Show shall hall we pauperize the state by JOS A GEDDES Pros president ident utah state conference of social work SOME YEARS FROM NOW larger aspects of the relief problem some needed changes in our sa S stem digest americas great contribution to mankind has been a distinct rise in the standard of living of the masses standardization inventive genius enius and the use of machinery has had bad much to do with this rise A great fertile public domain and a policy of free land distribution sustained the movement while the vast bulk of the people were farmers today with a great wage earning class and no free land other er guarantees of economic security must be found for wage earners and farmers if the degree of equality which our experiment in democracy has succeeded in bringing into actual being is to be maintained and perchance still further developed certain things must be done 1 satisfactory systems of social insurance will do much to bring security to the great wage earning group 2 A severe limitation of the trend towards concentration of wealth is necessary for the general good 3 th the e willing worker must be assured of a job 4 the farmer must have dependable pen dable prices for his products 5 A development of satisfactory means of preventing war is ne necessary cessa if democracy and civilization liza tion are to hold their present gains social insurance in spite of entrenched opposition social insurance is rapidly coming to be accepted hy y the american people when henry R seager gave his famous lectures on social insurance the kennedy lectures for 1910 social insurance was almost unknown in america since that time the well being of our great wage earning class has come to be a recognized national obligation social insurance attempts to bring security at the five points where human frailty finds itself least able to withstand the forces of economic decline 1 sickness 2 old age 3 accidents 4 premature death of the breadwinner and 5 unemployment sickness insurance through government aid has found little favor but old age pension laws are being enacted in many states to care for the in the united states 65 years of age or over who are supported by other than their own efforts or savings workmans Work mans compensation involving accidents has had general acceptance widows pensions to aid children chos father has passed away are found in nearly every state and now under the stress of unemployed men we are beginning to think seriously about compulsory unemployment insurance as a means of limiting the disastrous effects of such conditions as the present depression has brought As has been the case with the other forms of social insurance which has been adopted many object to it but I 1 have yet to hear bear a reputable student of the problem speak disparagingly of it everywhere authorities in the labor problem field think that some form of compulsory unemployment insurance would be a great aid in the control of this serious problem germany has a compulsory plan by which her workers and their employers each pay 1 IL per cent of the wage with a reduction in various districts when the reserves become too large during times of unemployment in the lower wage levels as high as 70 per cent of the regular wages may be paid in the higher levels the payment may be as low as 35 per cent to be eligible a worker must have contributed for 26 weeks while compulsory unemployment insurance may not be expected to f ully fully take care of the wage earners difficulties during a severe depression it may be expected to go a long way towards doing so when it is remembered that A america erica has one and one half to three million workers unemployed during good times the sensibleness of unemployment insurance and its superiority over temporary relief on a large scale becomes evident relief tends to degrade unemployment insurance does not do so it is a plan whereby provision is made for the rainy day 2 limitation of tile trend toward wath wealth concentration the success of capitalism as a system depends upon its ability to keep the doors of opportunity open to the masses many men of wealth fall fail to appreciate this important truth it may also be said that not only is the welfare of capitalism itself but the welfare of americas national life the sus tai nance of her democracy and the demands of a equality require q aire a regulation of the world old trend for wealth to move into the hands of the few there are two avenues of attack of which the system may be kept workable for the masses and be prevented from becoming an agency through which the few exploit tile the many in their own interest the first one is through control of business by the peoples agent the government to be efficient enough to prevent monopolistic control through which the price which brings the largest profit may be extracted from the people is difficult the extent to which many of the practical necessities have come to be monopolized is very great our government has not been very successful in working this field since 1890 we have struggled away at it but with little success either in preventing such control or in handling the trend through regulation we have regulated practices fairly well but the regulation of practices has not greatly influenced the trend toward wealth concentration the national bureau of economic research found our national income in 1928 to be billions of dollars or per family of five divided evenly professor copeland estimates on a basis of the 1925 distribution that 57 per cent goes for wages salaries pensions etc and 43 per cent to investors and owners of industry A comparison of the number of owners and investors with the number of wage earners carriers and salary earners reveals a very great concentration of wealth professor W I 1 kings estimate that the richest 2 per cent of the families in the united states I 1 got get one fifth of the aggregate income while the poorest two thirds of f the families get 39 per cent of the the aggregate income is likewise significant th the c second avenue of attack on this problem problem is found through the limitation of estates and incomes by means of progressive inheritance taxes by this means it is possible to bring in large sums of money into the national and state treasuries if this money is then used to build roads public buildings maintain schools etc the average man finds increased opportunity port unity to find work and is relieved from tax burdens thus the field may bo be kept open america is making a more effective aze of this method than she has of the other although the new federal revenue measure with its many excise taxes spreads much of the burden on the masses and to that extent fails as a means of reducing excessive wealth in private hands bands 3 insuring a job to the worker since our system has brought into being a tremendous class of wage earners who own little or no property and who have little prospect of becoming owners it is clear that they must rely on wages to maintain the standard of living to which they have become accustomed since these wage earners have become far more numerous than any other class the much touted american standard of living must have reference to them security with respect to the job is ne cesary if this standard is not in je there is something very much wrong when men representing more than men women and children are out of work with no other propertied resources to fall back upon this depression has made very clear one thing the causes of depressions pres are more deep rooted than the government dominated by the political parties has conceived them to be small tives do not get very far with the maladjustments which our system develops nothing short of a severe periodic depression has yet brought into being correctives connectives which are adequate dom doan this mean that it is impossible to control production so that the earning power of the masses shall be re reasonably Ison ably secure such control cannot be achieved without a strong development of central planning free initiative without guidance means a disjointed system under such conditions today capital has found its way into the automobile industry until our yearly capacity is automobiles whereas the annual sales are the rubber tire industry has an excess capacity of 1200 per cent this means unpardonable waste during the war the war industries board controlled production according to planned needs and made a very good job of it war was the reason for the drastic methods used A depression may require just such action certain it is that demand will not fall fail off so very much if purchasing power arising out of steady wages is maintained 4 dependable prices for the farmers cities are the ino vaters agricultural classes are the preservers of civilization and of national existence no nation has long endured after its farmers have become pauperized american farmers have slipped back quite a long way since the world war here again larger forces have been at work which palliatives do not reach but often times do more harm than good extensive agricultural credit provided the farmers through congressional action is of this type during the past decade instead of malting making headway in paying off debts and thus furthering the position of the farm enterprises mortgaged indebtedness has greatly increased and the farmers equity in his farm has declined much more promising are the efforts to develop strong national cooperatives with international agreements sufficiently comprehensive to regulate production according to the need thus insuring steady prices and a decent living for the farmers here as with the he wage earner planned production under central control pos possesses esses the key to the door through which we must pass before the great difficulties of depression years can be brought under control 5 war must be minimized and controlled in addition to the many millions who died or were wounded in the world war and the many billions of dollars that were spent and the tremendous amount of wealth that was destroyed one may look today upon any of the nations that took part and see economic disaster everywhere many of the difficulties of today are traceable directly to this great scourge of modern times and yet while the world still suffers the decilles deci ples of war are competing in armament building today the world is prepared for war even as it was not prepared in 1914 it is a duty and an obligation of the first rank for every man and woman who is interested in preventing human wreckage to redouble efforts to bring under effective control in all nations preparations for war welfare work vork seeks to preserve those who falter it is interested also in preventing disaster not until we are ready to go to work earm earnestly estly and wholeheartedly whole heartedly on such stich reorganizations organizations re as have been discussed in this paper can we expect to prevent the wholesale disasters that beset us today one of our much married friends frienda says that no photograph of his wife would be a good likeness unless it were a talking picture |