Evening star., 1935-09-11
BY JOHN C. HENRY.

Getting away to poor start be-
cause of the legislative tumble which
allowed a single Senator to kill the
third deficiency appropriation bill, the
far-reaching social security program
of the Federal Government still may
rightly be considered an important
element in the "rosy-fingered dawn"
of a new day for millions Of Amer
leans.
Sharply criticized by some on po-
litical or economic grounds, described
by others as delusion which will
lead many to bitter disappointment,
the social security law stands as the
Nations longest step toward a So
cialistic concern for the welfare OF its
privileged citizens. As such an
innovation, it quite probably may run
into complications which will ne
cessitate changes in its structure and
in its contemplated operation. Ex-
pansion of its scope already has been
urged, and therefore made likely, by
one of it's congressional sponsors,
Senator Robert F. Wagner OF New
York.
Advocates of the legislation as 1t
now stands referred in loose way to
the millions who would benefit" :"
Examination of the act and of figures
supplied by the Bureau OF Labor Sta
tistics. the Presidents Committee on
Economic Security and other author
itative sources shows that six titles
of the act as now drawn would ex-
tend beneficial effects to about 49,
100000 persons, old and young.
Detail of Divisions.
In detail, these divisions follow;
State Federal old-age assistance, l.
100000; Federal old-age insurance,
5000, 900; unemployment compenSa-
ton, 100000; aid to dependent chill
dren, 100000; maternal and child
welfare. 100000: aid to blind. l00.-
600. The total for these six groups.
each provided for in separate sec
ton of the act, is 16,400,000. In addi-
ton, millions Of persons. dificult to
estimate. will be affected by the pro-
posed public health activities contem-
plated under title 6 of the bill. De-
tailed consideration of these groups
will follow IN later articles.
First necessity, of course. for such
a program was an administrative
set-up adapted to the unique require
ments of the plan. To the attainment
of this end the act itself was specific.
BY its title 7 1t created the Social
Security Board. vested it with the
power to build up its needed personnel
and gave 1t jurisdiction over five OF
the major divisions of the program
Public health activities, contained in
title 6, it placed under the Public
Health Service of the Treasury De-
partment Title S, containing pro-
visions for maternal and child health
aid to crippled children and child
welfare work, 1t placed under the
Children's Bureau of the Department
of Education. A section providing
for extension OF vocational rehabilita-
ton of persons disabled in industry
the act placed under the ONCE OF
Education in the Department of In
terror. The taxation requirements OF
titles 8 and 9 it placed under the
Bureau of Internal Revenue, while
other functions are directed to the
Census Bureau and to the Federal
Employment Service.
With the Social Security Board
being the only new agency thus con-
templated, principal interest has CEN
tered around the makeup of this unit
Favored Set-up.
The set-up now favored is as follows:
At the top will be the three man
board, composed of John G. Winant
Arthur j. Altmeyer and Vincent Nor
gan Miles. Headed by Winant, this
trio will shape the policies of the pro-
gram in so far as it comes under the
board. Directly below them will be
an executive director. the front man
to see that the pronouncements of the
board are carried out. Salaries of the
board members are placed at $4,000
each, that of the executive director at
SO. 500.
For the actual operation of the
boards part of the program will be
four main divisions, one to deal with
old-age and blind assistance, as in
titles / and 10; second to handle
unemployment compensation admins
tration, as in title 3; third to ad-
minister aid to dependent children,
as in title 4, and the fourth to ad-
minister the Federal old-age insur-
ance plan of title g Each of these
divisions will be headed by director
drawing about $4,000 per year.
Operating under these main divi-
sions with their headquarters an
Washington will be regional units,
the plan now being to establish nine
of these field offices. In each of
these local centers will be representa-
tives Of each Of the four line divi-
sions, the purpose being to have men
in the field where they may consult
with State administrations and per-
form other localized duties more
easily than from Washington. Tie
location of these field Offices has not
been definitely determined.
Technical Sections Here.
Back in Washington, on compar-
able level with the four policy divi-
sions. will be technical sections,
among them legal division, a re-
search and planning division and an
administrative division.
Most far-reaching of the duties
planned for any of these groups will
be those contemplated for the re-
search and planning division Some
Of these are outlined by Mr.. Altmeyer:
"One of the first questions Is to
make preliminary studies to determine
whether there should be a national
unemployment system, along the lines
Of the Federal old-age insurance
system, or whether there should be a
State system.
There are two main systems: One
Is the straight Federal unemployment
insurance system, like the old-age in
surance system, where the Govern
ment at Washington undertakes to
run the whole thing from Washington
You can have that, or YOU can have