Montana labor news., 1939-10-05
What The Business Man
OF This Slate Is Losing


Security Act came up for lot of
discussion and a number Of amend
ments. Of these the most important
was the amendment to the act which
allows the federal government to
match state funds up to $40 instead
of SIS which means that, although
to most of US the last session of Con-
gress was a very reactionary one,
they did realize that the federal gov
ernment's share of matching state
funds for old-age assistance was far
from what it should be and a move
was started in Congress to have the
government match state funds two
for one, which went down to defeat
when it came to a vote, but as stated
before, they were successful in rails
ing it from SIS to $40.
Now let's see what the business
men of our state are losing by hav-
ing a setup here such as our Vel
fare Department who fails to reap
the full benefit of federal funds to
stimulate business for which these
funds are fully intended Other than
assisting the aged, even though our
business men are forever raising
their voices in protest against the
amount they are paying in federal
taxes for these governmental agen-
cies.
If the state of Montana was pay
ing an old-age assistance Of $40 a
month the federal government would
pay half of that amount or $40 and
the state one-third, or 1888 1-3 and
the county one-sixth or $667. Let's
see how this compares with our
present old-age assistance, and these
are figures obtained from the state
administrator. The average assist
ance for the state granted to the
aged by our State Welfare Depart
ment is $1789. Our federal govern
ment pays one-half of that amount,
or $8.9412. It is no wonder the Vel
fare Department calls this assistance
instead of a pension because no one
could expect a person to live in
Montana on that amount, so there
fore the word assistance.
The Montana Public Welfare Coun-
Gil has been protesting this for some
time, basing their protest on these
facts, that the State Welfare Depart
ment and board are lax in their du-
ties by not appealing to the Cover
nor for sufficient funds whereby
they could pay an assistance SO that
the business men of our state could
reap the full benefit of federal funds
for which they are being taxed. In
other words, business in our state
is losing $11.06 per month or $132.72
a year for each case on o. A. A.
That is, providing we were paying
$40 instead of $1789 and no one will
say that $40 a month is too great
an amount for a person to live on.
There are 1924 cases on o. A. A.
(old-age assistance) in our state.
Therefore business is losing better
than million and half dollars
that would be spent for food, cloth
ing and shelter and every dollar
would be spent for these people are
so badly in need Of these things
there would not be possible chance
of them boarding.
So in closing let me say to the
business man that if we had in our
State Department those who had the
interest of all at heart you and
everyone else would be getting a
greater share of the taxes being paid
for these agencies and to which you
are rightfully entitled.
Some of you may say to your
selves, when are we going to hear
the last of this? Never, so long as
we have welfare setup in our state
so rotten as the one we have and
the sooner the business men wake
up to the fact and realize that they
are carrying more than their share
of the burden the better off every
body will be. For under our present
system you are carrying and caring
for these people when our federal
and state governments should be
carrying that burden for you Once
more do your part and reap the
benefits Of the taxes you are paying