The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-09
Professionals Report
MARY VAN KLEECK CITES THE GROWING
ALLIANCE WITH MANUAL WORKERS
I alks to tn e House
Committee on Social
Insurance Bill

Sage Foundation, pointed out the
workability of the Workers Bill
H. r. 1927, and cited the growing
mass movement behind the measure
In her Indictment of the Wagner
Lewis measure, she declared that the
professional workers are becoming
ever more conscious that their role
as allies Of the manual workers was
binding these groups together in a
common fight.
A summary of her report follows:
Security for all who work for their
living in the United States is the
primary and all-impOrtant obIiga-
ton on which the 74th Congrss is
called upon to act. The InterprO-
fessiOnaI Association for Social In
surance, on whose behalf the pres
ent witness speaks, supports H. r.
1927, the Workers Unemployment
and Social Insurance Bill, because 1t
undertakes to provide compensation
for insecurity for the masses Of the
unemployed, and, as such, Is the
first step IN the comprehensive pro-
gram which the establishment Of Sc
curity for the American people will
require in the next few years.
The Interprofessional Association
for Social Insurance, which includes
individual members from all the rec
ognized professions and is just now
beginning to serve also as a center
for the professional organizations in
program for the security of pro-
fessional workers, was organized to
express the demand of professional
workers that they be included in
legislation for social insurance. Rec
ognizing the identity Of interest of
professional workers with industrial
workers and farmers in the need for
economic security, the InterprOfes-
sional Association does not develop
its own program but undertakes to
cooperate with all other workers and
with trade unions in support of in
elusive legislation.
Six Points Of Support
The specific reasons for support
Of HR. 1927 by the InterprofesSional
Association for Social Insurance at
this time are as follows:
ID The continuance of extensive
mass unemployment demands com
prehensive action to provide insur-
ance for all workers, in lieu Of in
come from earnings.
90 Professional workers are suf-
fering gravely from the extent Of
unemployment, but in most profess
sions they are not covered by any
other legislative proposal, and can
be protected only in such an inclu-
sive bill as H.R. 1927.
go The great and vital need Of
the unemployed for means with
which TO buy the necessities Of life
for themselves and their families Is
not and cannot be met by the un-
certain and inadequate provision for
relief.
"a This mass unemployment is
not an unusual emergency, but has
required at regular and frequent in
tervals in this country, so that the
time has come for the definite rec
ignition of the obligation Of gov
eminent and the economic system to
insure continuity Of income.
(sl Technicians and scientists
aGree that the productive capacity
Of the United States is equal to a
far greater measure of security and
to higher standards of living than
have vet been established; and sci
ence and invention promise to ex-
pand this productivity to higher
level, If the productive system can
be freed from the recurrent bur-
dens of industrial depressions.
90 AS a continuing problem, mass
unemployment requires Congress
sional action because Of the man
date laid upon Congress by the Con
stitution to provide for the general
welfare.
These reasons are arnplified with
supporting data in the following
statements.
The Present Extent Of Unemploy-
ment
The most recent report of the
Bureau of Labor Statistics as TO
trends in factory employment and
payrolls showed an increase in De-
cember as compared with November
but the factory employment index
stood at the alarmingly low Level
of 1871 and the payroll index at
63.2, as compared with the three
year average of 1923-25, which is
taken at 100. Thus for every 10C
employed in 1923-25 only rs were
at work in December of last year
and of every dollar paid to workers
in 1923 rs only 632 cents went into
workers income in December, 1894
Not only is this indicative Of q
very serious decline in income for
factory workers, but the fact that
employment has increased some
what more rapidly than payrolls is
q sign of the lowering of individual
incomes.
Widespread Destituticn
The Committee will have before
it, in the testimony of other wit
nesses, various estimates of unern
ploynent. These vary widely, from
100000 to 17,000,0 900, but all esti-
mates agree in showing that the
present extent of unemployment is
extremely hazardous not only fol
the unemployed but for all workers
and for the general welfare of the
nation. This unemployment repre-
sents a curtailment of the distribu-
ton of the necessities of life, and
this in turn will create more unen-
ployment unless the trends can be
reversed by some such effective
policy as Is represented in H. r
1921.