PROTECTION OF UNION LABELS AND SIMILAR INSIGNIA IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FEBRUARY 5, 1932.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. PALMISANO, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 2173] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2173) to authorize associations of employees in the District of Columbia to adopt a device to designate the products of the labor of their members, to punish illegal use or imitation of such device, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon and recommends that the bill do pass. This bill passed the Senate on January 7, 1932, and a copy of the report of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, which fully explains the object of the proposed legislation, is hereto appended and made a part of this report. [Senate Report No. 75, Seventy-second Congress, first session] The purpose of the bill is to extend to labor unions and employees' organizations in the District of Columbia the same protection afforded by many of the States to the labels designating the products of such organizations' labor. The United States Patent Office has informed local union officials that the union label could not be protected as a trade-mark, because the unions did not own the material to which the label would be attached. The present bill would cause the registration of such labels in the District Supreme Court and would provide penalties for fraud, counterfeiting, or other infringement of the unions' right to the label. The labels are used through a trade agreement between unions and manufacturers employing union labor. The committee learned from representatives of the American Federation of Labor that the State laws protecting union labels have been sustained by the courts. The District Commissioners have approved the bill, and the District corporation counsel addressed the committee in support of the measure. The committee knows of no objection to passage of this legislaThe commissioners' letter is appended hereto as part of this report. H R-72-1-VOL 1-34 tion. Hon. ARTHUR CAPPER, COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Chairman Committee on the District of Columbia, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia beg to advise you that they know of no objections to the passage of Senate bill 2173, Seventy-second Congress, first session, entitled "A bill to authorize associations of employees in the District of Columbia to adopt a device to designate the products of the labor of their members, to punish illegal use or imitation of such device, and for other purposes," which you referred to them for report as to the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage. This bill provides for the registration of trade-marks for articles made by unions or associations and is probably a protection and distinction for labor union goods. If the goods are the property of the unions, the trade-mark can be registered under the laws relating to trade-marks. If the goods belong to the individual members, and not to the unions, the trade-mark can not be registered by the union, as it would then become a mark of service and not of the goods. TO PROTECT LABOR IN ITS OLD AGE FEBRUARY 5, 1932.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. CONNERY, from the Committee on Labor, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 8765] The Committee on Labor, to whom was referred the bill H. R. 8765, having considered the same, report the same with the recommendation that the bill be passed. The purpose of the bill is to create in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the old-age security bureau. This bureau is to administer the act which provides that the Federal Government shall contribute one-third of the total sum paid to aged persons under the laws of the States or Territories which have old-age assistance laws. This contribution by the Federal Government will be subject to certain conditions precedent as set out in section 10 of the bill. The bill calls for an annual appropriation of $10,000,000, to be apportioned among the States and Territories to aid them in giving assistance to aged persons under the conditions of this act. REPORT TO PROTECT LABOR IN ITS OLD AGE MAY 5, 1932.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. CONNERY, from the Committee on Labor, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 8765] The Committee on Labor, to whom was referred the bill H. R. 8765, having considered the same, report the same with the recommendation that the bill be passed. The purpose of the bill is to create in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the old-age security bureau. This bureau is to administer the act which provides that the Federal Government shall contribute one-third of the total sum paid to aged persons under the laws of the States or Territories which have old-age assistance laws. This contribution by the Federal Government will be subject to certain conditions precedent as set out in section 10 of the bill. The bill calls for an annual appropriation of $10,000,000, to be apportioned among the States and Territories to aid them in giving assistance to aged persons under the conditions of this act. Old-age pension laws are now on the statute books of 17 StatesCalifornia, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, and the Territory of Alaska. Thirteen of these States are actually paying pensions at this time to over 83,000 of their aged citizens. The State of New Jersey will begin pension payments in July, 1932. Nevada, Kentucky, and West Virginia, which have laws optional upon the counties, are paying no pensions. It is anticipated that by the end of 1932 slightly over 100,000 persons will be in receipt of pensions in the whole United States. House bill No. 8765 provides for Federal aid to those States having state-wide mandatory systems of old-age security. Nine States have laws which make them eligible under this provision in 1932, viz, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Wyoming. It is estimated that |