The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-12-01
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
OFFERS LITTLE SECURITY

1.-The plan for old age insurance offers little Sc
curity for the aged.
ut cannot meet the needs of the aged for al
most a generation to come In order to acquire an
annuity of only SS2.5 per month worker will
have TO earn at least 500 each month for 20 years
Only those who have earned salary of $4,000 each
year for 43 years will be able to achieve the max
imum annuity of SS5 a month. In view of this, the
requirement. that no person get the annuity TO
which he. himself has contributed unless he gives
ND his job is not only senseess but is illustrative
of the fantastic dreaming behind much of the act"
To-day. under the non-contributory pension syS-
TENS in operation in about 40 states needy couple
may receive up to $50 monthly without ever haN-
inc contributed one single penny In contrast, the
man who will have contributed from his wages
every week for 20 years to the insurance fund.- VIII
he able to draw altogether only about hau lha'
sum and then only if he gives up all regular work
Not only does this act fall short in providing
for our dependent aged during the next genera
ton. but it places an immediate back-breaRing bur-
den upon the younger workers-those between ~
and 50 years of age-becauSe 1t is these workers
who must bear the bulk of the burden for support
ing the present older generation in addition to pro-
vidipc for their own old age. Young working men
old age annuities which are about DO per cent
higher than any private insurance company would
REQUIRE for the same retirement Dement'S. 49,
..Moreover since the act creates no legal claims
- benefits and the contributions which start next
January will 20 into the general fund, there is no
sr,er assurance that annuities will ever be paid.
Notb;nc in the act can prevent future congresses
syon, dissipating the fund as they please. 'g' l
The Social Security Act was framed by Senator
uocnor Win was born In Germany. 1t was intro
dnced in the House by Representative Henry BIZ
lenbogen who was born in Austria and hVeo III
Vienna until about twelve years ago. So. E,.c ~
RAYMOND c. Carroll, in the Saturday Evening
Post for November 81, said: E,~t...-" |.,.'. 5.
"Eagerness of the New Deal to import European
IDEAS is putting unemployed foreigners upon the
Federal payroll A.typical case was the hiring OF
nv Arnold s,einbach. of Austria, who could not
find employment in Europe, as administrative spe-
c;orst, for the Social Security Board in its Bureau
of Research and Statistics. which. is headed by
prof Walton Hale Hamilton, formerly of Yale, but
more recently chairman of the Advisory Council OF
Tho defunct NRA. also Adviser Consumers
Problems of the National Emergency Council, al
,o, which he was director of the Consumers DiV-
sion of the Labor Department and editor OF ITS or
Doctor Steinbach began his American duties on
April %, 1886. He was a protege of the lnterna-
tional Labor Office. He came to the SoclaI De-
curity Board with letters of recommendation from
Letter Magnusson, the Iceland-born American rep
resentative of the Geneva body. His salary Is 3d.
500 a wear and he was qualified as an expert by
the Civil Service Commission. He was born at
Suczawa, Austria-Hungary, June %, 1891, ana nc
first entered the United States at the port OF New
York on a students visa on August lS, 1889 HIS
hermit was extended to allow him to remain IN the
United States until July %, 1886. Meantime, I'M
der the advice of friends in the New Deal ne Went
10 Canada, where he was examined by an Amefi-
can consul. and then was readmtted to the Uniteu
States on a permanent basis and charged TO the
Austrian quota. On April Is, of this year. he APP
piled for his first citizenship papers, which was IL
DAYS before ne started working for the American
government"
B. C. Forbes. financial writer said; "ltS provi-
sions of handling the billions collected from work
ers and employers are shockingly unsound, caicu-
lated to incte unlimited spending by politicians
and providing inadequate guarantees for workers
who contribute Florida Beacon.