The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-11-27
RODNEY butcher Tells HOW SOCIAL SECURITY
OPERATES; AFFECTS 100000 after JAN. !
By RODNEY BUTCHER
Tim~s-Ns~s Washington
Corresponden. g.

met secretly ln,tne NOOuS ~ HiSHN
TO pass the Social Security Act
and that the president had fur
lively signed il. thereupon tuck
ing the law into 4 desk drawer,
where il remained until 1t was
dragged out as a red hot CAM
paign issue. .... .,... es
REQUESTS for information keep
mourning into newspaper offices and
the headquarters of the Social Sc
curity Board (SSBl in Washing
ton. =,
Immediate interest is especially
aroused BY the conributory old
age benefits system, which goes
into effect Jan. for an estimated
10000, 900 people and is designed
70 Give them something to live on
after they are 60 years old.
Getting the news around TO that
10000, 900 and making them UNI
ders;and what the plan Is all about
is one of the great information
spreading tasks of history.
: Cataloging those men and wo-
men. seeing that they and their
employers all pay the sums re,
ouired 10 finance the scheme, and
then seeing that each beneficiary
gets what's coming TO him IS
Fob the magnitude of which eX-'
cecdS anything of the kind ever
undwertaken.
It's Job. Incidentally, where
the biggest and hardest part VIII
have to be done before the L.. ).
Supreme Court decides whether
it's all constitutional.
HERE ARE CHIEF FEATURES
Main features Of the Social Sc
curity Act are the following:
Divide the program into its
three main phases and you'll fInd
il easier to comprehend.
/. Old-age benefits through an
employer employee contributory
system.
q. a federal-state unemploy-
ment compensation system.
s. Public assistance through
grants 20 states for aid 10 persons
over 65, the needy blind, and de-
pendent children. ;,
The end of November will md
those 26,000,000, workers in fac
tories. mines. stores, offices, and
ON other business and industrial!
Jobs. receiving from their employ
ers application blanks which must
be filled out and given TO post
masters for transit to Washington
by Dec. D.
Each blank is an application for
assignment of q number to the
Individuals social security ac-
count" which is kept by the Ssh.
Beginning Jan. l the govern
ment will collect tax from both
employers and employees on the
workers wages up to $4,000 a
year. .., -,
For three years workers will
paw / per cent per dollar Of wages
and the rate gradually rises until
il becomes 3 per cent in l949.
The employer, who forwards all
the money involved in the tax,
contributes a sum equal 10 all the
taxes his employees pay.
MAXIMUM is SIS .-
What the worker finally receives
in monthly benefit payments as
rssult of these contributions after
he is Go depends on the amount
Of wages or salary he receives be-
tween Jan. I and his 65th birth
day. Minimum monthly payment
$50 and maximum SS5, since,
for purposes Of the act, earnings
in excess of $4,000 q year aren't
counted as wages
Examples: Worker who earns
an average of $50 week. or ST.
$50 a year, for so years after
1896 before he becomes 90 Will
receive government checks OF
S5e.75 a month for the rest OF
his life after ne is So.
If ne dies before receiving any
monthly payments his family Will
receive 5 l-2 per cent of these
wages. or 81 ,63S. If ne works but
10 years at an average OF $50
weekly before reaching 90, his
monthly check will be $3.50 and
the death payment would be S546.
Ten wears work at SIS week
would mean SO month after
So. =.
All benefits VII come out of
the Treasury's "0ld Age Reserve
Account" Lump sums equivalent
to 8 l-2 per cent of total wages
are paid to workers who reach 90
before they qualify for monthly
benefits, which will not be paid
until 1912. These and death lump
sum payments viii begin to be-
come payable in 1887.
HOW TO FIGURE BENEFIT
II YOU don't get an application
blank from. your employer, call
arodrd for one ut the post office.
III vow want 20 figure out what
YOUR monthly benefit will be after
65, estimate your total wages mot
abaye $4,000 annually between
now and your 65th birthday.
The percentage of those total
wages payable as, the monthly
rate of benefit will be one half OF
DER cent on'the first $4,000, plus
one. twelfth Of ] per cent on the
next S42, 600, and one twenty
fourth of l per cent on all over
$4,000. -.
To receive the ss5 maximum,
YOUR total wages would have to De
about $3.50, 900. For each month
in which you are regularly en-
ployed after s., months beneht
payment is deducted.
,CHief exceptions from the sys-
TEN are agricultural labor, do
nestle service. casual labor, pub