Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-26
WAGNER MAKES REPLY
TO VETO OF JOBS BILL
Labor Backs Job-Finding Office System,
Author of Measure Declares in
Radio Forum Address.

AcHl. we 40 not want the FEDERAL Gov
eminent to duplicate the work Of the
states. We DO not want the Federal
Government to compete with the States,
Both OF these undesirable possibilities
are avoided in the bill by leaving the
states free to operate the employment
omces and imposing upon the Federal
Government tn. duty Of co-ordinatine
the work of the States In order to
place this policy Of cooperation and
coordination upon q legali1ed and per
manent basis 1t was provided that the
Federal Government would pay to each
cooperating State an amount not In
excess OF what the State itself appro-
prtated for It's local employment offices
and thus double the service to be rem
dered TO both employers and employees
alike. The details Of the plan were
very similar to those which have been
worked out through long years Of ex-
pertence in the Federal aid highway
system, where, by the cooperation Of
State and the Federal Government, we
have constructed and are constructive
the finest network Of hiehwsys the
world has ever seen. BY adopting such
a plan for the employment service we
make certain that the employment ex-
changes Will be operated by local ini-
tiative under local MANAGEMENT and
local responsibility in accordance with
local needs and desires and at the same
time we provide the means Of effective
cooperation between the States through
the agency Of the Federal Government.
Safeguards Provided.
Several very significant safeguards
were included in the bill, One Of the
most important was the provision that
every Federal employe Of the employ-
ment service must be appointed to his
Position Tor fitness and merit alone un-
der the rules Of the civil service. An
other important provision called for the
estaonshment Of an advisory council
consisting OF an equal number Of en-
ployers and employees whose function
1t was to insure that the service be
kept impartial, neutral In labor dis
puteS and free from political influence
IL was the common Judgment Of all who
had experience with public employment
services that In that way the confidence
ana the cooperation Of both employ
ers and employees could be secured and
maintained and the service kent useful
to those 1t was intended to serve.
In order to meet squarely the issue
raised by the Presidents. veto of the
Dill l have described. want now to
consider the several reasons which the
President and Mr.. Doak have assigned
ment, the President seized upon a sen.
tence In the bill reading, "The employ
ment service now existing In the De-
partment Of Labor Is hereby abolished I"
He would have the public believe that
instead or creating an employment
service the purpose Of my bill was to
destroy one. Obviously that IL not the
fact. The existing service - abolished
ana simultaneously there Is erected In
its place new service. bigger, better
and more amply financed, with greater
the employers and employees Of the
Nation.
COFrects President.
Il Is not my habit to offer correc-
tons Of . statement of fact made by
the President Of the United States. I
do 1t very reluctantly. must, never.
theless, insist that when the President
announced that the existing Federal
employment service Is today finding
places of employment for men and
women at the rate Of 1 800. 900 per an
mum" he was confusing the facts. It
Is the State and local agencies and not
the Federal Government that have
found these jobs. When he goes fur
ther and gives the impression that my
bill would suspend the operation Of the
agencies that found these ], 300, 900 Jobs
feel 1t again my duty to make public
correction. The bill introduced would
not abolish the State agencies. No Fed
eral bill could abolish State agency.
Quite the contrary: under my bill these
agencies would be strengthened by ad-
ditional appropriations and fortified by
adequate, non-political, Federal employ
ment service.
A very determined effort was made
both by the President and by Mr.. Doak
to convey the thought that had the
employment service bill become law
there would have followed O period Of
time, measured by months, or possibly
years, during which we should have
had neither the old service nor the
new one. No one who has read the
whole bill would make that assertion.
for q two-year period Of adjustment in
which to pass over from the existing
inadequate service to the Nationwide
service established by the bill. Not O
single useful activity of the existing
service would have been suspended for
one second. There Is ample authority
in the bill for the continuation Of the
farm labor division and the service rem
dered to veterans in cooperation with
the Veterans Bureau.
Answers Doak Criticism.
Mr.. Doak has stated 1t a. one rea-
son for his opposition to the bill that
the employment service 1t created would
not have an interstate character. What
better answer can make to that criti-
cism than to read one short sentence
from the text of the bill itself The
bill provides, THE Bureau shall assist
in co-ordinating the public employ
ment offices throughout the country by
furnishing and publishing information
as to opportunities Tor employment,
and "by maintaining q system for clear.
ing labor between the several States"
This bill does far more than preserve
the interstate character of the employ
ment service. It creates an employ
ment service capable of performing IN
terstate activity and establishes o per-
manent basis for its operations. Il
provides the machinery for the dis
charge of its interstate functions and
1t safeguards the performance of these
functions by the provisions Of q per-
sonnet and STAFF selected for its 1T
ness to do the job correctly and ade-
quately.
that the underlying idea Of the ban Is
not new. have never made O claim
of novelty for the bill. I have repeat
committee feels that In any permanent
system the State should be the oper-
er than Mr.. Hoover himself was chair
man. That conference reported: "Your
eddy declared that IL corresponded to
the recommendations Of the Presidents
conference Of 1921. of which none 9TH
ating unit Of such employment Offices,
and that the extension Of such offices
e "a 0aSaO L.
ciselv the principle upon which this
bill Is drafted: Operation by the States:
encouragement ana coordination by
the Federal Government. The Couzens
committee Of the United States Senate,
which fully investigated this subject I'm
1929. likewise reported: "Ihe States
and municipalities should be responsible
for k1t4ilAivan aNaaia,ak