The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-02

an institution, the most charit. able thing you can say of Miss Perkins is that she Is no execu- tive.
 FOR, UNDER HER, THE DE- APARTMENT OF LABOR HAS BECOME THE sTEPCHILD OF THE NEW DEAL.
 This is not @ new story, for the Labor Department has been treat- cd as e stepchild before. When 1t was firSt established back in the days Of Woodrow wilson, 1t was given the horse and carriage discarded by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan. And for years 1t was filled with desks and oftice furniture cast off by the Treasury and other older depart fnents.
 During the Roosevelt Adminis- tration, however, American labor has received e better break than ever before in our entire history. More laws benefitting labor have been passed, more money for la. Dor has been appropriated. Yet the Labor Department itself has shrunk. dwindled, and faded into relative obscurity.
 Miss Perkins greatest blow was the government reorganlxa. ton bill, by which the Employ. ment Service was transferred to the Social Security Board.
 Privately Miss Perkins planes her former assistant, Arthur Alt- meyer, now Social Security Char. man, for selling the Presidents reorganizat advisers the Idea to transfer this bureau away from her. Later she got some measure of revenge by keeping Altmeyer from being appointed ad- ministrator of the new Federal se- curity Agency. But she never dreamed that Paul McNutt would get the job.
 NO LADIES' MAN McNUTT
 And now the handsome and chivalrous McNutt, target of most ladies smiles, Is engaged in a death feul with the only lady in the Cabinet.
 He hes been publicizing the number of men the Employment Service has put back to work since he took 1t over without empha. sizing too much the important factor of the business pickup). And now, to cap the climax. he is endeavoring to euchre out from Madame Secretary her Children's Bureau.
 This would be the toughest blow of oil, for # Miss Perkins really has . record which she can be proud of, it i as c crusader for women and children. However, McNutt claims that the maternal and child health services 1t into his Public Health Service and t looks as if the White House would support him.
 In addition, the President him. self has put forward the idea of transferring the Immigration and Naturalization Service from Labor to the Justice Department. Finally, Congress has been threat. ening to make the Wage.Hotir Ad- minlstraticn independent of Miss Perkins, and propably will do 1t.
 If these changes take place, the VnS.A~ yNa,.n ,.k ks.a asae t4AanV,aaa a ssa asa shell. It would sink almost to the status, when measured by annual appropriations, of the old Bitum. inous Coal Commission of the Civil Service Commission.
 The Labor Departments total appropriation for the present fiscal year is S30,S3e,l70. But if Che Chlldren's Bureau, Immi- grafton and Naturalization, plus Wages. .and- Hours are taken away, Miss Perkins' appr0prla. ton would sink tO the incredible plttance of only S4,347,15e.
 FDR NEVER FIRES
 It Is automatic that Franklin Roosevelt never fires anyone. He may send them abroad to study industrial conditions, as he pro- posed sending NRA Boss Johnson. Or he may ask them to study crime. as he did Professor Mo- ley. Or he may transfer them to the Export-Import Bank, as he dsd George Peek. Or he may strip their department of import ant dukina. A some neonle HtlAs