Show benefits of social security could be extended to farm owners and their r employees officials Offid als say all difficulties of ad administration in can I 1 be smoothed out wages today are higland hig high hand and jobs plentiful and there is a ready market for all farms farm pro produce duce and manufactured goods most I 1 people probably realize however that the present prosperity isa is a result pres 0 of the war and that a downturn is almost certain to come with peace there may be no no depression at least not for several years but the present very high level of activity is no not very lik likely ly to be maintained but in any case there comes come a a I 1 time in every ories life when he has to slow down whatever stage the business cycle Is in those who are unable to work get no income ine ame everyone who his has to make his own living must be somewhat concerned about the future A very large group of wage and salary earners have found foun d a partial answer to these troublesome questions tic ns are the workers la private industry and commerce those inso in so called covered om employment lowhorn tow to whom horn the old age and survivors insurance program of the social security act applies these workers are build building ingup up rights to monthly insurance payments when they grow old and retire and for 0 r their families when death corries comes to the bread winner others not so fortunate look upon the group that has social insurance protection somewhat enviously the social security board receives many letters from the self employed professional people small busti 1 f 4 I 1 young and ad strong this maryland fanner need retirement kement benefit beit payments payment for many amny years unless sickness or an accident should incapacitate him film out but the time will c owe come when I 1 he be will be too old to work during ms his good years he should have a ch chance anceto to accumulate a retirement fund fond through social security his bis family too a should hould be protected under the a survivors or benefit provisions under tinder present provisions however the farm arm family is excluded from the system ness men gas sia station tion operators restaurant keepers operators ot of cleaning I 1 and pressing shops of beauty parlors and so on wanting to know why they cant gei old age protection they pay premiums lor for their employees insurance but themselves cannot build up rights to benefits why this discrimination tl on they ask we have no more security than our employees 11 1 few iw from farmers wry very seldom among these letters from the self employed is there one from a farmer byet farmers have fully as much reason t to 0 seek social 0 cial insurance i protection protect lori as others other s of the self employed the notion that farmers are an independent end and self sustaining group is no longer true it is a hangover from earlier times when most farms were self 8 sufficient today farmers are much more vulnerable they chiy have tobay to buy more and sell more operating costs are higher and falling prices often mean serious losses then too aget sections ions deifer differ as to agricultural prosperity north and south west and middle west are widely unlike while in each there are plenty ol of spots that present a quite different picture from the rest in 1939 the last year before the war boom nearly one half odthe 0 the farm operators in the country had a gross annual money income yield allowing tor for food consumed by the farm arm family of less leis than two thirds had less I 1 than 1000 and 89 per cent had duder under 2500 it Is difficult for farm farin owners beners to save gave m much out of these small cash incomes eveh a farmer with an average net income of 2000 a jear year finds aids 4 hird hard to put much aside for old ild age or misfortune the constant demands tor for maintenance of ter tilita repairs buying machinery and livestock and so on all require cash and there Is often little left at th the Y years es end to build up a retirement und fund often when the farm arm operator has to quit work his hl family Is in difficult straits and may have to depend on public aid or c charity the tenant farmer and th the farm laborer generally are in worse circumstances circum cum curn stances then than the man who owns his land once they have to quit working with it attle or no savings savin gt 4 the tenant and the farm hand who canno cannot vearn earn anything are soon hard u up p indeed Th theoland eyland The yand their families suffer humiliation and want war changes thin things go the war of at course ha has a made a great difference in the farmers situation at the incomes of many are double in some cases casell treble what they were before but the war and berh perhaps spa our present p prosperity ro Is temporary farm people were left out of the e social insurance program not because they were thought to be already sec secure ureThe the reason for excluding them was wad that in 1935 the program was new and the administrative hurdles looked very high but now the social security board Is lo convinced that old ageana age and survivors insurance can be administered for farm people simply at lows low cost and without being unduly troublesome to them what would it mean to farm operators and farm hands to have this insurance insurances rancel it would mean the same pr protection 0 lection it means already to those who are under the system A couple of examples example swill will illustrate the prote protection old age and survivors insurance offers back in 1838 when harry J was nearly CO 60 he got himself ajob a job with a construction company after eight years he wanted to stop working and retire to his small place in the country ou nEy he belthe felt tie could do so 0 however because he sure he could earna earn a living from om farming his few acres upon inquiry he be found that his monthly retirement payment would be about 27 since be had earned ari an average of i a month his wife who was also past 65 5 would get half that much so that would make the family income over 40 every month sufficient for their needs widow got 79 imonti mr C baia was a newspaper linotype pe machine operator and had always earned high wages hi he hoped to give an all five children a good education the two elder ones were attending the university suddenly mr C got pneumonia and died yuthin within a week the widow was left with three c hildren children still at I 1 school and no I 1 income save what mary and jean could earn by leaving school and taking jobs she went to the social security ity thinking that p perhaps chaps there would be a s small ma lump sum going to her probably be ab nb no more than a couple of hundred dollars she was was amazed to learn that she was entitled to monthly payments for herself and the three you younger nger chil children drent she received Z A midwestern farmer smiles with satisfaction as he be reads the fugures on a check received for his produce agricultural income Is now two to three times the 1939 level but this happy situation wont last economists warn unless this middle aged man maa Is fortunate hoi however ever his savings will dwindle away and he will face old age without security about ys 79 a month under the old age and survivors insurance pro program grami mrs C Is one of persons workers past 63 65 their aged wives ivi widows dows and children and dependent parents who today are receiving mont fily payments on account of old age and survivors insurance to d date a te the system has paid out nearly h half lf a billion dollars the mechanics of old age sad and survivors insurance are simple every pay pai day every wor worker kerin in a covered job pays under present rates 1 iper per cent of bf his hs wages as a premium on his old aid age arid and survivors insurance this is deducted fr from 0 chis his pay by his employer who pays annual sum four times a ye year arthe the employer sends both contributions in I 1 many men are re able to work even in old age like this sturdy F lorld florid f farmer armer ile he knows nevet nevertheless beless that b he a win will i have to quit in a kew ew years or maybe much lunch sooner gooner if U he could anticipate I 1 a regular dow bow ot of social security checks he could face the future with much less concern to the federal government together with the money he tends sends a report of I 1 the amount ot of wages paid the worker to be duly entered in his social security account in baltimore md kid on the basis of the these e wage records the insurance benefits b n are figured farmers could be protected could the system be applied to farm peo people plok farmers are scattered over a very wide area could the premiums recollected be collected without the costs of bf administration mounting unduly high considering the small amounts paid in and how bow would farmers figure out what their premiums 0 ought to be seeing that lots of them dont keep any books the social security board Is confident that the extension of the old age and survivors insurance system to farm people Is now feasible ways have hake been devised to overcome the difficulties As a basis tor for determining farmers social insurance premiums the reports they are already making to the government for income tax and 0 ther other purposes can be used for the farmer thois not required tto to file 1110 income tilt iss ie returns turns would IS figure gure his income on en the basis of the estimated market value ol of his bis services in doing this he could guide himself by the wages received by his highest P paid aid farm I 1 hand j if he employs no labor lab oi the monthly wage rate tor for farm labor laboi in his locality would serve farmers could pay their premiums at times most convenient for themselves some might find it convenient to pay a lump sum annually fly and ind others might prefer to pay in four annual quarterly installments low income farmers could pay their premiums in social insurance stamps it ff they chose they would buy these currently and put them in a social security stamp book which could be turned in from time to time as payment toward their premiums collections through ugh stamps i for farm help the stamp met method hod might be best the board thinks the farmer could buy social insurance stamps from any post office or rural letter carrier and insert them in the stamp books furnished shed him by bi his workers when he paid their wages hall the cost ol of the stamps would be deducted from the workers i i wages as his social security premium when the workers book boo kwas was lull full or at the end of its period of validity he would bringar bring or mail it to any office of the board so that it could be added to his bis record with the stamp system the small farmer would woula find it unnecessary to keep books bobki or file reports about the wages of his paid help on the large farm arm the stamp method could be used for temporary or casual workers not carried on the regular pay roll wages paid in ID the w form of room and board and the like might be included in the workers total wage and the value set on them could be based on data gathered and published publish id from time to timely time by the department of agriculture farm people have every claim to be included under the old age and survivors insurance program claim is all the stronger because many ol of them are already par partly aly under the system in the winter wintertime tim e I 1 or in other off seasons tor for farm work many farm people work in industry and pay premiums on social insurance in a lifetime th their air payments amount to substantial sums and yet very few people ever get benefits because they dont wark in covered employment long enough or 1 often enough to qualify i tor for th the monthly daymen payments t s the inclusion on oe ol 01 farm people under der the program w would at once both rectify the injustice to these workers and plug a big gap jn in the social security program |