Evening star., 1938-10-17
SECURITY COUNCIL
MAY ASK CHANGES
Advisers, Meeting Friday
Expected to Propose
Expansion Program.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The main trouble with the social
security law, in the opinion Of vir-
tually every administration oficial
who will comment, Is that 1t does not
80 far enough.
That is the problem which will be
before the Advisory Council on Social
Security when 1t meets here Friday.
The council composed OF representa-
tives of employers. workers and the
public, is expected to recommend to
the Social Security Board and Presi-
dent Roosevelt far-reaching program
of expansion.
At present the Soical Security Act
provides three types Of economic Sc
curity:
l. Old-age insurance for persons
employed in industry and commerce
The board has opened more than
Al 100000 individual accounts. Bene-
fits payable to persons over IS and,
beginning January l. 1912, will range
from $40 to $s5 q month.
Insurance for Idle.
2. Unemployment compensation, a
joint Federal-State undertaking to
provide temporary income to wage
earners out of work. About 27.5000 900
workers are covered by State unem-
ployment compensation laws.
3. Aid for the needy. This program
also is a joint Federal-State undertak-
ing Benefits now are going to l,734.-
900 persons as old age assistance. to
63l, 900 needy children and to 4l,200
blind persons.
This in brief is what the social Sc
curity program Is now doing. Omcials
high in the Roosevelt administration
say that despite the large number of
persons benefltting or in line to bene-
fit, however, many millions more still
are beyond the pale.
They ask, for instance, whether the
farm laborer is not entitled to the same
degree of social security enjoyed by
his cousin in a textile mill in town.
They ask the same question about
maids, cooks and others in domestic
service, and about the employees Of
lcll6lOus
Administration Difficulties.
Including persons in all these clas-
sifications, there are about 100000
workers now excluded from the pro-
gram who could, some experts feel,
be brought under it. Members of the
Social Security Board say they have
been left out thus far because Of the
mechanical difficulties of administer
ing program as applied to them.
The very causes that aggravate the
economic insecurity OF such workers."
Mary w. Dewson, a board member,
said recently, also increase the difi-
Guilty OF providing more security
through social insurance.
Among these problems are frequent
shifting from one job to another, the
high proportion Of employers to en-
ployes, the ratio often approaching a
one-to-one relationship, and the nom
business character of an employer
group which consists mainly Of house,
wives, small farmers and so forth
Miss Devson said, however, that the
experience gained by the board In ad-
ministering commerce and industry
old age insurance would provide means
for helping solve these technical diffi-
culties. Students Of the act confidently
predict an effort will be made in the
next Congress to have the law ex-
tended to cover these persons.
Collection . Problem.
Since they and their employees would
have to pay taxes just as workers and
employers in industry do, one Of the
Governments foremost problems is
how to collect the tax.
Some experts have suggested that =
stamp system be used. Farm and do
mestic workers and their employers
would pay their taxes by buying stamps
to be pasted in a record book every
time a wage was paid Each pasting
would represent payment OF the proper
percentage OF that wage in old-age
insurance taxes.
1T a stamp system is established"
Miss Dewson said, workers will very
soon become aware of their rights and
OF their employers obligations under it.
"Since they will quickly realize what
they lose in dollars and cents, they can
be counted on to take the responsibility
for seeing that the proper collections
are made"
There is no certainty at this time
that the stamp system will be adopt
ed, but it is method about which
much is heard.
Next Of series: Social Security for
Women and Children.)