The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-09-11
"Jobless Compensation 2
Lt.-Gen Wilbert Snow in Letter to an Editor Urges Federal Assumption of Compensation in Support of War Workers So Dras.
 tically Affected by Contract
 TArmina aRinna
IernnlnatlonS. l

1 gram. Let us treat all our war workers with fairness and generos sity for Q few weeks even though certain economically minded groups among us may feel we are too laV. ish toward these industrial work. CTS.
 Reasoning Held Faulty
 The other disturbing element arises from the fact that the var. ious State Governments are rich and the Federal Government is heavily in debt Each State, 1t has been argued, could take care of all the unemployment benefits requir- ed within its own borders. This rea- soning Is Tnanifestly unfair, first, because some States were more heavily crowded with war material factories than others, and secondly, because in some States the items manufactured required Q speeializ. cd retooling and in these factories, that were doing c unique job, the reconversion process will Dc slow. In other instances there can be no reconversion ct oil.
 The dismantllng of the war ma. chine as truly as the building of 6 war machine is Q matter for the na. ton as c whole. The Congress should see to 1t that every unem. ployed war worker gets fair and equitable treatment during this brief march through the wilder. ness.
 The fact that the bill contem. plates Q larger coverage than Is usually the case in Social Security legislation iS another point in its favor. The bill contemplates taking in Federal employees, members Of the Merchant Marine and agricultural processors as well as additional ben. efits to our returning veterans. Our exclusions originally were arbitrary and many people were left out of the measure because we feared the actuarial difficulties involved. We were beginning c new type of leg. islatlon. Perhaps lt Is well that we began cautiously. But now that the principle of unemployment iflSurs ance k accepted by nearly everyone, we ought to enlarge our base and in- clude as many as feasible of those hitherto left out. In this, as in the original legislation, the States will De inclined to walt on the initiative of the Federal Government.
 To me !t is simply matter of keeping faith with uro war workers. We thought little of States rights when we called these men to war factories from all over the country. We promised them good wages to be sure, but we did not tell them they would be penaliEed for leaving their home States.
 one of these workers came to me In Connecticut last Sunday and told me that he was losing all his ufl. employment insurance in Michigan because the law in that State re. quired c continued residence there in order to enjoy it's benefits. He had to come back to rescue . ways ward, daughter who had run away from one of our state institutions where the girl was unhappy and desperate. His case was one of thou. sands who want to move back home from Michigan or Kansas or some other State having similar resis dental requirement.. We urged their people to move. We even invented Q horrendous name to designate them by calling them irn.mlgrantS."
 Provision Necessary
 Now that their factories have closed we cannot as Q great and generous nation leave them ltl the lurCh If reconveysion comes in c hurry and good times come again suddAr'y, thegs people will not need to call upon this provision for their welfare. They will have something far better. If the return to pros. perity, on the other hand, is slow and obstinate we shall provide fof these people. rnodestly to Do sure but sufficiently to prove to them that we appreciated their pulling up stakes In c moment of national crisis and pitching into furnish the needed materials for our armed forces.
 These residential requirements demand that the federal govern ment take charge of the needs Of these bewiidered '1m-inigrants. The difIerentiations in state laws demand that the federal govern. ment direct the unemployment pro- gram and see that justice is done The people in states where the pay is low and the number of weeks few also demand that the congress step In and adjust the tangle In c great national effort states cannot live by themselves alone = especially when their population iS c shifting one. Thousands of people crowded into some of our states thouSa1ds of people left other states But the objective was one and the effort was one. Now it is the duty of coneress to see that the settlement Is one.
 In conclusion may 1 suggest that the Cushiohins Of industry has been made Q federal concern, and by the