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Show BEAVER PRESS BrueharC Washington Mgett FIGHTING 'FORTYPHOBIA' Pension Schemes Figure In Primaries in Several States Old-Ag- e Lead to Success of Senator Pepper in Florida and Defeat of McAdoo in California; Delude Age and Infirm Voters; Fallacy of Plans Shown. By WILLIAM BRUCKART Fress BIdg., Washington, D. C. A good many has been affixed by cash payment in WASHINGTON. Easterners had nearly forgotten a year will stop the transfer of them about Dr. Francis Townsend and his very shortly. Few storekeepers, pension plan until for example, will accept them belately they were suddenly awak- yond the necessities of their tax ened by the far South and the far payments to the state of California; WNU Service, National h West. Sen. Claude Pepper won a Democratic nomination to the senate in Florida largely because of espousal of the Townsend plan and just recently Sen. William G. McAdoo had his public career abruptly terminated because Sheridan Downey, his opponent for the Democratic senatorial nomination in California, proposed and promised some fantastic scheme of paying $30 every Thursday to persons over 50 years of age. In addition to these results, there have been 12 or 15 candidates for the nomination to the house of representatives who have won in primaries by saying the Townsend or plan or the som? other impossible and illogical and unsound pension plan would be put through congress. I cannot describe them all; they are obviously variations of the Townsend plan, and none of them will work any more than the Townsend bubble will work, and each has been used to delude aged and infirm voters whose ballots were needed to swing an election. It is tragic that such things have happened, and are happening today. The fact can not be ignored, however, because the condition is with us. The one thing to do, then, I believe, is to attempt to disillusion those folks who have swallowed the slick words of those campaigners or those racketeers who are preying upon the faith of folks who, through no fault of their own, do not have access to information that shows these schemes to be rainbows. And, as far asiiistory records, nobody on earth ever has found the end of the rainbow where the pot of gold is reputed to be. I am not concerned about the public career of Mr. McAdoo who has been in public service off and on since 1913. He never impressed me as being any great shakes of a statesman. As secretary of the treasury, he did the job probably about as well as the average political appointee. I never have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Downey. So I can't comment. Senator Pepper's senate record is a great deal like many another senator's record, and probably will continue to be just so-sIn other words, here were two average senators one winning with the aid of the promises about the Townsend plan and the other losing because he stayed away from such promises, although he was thrice blessed by the President of the United States. That situation, along with some letters accusing me of giving the Townsend plan a "silent treatment" in these columns, seems to warrant a new analysis of the conditions that now confront the country. It Appears Townsendlsm Is Not Dead After All As I said there is evidence that Townsendism is not dead at all. It has formed the basis of a dozen new panaceas, of which the is but an example. It happened that this scheme was proposed in California which, particularly in its southern sections, has a vast population of aged people who have gone there to enjoy the famous climate and have the health that it y gives them. Old people are behind these schemes. That is one of the reasons why Mr. Downey was able to boast more than a million signatures to the petition that made the question an issue in California. And Florida, too, with a fine winter climate, is a fertile field for the racketeers who promote such ridiculous programs. It Is a harsh thing to blame the strength of these movements, all of which crop up during depression times, upon 'elderly people. It is nevertheless the cold fact that they are the type ampin; whom such schemes are promoted, and because they have votes, the candidate for o'lice stoops to the level of adding further to hopes that never can be fuTT?ti in that manner. To show how silly the scheme of is as a campaign issue for Mr. Downey just as an example he is a candidate for the United States senate. The pension dream he has advocated is planned as part of the welfare program of the state of California. How Mr. Downey can do anything about it as a member of the United States senate. I can not understand, and I seriously doubt that Mr. Downey can explain it. Nor will the plan work if made into law without bankrupting the state of California. I doubt that it will work anyway, but assuming that it may work, the state will be assuming a burden that will cost it so much money that the California books will be so far in the red as to cause them to appear splotched with blood. This idea of placing "stamps" on each warrant each week so that an actual $1.04 mili-tantl- it is certain also that those who continue to accept them would not pay the face value, and the possessor would be forced into paying higher prices for the things that he buys. That is, the possessor would be buying 50 cents worth of sugar and probably would be handing over a dollar warrant for it. All of this is the result of a lack of confidence among the people in any form of exchange except the currency that is backed and guaranteed by the United States, as has been shown so many times before. Downey Plan Would Make Trouble for New Dealers Then, I believe I foresee some other trouble respecting such warrants as Mr. Downey's scheme proposes; not that I think his plan is worse thnn any others but it serves as an illustration. It is proposed that the possessor put a two-cestate stamp on the warrant for each week in his possession, or 52 such stamps in a year, yell, I imagine that the warrants would be in the hands of many persons who had no cash at all not a cent. Immediately, there would be a cry go up to have the state supply the stamps free, and it is quite certain that there would be some politicians dishonorable enough to campaign for office on that issue. Now, assume that Mr. Downey comes to the senate; assume that he is elected over his Republican opponent in November. I seem to scent some added trouble for President Roosevelt and his New Deal friends who have been promising too many things and too much of them. Of course, many persons believe that Mr. Roosevelt's methods to date have encouraged all kinds of quackeries because he has talked at length of humanitarianism. He has aroused the minds of elderly persons who are suffering under conditions not of their own making. He has likewise aroused a lot of flabby brained individuals among the younger people who live on illusions. It is made to appear that congressional leaders, seeking to follow presidential policies, are going to be confronted with frequent bulges for national pensions of a kind that no nation can bear. The number and type of these panaceas ebbs and flows with the economic tide. When business is good and there is plenty of work, when storekeepers are able to sell and people are able to buy, we hear little or nothing of the dream-worlchildren of the Townsends and the When Downeys and the others. there are "hard times" and there are thousands upon thousands without work and food and clothes, those suffering minds become easy prey to the silver tongue. Pursuing the thought a bit further, it then becomes possible for a movement which demands not $30 every Thursday for persons over 50, but one demanding $40 or $50 every Friday or $60 every Saturday. The amounts can be pushed up and up and the fervor of the suffering under this illusion grows greater and greater. And always, such movements provide the breeding ground for other racketeers who want to promote dissension and dissatisfaction. Always, too, there will be political champions for the "cause" whatever it may be, because there is something, some halo, about public office that will lead men into the d strangest views. President Cannot Dodge Some of Responsibility Mr. Roosevelt has said with emphasis several times that none of these things will work. He believes they should not be propagated and spread, because he recognizes how easily miserable humanity can be lead olf at a tangent. It is a type of hysteria, an emotion. The President, however, must not dodge responsibility for a part of it. As I said above, his methods have been conducive to hysteria of several kinds. These panaceas that threaten again to cause grief for his administration are but an outgrowth of the numerous plans that have been given birth by various persons in oilicial position. True, they have been fed by the dregs of hard times, but they had their encouragement first from illogical phases of the New Deal. Truer words were never spoken than President Roosevelt uttered at Pittsburgh. Pa., in his 1932 campaign when he said: "Any government, like any family, can for u year spend a little more than it earns, but you and I know that a continuation of the habit means the poor house." Adoption of any of the pension schemes, whatever their variation from the Townsend plan may be, means the poor house because there can not be enough taxes levied or collected to meet the need. Q Weston Newspaper Union. qf -- ' WHO'S hye Givins America a New Worry; Over Man 40, the Industry Reject, Such D.,crim.nat.on Science Prove, There', No Rea.on for ,. By JOSEPH W. LaBINE """""I " JI.MI La Last January, President Roosevelt's unemployment census showed between 8,000,-00- 0 and 11,000,000 Americans were out of work. Since then, recession has boosted the figure. The tragedy of unemployment has been one thing, but the type of people hit by this ogre is an even greater disaster. What hurts and what the best minds of America are still unable to understand is the predominance of middle-age- d people on relief, the By LEMUEL F. llilii NfEW the ipllBllii f of competent V j&a' 0 I ' I .. 7Vs married, am sisterL.lT toe father would havewitnes3 grand slam success of Cj '. i m our Caught .The home background girls is such that it Beth, Jo and Amy, of gj .v,, easing into the delight of the M,c umestrained en "IB CrillCS. It fa ture, to . Z' that Leota couldn't have been daughter-t- his without paragement of Gale Page a tuu suare 01 donors t.., aiming at the MetroDolit. .. now studying at the Juilliard ScJ fourth It's a case of plain arithmetic that young men can weather unemployment better than their elders, cold-bloode- d , I The only sources of excitemer Indianola, 21 miles south Moines on the Rock Island, J we o.io train ana the Methodist lege. The Mullican girls, all cally gifted and all good kxfcl oecame locauy lamous for home musicales and their stunts. num, eiueai ui uie IOUT. ffp! Edwards, away out on the kercJ thick-thatche- d g - "'H 5, -r " nnlv Mullican Stayed Put Office. wage-earnin- PJUJ tl- can family who stayed ?oc Only Doc Plumber, experienced at fittings and alterations. Only men iruyoung Gazette thirties need apply. having fewer mouths to feed, fewer feet to shod. But a employer, looking only at efficiency and economy, compares the head with the bald pate and takes the former. Young men learn quicker, adapt themselves better, turn out superior work. At least, it's the argument. Tables Are Turned. The man over 40 is a problem of the machine age. Once, in the days of guild supremacy, the situation was reversed. Every youth was an apprentice whose hands were thought unskilled, whose talents were shaped under the guidance of a wizened elder. Moreover, in that simple world it was satisfaction enough that all hands were busy; the age of specialization had not arrived. If you should look in the department of labor files at Washington, the case of John Brown would furnish an example of today's dilemma. Brown is 45, married and has two children. His days started after grammar school because his widowed mother needed help. At 15 he found work in a local factory, took time out to serve overseas in the World war, then worked steadily until the depression days of 1932. Meanwhile, he had been married, had bought himself a home, took out insurance and built up a small savings account. But from 1932 to 1937, John Brown could find no work. His savings disappeared, he lost his insurance and When his house was mortgaged. the factory finally the boss refused to give him a job; said he needed younger men. In consequence John Brown doesn't know where to turn. His life's work has been specialized and he'd have to start as an apprentice in another trade. With many, many years of usefulness ahead of him, this man has reached an age when industry turns him out. Why? Industry's Answer. As their first reason, employers say he is a "bad physical risk," that he's entering the period in life when degenerative diseases will lower his efficiency. But employers are generalizing here; a man's susceptibility to disease almost always depends on the type of work he does. Highest death rates are found among unskilled laborers. Statistics show that frequency of sickness decreases with advancing age, though older people have more severe illnesses. The only fair course is to let a physician determine whether the man over 40 is a "bad physical risk." The employer's second reason is "bad accident risk," notwithstanding repeated surveys which show the man over 40 is more careful than younger workers. Caution is a natural of age. The YOT?K- came the Lane men and women who have been unable to find jobs simply because they're "over 40." You can see it any day in the want ads under "Help Wanted": great multitude WEEK , "w,u , , circuit, from 1 rek to HollvwnoJ for Young men are forging the new pattern of American society, Industry now seeks youth to the detriment of men over 40. U. S. Dept. of Interior photo. only grounds for the "bad accident risk" argument is that older men are slower in recovering from in- juries. Next, employers speak of "decreased productivity." There is no denying that efficiency declines with age, but not so fast as to strike a death blow to the man of 40. What few tests are available show that exceptional workers of 40. 50 and even 60 are just as efficient as younger men. The simple answer is that proficiency's decline is gradual; it does not plummet down after a man reaches 40. The most valid argument of all is the last, that a middle-age- d man Is "too slow and inadaptable to changing conditions." In an age like the present, where industry has been revolutionized in the past two decades, this claim may hold water. Modern machines work faster. The men who tend them must do likewise. America Grows Old. But arguments are fruitless and meanwhile the problem grows worse. Because of America's declining birth rate, we are rapidly becoming a nation of middle-agemen and women; by 1960 it is estimated 36 per cent will be over 40! Industry and government have not been blind to the problem. First they favored social security, but its result has been higher taxes and a subsequent demand for more efficiency and fewer workers. They tried pensions, but it was poor business to hire a man at 40 when he'd be retired in a few years. They tried sharing the work, which reduced efficiency and proved an expensive proposition. And the century-old trend to shorter work weeks has defeated itself because it brought labor-savinmachinery. The solution is not yet. Some say only an intricate balancing act can overcome the problem, a comprehensive system of social insurance to keep men employed or keep them fed when jobless. Though many remedies have been, and will be of. d old-ag- e g - fered, the man over 40 has thus far received little but sympathy. One man has scoffed at sympathy. He is Henry Simler, a New York typewriter manufacturer, who recently began fighting the "fortypho-bia- " menace by proving that men over 40 can compete with their younger colleagues and do a good job of it. To employers from coast to coast he sent a comprehensive questionnaire to learn what employers have actually learned about the relation of age to efficiency. He discovered that youth is more careful about its appearance, is more cheerful and more enthusiastic. But for loyalty, conscientiousness, willingness and results, the man over 40 won by a wide margin. With these facts he set out to form nation-wide a organization of Forty-Plu- s clubs, groups who would break down employer resistance in their respective communities. Flooring "Fortyphobia." What happened in Boston is typical. At the first meeting of this Forty-Plu- s club was a small group of unemployed men, mostly of the executive type. One was 40, a Dartmouth graduate with manufacturing and retailing experience. A second was 42, formerly Vice president of a drug company. A third had wide experience in public relations work. They decided to tackle the problem from the inside out, to find Jobs for each other by capitalizing on Simler's survey and selling themselves to the public and employers. They scoffed publicly at the "Help Wanted" advertiser who a technical college graduatesought with at least 15 years' experience in one specialized line and who "must not be over 35." What this employer wanted, they said, was an unem-Ploye- d genius who finished college at 20 One "Forty-Pluser- admin- to a man " threshin X! J .Vrbal turned him down for lack of experience only 10 years ago. and who now said he was too old. Boston's Payoff. Their campaign brought results, too. After sis weeks, five Forty-Plu- s club members had permanent positions, one of them paying $0 000 a year. Automatically these men were suspended from membership since this strange organization is anxious to "kick out" its brothers in he bond B3 rapid,y 8g possibl(,t thereby making room for new men. Some employers express a that the "fortyphobia" problem hope will work its own way out. claim They the present crisis Is only a temporary, violent reaction to the modern trend of thought which favori work for the young man and leisure for old age. Meanwhile, the man over 40 Is being given the attention he deserves Massachusetts has empowered Its department of labor to publish th names of employers who discriminate against certain persons on And Secretary of La-bTerklns has added her tta it Is against common opinion sense to leave people of 40. 45 and 50 out of work when they are willing and able to work." But perhapi employers have a Just reason to discriminate. Before America can solve this great so- or - u The load Is shifted from the capable, conscientious shoulder, of has his merits, but one most suffer.- - U. S. Dept. of Interior phota. -- z th. cause mUSt flnd Wit.rn Ntwlppr tjnIoni trua She tried m 18 UaJ persd hira to give be tryoutThatls! a vaudeville engagement, and !a to Hollywood. It was Edwardj 4 tagged her Lola Lane. Leota ncil out next, also in vaudeville, rJ Pnscilla and Rosemary were 4 in school. But, at the ages i and 16, respectively, the two fc rounded out the quartette In M wood. In "Varsity Show." They have a grand house, sm cars, silks and sables and what in the Hollywood routine but fe public doesn't begrudge them t slice of the American dream, long as they so faithfully portray Little Women" of poignant nd ory. "Four Daughters," of modest? duction cost, was quietly unvei without any fuss whatsoever. C: ics headline it as a "sensat? success." The lesson seem, to that the picture moguls, dowtihea: ed about the business and real? spend until it hurts, are overli the pulling power of not neeessr exDensive taste. simDlicity, ra sound dramatic craftsmanship, lieu of a million dollars. TF IT hasn't already happened. 1 is pretty nearly a certainty q someone will give Commodores: ert B. Irving, master of the Master of OueenMarv ripe tie them almost Mary, a p:p breaking the lantic speed re ord. He col: ner if ti fccke . and m constantly, andtai tant occasions in his life are us; signalized bv the ceremonious sentation of a B.B.B. Best Br.s Briar which tvne nf nines fe his collection of several hundred The tall, smiling, tanned skinner is a border man of Kirtlebridee. Dunfreesi."61 vears old. a sailing man t CunardW years. 35 years with the war for out time barring . . .... rfj? Me is deliberate, inenuv, -the last man it and easy-goinportrait the world to pose for speed demon. Next to pip of c hobby is collecting carvings fntnrA altnhantfl The son of a retired army cU' with no seafaring folk anywM"; his line, he went to sea at school ship Conway, and, rn arouna-hoshipped on a He Francisco. to San fourth thP Cunard line as "; His first command was the nia, and later he was mas; of tM many of the crack ships to 1!M' including the Lusiiania, . the Aquitania. tt In his native Kirtlcbrlde. H in In a house built u ti. 1 nn nrres of CPSC .1, . wuins i hi earden M lunula, whoM wind-ani- l' e hat Firs iseh iron t la Sec- - per hkl n st y u' four-mast- ...... .:,. A one ranged the world througn it half a century, he Is happies headed homeward, for WTt v " the kilted chief of me his there and ing clan, le v.. it 'e h h h h 'la WNU Scrvtci. Lavender of Mint Famjf , Lavender (Lavandula herbaceous hardy perennial ' Vtii belonging to the roim ued for its fragrant 'e!'t & retain their odor for w if carefully gathered and J(t nd,'v hat grayish leaves, bear tire, and In summer white w of rupted spikes of whorls. It ii a native is Europe, Lavender tivation In any ricn, ' J drained lit1 ' I v ift, V.1 tolL H 3 |