Executive Order  No. 38: (1st Series) Welfare assistance to certain restricted or detained enemy aliens and their families

WHEREAS, in the prosecution of the war between the United States and certain foreign countries the Government of the United States has detained or placed under restriction certain persons who are subjects of said countries and may hereafter detain or restrict other such persons; and

WHEREAS, such detention and restriction have caused and may continue to cause the persons so detained or restricted and their dependents to be without means of support and to require assistance and relief; and

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to provide assistance and relief, not only to alleviate the hardship to said persons and their dependents but also to provide a basis of reciprocity in the care of citizens of the United States and their dependents who are or may be detained or placed under restriction by the governments of those foreign countries with which the United States is or may hereafter be at war; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States has accepted responsibility for the extension of assistance and relief to persons detained or restricted by it and to the dependents of said persons who are in need thereof in cases where such assistance and relief are not provided directly by the country of which said person is a subject and has indicated that funds expended for such assistance and relief by the states will be reimbursed to them by the Government of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States, acting through the Social Security Board and other agencies, has requested that the Commonwealth cooperate with it in extending assistance and relief to needy persons detained or placed under restriction by it and to the dependents of said persons:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

1. The Commissioner of Public Welfare, hereinafter referred to as the Commissioner, is hereby authorized and empowered to provide such assistance, relief and services as he may deem necessary and as may be approved by the Government of the United States, acting through its appropriate agency, to persons who are subjects of any foreign country with which the United States is or may hereafter be at war, and who may be in need thereof as a result of detention or other restrictive action of the Government of the United States and to their dependents who may be in need thereof, irrespective of the place of settlement of such persons or their dependents.
2. The assistance and relief herein authorized may be provided by the Commissioner, acting through the Department of Public Welfare, a local Board of Public Welfare or such agents as the Commissioner may designate, and may be extended by distributions in kind, by the issuance of written purchase orders or by payments by cash or check.
3. The Commissioner may prescribe such rules and regulations for the extension of the assistance, relief and services herein authorized as he may deem advisable, provided that such rules and regulations shall not be inconsistent with pertinent federal rules and regulations in so far as the same may be applicable.
4. In furnishing the assistance, relief and services herein authorized the Commissioner may incur obligations in the name of the Commonwealth and may expend money of the Commonwealth only for such purposes, under such circumstances and in such manner as in his opinion will give rise to a right of reimbursement from the Government of the United States for such obligations and expenditures.
5. The Commissioner is hereby further authorized and empowered to procure advances of money from the State Treasurer, and said Treasurer is hereby authorized and empowered to make such advances pursuant to, and in accordance with, General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 29, sections 23, 24 and 25, for the purpose of carrying out this order.
6. The State Comptroller is hereby authorized to certify for payment liabilities incurred by the Commissioner pursuant to this order, provided that vouchers therefor have been filed with the State Comptroller, and provided that the Commissioner certifies that they are proper charges and that, in his opinion, the Commonwealth will be reimbursed therefor by the Government of the United States and that proper official demand for such reimbursement has been or will thereafter be made to the Government of the United States. The State Treasurer is hereby authorized and empowered to pay liabilities so certified by the State Comptroller upon the order of the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council.
7. The Commissioner is hereby directed to procure vouchers for all expenditures made pursuant to this order from advances received from the State Treasurer and to deliver the same to the State Comptroller in accounting for such advances.
8. Funds paid to the Commonwealth by the Government of the United States or any agency thereof by way of reimbursement or otherwise, for expenditures made pursuant to the provisions of this order, shall be paid over to the State Treasurer forthwith and shall be applied against the aforesaid expenditures.
9. The Commissioner shall not be personally liable for obligations incurred, funds expended, or for the cost of other relief, assistance or services of any nature provided by him in good faith under the authority of this order for which the Commonwealth is not reimbursed by the Government of the United States. In the event that reimbursements cannot be secured from the Government of the United States for any such obligation or expenditure so incurred or made, the payment of such obligation or expenditure shall be deemed to have been the payment of an obligation or expenditure of the Commonwealth.
10. The receipt by any person of assistance or relief furnished pursuant to this order shall not be deemed or held to affect in any manner the acquisition or retention of settlement rights of such person in any city or town of the Commonwealth.
11. The records of the Department of Public Welfare relating to assistance, relief or services rendered under the authority of this order shall not be deemed to be public records but shall be confidential. The information contained therein may be disclosed by the Com- missioner in his discretion and subject to such conditions as he may prescribe, for such purposes as in his opinion may be necessary and proper in connection with the administration of this order.
12. The Commissioner is hereby authorized to reimburse any city or town within the Commonwealth for the cost of assistance of a similar nature as that provided by this order which assistance was furnished prior to the effective date of this order, provided that the cost thereof has been received by the Commonwealth from the Government of the United States.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this eighteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-seventh.

By His Excellency the Governor,
Leverett Saltonstall

Paul D. Howard,
Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth