Evening star., 1937-05-31
Social Security Reform
Reconsideration Of Phases of Act Before Pluneing
Into Wage-Hour Legislation Advised

grams, and to distribute to the needy |
a larger share of the profits Of indus
try than they are capable OF getting
for themselves.
There are numerous objections to |
the present program, but the basic one
is that this plan for social and eco
nomic stabilization ought to be borne
by the Nation as whole, and instead
1t is put upon the shoulders of the
workers and employers and ultimately !
upon the consumers. The employed
worker and productive industry must
pay the cost. If it is true that there
is considerable chronological unem-
ployment in the country, then these
laws cannot help but accelerate it, be-
cause they put premium on employ
Ing men and give every advantage to
the machine. The British law aims
TO guarantee modest basic income
to all workers in distress. but the ben
efits in our act depend entirely on
the wages previously earned by an in
sured person and are largest for those
least likely to need them The huge
numbers of existing unemployed are
totally ignored, and cannot begin to
become beneficiaries until they are
re-employed in the industrial system.
Security System Offers
Actually the security which the
old-age system offers is precarious in
deed. An insured worker"-to quote
Mr.. Epsteln-"must average at least
SlOO a month uninterruptedly for
twenty years to get pension of S32. so
month when he is 65 years old.
With sickness. strikes and unempIoy-
ment most workers would not
get such annuities unless they worked
for IS or 80 years" And although
the act does not provide security for
many years to come. it places an i'm
mediate backbreaking burden upon
the workers, especially the younger
and better paid ones, precisely at the
time when they ought to be founding
homes for which they need their
earnings
There is more than one danger
inherent in the huge reserves con-
templated under the old-age insurance
plan, which is estimated to reach
A billions in 1880! Possibly Congress
may diSSipate the funds for other
purposes, since they are not ear
marked, but that might conceivably
be the lesser of several evils. The
sum is - billion dollars above our
present Indebtedness, and it NAV
be invested only in Government
bonds The effect on the national
economy when all governmental
bonds are Withdrawn from the banks,
insurance companies, trust funds and
private investors can be imagined.
There is a serious chance that all
governmental debt and securities will
be in one account controlled by the
Government itself.
Administration Feature.
The administration OF the unem-
ployment assurances, as the act stands,
is incredibly cumbersome, compu-
Gated and expensive. Instead of pro-
noting adequacy Of standards and
uniformity, the act encourages con-
fuslng variety Of systems" says Mr..
Epstein. Indeed, the act has already
brought about a miscellany of 48 di-
vergent State plans" Actually. the
tax-credit plan for unemployment in
surance was opposed from the start
by every single student of the prohs
lem.
So much really constructive think
ing and criticism, with such unan-
unity of conclusion, has been done
on the social security act by pub
! lic-minded citizens and experts that
there is really no excuse for not re-
forming it. Certainly it might be
well to reform this act before rush.
ing headlong into highly debatable
wages and hours legislation. And
above all, the social security act
might be reconsidered and reformed
before another billion and half is
voted for w. P. A. Because really
intelligent and generous unemploy-
ment insurance laws would make
much Of the w. P. A. activity un-
necessary.
(Copyright. 1877