MINORITY VIEWS

The undersigned members of the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments of the House of Representatives, after careful study of bill H. R. 3423, dissent from the conclusions set forth in the majority report on the ground that the enactment of this bill into law will deprive thousands of honest, industrious, and self-respecting aliens fathers and mothers of American-born children-from earning a livelihood.

Bill H. R. 3423 is being sponsored for the sole purpose of removing aliens from the rolls of the Works Progress Administration. There can be no other reason for this bill since the number of aliens who are now compensated, in whole or in part, out of appropriations made by Congress for work in other departments, offices, or employment is practically negligible. Besides, this latter group of aliens who are now employed in Government work, are mostly outside of continental United States, and they are being used chiefly because of the unusual conditions connected with the particular type of work, or because of the low rate of pay which practically bars American citizens from seriously considering such positions. (See letters contained in confidential committee reports to the chairman of this committee from Hon. Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor; Hon. Malin Craig, Acting Secretary of War; Hon. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State; Hon. Homer Cummings, Attorney General; Hon. Charles West, Acting Secretary of the Interior; Hon. M. L. Wilson, Acting Secretary of Agriculture; Hon. Wayne C. Taylor, Acting Secretary of the Treasury; Hon. Frank T. Hines, Administrator, Veterans' Administration.)

The Works Progress Administration was created for the purpose of giving temporary work to men and women who because of actual existing conditions were unable to find or obtain any gainful employment. While the act which made this relief program possible excludes from its benefits all aliens who are illegally in the United States, it does include and provide for aliens who are here legally and who have been residents of long standing. To deprive them of the right to earn a living for themselves and their families is unfair, unjust, and inhuman. It is a known fact that most of the aliens who have been in the United States the length of time required by our naturalization laws are more than anxious to become American citizens, and the only reason why they are not citizens is that they lack the required educational qualifications for admission to citizenship. We therefore maintain that ignorance of our language and our laws is not a good or sufficient reason for depriving anyone from the right to earn a livelihood. To promulgate such a principle is tantamount to imposing the severest punishment conceivable, for ignorance.

The harm that will be done by dropping aliens from the rolls of the Works Progress Administration may be seen from the following statement made by Mr. Hopkins, Administrator of the Works Progress Administration, in his letter to the chairman of this committee:

I feel, moreover, that the social implications of applying the provisions of H. R. 3423 to project workers are very serious.

The families of at least two-thirds of the Works Program employees who are aliens contain children who are American citizens. The discharge of the legally entered aliens from the program would thus deny the benefits of the Federal Works program to probably more than 160,000 American citizens, a great majority of whom are dependent children. These children would be forced to depend on the States and localities for relief, and many localities are unable to provide additional relief funds for the care of this group. Furthermore, it is probable that action taken to bar all aliens from Federal relief jobs would be quickly followed by similar action on the part of the States and municipalities. A considerable proportion of the aliens receiving employment have already taken out first papers as a step toward citizenship.

As already stated, the only purpose of this bill is to exclude aliens from the Works Progress Administration, since practically all other Government positions and employment are subject to rule V, section 1, of the Civil Service Rules, which provides as follows:

Citizenship.

No person shall be admitted to examination unless he be a citizen of or owe allegiance to the United States: Provided, That when an examination has been duly announced to fill a vacancy and there is a lack of eligibles who are citizens, the Commission may, in its discretion, examine persons who are not citizens, but they shall not be certified for appointment so long as citizens are eligible.

In attempting to gain their ends, the sponsors try to create the impression that the reason for this bill is to insure the efficiency and the safety of our Government by having its work carried on exclusively by loyal citizens. While we agree that Government business should under every circumstance be undertaken and discharged by persons who owe allegiance to the United States, we must strenuously disagree with the contention that the work carried on by the Works Progress Administration is such kind of work as requires the employment of persons whose allegiance is beyond question.

in connection with this point, we again quote from Mr. Hopkins' letter the following:

It should also be borne in mind that reasons which might possibly be advanced for barring aliens from employment as officers of the Government do not apply to persons merely receiving relief payments. Works Progress Administration project workers are not required to take an oath of office and do not handle matters of Government business, so that a possible division of allegiance could not affect the interests of the United States. Both the refusal of the Congress to accord veterans' preference to project workers and the refusal of Congress to extend the provisions of the United States Compensation Act to these workers indicate that they are not considered in the same category as regular employees or officers of the United States Government.

The attention of the committee has been called to the fact that there are now employed in the Government service a number of aliens in socalled expert technical positions. As to these aliens the undersigned are in full accord with the committee that there is no such dearth of talent in the United States as to warrant the employment of noncitizens. We feel the same as the majority of the committee, and that is, that with respect to all positions intimately related with the functioning of our Government that only citizens should be employed.

О

JAMES J. LANZETTA.
CHARLES L. GIFFORD.

H. Repts., 75-1, vol. 2-24

AMENDING THE ACT OF JUNE 23, 1936, AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO SET APART AS A NATIONAL CEMETERY CERTAIN LANDS OF THE FORT SNELLING MILITARY RESERVATION, MINN.

MAY 12, 1937.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. FADDIS, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1247]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1247) to amend the act of June 23, 1936, authorizing the Secretary of War to set apart as a national cemetery certain lands of the Fort Snelling Military Reservation, Minn., having considered the same, report favorably thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

By the act of June 23, 1936 (Public, No. 763), the Secretary of War was authorized to set apart as a national cemetery certain lands of the Fort Snelling Military Reservation, Minn., including the existing post cemetery. A board of officers of the War Department made an examination of the site proposed in Public, No. 763, preparatory to the carrying into effect of that law. The board found that the enlargement of the existing post cemetery at Fort Snelling would be impracticable because of an insufficiency of ground and due to the rocky character of the soil. It was further determined that the enlargement of the post cemetery would result in the destruction of the present training area and buildings for civilian components.

Therefore the bill S. 1247 proposes to strike out the words "which shall include the existing post cemetery" appearing in the act of June 23, 1936 (Public, No. 763). This change in the 1936 act will permit the Secretary of War to establish a national cemetery at another and a more suitable site on the Fort Snelling Military Reservation. This measure is recommended favorably by the War Department. Letter of January 19, 1937, from the Department follows:

Hon. MORRIS SHEPPARD,

Chairman, Committee on Military Affairs,

United States Senate.

JANUARY 19, 1937.

DEAR SENATOR SHEPPARD: There is enclosed the draft of a bill to amend the act of June 23, 1936, authorizing the Secretary of War to set apart as a national

cemetery certain lands of the Fort Snelling Military Reservation, Minn., which the War Department presents for the consideration of the Congress with a view to its enactment into law.

The existing law which will be affected by the proposed bill is the act of June 23, 1936 (Public, No. 763, 74th Cong.), authorizing the Secretary of War to set apart as a national cemetery certain lands of the Fort Snelling Military Reservation, Minn., including the existing post cemetery.

To carry into effect the provisions of the act of June 23, 1936, a Board of Officers was appointed in the Seventh Corps Area to report the metes and bounds of the new national cemetery to include the existing post cemetery. After examining the site of the present post cemetery and consultation with Representative Melvin J. Maas, author of the bill establishing the national cemetery at Fort Snelling, the board reported that the enlargement of the existing post cemetery. was an impracticable proposition for the following reasons:

(a) There is insufficient ground.

(b) The character of the soil surrounding the present post cemetery is rocky and would require blasting in order to prepare graves.

(c) The extension of the present cemetery would result in the destruction of the present training area and buildings for civilian components who train at Fort Snelling during the summer; and which also are used for processing large numbers of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees.

The proposed legislation will enable the Secretary of War to establish a national cemetery at another site on the reservation which is more suitable for cemeterial purposes and which will provide burial space for many years.

This proposed legislation was submitted to the Bureau of the Budget which reports that it would not be in conflict with the financial program of the President.

Sincerely yours,