Evening star., 1943-02-14

distress that would go along with this.
The same point is made in support Of
an American Beveridge plan.
But there is something more than post
war security behind this plan. The Brit
ish population has just about reached it's
highest point, A generation from now it
will be a million below its present num-
ber. At that time there will be nearly
twice as many people over "a as there
are now. Young people, best fitted for
the Army and industry, will be fewer in
number than now. And even now Britain
is short of manpower.
A third world war will find Britain
with a smaller and older population
Underpopulation and military engulf-
ment are fears of the future
AS Mr.. Beveridge says, with it's pres
ent rate OF reproduction, the British
race cannot continue" His plan pro-
poses to reverse this downward trend by
subsidizing marriage, providing grants
and benefits at birth and giving allow
ances for children. All these. incidental
ly, are found in Germany, Italy and
France with results that have not lived
up to expectations.
Plan of Redistribution.
The Beveridge plan is a means Of re-
distributing income. Everybody is as
sured the basic necessities: Food, cloth
ing, fuel, shelter, medical attention and
burial. This is done by:
l. Paying equal insurance benefits to
people who lose work and income because
of unemployment, old age, sickness and
accidents.
2. Paying allowances to parents for
their children and grants at marriage
and birth.
8. Providing medical and hospital care
and funeral grants.
There are other ways of providing
security of this sort. A completely So
cialized system could do the job in more
direct ways. The Beveridge plan works
within the capitalistic system; it redis-
tributes income by the familiar method
of imposing taxes and contributions on
those who earn and paying benefits and
providing services to those who need
them.
Partly because of such programs, capi-
tallSm is not what it used to be, but
without them, here and in England, could
capitalism continue? Mr.. Beveridge and
his American supporters either say no, or
that capitalism without such a plan is
not worth the cost in human distress.
For dwindling number who still prefer
their capitalism straight Mr.. Beveridge
is not to their taste.
What of America?
The air is thick with rumors about an
American Beveridge plan. To what ex-
tent can the Beveridge blueprint be taken
over? Or should America forget Mr..
Beveridge and get about with its own
plans? or just forget Mr.. Beveridge and
let it go at that? Some Americans are
disposed to think that anything British
is superior. But in at least two respects
our policies here have been better than
what Mr.. Beveridge has TO offer:
l. We have emphasized jobs for the
unemployed on public projects. Mr..
Beveridge does not
Q. Benefits in this country are not re-
stricted to the subsistence level proposed
by Mr.. Beveridge. We fall below in
many cases, but we hit we'll above in
others.
Does the Beveridge plan finish of the
private insurance business? Some, but
not much in Britain. No one could live
the life of Riley on the Beveridge bene-
fits. Anything more than the bare es-
sentials must come from individual saw
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