Montana labor news., 1938-09-15
LABOR AND SECURITY
Continued from Page 81

A(OitliiuSQ llOlll rage 81
worker can make a real contribution
to society and at the same time find
adequate self-expression and growth
for his W powers. Happiness is a
by-product of such a job.
". HEALTH AND DECENCY
WAGE
Next in importance in u security
platform after the job plank is the
wage plank. e., a wage sufficient
to live on in decency and health.
Here again, in spite of the dis
appointments of the Wage-Hour Bill,
comes, what seems to me to be, the
second epoch-making aspect of that
bill. 1t marks at long last the rec
ognition of the principle that every
worker is entitled TO a living wage
and protection against long hours.
Twenty-Five cents an hour and
"A hours per week-$11 per week
$572 per years. pitifully small
only one-third of what is considered
the minimum need for a family of
four-but it is a beginning-the
establishment of a principle that can
be developed into a real security
plank.
V. HOUSING
The next plank that should be
built into the platform is the housing
plank. One of the biggest RESPONSE
bilities and one of the finest oppor-
tunities before the American people
today is the construction of this
housing plank.
Even before the depression, at
least eleven million families-some
As million men, women and children
lived in unfit homes-homes that
impaired health and morals.
There can be no adequate social
security until our people are housed
in places fit to live in-houses that
can be built into real homes.
vi. SOCIAL INSURANCES-UN-
EMPLOYMENT, HEALTH,
OLD-AGE
Certainly all would admit if we
were to secure to all our people
health, education, jobs that pay liv-
ing wages, and decent homes, we
shall have built a strong and secure
platform upon which to. build our
lives. But it would not yet be a
complete platform. Such a platform
would suffice for most of the people,
most of the time, but not all the
time. The hazards of unemploy-
ment, sickness, and old age would
still fall upon some of them in such
a way that they must be insured
against these hazards-even to pro-
vide that minimum security upon
which alone the good life can be
built. For this reason the Social
Security Act provided these new
forms of social insurance for the
American worker - unemployment
insurance and old-age insurance
Their meaning you well understand
l am sure.
There yet remains to be provided
those forms of health insurance
which will provide not only ade.
quate medical are for all our people
but also sickness compensation tC
cover loss of earning power during
temporary or permanent disability
During the month of July there was
held in Washington a great Nationa.
Health Conference, some of the SEES.
sions of which | attended. Among
the concrete proposals, which came
out of that epoch-making confer
ence, was the proposal that $3.50,
100000 per year be spent on a health
program designed to reduce the
nations sickness bill which is now
estimated to cost ten billions pei
year.
VII, FOUR SUPPORTING PILLARS
These are the planks it seems tc
me must be built into any adequate
security platform for the American
worker.
/ wish there were time to discus.
what in many respects are ever
more fundamental concerns of the
American workman-the foundation
posts that alone al support such {
platform the SALES.--FUTURE or
which such a supe%r-structure mus
be built if it is really to be secure
must at least mention them today
in the hope that they may provoke
thought and discussion among you
and among all Of us who are con.
cerned with the building of the gooc
life and the good society.
A. INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
The first of these foundation
pillars is intellectual freedom. Mod,
ern science and modern philosophy
have destroyed our old conception;
of the world and of society-a static
world and a stratified society. In.
tellectual freedom has given birth
to this new science and this new
philosophy which in turn have giver
us entirely new techniques for build
ing a society in which real security
may be achieved by the masses. Only
intellectual freedom can maintain
this new science and these new