The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-07
MOreSupport
Given to the
Workers Bill
Benjamin and JOhnso
Report to Committee
on Labor
Continued from Page ~,

in sympathy with this bill.
think it viii pass the lower hou
g.. let's push this bill along :
quickly as we can" He told Vol
correspondent that he was going
vote for the Workers Bill as OF
posed to the Wagner-Lewis Bill.
In his statement to the Comrnf
tee, Benjamin said: Five years
widespread and deep going ecor
on1ic crisis have served to reve.
how insecure is the economic pos
ton of the overwhelming majori
of the population of this, the ricf
est country in the world. Million
have been expelled from the indu.
tries and forced into a huge arm
of unemployed. The unemploye
have been forced to wage struggle
in order to establish their right
live.
Aware of Distress
1.-THE entire population has be
come acutely aware of the dire dis
tress which prevails for the mem
ployed, and also for the aged an
other victims of what are no,
recognized as the normal hazard
of the present social order. Til
problem of social insecurity he
thus far compelled the attentio
and consideration of not only III
active radical opponent Of the pres
ent social order and the academi
reformer, but has become an i'm
mediate, practical political Issue {
first rate Importance.
Comes to Head
even those who are opposed
the enactment of necessary socif
insurance legislation are now com
pelled to give serious considerable
to this problem. The issue is com
ing to a head. The lines are bein
sharply drawn. The question is n
longer-Shall We have Unemploy
ment and Social Insurance? TIL
question has become-What kind
When? And, we must ask for reas
ons which will be explained later
for whom?
ct is natural that under presen
conditions some shall see in tn
movement for social insurance
threat. The very fact that thi
movement for a greater measure o
social security grows in power an
insistence, makes some feel NOR
insecure"
Raps Wagner Bill
I'VE intend to show that of tn
measures now being considered b,
Congress, one, the Wagner
Bill which proceeds from the Presi
dents Social Security program
deliberately designed to circumven
the demands of the masses for so
cial insurance and thereby safe
guard the wealth, profits AM
privilege Of the few. The other
the Lundeen, Workers Unemploy
ment, Old Age and Social InSuranc
Bill Oh. r. 282O is designed t
provide a greater measure OF socia
security for the masses, in the onl
way this can be done-at the ex
pense Of the few who now ow
most Of the nations wealth"
Johnson Halls Bill
Manning Johnson, the spokesman
for the l.. S. N. r., declared that
This bill is superior to all othe
bills presented. The Wagner-Lewi
Bill excludes entirely the domesti
and personal workers, most
whom are Negroes.
Since 1929, living standard
among Negro workers have drop
ped" said Johnson. "Congeste,
housing, dissipation of savings, los
of homes, furniture, insurance, am
clothing, and the addition of rela
tives and strangers to the famil
unit, have been the effects of tn
crisis on the Negro people"
johnson declared that "aS yo
know, Negro workers have been tn
last hired and the first to be fired.
He pointed out the discrimination
against Negroes fostered by the N
r. A. Codes; the increase in un
employment especially among Ne
groeS since the beginning of the N
r. A, the fact that in Washington
D. c., "78 per cent of those on re
lief are Negroes although they ar,
only 25 per cent of the population
which further suostantiates on
contention that the Negro peopl
are hard hit" and the discrimina,
ton against the Negro in many A
F. of L., National and Internationa
Unions.