Evening star., 1948-10-24
Larger Role in Prospect
For Department Of Labor
Agency Dominated Neither by Labor
Nor MANAGEMENT Urged
Bv Gerard D, Reilly


By Gerard d. Reilly
Although the fortunes Of the Department Of
Labor are now at their lowest ebb, two recent
events have indicated that it may soon again
become q strong and influential agency Of
Government.
One OF them was former President Herbert
Hoovers intimation that his reorganization
commission will recommend to the Eighty
first Congress that the department be given
important functions.
The other was Gov. Thomas E. Dewey's
promise in his Pittsburgh speech to make the
Labor Department equal in actual cabinet
status to Commerce and Agriculture" This
pledge was slightly ambiguous as the three
departments now are technically on an equal
footing Hence it has been interpreted as q
promise to make Labor relatively equal in size
to the other departments.
Moreover. any reorganization plan based on
the theory that the cabinet should embrace
the major policy making officials of the execu-
tive branch Of the Government makes it almost
imperative that the Secretary Of Labor be given
more authority. Policy cannot be made in q
vacuum. And because Of the separation from
the department OF the immigration and Natu.
ralization Service. the United States Employ.
Children's Bureau the Secretary of Labor has
FAR less authority today than many bureau
chiefs.
The principal role of the department has
been reduced to housing two almost autono-
nous bureaus-the Wage and Hour Division
and the Bureau Of Labor Statistics. Both of
these bureaus are eficiently stated and per.
form important duties. The statutes defining
their scope, however, make it clear that the
responsibility for their work is largely vested
IN the heads Of the bureaus who are appointed
by the President subject to Senate confirma.
ton.
The department also contains four minor
bureaus which possess no real regulatory flnc.
uons: The Women's Bureau, the Bureau Of
Labor Standards, the Bureau Of Apprentice.
ship and the Bureau Of Veterans Retaining.
These units are small and exist chiefly for pro-
motional purposes. In fact, the last three are
not bureaus at all in the statutory sense, but
were given this nomenclature by the late Sec.
retary Schwenenbach in brave effort to con.
ceal the depleted condition Of the department.
A real Department of Labor should be
equipped to deal with the problem of labor
shortages In prosperous times and the problem
Of unemployment In depression. In periods
OF national emergency 1t would then be In o
position, az the Canadian Labor Department
was called upon to do, of assuming the respon-
sibiity for selective military service and civilian
manpower controls. If this is sound objective,
not only should the United States Employment
Service be returned to the department, but the
unemployment compensation functions Of the
Federal security administrator and the various
State commissions should be transferred to the
Secretary Of Labor.
Another reform in this direction would be the
restoration Of the immigration Service which
was transferred in 1910 to the Department Of
Justice The original scheme Of immigration
legislation was to enable the Federal Govern.
ment to exercise some rational control over the
supply Of skilled and unskilled workers. In
view Of the pronounced scarcity of domestic
and agricultural labor in our present expand.
ing economy the administration Of these laws
might properly be made more flexible and in.
trusted to the agency primarily concerned
with manpower.
In the more controversial field Of union.
management relations the Department Of
Labor should also play more prominent part.
This does not mean conferring any jurisdic.
ton upon 1t for an agency like the National
Labor Relations Board, whose duties under the
Taft Hartley Act have become purely judicial
But there is no logical reason why the func.
tions Of the National Mediation Board with
respect to disputes In railroads and airlines
should not be placed in the Labor Department
or why the Cancellation Service, If raised to
the dignity Of bureau, should not function
within its framework.
II any such program as this, however, Is to
receive sympathetic consideration from Con.
gress, the next Observation-Disclosures 1t be Mr..
Truman or Mr.. Dewey-must be prepared to
break with an old tradition. Ever since it,
establishment by Congress in 1918, organized
labor has tended to regard the department.
as its spokesman and defender. Unfortunately,
this notion was encouraged by the appoint
ment as the first Secretary Of Labor Of an
official of the United Mine Workers. The
precedent thus established by Woodrow Wilson
was followed by his three Republican sue.
cessors in the White House.
It was not until the nomination OF Miss
Frances Perkins that any one other than Q
trade union ofrcer had been designated @
Secretary. Even then the tradition has been
continued by the successive appointments Of
A. F. Of L. men as assistant secretary and In
recent years by the addition of another assist
ant secretaryship for CIO oficial. As
consequence, Congress has also come to regard
the department as the special preserve Of the
unions but its reaction to this situation has
been quite the reverse Of what labor leaders
would like.
Until the social legislation of the New Deal,
the influence Of the unions IN the affairs Of
the department was not viewed with concern,
for the only regulatory statutes administered
by the Secretary Of Labor were concerned with
immigration and naturalization - matters
which did not impinge upon the sensitive area
Of employer and employe relations But when
Congress enacted 6ills dealing with collective