Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-01-22
WNU Service, 1343 H Street, NV,
Washington, D. C.

"oAA3 soAAS - "
As the ship of state pulls out Of
the holiday doldrums, skipper and
crew are setting their jaws for rough
weather. There are cross currents
ahead in the new congress which
are going to set the old ship rocking.
Symbolic of conflicting move.
ments, the debate of which will soon
be filling the Congressional Record,
are these two: A proposed bill to
bring labor unions into the restrict
ing pale of legislation such as bust
ness has to contend with under the
antitrust laws, and social security
program which some say will out
Beveridge England's new Beveridge
plan. That program, its author, Sir
William Beveridge says, is Gin some
ways a revolution"
The "holiday doldrums" I men.
toned were not enirely a seasonal
affair this year. There was the usu.
al letdown while congress went home
and the nation turned to festal
thoughts. There was also a pre-
meditated lull which was necessi-
tated by the turnover in the last
election. The administration knew
that no matter what was done in
the interim between November and
January, it would, in some measure,
be undone when anti-administration
Democrats and the increased Re-
publican minority got together in the
new congress.
Stop-Gap Arranged
Since manpower is the prime con-
sideration of the moment, a stop-gap
was arranged. With much fanfare
Manpower Commissioner McNutt
was given new powers and far
flung program was ballyhooed. But
it was mostly ballyhoo and just be-
fore Christmas wide publicity was
given to document which was OBJ
viously the forewarning that much
stricter RECOMMENDATION of labor was
In the wind. The long-postponed,
but inevitable, national service act
raised its head again.
The document was a draft of a
bill made by Grenville Clark, an at
torney who suddenly emerged as a
presidential advisor. 1t was an
nounced that he made special trip
to England to study the British man.
power setup. Clark remained silent
until just before Christmas and after
congress had gone home, but every
congressman received a copy of the
proposed legislation.
About two weeks earlier, shortly
after the Beveridge report was
made public, a cabinet officer was
heard to remark: "We've got to get
busy and draw up a program that
fits Americas needs little better
than the Beveridge plan would"
But the lull was still lulling then
and when the President was asked
at a press and radio conference if
he were preparing message for
congress on the subject-that was
about the time of the remark of the
cabinet member-he said mo-"
The Beveridge plan was the nat
ural result of the Battle of Britain.
Then common danger brought the
British people closer together. The
underfed, underclothed and under
housed had to be taken care of.
Class lines don't exist in the sham
bles. A bombed-out duchess can
be as cold and hungry as waif.
The poor suddenly realized that if
they could be taken care of as well
or better in an emergency, they
ought to have a little better distribu-
ton of the ordinary decencies of life
in prosperous peace times. Wise
leaders didn't wait until the war was
over to face angry demands which
might turn into real revolution. Sir
William Beveridge's committee drew
up the blueprint for what they called
"a British revolution" in the coun-
try's economic setup under which,
as one spokesman described it, "the
people would contribute by their
own preference, to a national insur-
ance fund rather than take hand
out from the state"
Assurance
The goal of the Beveridge plan is
to lay the ghost of insecurity by
means of assurance" Assurance
is the British word for what we
call insurance" and which really
defines the commodity better than
our word-assurance that men and
women would have a subsistence
through sickness and unemployment
and old age; would have money to
take the baby through its difficult
early stages; enough for decent
burial without burdening friends OF