Letter from Secretary of Labor Maurice Tobin to Richard Neustadt

(COPY) March 21, 1952 Dear Mr. Neustadt: I should like to make the following comments on the latest draft of the proposed message from the President to the Congress on special immigration: 1. As you know, we have consistently emphasized the importance of avoiding the impression that the migration program is to be undertaken because of a need for workers which must be met by migration. In this respect, the first full paragraph on page 13 of the draft is not entirely clear. If the implication of this paragraph is that there is a manpower emergency in the United States which would require importation, we would have to call attention to the fact that there is not, at the present time, an "emergency" in this regard which would require such importation. 2. With respect to the question raised in Assistant Secretary of State Hickerson's memorandum regarding the numbers and span of years over which immigration is to be permitted, it is our judgment that the proposal contained in the draft message is the preferable one. 3. With respect to the proposals for the training and education of refugees, as I indicated in my letter of March 13 in comments on Part II of Title II of the proposed draft bill, we have not had an opportunity to review the implications of these proposals. Yours very truly, Secretary of Labor REN note on paragraph one - substitution of the phrase "capacity to absorb manpower" for "needs for manpower" would avoid any "implication. " and AND for