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4-2268 FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION For Release Thursday, September 11, 1941 WPA RECORDS ASSISTANCE PROJECT TO S::?EED WORKERS INTO DEFENSE FLAUTS A nation-wide program to accelerate the flow of workers into defense industries by speeding up the issuance of required birth certifica,tes was announced today by Howard O. Hunter, Commissioner of Work Projects. Under a project approved by the President, the WFA will provide emergency clerical workers to State and locA.l vitd statistics registrPrs who have fallen behind in the job of furnishing copies of birth certificPtes requested by candid~tes for employment in plants which he.ve defense contracts. Such industriP..l workers must be American citizens, with but few exceptions, Pnd birth c er tificPtes P.re generPlly reouired by employers proof of citizenship. ['S The project is sponsored by the Office for Emergency ~an~goment and co-sponsored by the Census Bureau. "The offices which hrndle vitl:'l stPtistics heve been swnmped with requests for birth certificates beceuse of requirements that workers in pl~nts filling government deTense contrects be citizens of the United Stntes, 11 fvir. Hunter sr'. id. h?s bGen estime.ted l"t as high AS 11 The number of such requests 1,000,000 [' month. Inr..:v itr:,bly there heve been delr:ys in the recruiting of industrial workers, often those with much needed skills. 11 WPA hF-s been providing t'ssistrnco to Str,te and locF-1 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY - 2 - 4-8268 registrars for the past year on a local pro.iect be.sis. lfow 1 with the :problem a_ssuming far greater proportions , we have set up this special nation-wide program at the request of the Census Bureau t o provide more effective as s istance in meeting the increasing demands ." The problem confronting the various registrars has boen grea.tly aggr avated by the fact that 60,000 , 000 Americans, according to a Census ]uroau estimate, were not registered a t birth. When workers from that group apply for certificat es , it is nec e ssary to institute a complicated. and time-consuming proced.uro to establish the fact of birth in the United Stat os and then issue a 11 delaycd certificate. 11 Local wPA pr oj ects to a s sist in is ~uance of birth cer tificates have boon operated in 26 Sta te s and some of the ma jor cities, including New York, Chicago and Clevolancl.. Tho problem facing Sta tes and local registrars of vital statistics in is suing certified copi es of birth cert ificat es would have been much gr eater, Mr . Hunter pointed out, if the WPA had not already oper ated proj ects to i nclcx birth records in all but one State a nd i ndexe d phoneti cally th e Feder al census es of 1880, 1900 and 1920 to assist in ost nblishing facts essential for the issuance of d.elayoa. certifica t e s. With proof of citi zenship essentinl for more and more persons , the number of requests for nssistnnce in e stablishing the fact of American birth has multiplied wherever r ecords aro to b e found. Tho Census Bureau alone is currently receiving such reque sts at the r a t e of 650,000 a year as compar ed to 97,000 in 1937. 'l(,,T'pA A l argo group of clerical workers has b oo n as signed to tho Bureau to help meet the emergency. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2268 - 3 - Mr. Hunter po i nted out that the new nation-wide program, a lt hough sponsored by the OEM and co~sponsored by the Census Bureeu , wa s approved primarily to provide assistance to St a te r> nd loce l vit el s t a tistics registr ars, who are the age nts l ega lly aut ho riz ed t o is sue c ertifi ed copi es of birth c e rtifica t es . The Di rector of the Census has r epeat edly empha sized that persons des iring proof of birth should fir st write to the Stc te or local r egi s trar in the Stat e where he was born. Only when no c ertifice,te is Pvailflb le should a r e ques t for a census r eport be m2de to the U. S. Census Bureau. Units of the new n~.ti -, n-wida project will op1.:;rnte only whl:, r e the ev idenc e shows the.t the i r.cr ,,:- se in the number of r e quests for copies of birth cert ific ~te has been so gr ee..t thr,t the r eei strars wi th t he ir present f a ciliti es nre unable to service t hem expedi tiously, thereby dele.ying employme nt of needed persons in def ense plP.nts. -00000 00 - • Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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