story begins with a young lady named margaret oliver you want to meet margaret oliver because she's working for you as a matter of axes working for four out of every five americans you see margaret oliver is your representative at the social security administration her job is to tell you what your rights are and to make sure that you understand what social security in the means to you and to see to it that you receive the money you're entitled to promptly when it's just as she's helping these people and scores like them every day the story of margaret all over his work and your social security goes back a long way when this was a portrait of the future of all millions of americans when they reached old age they found themselves lacking the means to me even their barest me and so they were forced to become wards of public germany denied the dignity of a happy earned security their declining years became a period of hopeless waiting  alone these people could not work out the picture of a happy old age social security a new meaning for you and so today this is the audit of the future of picture which security help make possible under the social security act most american families are now able to enjoy for themselves an income that is guaranteed for life it's an income provided not by charity all relief but by federal old age and so viber is insurance insurance that is working about a year and a half you become insured for the next year and that from then on your insured for an additional year or get six months that you are at the end of ten years of work you are or if you've already passed that aids you may need as little as a year and a half of work but on that any time since one hundred thirty six will become insured for life contributions based on your earnings made regularly by you and millions of your fellow workers plus equal contributions made by your employers pay for the program these contributions are collected by the federal government the government then holds them in plus for payment of benefits to you and your family when these benefits become do you the government guarantees regular monthly payment famous began whenever you retire after sixty five or after you are seventy five even if you keep on working they continue as long as you will and after your debt payments continue to your wife if he is over sixty five if you should die while your children are under eighteen the payments will go to your wife and children no matter what your age one or if you have no family and were supporting your parent's monthly payments will be made to them when they reach sixty five are old age and survivors insurance is exactly what the name blind it is insurance that you and your employer have bought and paid for this insurance is important not only to you it's important to your wife your children your parents and it's important to your employer who helps pay the premiums who is covered by the social security act people like the most people who work for themselves and most people who work for others forty five million jobs are covered by social security and the chances are that you will work in one of them that's why it's vitally important that you only understand the social security act and that's why across the nation hundreds of social security field offices have been set up to serve you the duty of every person and these field offices managers receptionists field representatives and claims assistants like m applying for social security cards naturally many have question if the claims assistance job don't know the answers tom reynolds here is self employed and i almost five million others who own their own grades  businesses he is covered by the new social security law he will reap audi's earnings every year when he pays his federal income tax perhaps for you like him old age is a long way off and when you reach sixty five you may decide to continue work your social security account doesn't mean that you intend to retire once the account has been open the key to your future is in your own hand is the key behind in our monthly payments that will be waiting for you if you retire after sixty five all after seventy five whether you retire or not they will also be ready for your family when you die whether you'll reach sixty five or suppose that this is your office a big white barn on a midwestern far suppose you are a fireman like album doctor here then you too probably will be covered by the new law when you work regularly for five months on one song old agency or and will be mighty comforting when you're no longer fit for work like this that's why you need to get your social security card now where at your social security office or go to the post office if there's no social security office near your home at the post office you can get an application for your social security card your card will be sent to you by mail after you bill in this application and mail it as soon as you get the card show it to your employer you'll need it on payday or you must be docked from your salary one and a half percent of your earnings as your share of the cost of social security on album decker's fifty dollars salary this comes to seventy five cents the questions you may have can be answered in this leaflet on social security for farm workers or by the claims assistance at your nearest field office that's where margaret all over it comes in again she's here to give you the best possible service and assistance especially if yours is a job covered by the new law if like mildred anderson you are regularly employed as a household worker your job is covered by the new law today when you add the regular monthly income you're  building up to old age and survivors and ference to your savings you can see a happy future that's what this card means in your hands and in the hands of your employer all the entire success of the program as far as you are concerned depends to a large extent on your employer's cooperation it's just a matter of building out a brief form four times a year putting the required amount of money into an envelope and ma by this cooperation your employer is helping to ensure that like mildred andersen you will have a monthly income when your ready to retire yes household workers are now among the people covered by the new social security act one since it was passed social security field offices are busier than ever before millions more workers are insured today than previously new workers when these field office people are serving include some employees of state and local governments some employees of nonprofit institutions people who are self employed and those who work regularly in private households or on farm if you can't go to the field office the field office goes to you and the person of appeal representative from the nearest social security field office he makes regular visits to a central place in small town you can find out when you'll be in your community by writing or telephoning the field office and if because of age or illness you are unable to come to meet him while he's there he'll be glad to call on  you social security is a highly personal matter and the job of the representatives in the field offices is to maintain personal contact between you and your social security administration behind them stands an organization that keeps track of your earnings through the years its headquarters are here in the kander building in baltimore maryland this central accounting and bookkeeping system unable of the government to fill the bill its part in your social security more than one hundred seventeen million personal records are listed here the names social security account numbers and birthdays  seven hundred forty six thousand people named brown four hundred eighty four thousand people named six hundred and five thousand people named john and more than a million people named spin if you have a social security card your name is here your name and enough other information to identify you positively regardless of how many other people have names identical to yours these bookkeeping operations are as modern and efficient as mechanical ingenuity can make them the machines are the latest and the best they have to be to handle nearly three quarters of a million personal records every day and they are one of the reasons less than three cents of the social security tax dollar is all it costs to administer the entire old age a record of your earnings and your contribution toward your future security your name your social security number your birthday your wages personal information that by law must be held in the strictest confidence year by year your wage credits build up credits that mean earned security of all you and your family when the time comes whether it's thirty years from now or tomorrow those credits will be converted into tax checks like these but with your name on them and every month these checks are put into envelopes by machine and they go out to people like that the amount of your check depends on how much you earn the maximum any family can get is one hundred fifty dollars a month steeds retired get ninety five dollars a month geraldine but your widow gets fifty seven dollars a mon ferguson dependent baron gets forty three dollars a month based on the earnings of a daughter whom he survives and who was her cheap support and alice winton widowed mother of two children gets the underdone fifty dollar monthly maximum until her children are eighteen to get checks like these one day yourself you must do two things first like young album robert rush here you must apply for a social security card this card that alvin is getting is he is key to social security it is his team to a secure old age if your job is covered by the law you two need a social security card it is the only way to start your social the second thing you must do it yourself as trial here or here is doing is to file your claim for benefit payments whether you are claiming old age retirement payments or survivors payments as a widow child or parent this notice to the government that payments are to you serving this notice is your responsibility your social security card represents an insurance policy a policy through which you can build a foundation of security for yourself and your family as a person who is buying and pain for this insurance or as a beneficiary you are entitled to information guidance and service in all matters that concern that service is available to you without charred behind doors like doors to more than five hundred field offices throughout the nation behind those doors you will find men and women like the carefully selected and thoroughly trained people working for you mike margaret all over helping you get the most out of your social security