The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1953-06-09
Babson Discusses
Unemployed Insurance

Unemployed Insurance
New York City-During the
past winter, while in the South,
| received many interesting let
! tiers which ! have saved. Most of
these letters can be classified I'M
der four headings: % Unemploy-
ment Insurance. 90 Excess In
ventories. 90 Personal Debts and
(4 Labor Unions. AS these letters
come from over thirty different
states. they give cross section OF
what the average businessman is
thinking about.
Unemployment Insurance
For very subtle reason most
businessmen. especially retailers,
are not opposed to unemployment
insurance. They feel that if a de-
preston comes. these unemploy-
ment checkS-as we'll as pensions
! old-age assistance and other
sources of Government, State and
help IN preventing a business col
lapse. Doubtless these checks from
the public treasury will cushion a
decline IN their business when I'M
employment comes But why have
the unemployment?
These letters almost unani-
mously. however, complain about
the present abuse of this unem-
ployment insurance For instance,
in Massachusetts a person who
earns approximately $500 in each
quarter of year, or approximate
ly $4,000 year, is entitled to COL
lect S25 for twentythree weeks
for unemployment. or s575. But
the laws of the various states
vary somewhat as to the amount
, paid and the duration of payment.
II these were bona-fIde cases, it
would not be SO bad but my cor
respondents claim that a large
proportion Of these unemployed"
have purposely arranged to get
fired in order to get this inSur-
ance. In other words, 1t is becom-
ing faSt-groWing racket which is
| upSetting the employment Situa-
ton, undermining the character
OF employees and causing an un-
necessary drain on public funds.
If unemployment offices are not
operated by politicians and their
friends, officials do seem to be
shutting their eyes to this abuse.
1t should be stopped
Danger OF Excess Inventories
John c. Lang of Baltimore
writes letter which is typical of
many similar letters. He calls at
tentlon to the excess inventories
which businessmen for various
reasons feel obliged to carry. OF
course. the future of your COM
munity depends. in the long run,
on keeping purchasing power and
inventories on a reasonable bal
ance
Such a balanced condition
| would help to give your COM
munity steady but gradually in
creasing prosperity. Various sug-
geStiOnS have been made for pre-
venting excessive inventories. One
is that the Excess Profits Tax be
switched to an Excess Inventories
Tax. Surely. some check on excess
inventories is needed to avoid a
business depression. l hope each
merchant will be careful.
Installment Debts
The American people are today
indebted for >$l9.3 billions due on
installment purchases. Savings
are larger than ever and these
should, to certain extent, serve
as an offset. Unfortunately. how
ever. Congress has not given the
Federal Reserve System the power
to curb consumer credit, and this
unnecessarily permits further
credit expansion.
A dangerous feature of the stu
alton is that the local banks.
which refused to loan customers
when they were out of employ
ment and needed the money, are
now, with higher prices being
paid for automobiles, refrigera-
tors. fur coats, etc. encouraging
unnecessary borrowing. ! hope
they will be careful and avoid
policy which would not be good
for their community.
Labor Leaders
From almost every state l re-
ceive complaints about the arbi-
trary actions of union labor. My
correspondents do not object to
thE farrerfad O9inter UIWlpar,