Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-03-01
Washington l{{:2:{5y
Social Security Need
Of Low-|nCome Farmers
Amazingly Small Cash Marketings of Large
Group Leaves Little to Be Put Aside;
State Units Garry Relief Burdens.
BY BAUKHAGE
Ne,us analyst and Commentator.

WNU Service, 1916 Eye Street, NV,
Washington, d. c.
This Is the first OF fsoo articles on $50
cial Security for the Farmers.D
When the navy announced its plan
for the biggest postwar boom In
history its intention to blow q
97-ship fleet skyhigh with the atom
bomb-I couldn't help recalling the
answer which little girl gave to a
reporter before the war ended. He
asked her: "What do you want to be
when you grow up?" The youngster
replied, "Alive."
In this atomic era, it's pleasant
to note, then, that there are at
least two groups of people in this
country who not only assume that
most of us will stay alive for a rea-
sonable period, but who are making
plans based on that assumption.
One group comprises the radar
experts who earnestly promise we'll
be rocketing to the moon and back
by 1996-stopping to refuel along the
lunar skyway at filler-up stations
suspended in space and perhaps
plucking moonf1owers in a hanging
garden.
The second group is the National
Planning association - specifically
its agriculture committee-which
expects the farmer not only to grow
up, but to live at least to the age
of IS, at which time he will want to
retire. Making that retirement pos
sible is the subject of a now NPA
bulletin by Murray R. Benedict,
professor of agricultural economics
at the University of California.
Why is the farmer so favored? Is
he the only worker who wants to re-
tire and live out his old age in rea-
sonable financial security? What
about the tired-out typists? Isn't
the weary welder worthy?
Be that as it may, Mr.. Benedict's
retirement plan is based solely
on bringing the farmer into the fed
eral social security system. Most
industrial and white collar workers
like typists, welders and butchers,
are already covered by social secu-
rity. When the time comes for
them to quit work for good, they
can count on small, but regular
monthly income from social secu-
rity benefits.
Not so the farmer. When he can
work no longer, he has to live off
what he's saved or by selling the
south forty-and if he hasn't saved
anything, that's his hard luck-or
whoever has to take care of him.
Administration
Proves Problem
The farmers were not included in
the social security setup when it
was inaugurated in 1885, because
the lawmakers and administrators
felt they couldn't cope with his pc
culiar problems at the time. Fer
the same reason, they passed over
the self-employed worker, the do
mestic employee, the government
and railroad worker, the employee
in non-profit organizations. Such
workers posed too much of an ad-
ministrative problem, the legisla.
tors felt, so they left them out, as
far as social security was concerned.
Now, however, the system has
been operating for more than 10
years, and it's high time, Mr.. Bene-
dict thinks, to ring farmers in on
its benefits. He feels the other I'm.
insured groups mentioned above
should be included, too. but he con-
centrates on the case of the farmer
The farmer, like everyone else,
faces the grim prospect of depend.
ency and want in old age. Like
everyone else, he strives to guard
against such contingency by work.
ing hard and trying to save money.
But in 1899, more than half the farm
owners of the country marketed less
than SIS worth of products from
their land. Deduct from that the
products the farmers wife used at
the table, the farm equipment he
has to buy, shoes for the children,
and an occasional Saturday night
trip to the big city-and it's plain
there is going to be precious little
money left to stow away under the
mattress or in the sock.
Hired farm workers fare no bet.
ter in this matter o: saving money
than does the man who owns the
farm. The hired man may earn
$27.30 a month if he eats lin" II
he boards out, his monthly wage
may be 49,. 32-when he works. It's
quite possible he's a seasonal work.
er-shifting from job TO job as crops
m ture and orchards blossom
which means his annual income is
far from fixed or steady.
So the farmer and the hired farm