Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-05-15
Baltimore Asks
1oKeep0|d-Age
Bureau There
Spokesman Oppose
Transfer Of Agency
To District Area

A House Public Works subcom-
mittee today heard spokesman for
Baltimore plead for retention
there of the Bureau of Old Age
and Survivors Insurance of the
Social Security Administration.
The subcommittee on public
buildings and grounds has before
1t a bill backed by the Social Sc
curity Administration to bring the
agency to the Washington area.
Pending also are bills sponsored
by Maryland representatives to
build a new home for the Bureau
In the Baltimore area.
After the hearing, Chairman
Trimble of the subcommittee re-
cessed the group to give Repre-
sentative Fallon, Democrat, of
Maryland, the opportunity to find
suitable sites in Baltimore which
might be offered without cost to
the Government.
Mr.. Fallon had asked the sub
committee for 10 days more time
He said he believed he could get
evidence that there might be a |
surplus of Federal land there or
that people might be willing to
give the land"
Called a Serious Blow.
Mr.. Fallon and other witnesses
stressed that the loss of the bu-
reau with its 5000 employees and
an annual payroll of about SIS
million would be a serious eco
nomic blow to that city.
Speaking for Robert Garrett
and Sons, investment bankers of
Baltimore, Awhile Eager outlined
to the committee plan for pri-
vate financing of the new building
proposed by Mr.. Fallon's bill.
The proposal to furnish private
money, he said. would require
legislation such as the Fallon bill
under which the Government
would pay an annual rental fee
to carry not only the rent but
to amortiZe the cost within Is or
30 years.
Mr.. Eager contended that pri-
vate enterprise should be given
the opportunity to help the Gov
eminent finance not only the pro-
posed building in Baltimore but
public structures needed else
where.
Employees Described as Worried.
The employees Of the bureau in
Baltimore are seriously worried
about possibilities of transfer of
their agency to Washington, the
subcommittee was told by George
William Creighton of the Balti-
more Association of Commerce
and William G. Ewald, executive
vice president of the Retail Mer-
chants Association of Baltimore.
During the hearing Representa-
tive McGregor, Republican, of
Ohio raised questions about the
per cent interest which would
be charged on a loan for the
building by private capital He
also said he was definitely against
the Government buying any more
land.
Social Security officials at pre-
vious hearings had strongly rec
commended passage of bill spon-
sored by Chairman Wilmington
of the House Public Works Com
mittee to construct a building for
the bureau in the Washington
area. They claimed it should be
paid for out of the bureaus trust
fund, available for operating ex-
penSes without further appropria-
tions by Congress.
The Bureau had been situated
in Washington from it's creation
in 1886 until 1912, when it moved
to Baltimore to make room for
war agencies. The huge wage
records section of the bureau,
however, always has been in Balti-
more because there never was
room for it here. The transfer to
Washington would include the
wage records.