Evening star., 1947-04-02
Customs Chief 10 Keep
All Of 1,34O Agents
due for Dismissal
BY the As.oeioisd Press

Customs Commissioner w. II.
johnson said today he viii retain
about 421 of 1,340 port patrol officers
given dismissal notices since the
House voted $500, 600 cut IN the
bureaus operating funds.
Mr.. Johnson told Senate Appro-
priatioas Subcommittee, which has
protested the mass firing, that a re-
vision of his plans will allow reten-
ton of skelton port guards "at
those seaports where experience In
-dicated there Is the greatest smug-
Cling hazard"
The customs head said this In
cludes the ports Of Boston, New
York. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nor
folk, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Portland, Greg: Seattle
and Honolulu.
Mr.. johnson sent dismissal no
tices to 236 Canadian border patrol
officers in addition to the 1,340 port
officers.
Best Way to Meet Cut.
Members of the Senate group in
structed him to study possible econ
omies in his bureau other than dis
missing the officers.
Mr.. Johnson testified today that
cutting down on both customs and
border patrols was the best way to
accomplish the $3,500,000 reduction
in operating expenses.
I'VE do not entertain the belief
that these 421 port patrol officers
can be an effective substitute for
the greater number formerly on our
rolls" he said, 'but they will mini
mize the risk from smuggling at our
most vulnerable spots"
Mr.. johnson said his original dis
missal of 1,576 patrol officers would
have saved $4,724, 900 or $1,224, 900
above the House reduction. The
AL officers retained will use that
excess, he explained.
He said any attempt to trim other
customs activities would increase
present "bottle necks" on interna-
tional trade and delay clearing Of
imports.
Meanwhile CIO President Philip
Murray asked the Senate to restore
funds which the House cut out of
appropriations for the Labor De-
partment and National Labor Re-
lations Board.
Asks Funds for NLRB.
1.-THE sole criterion which appears
to be common in these severe
slashes," Mr.. Murray wrote Senate
leaders, sis the deliberate and deter
mined effort to emasculate those
agencies which seek to protect the
interests of labor"
Mr.. Murray wrote another letter
to House leaders asking for addi-
tional funds for the NLRB. He
said proposed cut would destroy
the effective enforcement of the
National Labor Relations Act"
Preventing the board NLRB)
from arranging for prompt elections
among employees is harmful to the
maintenance of industrial peace"
Mr.. Murray said. Encouraging en-
ployers to flout the law as result
of ineffective enforcement is merely
to provoke industrial discord." The
House refused to give the board
$685., 700 to spend during the balance
of the 1947 fiscal year, which ends
June 80.
Secretary of Labor Schwellenbach
last night wrote the Senate Appro-
priations Committee an appeal for
restoration of the $13,714,500. or 43
per cent cut, in the Labor Depart
ment's $31,850, 700 budget request for
operating funds.
Mr.. Schwellenbach said the cut
would force curtailing the depart
ment's present staff by 40 per cent,
sharp reduction or elimination of
most services and abandonment of
United States Employment Service
machinery for mobilizing manpower
in event of war.