The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-11-23
HEARD
around the
. National Capital
by CARTER FIELD

National Capital
E1y CARTER rIELDI
Washington.-One thing absolutely
certain in the new congress just elect
ed Is the enactment Of unemployment
insurance. Not only is the President
In favor Of It, but apparently there 70
an overwhelming favorable sentiment
among the newly elected senators and
members of the house.
As q matter of fact, most business
men seem to favor It. Nearly all the
answers to recent inquiries sent out
wholesale by the Department Of Com
merce. which were answered at all. ia.
vored the new idea. Though It must
be admitted that barely one-ffth Of. all
the letters were answered.
Some of the big corporations are
strongly opposed to any nationwide
plan. They infinitely prefer for, each.
company or employer to handle his
own. They make the argument that
conditions vary SO much that any 9TH
er scheme would be manifestly unfair
not only as between different indus
tries but between Individual workers.
The administration. the writer Is 10
q position to state very positively, will
not stand for this modification of the
plan. The unemployment insurance bill
passed by the next congress will be
national In scope. New Dealers can
not conceive the advantage to the
country as a whole of several hundred
thousand different unemployment in
surance funds.
But that Is not the main objection
TO the company union" system of un-
employment insurance. The main OBJ
lection is that while it probably would
afford excellent protection to employ.
e OF these same big companies, It
would not work we'll in instances where
small concerns fail or curtail or en-
counter other difficulties.
In such cases, New Dealers point
out, the employees would become a
public burden at once, and the big
companies and their employees would
all have to help through taxes, SO that
In the long run, even financially, it may
be pretty nearly az broad as it is long.
Encourage Idleness
Another objection urged by oppo-
nents of the national unemployment in
surance idea Is that it would encour-
age idleness-that men or women who
knew they would draw unemployment
payments would not be much con-
cerned over whether they worked or
not, or at least would not be in too
much OF q hurry to get another Job
when they found themselves out of
work.
There are two answers to this. One
Is that the plan will very probably
follow the European system, though no
details have been definitely approved
by the President. This provides a
waiting period. of from two weeks up
ward, between the time the job is lost
and the payments from the unemploy-
ment fund begin. There were two orig
inal purposes in this when 1t was
adopted by most Of the countries now
using unemployment insurance. One
Of these was to tighten the burden on
the fund, and the other was aimed at
the very objection that immediate pay
ments would encourage loafing.
There Is another answer, but this Is
purely in the discussion stage. 1t is
being strongly advocated by Col. Rob-
ert G. Ebert, of New York, prominent
recently in NRA, and who has close
connections with New Deal circles in
various ways. Colonel Gilbert would
set up an employment agency in con-
nection with the Unemployment In
surance administration. =
Whenever a worker who had been
paying unemployment insurance premi-
ums land having them paid for him in
addition by his employer) should lose
a job, he would at once file application
for. payments, of course. Because the
payments would not start for two
weeks after such application. This in.
sures promptness. But such filing
would automatically put him in touch
with the unemployment bureau of the
insurance administration, and it would
be the duty Of the head Of that local
office to get the worker a job as quick
ly as possible.
Might Be Upset
Certain radicals in the Roosevelt
camp are due for a sad disappointment
in the next move of the President, I'M
less some usually accurate advisers Of
the Chief Executive are very much
mistaken. =.
Naturally enough, the radicals con-
strue the huge Democratic majority as
a mandate NOT only to continue the
Roosevelt policies, but to turn further
to the left. That would seem logical,
but there is a political slant, which the
radicals have not figured.
The point Is that the Republicans are
so helpless, SO leaderless. and 10 with.