Statement on the Dedication of the New Labor Department Building.

My absence makes it impossible to join in the dedication ceremonies of the new building of the United States Department of Labor but I take this occasion to extend my felicitations to the wage earners of the entire country upon the formal opening of the fine new home which now houses the Federal Department directly concerned with their problems.

The organic act creating the Department of Labor says that its purpose shall be to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. The department is thus dedicated to the working people of the Republic and is being administered for their economic 'advancement and their physical well-being.

Activities of the Department of Labor have been broadened and its sphere of influence has been widened in the past two years. Its work is constructive. It seeks the interest of all wage earners through factual findings and the making of recommendations concerning working hours, wages, security, industrial sanitation, community opportunity, health and safety and other problems which bear directly upon the lives and welfare of the working men and women of the country.

It is fitting indeed that with its increased responsibilities the Department should be housed in such a fine building as that which you dedicate today.