Employment Summity REVIEW Vol. 20 At MARCH 1953 press time Labor Dept. Marks 40th Birthday Anniversary ON MARCH 4, 1953, the United States Department of Labor observed its 40th birthday. The new Secretary of Labor, Martin P. Durkin, took advantage of the occasion to call together his entire roster of employees, greeting them as helpmates in the tasks he is delegated to perform, affirming his objectives for the Department, and finally conferring merit awards and length-of-service certificates on a number of employees. Staff of the Bureau of Employment Security won its fair share of outstanding recognition. Honored guests sharing the platform with Secretary Durkin included the Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks, Postmaster General A. E. Summerfield, former Labor Secretaries Frances Perkins and Maurice J. Tobin, and Senator H. Alexander Smith, the featured speaker for the program. A greeting from President Eisenhower commended the Department for its useful service and contribution to the Nation over the last 40 years. "In the assistance, research, statistical and law-enforcement operations of the Department," the President asserted, "You are building up the strength of the whole economy... the administration intends to strengthen and improve your services to the worker and to the whole national community." Prefacing his distribution of awards, which concluded the program, Secretary Durkin expressed these sentiments: "As we observe this 40th anniversary of the United States Department of Labor, we think not only of our present staff whom we honor for long and exceptional service, but also of those millions of our fellow citizens whom we serve. I am pleased to be able to participate in this observance so soon after joining the Depart ment. “As one who has long been associated with a large part of the working men and women of America, I know how much they feel they owe to this Department to the laws it administers, the services it renders, and the leadership it provides. I am also sure they realize, as I do, that the Department of Labor is No. 3 far more than a legal entity. It is essentially all of us who work together here in serving the public. "Those who are being honored here today as well as others before them give reassuring evidence of the outstanding manner in which the Department of Labor has been carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to it. These individuals are not only interested in carrying out the daily routine of their assigned tasks but are more than willing to render service over and above that which is officially required of them. "It is my sincere hope that their resourcefulness and devotion to duty will serve as an inspiration to all of us and will give further stimulus towards promoting the principles upon which the Department of Labor was founded and the attainment of its aims and purposes." As a fitting high light to the 40th anniversary of the Department, which owes much to the continuity of service of many of its employees as well as to the outstanding quality of their service, Distinguished, Meritorious, and Length-of-Service awards were made in the presence of all of the Department's employees. While all of the awards cannot be listed here, the Bureau is especially proud of the Meritorious and Distinguished Service awards personally presented by the Secretary to Herbert K. Schierenbeck, VER, Calif. and Hazel M. Vance, Colo., and to Gladys Fielding, Beatrice J. Dvorak, Olga S. Halsey, William U. Norwood, Jr., and Edna J. Lawrence of the Washington staff. Although the Employment Service will not reach its 20th anniversary until this coming June, two employees were among those who were given 20-year length-of-service awards by Mr. Durkin: Frances S. Farmer, USES, Washington, and William H. Siemering, BES, Madison, Wis. Labor Department Advisory Committee Named SECRETARY OF LABOR Martin P. Durkin has established a tri-partite, Advisory Committee of the Department of Labor. The committee consists of 15 members, five each from the public, labor, and management. (See page 3 of cover for complete list of members.) The Advisory Committee is to be a continuing body to which from time to time the Secretary will present particular problems confronting the Department and on which the committee's advice will be helpful. Secretary Durkin said that he would personally meet with the committee and chair its sessions. All meetings are to be closed, and no substitutes or alternates for absent members will be recognized. (Continued on page 31) OUR Making the Most of Our Farm Manpower Resources By MARTIN P. DURKIN Secretary of Labor UR national security and economic well-being depend heavily on our ability to develop and utilize efficiently the labor force needed to produce and distribute the output of our farms and factories. This is especially true in agriculture since meeting manpower needs for the production of food and fiber is of primary importance in sustaining our economy. And meeting these manpower demands has been made extremely difficult by the cumulative effect of the long-term decline in the agricultural population and labor force despite the continued high demand for farm labor to grow and harvest the large volume of food and fiber required for our welfare and national security. We can justly take satisfaction in the fact that despite persistent shortages of domestic farm workers in recent years, we have been able to provide growers and farmers with farm labor when it was urgently needed, with the result that no significant crop losses have been caused by lack of manpower. But we cannot afford to let this success make us complacent. With full awareness of the importance of meeting agricultural manpower needs, we must constantly strive to make our farm placement operations more effective. With the supply of available domestic farm labor below anticipated needs, we must meet manpower requirements in the agricultural field through making full utilization of our limited farm labor resources. This will require imagination and resourcefulness. It will require programs for utilization of local workers not normally in the farm labor force, including housewives and part-time workers. It will require leadership in organizing and expediting the flow of domestic migratory workers so that the farmers' needs are met and the workers have the maximum opportunities for employment. some Since World War II it has been necessary in parts of the country to supplement our inadequate manpower resources by recruiting workers from other countries. The foreign workers are brought in only when domestic labor supplies available for farm work are not adequate to meet the needs. These foreign workers, principally Mexican nationals, are brought into this country on a carefully controlled basis for limited periods in selected crops and localities. The Department of Labor has a responsibility to American workers to see that the use of foreign workers does not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of American workers. The Department will faithfully carry out these and other provisions of the law and the International Agreement covering the employment of Mexican workers. While there have been extensive improvements in farmworker housing in recent years and commensurate improvement in other phases of working and living conditions, much still needs to be done if we are to continue to secure an adequate supply of agricultural workers. While it is not the direct responsibility of the employment service, we can exercise leadership in calling attention to inadequate housing and sanitary facilities for farm workers, when they exist, and the need for adequate medical care, schooling, recreation, and other services normally available to residents of the community. Manpower-A Basic Factor in Agricultural Production By EZRA TAFT BENSON AMERICAN agriculture has come a long way during the past 40 years. During this period farmers have increased production about 70 percent with only 11 percent more harvested acres and with 20 percent fewer man-hours of labor. Increased production with reduced labor requirements has resulted from rapid advances, especially during recent years in technology including widespread use of new and improved equipment and mechanical power. In 1820, nearly three-fourths of the total labor force was engaged in agricultural pursuits; at the turn of the century a little more than one-third; and now only onesixth. The American farm family has traditionally been a source of labor to meet the needs of our ever-expanding industrial economy. This trend will undoubtedly continue in the future but it must not proceed at a rate faster than increases in technology and efficient farming methods reduce manpower requirements. Forty years ago one farm worker produced enough food for 8 persons-today he feeds 15 persons, an increase of nearly 100 percent in his production potential. Even though less manpower is employed in agriculture today, this does not mean that labor is of less importance to production. In fact, it is probably a greater factor than ever before. Most workers employed on a modern farm must be able to perform many tasks requiring skill and experience. A knowledge of soils, crops, fertilizers, pesticides, animal-husbandry practices, etc., is needed in addition to the mechanical ability required to operate and maintain many diverse types of equipment. It is this type of worker, usually born and reared on the farm, supplemented as needed by seasonal help, that insures the continued high production of food and fiber required year after year to meet the needs of our expanding population growth. Because sufficient food and fiber is basic to human health and welfare, an adequately trained and experienced labor force must be maintained regardless of the need for manpower in nonagricultural activities. Therefore, those programs and activities that are deemed necessary to assure adequate manpower to meet agricultural needs must be carried out as vigorously and effectively as possible in order that our people can continue to be well fed and that food and fiber can continue to be used as an effective weapon against aggression throughout the free world. (Continued from column 1) The problem of making the most of our farm manpower resources will be with us for many years. It deserves and will receive from the Department of Labor the thought and work necessary to reduce as much as possible the strain on our economy resulting from a declining farm-labor force. In the last analysis, however, success in this endeavor will depend mainly upon the day-to-day work of local employment offices in providing satisfactory service to farm employers and farm workers. |