Evening star., 1924-03-01
CHAPTER vi.
A Department for = Year on, Twelve
Houra' Interest. s--

A Department for = Year ON Twelve
Hours' Interest.
! In most other countries the depart
ment of labor is called the depart
ment of social welfare. It was built
out Of the old bureau of labor, or
ganized in 1885 as bureau Of the
Department OF the Interior. Three
, years later 1t became the Department
of Labor. 1t was made Independent
but was not then considered Of suf-
f1cient Importance to give its director
a place In tho Presidents cabinet
This only came in 1903, when a De-
partment of Commerce and Labor
, was organized. Ten years later this
department was divided into two
departments-one the Department of
Commerce. the other the Department
of Labor, each presided over by a
member of the cabinet,
/ James j. Davis of Pennsylvania is
only the second man to occupy the
position of Secretary of Labor in the
! United States. s'-.t'
My appointment was at 4 o'clock in
the afternoon at his office in the
| rented nine-story building In Wash
/! ington used by the Department OF
Labor.
This department was organized to
! foster, promote and develop the well
fare Of the WACO earners of the
United States" declared Secretary
Davis, ..'and to improve their working
conditions, and to advance their op-
portunities for profitable employ
ment."
| One Worker In Five Is Female.
! That's the way the law reads. It's
! a big contract. There are t1.000,00G
persons in the United States classified
! III the 1920 census as gainfuily en-
! ployed, and of these 25,000,O00 are
wage earners. They, with their fam
! lilies, make up the majority of the
people of the United States. If we
follow it a little further we find that
in 1920 there were S,549,O0O girls and
women of ten years OF age and over
who were working. So one worker
: in every five in America is a woman
The Department OF Labor Is divid-
ed into seven bureaus.
l. The bureau of labor statistics
This is the oldest bureau in the de-
partment. 1t was made famous
, twenty years ago, in the days when
. Carroll ID. Wright was COMMISSIONS I
of Labor and associated with the De-
partment OF the Interior This bu-
reau is required by law to collect
collate and report at least once q
year, or oftener if necessary, full and
! complete statistics of the condition
of labor, and the products and distrl-
button of the products of same" Its
work is nation wide. 1t issues the
monthly Labor Review. 1t publishes
many books and pamphlets dealing
with labor statistics. Its statistics
are accepted as authoritative through
out the world. Its index ngurcs on
the rise or fall of the cost of living
are standard and official. On July 1
1928, there were l46 persons EN-
ployed in this department. This is
an increase of twenty-five over the
preceding year. For the fiscal year
ended June 80. 1923, this bureau sper.
S225,900. For 1924 the estimate is
increased by approximately s5e.000.
2. The bureau of naturalization Is
another This bureau has charge OF
the complete work of the naturaliza-
tion of aliens throughout the United
States. which Is definitely prescribed
in the Constitution. The Constitu-
tion provides that Congress shall
have power Ito establish a uniform
rule of naturalization throughout the
Cnited States"
100000 More for Making Citizens.
This work has always been carried
on. But of recent years it has as
sumed Il new place of great import
ance. Schools In 2,461 communities
throughout the United States in 1925
co-operated with this bureau in es-
LablIshing citizenship classes.
During the same year I5S communi.
ties were supplied by this bureau
with the names of 2S9,733 candidates
for citizenship. This is an increase
of 10000 over 1922.
In order to become a citizen OF
| the United States an alien must swear
formally to such an intention ant
declaration. Last year 296.636 per
sons in the United States filed such
declarations of intention. This is the
first step. Five years later the fina-
step can be taken, when an alier
asks for his citizenship papers from
the courts, One hundred and fifty
eight thousand and fifty-nine aliens
ipetitioned for their citizenship papers
, in 1929. In all 145,0S4 were made full
! citizens There were 24,sS4 persons
In this bureau 2ss persons were
employed on July /, 1923, and there