Evening star., 1941-09-30
President Plans
Move as Bar
To Initiation
Coveroee Slated
For Farm Labor
And Domestics
BY JOHN c. HENRY.

President Roosevelt disclosed
this afternoon that he will ask
Congress within a few days for
broad extension of the social Sc
curity law, perhaps doubling the
number of Americans now COW
cred by this program.
The President told his press con-
ference the first objective of the
proposed extension would be to
cover many groups of people outside
the purely industrial category and
to extend increased Federal assist
ance to the poorer States.
Some of the latter States. he ex-
planned, because of low tax values
and relatively small earning power,
are unable to comply with the
matching provisions of the old-age
assistance section Of the social Sc
curity program. The President con-
ferred today with his departmental
advisers on the social security ex-
tension.
DETERRENT 10 Innat10n.
If corrective legislation can be
passed in the near future, he went
on, the effect would be a deterrent
to imitation and would provide a
cushion for post-emergency read ,
Justments. He indicated that farm
labor and domestic workers might
be among those to benefit from the
broad coverage, and acknowledged
further that increased payroll taxes
might become necessary.
Covering wide variety Of other
subjects at the press conference,
the President also declared:
l. That the $3.50 rule-of- thumb
formula for dividing arms produc-
ton between America and foreign
needs is being followed in general.
but with extreme variations where
there is great need for specific ma
terials.
2. That loss of the widely varied
cargoes Of such ships as the Pink
Star, sunk by a German submarine,
is a serious blow TO American de-
fense production.
Pink Star Carried Mostly Food.
In this latter connection the
President disclosed that the bulk of
the Pink Stars cargo was foodstuff.
part of it bound for Iceland and part
for Britain.
To emphasize the loss of the Pink
Star and its cargo, the President
evaluated the destroyed supplies as
follows:
Cheddar cheese in a quantity suf-
fcient to feed $500 900 laborers for
one week under present British ra-.
tions. A years milk production Of
/ 1000 COWS. Powdered milk equiva-
lent to $4,000 quarts. Evaporated,
milk equivalent to 1250,00o quarts
of fresh milk.
Concentrated orange Juice suffici-
ent for $1,000 persons for IL days;
| pork products of 5000 hogs and lard
from $1,000 hogs; corn production of
= 500 acres.
Also Carried Arms.
l. In addition to tractors and me-
chanical potato diggers, the ship
/ also carried a small quantity of
military supplies, the President said.
Included in these were metallic
links for machine gun belts, and
machine tools for aircraft engines.
The extent of this loss, Mr.. Roose-
velt concluded. shows why the Gov
ernment considers it necessary to
American defense to guarantee ac-
tual delivery of these supplies to the
people doing the front-line fighting.
All of the materials lost will have
to be reproduced and reshlpped. he
added.
During his discussion of continu-
ance of the $3.50 formula for divid-
ing munitions production, Mr. Roose-
velt said he had never heard of any
suggestion to divert all American
production to Britain and Russia for
limited period. He likewise denied
any knowledge of proposals for ter
minating or modifying operation of
the Selective service law.
The President said he had not yet
decided on what changes will be
sought in the neutrality law. or by
what means his recommendations
will be presented to Congress.
He referred questioners to the
State Department for information
about progress of the Japanese
American talks and others to the
Treasury Department when asked
for his reaction to proposals for lin
iting business profits to per cent.