Ke Alakai o Hawaii, Volume IX, Number 24, 24 September 1936 — Landon Shifty On Social Security [ARTICLE]

Landon Shifty On Social Security

The Republican platform as drafted at Cleveland by the five 01d Guard ex-Senators denounced the Soc!al Seeurity Act as "unworkable." Two weeks later, Oov. M. Landon ordered his long-deferred special sessio/i of the' r Kansas to submit a, i.onstitutional amendment at the November election to enable his"Staie to eooperate wlth the federal government in'the benefits o| the "un-' workable" law. In two more 'weeks he approVēd the Hīram Bingham-Walker Edge-George- Moses charācteriza-" tioD a$ follows: ahall amend the Social Security Act to make it workable." Now comes the news that the governor is to make the Social Security Act a paramount issue of the 1936 eam- ' ' paign. And the question naturally arises whether this wlff be as pleasantly receptive to the average man arid'woman,'Y ! " the toilers of America, as it doubtless was to Mes;>rs. William B. Bell, Silas Strawn and their assoc-iates on the highgeared Republican eampa i g 11 finānce c<>mmittee. Of course, it might be argued that Gov. Landon himself 'approved it to the. people of Kans.as only last month. It might be recalled that when the Act was passed only last year, following the most careful preparation based on a two-year study both at home and abroad> the Republicans in Congress voted jfor it overwhglmingly. Īll tl\e Senate, 14 Republicans supported it and on!y five opposed it; in the House, the RepubUcans voted 77 for and 18 against. However, these considerations relate to conslsteney of whieh we have encountered none in the ranks of President Roosevelt's opponents thus far this year. Why and how is the Social Act "unworkable?" Neither at Cleveland nor in Topeka was a single reason advanced, nor even one excuse offered. What are the facts? ; Before the Act went into effect, 10 months ago, only jtwo states had unemployment insurance. Now 18 States jsnd the District of Columbia have unemployment insur- [ anee law<>, covering 7,500,000 workers, or 40 per eenl of those eligible in the entire country. Today more tlian 900,000 persons past 65 years are receiving Federal-State pensions 'in 36 States, not yet enough, but every State that has approved the law pays more than it did. In some cases the increase is four-fold. Forty-seven States are cooperating with Washirijgton under one or more of the child welfare service provisions, whieh ,eventually will reach 250,000 children in institutions and foster homesj 200,000 delin<iuent children and more tiian 300,000 crippled children. States have entered laws t-hat provide for F«deral-State pensions for the indigent blind, under whieh 25,476 persons receive pensions averaging $22,75 a month. Twenty States have passed 1 a w s for mothers' peiisions that now cover 230,543 dependent small e'hildren, with monthly benefits avei"aging ?11.63 per child. Hundreds of thousands of eligible workers whō will retire at 65 before 1942, or the heirs of those who die, will begin receiving small benefits next year from the payroll aiīd wage-and-salary taxes. * There are nine provisions in the Social Security Act In less than a year milliona of the needy have felt t h e i r healing effects. Whleh does Candidate Landon promise to scuttle first?