Evening star., 1948-12-12

(the Eightieth Congress did much of
the cutting), the Labor Department
now is f1exing its muscles prepara-
tory to reaching out for agencies
and bureaus having any connection
with labor The department is ex-
tremeiy cocky as result of the
election and the part played in the
Democratic sweep by the hard-cam-
paigning Labor Secretary, Maurice
Tobin.
Tobin Has Blank Check
Department officials contend that
all Federal activities in the labor
field, and there are score or more
of agencies and bureaus involved,
should be centered in the Labor De-
partment, at least for "housekeep-
ing" purposes. BY the latter they
mean presumably for the purposes
of setting the budget, selecting per-
sonnel and other administrative
functions.
President Truman has espoused a
strong Labor Department since he
first took Office, but he has been
forced to stand by helplessly and
watch Congress tear it apart. How
ever, with the election victory be-
hind him, the President is in a
good position to do something about
the department.
Just how close Labor Department
officials now will come to realizing
their dream of an all-encompassing
department depends to a large ex-
tent on the size of the blank
check" the President has given Sec
retary Tobin. And there is no doubt
about Mr.. Tobin's standing at the
White House right now. Mr.. Tobin
isn't saying much, but those around
him are talking and acting.
Mr.. Tobin made clear his views
as to what the Labor Department
should be in a speech recently be-
fore the State labor legislation con-
ference.
II want q department in which
all Federal labor laws are admin
istered," he said. "I want a de-
partment that will be what Samuel
Gompers longtime AFL head
wanted it to be-'labor's voice in
the Presidents councils"
There are some agencies which
likely will be transferred to Labor
without much of struggle. Those
include the United States Employ
ment Service and the Bureau OF
Employment Security (unemploy-
ment compensatory. Both now are
in the Federal Security Agency, and
its administrator. Oscar r. Ewing,
has stated publicly they should be
transferred to the department.
Two Agencies Coveted Most
After that the going gets decidedly
tougher. Here are some of the more
important agencies which Labor Off
cials want to bring into the depart
ment: Federal Mediation and Con-
ciliation Service, the National Labor
Relations Board, the National Medi-
alton Board, which administers the
Railway Labor Act; Bureau of Old
Age Insurance of the Federal Secur-
ity Agency, Bureau of immigration
and Naturalization and. that part of
the Interior Departments Bureau of
Mines dealing with worker safety.
Both railroad management and
labor would howl long and loud be-
fore consenting to the transfer of
the National Mediation Board. The
industry has enjoyed the independ-
ence of the board and it undoubtedly
has worked we'll as a separate agency
The two most important agencies
and ones coveted most by the de-
partment are the Cancellation Serv-
ice and the National Labor Relations
Board. the latter currently engaged
in administering and interpreting
the Taft Hartley Act. Although the
act probably will be repealed by the
new Congress, the NLRB will stay on
to handle whatever is cooked up in
the way of new labor relations law
In the case of both agencies the
arguments as to whether they should
be independent or attached to Labor
have swirled about the Capital for
years. Numerous exclusive" news
stories to the effect that the NLRB
was about to be transferred always
turned out to be a bit "too exclu-
sive."
The arguments favoring independ-
ence in both cases seem to be more
compelling, particularly at this time.
The pendulum Of public opinion
which, over the years, has swung
first toward management and then
labor, after the election is again
pointing to labor. If for no other
reason, many hold it would be poor
psychology to disturb the independ-
ent status of two agencies which, to
be effective, must be impartial And,
perhaps never in its 35-year history
has the Labor Department been
more the avowed advocate of labor
organized labor-than 1t is right
now.
Few Kicks Against Ching
Take the case of the Cancellation
Service, charged with Federal
responsibility for settling labor
management disputes and strikes.
Reasons why Labor wants it are
natural. It is the most spectacular,
headline-getting labor unit.
The agency always had rested IN
the Labor Department until it was
made independent by Taft-Hartley
in 1s47. And the principal argu-
ment for moving Il back is that it
was in the department for so many
r~~o~t want Officials with