Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Discussion Subjects:

Federal-state relations with respect to health and public works; organization and administration of state government; labor relations; taxation and public services; old-age assistance and the state budget; and the executive and law enforcement

Points of Interest:

Governor Prentice Cooper of Tennessee outlined the history of the federal government’s involvement in state public health matters, which began in 1832, when federal revenue officers were authorized to help execute state quarantine and health laws and now extended to the public health provisions of the Social Security Act. Governor John Moses of North Dakota argued that although the federally-created old-age assistance program addressed a critical issue, its requirement of state participation left states strapped with respect to funding of other valuable public services, including child welfare, education, and health.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor Homer Holt of West Virginia noted that "the government has been called upon to substitute in large measure in the field which, while then smaller, was formerly occupied by private charity, which of course was not sufficient for the public need under conditions of the past ten years."