The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-05

hour. Think of tho votes in that.
 "SlXty cents an hour" writes liar ", means only $24 0 week and that Is certainly not high wage rate."
 It should be made clear that Hop- klns is proposing this as c postwar program, but you can see what 1t would do towards defrosting frozen wages. Raising the minimum from 70 to 60 cents would be 50 per cent increase, and while you can't argue that $24 Q week is much, there are plenty of employers who will argue that for unskilled labor, Q cent c minute Is too much,
 HIGHER WAGES,
 FULL BUYING POWER
 Justification for this Increase in minimum wage rates Is given aS the need for maintaining at high levels the consumption of the things peo- pie buy More and more you hear this argument presented in Wash- ington as c basis for the need to break tho Little Steel Formula, The thought is that paying people more money Is the best way in tho world to insure that there will be full buy. ing power, full demand for food, manufactured goods and civilian services, full employment and full prosperity. How increased wages can be paid and prices kept down at the same time-wages being from 70 to 60 per cent of the costs of pro- duetionlS never quite explained, ex- cept thot industry can "ahsorb'' the extra expense.
 Getting back to the Hopkins opus, he leans heavily on this argument, saying that Topping of overtime pay after tho wars over will decrease wage payments by IS billion dollars, and that wages will have to be in- creased to make up for Q part of this loss. The figure usually given in this connection is i2 billion dollars, but why bubble over mere three bile lion and, regardless Of the amount, here is another stone thrown to break tho glass house of the Little Steel Formula and the big Idea of wage stabili2ation in general.
 Another Hopkins proposal to in. crease this post-war purchasing power Is through unemployment in- Suranee and public works.
 WANTS NEW SOCIAL
 SECURITY PLAN
 On the unemployment eompenSa- ton angle, Hopkins wants the pres. ent state system junked and Q Ila- tionalized service substituted. He also wants A brand-new system Of social security payments based on ability to pay, rather than the flat rate payroll deductions now In force, which bear too heavily on lower in. come groups. Hopkins was the most famous of all the WPA adnainistra- tors but in this piece he doesn't 90 Into any details on just what public works he has in mind to relieve un- employment,
 Hopkins comes out for greater aid to'small business and more enforce ment of the antitrust laws, but in his tax program he goes practically big business. Taxes should be as- Sessed primarily on the basis of ability to pay" he writes, but this can't be interpreted as Q return of the old soak-the-rich program, for he makes clear that he thinks excess profits taxes should be repealed and corporate income taxes lowered, with the granting of tax credits to people who recieve dividends. You will find plenty of business men who will en- dorse all three.
 The chances of selling much of this program to Congress are de- cidedly slim, but still this isn't the popular conception of what the old Hopkins brain used to concoct. They must have cut something out of him up there at Mayos.