Evening star., 1935-01-14
ThePOlitical Mill
By G.. Could Lincoln.

When President Roosevelt an
nounced, in his annual message to
Congress, that he proposed to take
the unemployed of the dole and
put them to work he mentioned about
100000 unemployable men and
women who are now on relief. These
unemployables. he said, should be the
responsibility of the individual States
not the Federal Government. The
President undoubtedly is right. But
it is clear that the States, having had
the aid of the Federal Government,
are not likely to relish taking over
this burden. At present it would be
difficult to find yardstick by which
to measure the employable and the
| unemployable-since the test of the
/ pudding is in the eating. Once the
huge public works program of the
President, designed to give work to
all the employables, is put into oper-
| alton, it will he a simpler matter to
determine who Is unemployable and
playable but will not work.
| + \
| There Is no doubt about the fact
that administration leaders at the
Capitol have become exercised over
| the growing disposition of a lot Of
employables to give up the idea of
working for living. Too many of
| thnr,o ha rooahod ha
the Government loves them living"
and it is easier to live off the Govern
ment than to go to work five or six
days of the week The President was
particularly emphatic in his address
to Congress in dealing with the danger
that continued doles by the Govern
ment will sap the vigor of the people.
! 1t looks as though a certain amount
OF rugged individualism will be neces-
sary to keep any people from retro
| grading.
Miss Frances Perkins, Secretary of
Labor, dubS the Townsend old-age
pension plan unsound in an interview
appearing today in the American
Magazine. This plan, which provides
for pensioning all persons 60 years
OF age or over at 5000 a month, Miss
Perkins says, is not only economically,
but socially. unsound. Apparently she
does not believe in SO much paternal-
ism on the part Of the Government,
and her argument would seem to be
much like that of the President in
his denunciation of the dole. Miss
Perkins said in part in her interview,
discussing the Townsend plan:
Its supporters are utterly reckless
in their use OF figures. Under it there
would be distributed two billion dol
lars month in pensions. Why, the
entire national income in 1888 was less
than 40 billions, and this pension
scheme alone would be annually "a
billions. 1t would give to per cent
Of our population, the people over so,
more than half the entire income of
the country.
What is an adequate old-age pen
sion which is economically possible?
1t Is hard to answer this for the en-
tire country An adequate pension in
one section is not large enough in an
other. Average relief costs vary from
S6 to 81 per month per family in
some States. to s45 per month in
urban and industrial communities.
III say this: The old-age standards
should be higher than the relief
standards.
| Such pensions will cost much less
than old-age homes, and the human
saving, In self-reSpect, will be beyond
estimation. But there will be large
savings in cash as we'll. One student Of
the problem has estimated that out
OF every Sl00 which has gone to keep
| up the Nations almshouses $50 is
spent for overhead. That enormous
overhead will be almost entirely elm
mated under pension plan.
AT what age should old-age pen
sions take effect? Most advocates IA
vor IS as the age for retirement, but
1t would be unwise to require workers
to retire at that age, as many a man
over IS is vitality needed in the OPERA
tion Of a factory"
x X X
Miss Perkins ideas reflect in all
probability those of the Roosevelt
administration with regard to old
age pensions. although she makes no
claim to speak for the President in
this matter. In this connection it
may be mentioned that even Senator
Huey p. Long of Louisiana in his
share the wealth" program places
old-age pensions at from $50 to $40
a month, instead of the Townsend
s2oO-a-month idea. And yet the
Townsend plan has lot of followers.
1t promises golden age to many.
X
The World Court fight is to be
launched in the Senate-unless the
leaders change their minds-tomorrow
The ratification, with reservations. is
expected. Probably it can be accom-
pllshed with large vote. It is a
| gesture for world peace. At the same
time every effort is to be made to
make it clear to the rest of the world
that America does not intend to be
drawn into their troubles. Questions
IN which America has or claims to
have an interest are to be taboo when
1t comes to entertaining requests for
advisory opinions on the part of the
World Court. 1t is through such a
reservation that the United States
hopes to be able to keep out of foreign
entanglements. Whether we 20 into
the World Court or not, it is clear
that it is going to be difficult to keep
out of disputes and war arising among
other nations over questions that do
not affect us directly. And there are
questions that do affect us directly
which the country has to face anyway
The United States has proverbially
been against war and for peace Other
nations would make similar claims.
1t is difficult to say when defensive
warfare becomes aggressive.
|
| With the United States and other
nations going right ahead with naval
building, and ornaments increasing
rather than diminishing, it might be
imagined that the world, including
this country, was preparing to rest
its hopes for peace on strong armies
and navies rather than on interna-
tional courts of justice. What another
| uyor would coSt dooS not Sooy,, fo ba