Evening star., 1944-08-31
House Defeats
Move etoExpand
JobIess Aid
Votes, 1888 to 81,
Against SIS Weekly
Payments Over Year
BY the Associated Press.

nus, and then turned to conSid-
GRAFTON Of legislation leaving un-
compensation en-
tirely in the hands of the States.
The action came on a substitute
rehabilitation and reconversion
bill offered by Representative DIM
gell, Democrat, of Michigan which,
while leaving administration to the
States, would have set Federal
standards for jobless payments
running up to So weeks at $25
weekly. 1t was rejected on a teller
count of 1873 to 54
The vote was the first test in the
House on the question of how far
the Government should go IN un-
derwriting the job security of thA
working man in the postwar recon-
version period.
Sets Stage for Showdown.
The substitute demobilization and
reconversion bill, calling for broad
expansion in benefits for the post
war period, was represented as hav.
ing powerful labor backing.
This set the stage for House
showdown between those seeking
more liberal benefits and strong BIZ
partisan forces battling to leave the
unemployment insurance program
entirely up to the States.
The Dingen measure was offered
as substitute for the bill which
the Ways and Means Committee re-
celved from the Senate and rewrote
to erase provisions for retraining of
war workers, their transportation
back home and the blanketing of
3,500,00 Federal employees into the
unemployment compensation pro.
gram.
Cite Labor Backing.
Representatives Dingell and Gel
Ter, Democrats, of New York told the
House the substitute bill had the
backing of the AFL, the CIO and
the railroad brotherhoods.
The Dingell bill embodied many
provisions of the so-called Kilgore
bill rejected by the Senate. 1t would
have:
l. Increased unemployment com.
pensation benefits to war workers.
2. Restored the provisions for
backbone travel expenses of laid
of workers up to 5000 per family.
3. Liberalized financial assistance
to States and communities for pub
lie works planning, and
4. Included Federal employees and
the Merchant Marine in the unem-
ployment compensation system.
All Of these ideas were rejected by
the Ways and Means Committee.
Chairman Doughton declaring that
no one had come forward with a
plan for raising the revenue that
would be needed.
Warning From Summers.
The House showdown on the issue
opened against the background of a
warning by Representative Summers,
Democrat, of Texas. that action on
the legislation would determine
which way we are going-what kind
OF America We are going to have"
One road" said the veteran
Texan late Yesterday in one of his
lnfrequent major speeches. leads
through individual and community
responsibility and initiative to
strength and solvency; the other to
the Federal treasury and national
bankruptcy.
The debate on the nature of the
legislation to be adopted was
punctuated by an attack on Sidney
Hillman, head of the CIO Political
Action Committee, which is raising
funds for the Roosevelt Truman
campaign. Republicans criticized
the labor chief as a dictator" and
Communist" who, they said. might
get the job of administering postwar
reconversion. Democrats retorted
that the opposition was making a
political football" of the legislation.
Amendments to Be Offered.
The Ways and Means COMMITTEES
bill, supported by Representative
Summers, would leave unemployment
compensation in the reconversion
period to the States.
Representative Wright. Democrat.
OF Pennsylvania asserted that the
Feoeral Government should step in
with a. uniform system of more
liberal payments, moving Repre-
sentative Dondero, Republican. Of
Michigan to observe:
In answer to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania. may I say the State
OF Pennsylvania now has an unem-
ployment compensation fund Of
S5l7 100000, enough to take care of
II per cent of the workers covered
and certainly nobody expects II per
cent to be unemployed"
Summers Takes Floor.
AT the peak of the debate, Mr.,
Summers took the floor and said:
We have been building up q
psychology in this country for a
long, long time that when any pri.
vate person, any State or commu.
nifty gets into trouble, when an in.
divldual faces situation that chal-
length him to use his initiative and
all OF his resources they come
to Washington to get some money,
A>o pcOplc Gall long MAINTAIN q
democracy who pursue that pol
icy. -
I'VE are engineering and encour-
aging people now before there is
any developed necessity, to come up
here and get some money out of the
Federal Treasury. We know
that we confront two or three def
mite dangers. We know that we are
not too far away from the printing
press for money.
We know that when this war is
over 1t is not going to be easy to
sell bonds. We know that whenever
the tax burden upon privately
owned property is greater than its
assets private ownership will not
be attractive. We know that there
can be but two sorts of ownership,
private ownership and public own
ership.
Whenever We create a situation
where nobody wants to own and
nobody wants to work and manage,
there can be no owner except the