Show 1 0 national topics interpreted by milliam bruckart national press washington D C washington at last arter years of talking a acial security program Is before congress social and now that it Is security before congress kliore Is a brand new outburst of talk because it seems tile the social scourers securers scour ers rs never can agree among themselves the result Is that leadership lu in the house and lu in the senate is trying vainly to follow administration instructions and has run afoul of all kinds of difficulties difficult les the end Is not dot set but it Is safe to say without fear of any necessity tor for retraction that the social security program will vill not go back to president roosevelt as a law in the form it N was as presented as an administration bill I 1 find everywhere among those not charged with responsibility for the hie social security legislation that there Is much confusion and lack of unde standing as to what nhat the president has proposed it is easily understood any time that it requires thirty thousand words to explain a piece of legislation obviously that legislation must be complex to comprehend what the length of mr Roosevel ts social security message Is it Is only necessary I 1 think to remind readers that the message with its explanation of the legislation would fill approximately thirty five columns of an ordinary newspaper many persons naturally will tili fall asleep before they wade through that much material but let us attempt to su summarize mmarie the social se cuilty bill it provides first for a national system of compulsory contributory old age insurance second it authorizes appropriations to be used as federal subsidies plain gifts to tile the individual states to help them pension the aged who cannot le be brought under an insurance system predicated upon their service in commerce and industry all and third a voluntary system of old age annuities is set up tip the system of compulsory contributory old age insurance is designed to protect those who ulio are no longer able to work but who have done their turn on the payrolls of industry an old age fund is set up in a the treasury of tile the united states initially tile money comes from the treasury but thereafter there is a tax operating on payrolls pai rolls of all those who employ workers in numbers exceeding four this tax will start january 1 1937 at a rate of 1 per cent it Is increased to 2 per cent as of january 1 1192 1492 3 per cent as of january 1 1947 1047 4 per cent as or of january 1 1932 1952 and 5 per cent after january 1 1937 1037 the employer pays the tax but lie collects half of it by a deduction from the payroll of the individual worker the age of sixty five bears pars is fixed as the time when a shall retire and receive this pension the pensioner can recene as much as 30 90 a month it if the individual dies be before re retirement ills his dependents receive back the amount paid in in his behalf As a part of the old age pension system the alie legislation sets up an old age fund in which workers may purchase tin an annuity but they never may acquire more than a total of maturity value the ultimate amount from which their income may be increased then there Is the much discussed unemployment insurance this also Is predicated upon a tax on industrial payrolls but it is a state proposition that Is the federal government is attempting to encourage individual states to enact legislation which will protect the worker in periods such as that through which we have passed since 1929 1029 in other words this phase of the legislation Is designed to cause wor workers 1 er S a and nd their employers to lay aside a certain percentage of their income while they are employed to be used when times are hard there are countless subdivisions in the bill none of which are simple that seek to protect the many who for one reason or another do not qualify under the general terms of the legislation for instance aid to dependent children la Is provided federal health subsidies it a kind of health insurance Is proposed maternal aid Is arranged and extraordinary cases are covered such as aid to crippled children there are other subdivisions much too intricate to analyze here for tile the reason that their application is decidedly limited the drafters of the legislation sought to cover all whether they have done so can be determined only after tile the legislation has teen been in operation some scars I 1 have been unable to compute the cost of tills this legislation to the federal and state govern counting ment and no one of the cost course can approximate the expense it will bs be to industry it is one of those things so far reaching g in its effect as to make utterly impossible advance calculations of the cost in dollars and cents bullice it to say ay that all through the bill as it sow row ends its way through legislate e channels are frequent paragraphs here money either is appropriated or to be appropriated in the future one wag cred tile hie money plin es of tile the bill tile other oilier day with willi a remark that it w was as not til unlike lilke the conversations be acea amos and andy tile radio come deans for there Is alve million three million twenty million benenty elhel million and so on through the lla I 1 i yet it la Is not the money phases that constitute the difficulties in the leria legis i lation as the hie lenders leaders in congress see sea them the bill sets bets up an in III gricate system of administration against which even the present tar far flung list of new deal agencies coq pal into insignificance first there is the ponderous organization for administration to be created create here in washington beneath Beneat li that there are state organizations in every state stale regional and county organizations and even city administrative bureaus I 1 think it takes no stretch of the imag imagination In atlon to foresee how many workers will be feces necessary ary to flo do just the plain chores of keeping 9 a record of all the individuals on the tha government payrolls federal and state for administration of this le legislation Islat ign here in washington we will have a social insurance board a group ot of three members receiving a scar each and serving for six years the federal emergency relief will have duties to perform la conjunction with tile the social insurance board as well as apart from it the secretary of labor Is given jurisdiction over some phases of the administration lind and the public health service la is charged with conduct of tile the health insurance phases ases this is not dot till all the secretary of the treasury is charged with the manage ment and investment of all of the monies under the various funds and it Is lie he who must see that they are properly disbursed 1 I 1 in congress considerable jealousy has arisen among committee chairmen party wheel horses jealousy and those who would aroused enjoy belne being administration spokesmen sonic some of them it hardly need be said believe their political salvation lies iles la in following the administration tb blindly lindly and in adli addition tion there la Is another segment of legislators who keep their ees on the historical significance of 0 passing events this group wants to have hane a leading part in enactment of the social security legislation because it must be said this is the greatest of all experiments undertaken at any time by the american government from lobby conversation it is perfectly evident that there are many men in the house and senate who would be willing to retire to whatever rewards their po lotical service has given them only to become known as the father of the tha social security legislation this condition has bas precipitated sev eral cral humorous circumstances sena tor wagner of new york sponsored the legislation in the senate and representative lewis of maryland proposed it in the house senator wag nors ners committee arranged to start hearings on a stated date in the senate and that late was vas announced rather suddenly no sooner had the wagner committee hearings been announced than Represent representative ath e doughton Dou gliton of north carolina scheduled similar hearings before liis his ways and means committee in the house ue he set the hearings one day ahead of the senate and the rivalry between the two for headline witnesses has been to say the least a source of many jokes sonic some weeks ago I 1 reported to you that there were rumblings gs of ties ahead for tha trouble presidents gigantic ahead public works program as ills his new experiment peri perli ment nent in recovery efforts Is described bed he asked congress tor for a lump sunt sum of v with ith which to revive the heavy industries and othel lines of commercial endeavor that they the may absorb some of those unemployed now on relief rolls it will be remembered that in ills his annual mes message messaged saget to congress lie he said with emphasis that federal aid to the destitute must stop that the giving of relief directly was a state responsibility tit alip first hitch encountered by the administration wheel horses in guiding the public works bill through cori congress gresa developed in tile liose house when the leaders anxious to pass the legislation RS tile the white house dictated sought a 11 special rule which limited debate to a 2 couple of hours and made it almost impossible for individual members to amend the bill several scores of 0 democrats and all of the republics republicans balked for several days the tha house leaders fought gallantly to keep the stubborn opposition from run running nill aay with thin things but the defections froni from the Denlo democratic cratic ranks became so large that a compromise had to be of offered fereL it was avas accepted and the republican critics and democratic opponents wro were successfully squelched one result of the near revolt agid against lIst the house democratic leadership val the exposition of feeling agal against list secretary ickes of tile the department of tte the interior ho he also carries the tIt titles lesof ot public works administrator and oil ad A lot of democrats like sir mr ickes for what they call his bid political aloof aloofness fiess apparently ile he bal it not of yielded to their demands tn for patronage latrona gc appointments aud and naturally natu offices hold alft 01 nen men seeking elective that plum ns as blit bait to voters 0 western nev newspaper anios |