ried in the United States following his resignation from the Canal service. As I said a moment ago, this act of May 29, 1944, Public Law 319, authorized the payment of annuities to persons who were employed during the construction period under certain circumstances, and the widow under certain circumstances, one of which is that she must have resided on the Isthmus as his wife during the construction period. Mr. THOMPSON. This woman does not comply with the requirements of the law? Mr. BURDICK. That is correct. Mr. THOMPSON. What is the basis, then, of her request? Why should she be not under the law like other people in the same category? Mr. BURDICK. That, Mr. Thompson, seems to be one of the things that you get on any of these bills when you draw minimum standards. Someone who almost meets the minimum requirements and comes very close to complying thinks that the line should have been set a little differently from what it was. Our position with respect to this legislation is the same as it is with respect to the one that we just discussed a moment ago. We have no special interest in and no special recommendation to make with regard to it. It is a matter for Congress to decide. Mr. MILLER. If we reported this bill favorably it would amount to changing the law for the benefit of a particular individual; would it not? Mr. BURDICK. Yes, sir; that would be the effect of it. Mr. MILLER. And then that would perhaps involve a hundred others. Mr. THOMPSON. It just simply lowers the base; that is all. Mr. BURDICK. I would like to say, Mr. Chairman, that our drafted report of this has likewise been cleared by the Bureau of the Budget and will be along to the committee very promptly. That will also carry the advice that the enactment of the proposed legislation would not be in accord with the program of the President. That is all. Mr. MILLER. I have no further questions; thank you. Mr. O'TOOLE. Thank you, Mr. Burdick. Is there anyone else who wishes to appear in opposition to the bill? STATEMENT OF LEWIS H. FISHER, REPRESENTING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED CIVIL EMPLOYEES, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. FISHER. Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the committee, my name is Lewis H. Fisher, representing the National Association of Retired Civil Employees. We want to support Mr. Burdick's report that these bills-H. R. 2140 and H. R. 2237-seem to be discriminatory in favor of one or two individuals and we think that if there is to be a change in the policy adopted by the Congress in requiring residence on the Isthmus during the construction period of 1 year, there should be a pension for all widows of construction workers and not just pick out a few, as you would have in those cases. I was Chief of the Retirement Division when the basic law was passed in 1944, and a great deal of debate occurred in the Halls of Congress on that question, and they wanted to put it down to 6 months' residence and different periods, and they finally decided that there should be a residence of at least 1 year. If that is to be changed, I would like to recommend that all widows. of construction workers be given the benefit because Theodore Roosevelt said these widows performed a wonderful service. He said: It is not an easy work. Mighty few things that are worth doing are easy. Sometimes it is rough on the men and just a little rougher on the women. It has pleased me particularly to see, as I have met the wives who have come down here with their husbands, the way in which they have turned in to make the best of everything and to help the men do their work well. He also points out: Whoever you are, if you are doing your duty you are putting your country under an obligation to you just as a soldier who does his work well in a great war puts the country under an obligation to him. * * * * I am weighing my words when I say that you, here, who do your work well in bringing to completion this great enterprise, will stand exactly as the soldiers of a few, and only a few, of the most famous armies in all the nations stand in history. This is one of the great works of the world. So we think there is some basis for the pensioning of all these widows as we do for military veterans. Thank you. (The following letters were subsequently furnished for the record :) Hon. S. O. BLAND, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D. C., April 5, 1949. Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. BLAND: Further reference is made to your request for my views and recommendations on bill H. R. 2237, for the relief of Mrs. Mary Wadlow. The purpose of the bill evidently is to authorize the payment of an annuity to Mrs, Wadlow as an exception to the general provisions of the act of May 29, 1944, by providing that in the administration of that act Mrs. Wadlow shall be held and considered to have lived with Benjamin Franklin Wadlow as his wife for at least 1 year of his service on the Isthmus during the construction of the Panama Canal. The views of the Panama Canal on the bill are set out in a memorandum of the Chief of Office of the Panama Canal, dated March 1, 1949, a copy of which is enclosed. I concur in the views and recommendations of the Governor of the Panama Canal as stated in that memorandum. I am advised by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget that the enactment of the proposed legislation would not be in accord with the program of the President. Sincerely yours, KENNETH C. ROYALL, Secretary of the Army. THE PANAMA CANAL, WASHINGTON OFFICE, Washington, March 1, 1949. Memorandum for the Secretary of the Army: Reference is made to the request of the chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, for the comments of the Panama Canal on bill H. R. 2237, for the relief of Mr. Mary Wadlow. The proposed legislation was brought to the attention of the Governor of the Panama Canal, who has made the following statement with respect thereto : "Benjamin Franklin Wadlow was employed by the Isthmian Canal Commission effective April 2, 1909, for service on the Isthmus as a blacksmith, and he resigned effective November 19, 1912. The records of the Panama Canal indicate that Mr. Wadlow was unmarried during his employment on the Isthmus, although recent correspondence with Mrs. Mary Wadlow indicates that he was married. in the United States following his resignation from the Canal service. "The act of May 29, 1944, providing for the recognition of the services of civilian officials and employees engaged in and about the construction of the Panama Canal during the period from May 4, 1904, to March 31, 1914, authorizes. the payment of annuities to such employees under certain circumstances set out in the act, and section 4 of the act provides in part as follows: 66 'SEC. 4. Annuities granted under the provisions of this Act shall commence from the date whereon the Act takes effect and shall continue during the life of the annuitant: Provided, however, That in such case as where a deceased person, had he been alive on the date whereon the Act takes effect, would have been: entitled to receive an annuity hereunder, and shall have been survived by a wife undivorced from him, who was his wife living with him at least one year of his service on the Isthmus of Panama during said construction, and has not since. remarried, such survivor shall be entitled to receive such annuity from the effective date of the Act until her death: * * * "Following the enactment of the act of May 29, 1944, Mrs. Mary Wadlow wrote. to the Washington Office of The Panama Canal inquiring as to the proper method for filing an application for an annuity under the act, but in view of the fact that her marriage to Mr. Wadlow did not occur until after his return to the United States it was apparent that Mrs. Wadlow could not meet the conditions. specified in the act for the payment of annuities to widows of former employees and she was so informed. Thereafter Mrs. Wadlow again wrote to The Panama Canal, stating that although she had not lived on the Isthmus she felt that there might be an exception in her case in view of the fact that her husband had been given a "medical discharge" and that he had "developed malaria while. working on the Canal, which later developed into tuberculosis." In a subsequent letter to the President of the United States, which was referred to The Panama Canal for reply, Mrs. Wadlow stated that during her husband's employment by the Canal "he became tubercular which was brought about by working conditions there," and that he was in ill health from the time of his marriage following his return to the United States until the date of his death on March 8, 1919.. These communications from Mrs. Wadlow were referred to the Civil Service. Commission as the administrator of the act of May 29, 1944. "In reference to the circumstances in which the death of Benjamin Franklin Wadlow occurred, the records of The Panama Canal do not indicate that Mr. Wadlow had malaria during the period of his employment on the Isthmus of Panama. At the time of his resignation he was being treated for an illness. showing the symptoms of tuberculosis but there is no indication that working conditions on the Canal Zone caused that disease. As hereinbefore indicated, Mr. Wadlow was not discharged on account of physical disability, his services having been terminated by voluntary resignation. "Whether or not the conditions prescribed by the act of May 29, 1944, to govern the payment of annuities to the widows of former employees who served on the Isthmus during the construction of the Panama Canal should be waived in the case of this claimant is, of course, a matter for the determination of Congress. However, in view of the fact that there are undoubtedly many widows of former employees who are not eligible to receive an annuity under the terms of the act and who are equally deserving of consideration, the Canal administration is unable to recommend favorable action on this bill. Inasmuch as the administration of the act of May 29, 1944, is committed to the Civil Service Commission it is suggested that the committee may wish to obtain the views of the Commission in the light of its experience in the administration of this act and the laws governing the payment of retirement annuities to Government employees generally." By direction of the Governor : B. F. BURDICK, Hon. SCHUYLER O. BLAND, UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. BLAND: Further reference is made to your communication of February 10, 1949, relative to H. R. 2237, a bill for the relief of Mrs. Mary Wadlow. The bill would require that Mrs. Mary Wadlow be held and considered to have lived with Benjamin Franklin Wadlow as his wife for at least 1 year of his service on the Isthmus of Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal, so that she may be eligible for a widow's benefit under the Canal one Construction Act of May 29, 1944. Section 4 of Public Law 319, dated May 29, 1944, Seventy-eighth Congress, provides in part as follows: "That in such case where a deceased person, had he been alive on that date whereon the Act takes effect, would have been entitled to receive an annuity hereunder, and shall have been survived by a wife undivorced from him, who was his wife living with him at least one year of his service on the Isthmus of Panama during said construction, and has not since remarried, such survivor shall be entitled to receive such annuity from the effective date of this Act until her death." The late Benjamin Franklin Wadlow was formerly employed as a foreman during the construction of the Panama Canal from 1908 to 1912. Mrs. Wadlow alleges she did not marry him until 1913, which was subsequent to his employ ment at the Panama Canal. She is therefore not eligible for any benefits under this act, since the act stipulates that no payment of annulity may be made to the widow of a construction employee unless she had lived with her husband at least 1 year on the Isthmus during his service. The congressional committees handling the bill which became Public Law 319 stated in their reports that since the widows shared with their husbands and in some cases with their children the hazardous life in the construction days, the payment of annuities to them under the circumstances seems simple justice and in accord with American principles and practices as regards pension and other benefit legislation. No such justification can be found in the case of a wife who did not live with her husband-employee under these conditions or who in fact was not even married to him while he was working on the Isthmus. Special legislation which would grant Mrs. Wadlow the benefits of Public Law 319 would undoubtedly establish a precedent which would open the way for numerous other similar claims of equal merit. The Commission has consistently recommended against the enactment of private-relief legislation which would grant annuity benefits in a particular case to which other persons similarly situated are not entitled. The Commission, therefore, recommends that adverse action be taken on H. R. 2237. The Bureau of the Budget advised informally that there would be no objection to the submission of this report to your committee. By direction of the Commission: Very sincerely yours, HARRY B. MITCHELL, President. Mr. O'TOOLE. Is there anyone else who wishes to testify on this bill? We will adjourn subject to the call of the Chair. (Thereupon, the subcommittee adjourned subject to the call of the Chair.) |