Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-03

million men and women over 6:
years of age in this country
the people who have done mos
in building this general prosper.
ity of ours-are being forced tt
live in what ought to be theil
golden years on an average fam
lily income of less than $1,000 q
year.
Hits Farm Income Drop
I say it is wrong that the
American farmer is getting thi.
year only So of income for every
81 he was making in 1852 while
his costs have increased.
l say it is wrong that while
farm income has been sinking
the cost of living has been rising
to an all-time record high point
say it is wrong that in this
year of our greatest production
as a Nation 100000 workers ir
the automobile industry have
been laid off, that today one Out
OF every nine members of De-
troit's labor force is out of work
and that over $4,000 Michigan
workers have now exhausted
their unemployment benefits fol
the year.
I say that these are sorry
facts. disgraceful facts, in this
richest, most fortunate country
in the world. And l say that any
one who knows these facts and
is still not only complacent but
boastful is no proper steward OF
this Nations future.
Kennel Dogs Revived
When The Republican Secre-
tary of Defense looks at these
facts and says that he, never
liked kennel dogs anyway; when
the Republican Secretary of the
Treasury looks at them and
then proposes a 5 per cent sales
tax; when President EiSenhow-
er's assistant looks at them and
laughs about the right to suffer
as one of the joys of a free
economy-then I say it's time to
take this Government away
from the people who know only
how to count and turn it back
to people who also care.
1t is time to start thinking
again in America in terms of
people-in terms of individual
human lives.
To believe in the new America
is to commit ourselves to fight
ing with every resource at our
command these ugly patches of
poverty and insecurity which
still deny dignity, even decency,
to the lives of almost one-fifth
of all American families.
Take this matter of unem-
ployment. To see unemploy-
ment not as a statistic but as
a human fact, the waste of the
skill and spirit of a human being.
the smothering of hope and of
laughter in a home-to see it
this way is to know that such
human tragedy must be, and
therefore can be, averted.
l know Gov. Williams pro-
posals for making the unemploy-
ment benefits more adequate.
hope they can be adopted an6
that they will; become sign
post for the Nation.
Union Proposals Endorsed
Responsible union leaders have
proposed programs for industrial
rehabilitation. and aid to dis
treSsed areas. The Democratic
platform Endorses these propoS-
ais. Senator Paul Douglas and
other Democrats have already
introduced bills in Congress tc
establish such programs. l hope
that when Congress reconvenes
they can with a White House in
dorsement they have so far
lacked, be enacted into law.
But the basic protection
against unemployment must be
to make our economy stronger
in all its parts and to make
even more stable the consumer
purchasing power upon which
full employment must depend.
This is why the Democratic
Party is pledged to raise the
minimum wage.
Yet Government guarantees OF
minimum wages and unemploy-
ment benefits will never be the
real answer either.
Labor Law Revision
In this rich land, and in the
American tradition of free enter
prise, it should be through pri-
vate channels that we find our
way toward the new America
This is why it is SO important
to repeal and replace the Taft
Hartley Act with a new law
which will strengthen and equal
ize the essential processes Of free
collective bargaining.
There is no disagreement
about the public interest in hold
ing unions and employers alike
TO the standards of responsible
bargaining. But it is an offense
to the standards of fairness tc
load our labor laws with pro-
hibitions on traditional types Of
union security-by the misnameC
lright-to-work laws-and to pack
the National Labor Relation:
Board with representatives oil
management.
I make no proposals here to-
day. nor win I ever. in terms
of special advantages to any one
segment of this economy. mol
could anyone in good conscience
claim the working mans politi-
cal support by condoning racket.
eering in labor unions or vio-
lence and illegality in Labor
disputes. And l note with salts.
faction that the AFL-CIO tool
further vigorous steps only last
week to eliminate these evils.
1 assert the basic proposition
that a weakness any place in oul
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