Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-03
BY CYRIL ARTHUR PLAYER.

LONDON, June 3.-BetWeen NO
vember, 1920, and December. 1922, the
1ine balance in the unemployment fund
dwindled from more than $100, 200 900
to 100000. The retreat had begun.
The unemployment scheme of Great
Britain abandoned its principles, one OF
which was that q man could receive
only one weeks benefit for every five
(later six) weeks contributions. OF
this Sir William Beverage remarked:
1.-THE main principle underlying limita-
ton Of benefit was that, though q
without conditions was q suitable means
Of dealing with temporary unemploy-
ment-of tiding over a bad time men
who needed nothing more than tiding
over till In the normal course they
would recover work In their own trades
at their former wages-it was not an
appropriate measure for chronic un.
employment.
TT was recognized, Of course, that
limitation Of the period of benefit meant
that men might exhaust their rights to
benefit before they recovered employ
ment. In other words. that the tr1sur-
ance scheme would not cover all en-
ployment. It was never meant to do So"
In November. 1920, the government
(Bonar Law, Conservative took the
plunge and extended the insurance
scheme to all manual and non-manual
workers earning not more than $3.50
a year. The workers excluded from this
act were those in agriculture, domestic
service and civil service and those en-
gagged permanently by municipal au-
thorities
Reason Unexplained.
An actuarial scheme designed for
workers in certain limited specific occu-
pations was not extended to take in all
sorts and conditions Of employment,
including several which were of normal
ly intermittent occupation.
The reason for this unscientific pro-
cedure has never been explained to the
| writer. However, the new act was
passed, and from this act and its be-
| wildering amendments and extensions
can be traced the less attractive results
Of the system.
The first step in the disintegration
of the insurance system" said Sir Will
liam Beverage to the writer, was taken
when. In 1920, the system introduced
in 1911 for few selected trades was
applied practically without change to
all trades, no use being made OF the
scheme casual occupations. like dock
labor or short-time industries. such as
cotton and coal, and deal with them
by special schemes.
THE second and decisive step was
| taken when by the act of 1927 benefit
was made unlimited in duration and,
for a transitional period, nearly in
dependent Of any payment of contri-
buttons. The transitional provisions
were extended by an act of 1929. The
| act Of 1880 has simply carried to its
| final stage the process of merging insur-
ance in indiscriminate relief Of the
able bodied by a further extension of
transitional provisions and by abolish
ing the psychological requirement that
that the applicant should be genuinely
seeking employment
Transitional" unemployment refers
| to those outside the contractual scheme
who need help until they are readjusted
| to new employment regime. In
effect, what Sir William says means
| this: In the beginning. unemployment
| insurance was q contract, acceptable to
any insurance authority; it then was
widened so that the risk became doubt
full, and finally was extended so that the
scientific bases of risk-covering disap-
peared altogether
/ Nation Sees Venture Through.
Any ordinary insurance company.
under such Q plan, would have gone
bankrupt. The nation backed this en-.
| terpriSe, and has seen it through. so
l
show in an appalling red ink figure the
extent Of the benevolence Of the ma
/ ton.
Less than one month after the act of
1920 the slump started. Look at the
| figures:
Short Time
Unemployed. Benefit' Total
Bee 1884, ss G5lsf sslssa adassls5
The new act had brought within the
reach Of unemployment insurance no
fewer than 11.750,000 persons.
The problem was acute. Thousands
Of workers through long periods Of I'M
| employment had drawn from the fund
all they were legitimately entitled to
withdraw, and payment to them had
ceased. The government was COM
PEELED to face the issue Of taking care
| Of these men and women. so there was
introduced what has become known
/ as the "uncovenanted" benefit scheme
(uncovenanted because it did not form
part of the covenants Of the unem-
| ployment insurance act proper, and 1t
was, therefore, an act of grace on the
part of the government in granting
payment of extended benefits.
Never once, since January, 1921, has
the total Of unemployed insured workers
been less than In seven figures. The
least percentage Oh uIlcIlpAOylcut woo
/ 8.6 per cent, and the highest %. For
| the last six months of 1880 the total
of unemployment was always above
the 2,000, 900 mark.
Rates Raised and Extended.
Yet with unemployment so high and
the cost of living going down, the bene-
fit rates have been both raised and
extended. A man with wife and three
| of q family, who received $l.75 a week
| in 1911, 1915 in 1920, $5.75 In 1921,
now receives SO. Also, today, he re-
ceives that benefit for every week of
the year so long as he has paid eight
weekly contributions in the last two
years or 80 weekly contributions at any
time, and even though each Of the
weekly contributions may represent
only one days work.
It is this situation that Is bank
rupting the finances, and has placed
against the unemployment fund proper
the fund built up solidily by con-
| tributions from worker, employer and
state mammoth debt whose repay
ment is wholly conjectural.
Now Is to be told the labor govern
ment's official Apologize Pro Vita Sua";
the criticisms offered by party spokes-
men for conservatives, liberals and
communists, the views Of tndustrialists
and workmen; the manner in which the
unemployed live, as investigated first
hand in the worst areas for the pur-
poses Of this series; the abuses, and
finally, what seems to be the remedy.
(Copyrisht, 1881, by North American News
paper Alliance, 1nc0