Evening star., 1935-05-29
Too Much Speedi

In less than an hour Monday the
House passed two bills for the District
of Columbia which. in their social sig
nificance, outrank any local legislation
considered in a generation. One was
the Norton bill for old-age pensions.
The other was the Ellenbogen bill for
unemployment compensation. Neither
bill was debated. Both rode through
the House without discussion, other
than the explanation from the
sponsors.
While the House seldom errs through
speed in dealing with the District. the
method of transacting this important
legislative business is apt to cause
grief later on. In the Ellenbogen bill.
for instance, a curious change was
made in one important principle of
the measure that was not noted in the
report on the bill. although Mr.. Ellen
bogen made passing reference to it in
his speech of explanation. The
change was in the so-called merit
clause which had been included
in the bill as the result of sug-
gestions made during the hearings
The purpose Of the clause was TO re-
ward those employers who are able to
stabilize their own employment, the
reward taking the form of eventual
reduction IN the pay roll tax. As ex-
planned by the report on tho bill:
= " 1t is provided that after four
years an employers contributions may
be lowered to minimum of one and
one-half per cent if he shows favor
able employment experience or may
be raised to five per cent if he shows
high unemployment rate. The
average rate for all employers. how
ever, is to be maintained at three per
cent. so as to provide sufficient funds
to maintain the scheme on a sound
actuarial basis.
BY committee amendment the re-
duction to one and one-half per cent
was eliminated. although the increase
20 five per cent was maintained. The
result of the change will mean that the
employer who is aole to stabilize his
employment receives no tax reduction,
although the unfortunate employer who
is not able to stabilize his employment
will actually have added, to his other
worries, two per cent increase in his
pay roll staX The reason for this is
that the House made three per cent
tax mandatory in the national legisla-
ton. But the Senate Committee, in re-
porting the national legislation, recog-
nizes what is known as the Wisconsin
plan, under which employers stabilizing
their own employment are given the
benefits of tax reduction. The Ellen
bogen bill will doubtless be amended
in the Senate And one of the amend
ments should be TO revive the merit
clause in some workable fashion. and
to lower the unemployment benefits
to the scale of the few State laws
that have been passed. There is no
reason why the benefits to be paid in
the District should be far higher than
these provided in State legislation,
causing a proportionately heavier
drain on taxation here than elsewhere.
Both the unemployment insurance
measure and the old-age pension bill
will demand new appropriations. The
former calls for an initial contribution
from the District of S750OO0, while
the latter merely authorizes Congress
to make the appropriation necessary
to carry out the purpose Of the bill
The amount of that appropriation is
not at this time known. But the in
crease of we'll over a million dollars
in revenue demands upon the District
for the next fiscal year will of course
have to be taken into consideration
by the conferees on the pending Dis
trict appropriation bill.