In answering the questions proposed by the Commission, I have accordingly to advise you that it is my opinion that the Commission may, in its discretion, issue a minor-part license under paragraph (i) of section 10, for the construction and operation of the project here in question; that it is not required to insert in a license issued for this project, any conditions (except the fifty-year limitation upon the terms of the license) which, in its judgment, are not necessary or appropriate to fully utilize the waters of the New River in the protection or development of navigation of the Kanawha River. Respectfully, To the PRESIDENT. WILLIAM D. MITCHELL. CENSUS DATA UNAVAILABLE TO WOMEN'S BUREAU OF DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDIVIDUALS It is the duty of the Director of the Census to decline to furnish the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor with the names, addresses, occupations, and status of employment of workers in the city of Rochester, N. Y., for use in connection with a contemplated survey to ascertain the economic effects upon family and community life of the employment of women in industry; and it is likewise his duty to decline to furnsh various individuals and associations interested in public education and the eradication of illiteracy with the names and addresses of persons unable to read and write. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: I have the honor to comply with your request of August 18, 1930, for my opinion upon the authority of the Director of the Bureau of the Census (1) to furnish the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor with the names, addresses, occupations, and status of employment of workers in the city of Rochester, N. Y., for use in connection with a contemplated survey to ascertain the economic effects upon family and community life of the employment of women in industry, and (2) to furnish various individuals and associations interested in public education and the eradication of illiteracy with the names and addresses of persons in given sections and communities who are unable to read and write-all such information in your possession having been gathered for the fifteenth decennial census. The Act of June 18, 1929 (Public No. 13, 71st Cong.), providing for the census, made it the duty of all persons over eighteen years of age to answer correctly, to the best of their knowledge, all authorized questions under penalty of fine and imprisonment, and further provided: "SEC. 11. That the information furnished under the provisions of this Act shall be used only for the statistical purposes for which it is supplied. No publication shall be made by the Census Office whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual can be identified, nor shall the Director of the Census permit anyone other than the sworn employees of the Census Office to examine the individual reports." (46 Stat. 25.) "SEC. 18. That the Director of the Census be, and he is hereby, authorized at his discretion, upon the written request of the governor of any State or Territory or of a court of record, to furnish such governor or court of record with certified copies of so much of the population or agricultural returns as may be requested, upon the payment of the actual cost of making such copies and $1 additional for certification; and that the Director of the Census is further authorized, in his discretion, to furnish to individuals such data from the population schedules as may be desired for geneological or other proper purposes, upon payment of the actual cost of searching the records and $1 for supplying a certificate; and that the Director of the Census is authorized to furnish transcripts of tables and other records and to prepare special statistical compilations for State or local officials, private concerns, or individuals upon the payment of the actual cost of such work: Provided, however, That in no case shall information furnished under the authority of this Act be used to the detriment of the person or persons to whom such information relates. All moneys hereafter received by the Bureau of the Census in payment for labor and materials used in furnishing transcripts of census records or special statistical compilations from such records shall be deposited to the credit of the appropriation for collecting statistics." The source of each of these sections is to be found in earlier legislation. The Act of March 3, 1899 (c. 419, sec. 30, 30 Stat. 1014, 1021), provided, "That upon the request of the governor of any State or Territory, or the chief officer of any municipal government, the Director of the Census shall furnish such governor or municipal officer with a copy of so much of the population returns as will show the names, with the age, sex, color, or race, and birthplace only of all persons enumerated within the territory in the jurisdiction of such government, * *99 Section 32 of the Act of July 2, 1909 (c. 2, 36 Stat. 1, 10), authorized the Director, in his discretion, to furnish the governor of any State or Territory or a court of record with "certified copies of so much of the population or agricultural returns as may be requested." Section 25 thereof contained a new proviso: "That the information furnished under the provisions of the next preceding section [relating to manufacturing establishments, mines, quarries or other establishments of productive industry] shall be used only for the statistical purposes for which it is supplied. No publication shall be made by the Census Office whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment can be identified, nor shall the Director of the Census permit anyone other than the sworn employees of the Census Office to examine the individual reports." 66 It was stated in behalf of the committee reporting the bill that the purpose was to secure a more effective guaranty than heretofore of the confidential character of the returns as needed in many cases and desirable in all to enlist that public confidence without which census inquiries must fail." (House Rept. 960, 60th Cong. 1st Sess.) Section 32 was carried into the Act of March 3, 1919 (c. 97, 40 Stat. 1291, 1301), with some changes and became section 33 of that Act, worded identically as is section 18 in the later Act (June 18, 1929) now under consideration. Section 25 became also section 25 of the 1919 Act without change except that its application was extended to embrace information furnished by "any company, business, institution, establishment, religious body, or organization of any nature whatsoever," and has become section 11 of the present Act with these important changes: It now extends to “information furnished under the provisions of this Act"—not merely under a particular section-and to "data furnished by any particular establishment or individual." The proviso, "that in no case shall information furnished under the authority of this Act be used to the detriment of the person or persons to whom such information relates," when first inserted in 1919 caused some apprehension in Congress that notwithstanding inhibitions elsewhere it might be understood to contemplate the giving out of nonstatistical information furnished by industrial establishments, manufacturers, etc., but assurance was given in the Committee on the Census and on the floor of the House that the proviso was merely precautionary, that the Committee did not purpose nor did the Director intend to give out any such information. (Hearings, pp. 168 et seq., Cong. Rec., v. 56, pt. 9, pp. 8658-8659.) I am informed by the Director that the apparent purpose in this respect has been rigidly carried out, to the extent, in fact, that even statistics for a given community are not published when, because of the limited number of industries therein, the possibility exists that interested parties by some computation might succeed in disclosing information respecting a particular establishment or establishments. Requests for the names of persons engaged in manufacturing, etc., have been denied, although one such request came from the governor of a State. Such was the interpretation placed upon the language of section 25 of the 1919 Act, in accordance with the presumed intention of Congress, and now, in section 11 of the present Act, the inhibition without other change of language is extended to include all information furnished by individuals as well as those business establishments, etc., heretofore specially protected. The change must be accorded significance. Even prior thereto, I am informed, it was the practice of the Director to interpret the law most strictly against furnishing either official or private persons with information that would reveal to another the identity of the individuals to whom it relates, and many requests from officers or departments of the Government have been denied in recent years. After enactment of the statute the President, on November 22, 1929, proclaimed to the people that: "The sole purpose of the census is to secure general statistical information regarding the population and resources of the country, and replies are required from individuals only to permit the compilation of such general statistics. No person can be harmed in any way by furnishing the information required. The census has nothing to do with taxation, with military or jury service, with the compulsion of school attendance, with the regulation of immigration or with the enforcement of any national, state or local law or ordinance. There need be no fear that any disclosure will be made regarding any individual person or his affairs. For the due protection of the rights and interests of the persons furnishing information every employee of the Census Bureau is prohibited, under heavy penalty, from disclosing any information which may thus come to his knowledge." An examination of the proceedings attending the passage through Congress of various Census Acts reveals that it has sometimes been suggested that a wider use be made, particularly by other departments of the Government, of information obtained in the census. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that a step in this direction might lead to a widespread reluctance upon the part of the public about giving information and thus add to the difficulties already encountered in obtaining full and correct responses—and this view appears to have prevailed. (Hearings, supra, p. 172; Cong. Rec., v. 56, pt. 9, pp. 8659; id., v. 71, pt. 3, pp. 2359-2360.) It is therefore my opinion that it is the duty of the Director of the Census to decline to furnish the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor with the names, addresses, occupations, and status of employment of workers in the city of Rochester, N. Y., and that it is likewise his duty to decline to furnish the individuals and associations with the names and addresses of persons unable to read and write. Respectfully, WILLIAM D. MITCHELL. To the SECRETARY OF COMMERCE. |