Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-06

! Office. Elect 'em for a six years
term and don't allow 'em to sue
| coed themselves. That will keep
their minds off politics and the LIES
salary will relieve 'em OF any worry
of the future.
ed as a continuous period OF unemploy-
ment and any two such continuous
| periods. separated by a period OF nol
more than SIX weeks. are treated as one
continuous period of unemployment.
| The rule is based broadly on the
principle that unemployment benent
Should be payable to any one unemployed
at least half of the time: The COM
mittee on unemployment insurance
headed by Lord BlaneSburgh, ana OF
which Miss Margaret Bondfield was a
member, which examined the situation
in 1926, pointed out that odd things
developed from this rule as the rule
does enable benefit to be paid in some
cases where the proportion OF unem-
ployment is lower.
It is possible for days of unemploy-
ment to be so arranged that persons
may be unemployed and yet qualify for
the receipt of benefit for those days.
This weakness in the system has been
soundly abused, frequently with CONN.,
vance between employer and employed.
as the more days the worker can go on
the dole the fewer contributions have
to be paid in. Also. the system permits
the work to be shared out among more
workmen.
The notorious instance, admitted by
Labor Spokesman, has been that OF the
coal-trimmerS in Wales. There were
/ 400 of them. The coal trimmer gets
from SIS to $35 for 24-hour day. BY
having these men work two or three
days and going on the dole the rest OF
the week, the work went around among
lot of trimmers. OF course, this Is
an exceptional case, and coal trimming
is more or less sporadic. But no man
earning SIS for three days work needed
an allowance from the taxpayer to
reconcile him to a vacation the rest Of
the week.
Then there Is the professional foot
ball player who is paid $3.50 week
and officially unemployed" four days
a week.
Outside of Benefits Purpose.
There are the sandwich men and bill
distributors who work only one day a
week, and, week by week. come on the
workers earning $3.50 for four days,
dye industry workers earning SIS shift,
four days a week; slaughter house
workers earning $25 in four days-and
all of them going on the dole for the
idle days.
There is no disposition to contend
that the standard of living for many
of these, even with their wages, is
luxurious, but obviously such instances
as have been mentioned are quite out
side the purpose of the benefit. More
81 oil
ing benefit are receiving 1t at the
public expense, without any built-up
contributions, while the other 100000
are receiving merely benefit con-
tracted for and steadily subscribed to.
In the case of the former, the benefit
is dole and misplaced dole where
the employment, even If broken. Is
consistent. In the case of the latter,
now a sad and somewhat resentful
minority, 1t is despairing. but sincere
adherence to the fundamental principle
Of compulsory insurance against unem-
ployment.
The problem Of finding Suitable"
work for the man who genuinely"
seeks it is very difficult; it is even
more difficult with women.
One phase of ~the married women
problem revolves around the payment
of unemployment benefit to woman
who has left employment on and be-
cause of her marriage and who, in
many cases. has left the locality in
which she was employed before mar
riage to make home in the town
where her husband is employed, where
there is no work OF the only kind for
which she is qualified, even were she
available for it. She promptly claims
the dole, and as obviously the authori-
ties cannot offer her work of the style
Ito which she is accustomed" she gets
it.
Among the miscellaneous cases as
sembled by the writer there are many
in which girls refused 1918 or SIS a
week, preferring the dole, and there
is an instance where a man earning
$15275 in II working days was on the
dole.
The Labor ministry denies any pau
perization and it is wholly unfair to de-
duce from these examples that the
British have become a nation of loafers.
The working population is more than
100000. But the abuses are i'm
pcrtant for obvious reasons.
Tells of Abuses in Scotland.
Sir Henry Keith, representing the
convention of Royal Burghs, tells Of
abuses in Scotland. He speaks of
young men drawing the dole who are
the best customers Of the local billiard
saloon; of miners who refused work at
So week because they could get 81
week for doing nothing. and Of the
inevitable young married women, with
no real intention of looking for work"
who registered and drew benefit.
One result Of the system, so far as
1t makes it nice for women with any
sort of part-time occupation, or a hus-
band, to round out their resources, is
a great dearth in domestic servants.
In the past, domestic service was an
honored and even heritable occupation.
Frequently there existed a curious re-
'lationship which permitted to the en-
ployer certain number of gratifying
little snobberies and to the servant an
enduring security through life and old
age.
Domestic servants, since the occupa-
tion has only negligible unemployment
hazards, are outside the unemploy-
ment benefit system. Therefore, the
daughters of starving mining families,
for example, who are hopefully placed
in domestic service, soon discover that
there are ways whereby one may work,
nicely dressed, in a store or even a
saloon part time. and go on the good
cid dole" for pocket money.
Copyright. 1881. By North American News
paper Alliance, Inc.)
"a NTAn DFNnMNlI