Statement on Approving H. R. 12120.

I HAVE approved H. R. 12120, a bill "to provide for the further development of vocational education in the several States and Territories," because of my deep interest in providing our young people with adequate opportunities for vocational training. So many criticisms have been directed at the bill in its present state, however, that it seems to me advisable, before the Act goes into effect on July 1, 1937, that a disinterested group review its provisions in relation to the experience of the Government under the existing program of Federal aid for vocational education, and the relation of such training to general education and to prevailing economic and social conditions.

Accordingly, I shall take steps in the immediate future for an appointment of such a group with instructions to make studies and recommendations which will be available to the Congress and the Executive at the beginning of the next session.