Speech #770212674

I suppose that during the past year every Member of Congress has received letters from his constituents telling about the difficulty they have had in establishing the fact of birth. so they might be able to qualify for Government work. for employment in industry having Government war contracts and so that they might be able to prove their eligibility for pensions under the Social Security Act. Existing law provides that Government work may be given only to citizens of the United States and that no one may be employed on a Government contract in private industry unless he is a citizen. People who apply for this work are required to prove they were born in the United States. or that they are naturalized citizens. and to furnish a legal showing upon that point. Until the beginning of the present century most of the States had no provision for the recording of vital statistics. The result has been that many people born in the United States before 1900 have a great deal of difficulty in legally proving the fact of their birth.