The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1932-10-07

ued, the 1921 depression laid it's prob
lem on the doorstep of the govern
ment. Under the strict rules of the
insurance fund, an unemployed man
could draw insurance only if he had
made at least ten weekly contribu-
tions to the fund, he could draw only
one weeks benefit for each five con-
contributions, and no more than fift-
teen weeks benefit in any one year
On this basis very few of the newly
insured workers could qualify for
benefits, yet they must be cared for.
1t is easy to say now that this should
have been done separately. At the
time the surplus in the insurance
fund was too tempting and was used
for EXTENDED" benefits (those not due
as real insurance benefts) and when
it was exhausted the government lent
large sums to the insurance fund to
continue. These extended benefits
may properly be called "dole'
though no more so than the public
and private charitable relief we have
in this country, and probably they
could be administered at least as
efficiently through the insurance fund
as by our own methods.
The German unemployment insur-
ance act ranks next in Importance to
the British. 1t provides for a fund
made up of contributions from
workers and employers only, though
administered by the government; but
there was further provision that when
anyone had exhausted his claim to
insurance benefits he might, if he
were IN NEED, receive additional
relief benefits out of government
funds. Since the act was passed in
1927 just before the beginning of the
present depression, these additional
benefits have been the means for dis
tribution of relief.
We may criticize the European
systems, but in the end we come up
against the fact that very few Euro
peans-not even conservative en-
ployers, certainly not trade unionists
propose to abolish unemployment
insurance though they hope to i'm
prove it through patient experiment
tation. It's values are too obvious.
Frances Perkins, industrial commits
sioner of New York state, after a
trip to England to observe the IN
surance system, remarked how the
very appearance of workers seen on
the street had changed from pre-War
conditions. All seemed better clothed
and fed, and there were no evidence
of desperate poverty. (In their en-
thusiasm for balanced budgets our
politicians might remember that
money spent to maintain the health
and decency of working people is not
"wasted") Moreover, it is constantly
said in Europe and especially in Eng
land that insurance against unem-
ployment is insurance against revolu-
ton. This may have more meaning
for us in America after we have gone
through another winter of unemploy-
ment without insurance. Perhaps
most important of all is the fact that
the insured countries of Europe have
less unemployment than America.
1t is impossible to determine the eX-
act amount in any country, but 1t IS
at all times higher in the United
States than in Europe, even than In
England, and has apparently reached
more serious proportions during the
depression. For insurance decreases
unemployment and cannot increase it.
In insured countries there are no un-
filled jobs and any that are offered
at employment offices are quickly
taken by men "on the dole" Human
nature being variable, one man no
doubt finds a few weeks employment
with insurance, a tolerable vacation
but both alike must accept job un-
der decent conditions if it is offered
So insurance simplifies job filling
though at the same time it prevents
employers from taking advantage OF
the workers need to lower stand
ards.
America has all of European ex-
perience from which to learn, and we
ought to be able to devise unemploy-
lnent insurance plans suited to oul
own states and which avoid European
mistakes. For insurance is bound tC
come. And since this is so, an i'm.
portant lesson from England ane
Germany is that the time to put il
in is just as a depression is coming
to a close, not just before it begins
That means during the next couple
of years, unless we plan to face the
next depression still unprepared.