Montana labor news., 1933-03-30
The Washington
- Scene -
By LAWRENCE TODD

" $780,
Frances Perkins held her first press
conference as Secretary of Labor,
March 81, in the big room dominated
by the portrait of the scholarly w. B..
Wilson, and depressed by the SNUG
replica of j. j. Davis and a gloomy
c~aricature of the alien-hunter w. N.
Doak. She made a good impression
for clarity Of understanding of the
service which the American working
class has hoped the Labor Depart
ment will render, and for the eff
cheney with which she is laying foun-
dations for her handling of the enter
prise.
In the first place, she announced
that the Employment Service will be
Completely reorganized." While
she hopes that the Wagner bill will
be enacted, providing adequate funds
for a nationwide cooperation between
federal and State employment services
she will not wait on Congress for that
reform. She will reorganize the
Service with such funds as are now
available. This means that the
Hoover-Doak political setup which
has cost the government hundreds
of thousands of dollars in the past
year without rendering any particu-
lar service, will be swept out.
#*#
Next, the statistics issued by the De-
partment henceforth are to be more
practically useful than in the past.
Secretary Perkins has asked the
American Statistical Society to ap-
point a committee to make an imme-
diate survey of the adequacy, the
scope, the %soundness and the imme-
date need of the labor facts which
can be presented in statistical form.
The test she will apply, in judgment
on their report, will be whether a
given type of statistics is needed by
labor, by industry and by the general
public, right now, and can be brought
within the present budget limits. She
will appoint a permanent Advisory
Committee on Statistics, on which
labor will be strongly represented,
to work with her in this field for the
coming four years. And when the
Index of Employment figures are is
sued, each month, she will personal
ly explain to the press correspondents
just what they mean and what they
cover. This is her answer to the
reckless distortion Of labor facts, in
the name of statistics, by Doak and
Hoover.
AS for the immigration Bureau, the
Secretary lost no time in stating that
it will itself comply with the law
of the land" under her administra-
ton. She has determined to cen
tralize and consolidate its activities,
so that the irresponsible tyranny of
district officials of the Bureau which
has frequently been charged in re-
cent years by helpless aliens, shall
be ended. Responsibility will be on
the shoulders of the Commissioner
General, who is under her direction.
She is going to have the court rul-
ings as well as the statute law on
immigration codified and printed in
a pamphlet, so that everyone may
know his rights and how to protect
them.
Miss Perkins would have avoided
the steps she had already taken to
end the reign of terror created
among aliens by Doak and his man.
hunting brigade. But when she was
asked whether she had fired" the
staff of "secret-service" men and
women operating under Section "a of
the immigration law, she admitted
that she had Terminated their serv-
ice and their employment" Under
Section "a, the secretary may appoint
agents to Investigate" violations of
the alien contract labor law" Doak
the young people Of the community
to have better and more systematized
play programs. The outstanding
quality of Mr.. Blewett is his sympa-
thetic understanding and regard for