected in the President's

commendation only this expression, of the very great additional

pleasure I have taken from that association, but beyond that the

feeling of great confidence which it has given me, that Arthur Ross will

be the complete Commissioner of Labor Statistics, as Ewan Clague

has been before.

It is a matter of personal pride and of official pride, too, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, that permits me to introduce to

this group, this committee, at this point, the President's nominee for

Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Arthur Ross, of California.

STATEMENT OF ARTHUR M. ROSS, NOMINEE FOR COMMISSIONER

OF BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

Dr. Ross, we will be happy to have you make any statement you

see fit with reference to your qualifications as to your appointment as

Commissioner of Labor Statistics.

Mr. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I am deeply honored to appear before this distinguished committee as President Johnson's nominee for the post of

Commissioner of Labor Statistics.

For approximately 20 years I have been on the faculty of the

University of California as professor of industrial relations.

I was director of the institute of industrial relations there between

1954 and 1963. My own research and writing have dealt principally
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with problems of wages, collective bargaining, industrial disputes,

and unemployment. Currently, I am the president-elect of the

Industrial Relations Research Association, which is a scholarly body

in the industrial relations field.

I hope that my past experience will enable me to carry forward the

Bureau's splendid tradition of competence and objectivity to which

you and Senator Morse and Senator Murphy have referred to this

morning.

I have had extensive Government experience, although not in an

enterprise as large or permanent as the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

President Truman appointed me to the National Wage Stabilization

Board in 1952. I served on the Atomic Energy Labor-Management

Relations Panel, by appointment of President Eisenhower, between

1953 and 1958.

More recently, I have been a member or chairman of numerous

Presidential boards in emergency dispute cases under the TaftHartley Act and the Railway Labor Act. 1 was chairman of Governor

Brown's Commission on Employment and Retirement Problems of

Older Workers, and I have been a consultant of Governor Quinn,

of Hawaii, and to various Federal agencies. I might add that this

year I served on the California Farm Labor Panel by appointment of

Secretary Wirtz.

I have been active in labor-management arbitration since 1947.

I have been permanent arbitrator for General Dynamics and the

Machinists Union, for North American Aviation and the Auto

Workers, for Firestone Rubber Co., and the rubber workers, and in

various Bay area industries, including the newspaper industry.

Since 1956, I have been chairman of the central adjustment board

of the cannery industry in California. 1 expect that I have arbitrated

labor disputes for most of the larger companies and unions of my

State and in other States of the west coast.

Mr. Chairman, if my nomination should be confirmed, I know that

it will not be easy to fill the shoes of Dr. Ewan Clague, who had made

such an eminent contribution to the Government and who is universally respected in labor, industry, and academic circles, just as he is

in senatorial circles, but I shall try.

It will also be a particular privilege to be associated with one of the

most capable and courageous men in public life, Secretary Willard

Wirtz.

That is my initial statement. I would be glad to answer any

questions concerning my qualifications.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Doctor. Any questions? Mr. Morse.

Senator MORSE. Mr. Chairman, all I want to say is I think we

have a nominee here who has not only demonstrated keen scholarliness

in the field of labor relations but who is also a pragmatist in human

relations and one who has been a very able public servant, and I am

pleased to support the nomination.

The CHAIRMAN. Any other questions? Senator Yarborough.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Doctor, while you were on these arbitration

panels, were you able to retain your title of professor of industrial

relations at the University of California?

Mr. Ross. Yes.
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Senator YARBOROUGH. Congratulations. Among other things that

have been mentioned by Secretary Wirtz and Senator Morse, you

must be a very fine political scientist.

The CHAIRMAN. Any other questions? Senator Javits I just want

to inform you we have Dr. Arthur Ross before us now as a nominee

for the post of Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Senator JAVITS. A great friend of mine had your new job for years.

His name was Isador Lubin.

Mr. Ross. He was a great Commissioner.

Senator JAVITS. Do you consider him a good prototype of what a

Commissioner of Labor Statistics ought to be?

Mr. Ross. Yes. I hope I can do half as well.

The CHAIRMAN. If there are no further questions, Secretary Wirtz,

we want to thank you very much for your appearance, and thank

you, Doctor, very much.

(Whereupon, at 10:50 a.m., the committee went into executive

session.)

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