Editorial discussion: Gov. Landon again on social security (Springfield Weekly Republican, Oct. 8, 1936, p. 1)

EDITORIAL DISCUSSION OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS Gov Landon Again on Social Security Gov Landon's revelation that in preparing his attack on the social security act he used a confidential report on old-age pensions that had been prepared by one of the re search workers employed by the social security committee of the Twentieth Century fund, inc., need not subject him to criticism. It seems that he had received copies of the report from two different sources, of which only one was con fidential. He used the copy of the report that was not received under the seal of confidence. This is small potatoes, in any case, and there is no sense in complaining that he made use of the material that fell into his hands. The director of the fund, however, has a right to be heard. From him, Evans Clark, it is learned that there were several research experts employed. The committee that em ployed them has not digested their reports and has not reached any conclusions. Gov Landon received the report of but one of the re searchers. It is in no way sur prising that a critical or even hos tile report should have come from one of them. Experts have differed sharply on the subject from the beginning. The President's committee on economic security, appointed in 1934, knew all about the divergent views that could be taken of the subject. Abraham Epstein of New York, who had for years agitated and writ ten voluminously in support of old- age pensions, has been disappointed, one might say aggrieved, because the new federal act was not modeled on his recommendations. The re port that Gov Landon used as the }<isis of his Milwaukee assault from source in sympathy with The views of those whose advice had not been accepted in framing the legislation. Re formers are like other people in sticking to their opinions. The Twentieth Century fund re port, however, was confined to the old-age pension part of the social security act; it did not touch upon the unemployment insurance provi sions, which are no less important. In justifying his Milwaukee speech by the special report that he had received, Gov Landon meets the critics of his speech no more than halfway. The peculiar fact is that he proposes to maintain the tie be tween the federal government and old-age pensions--no one yet knows just what his method would be-- while cutting completely the tie be tween the federal government and unemployment insurance. His pro posal is to throw unemployment back to the 48 states absolutely. He wants the country to have the benefit of future experiments in the 48 different "state laboratories," in spite of the record showing that not more than one state in the Union has ever undertaken to pioneer in that field because of the competitive conditions in industry oppressing any state that goes alone. Gov Landon in his Milwaukee speech ignored the fact that, under the new federal security act, the several states arc to enact unem ployment insurance laws to suit themselves, thus gaining flexibility to meet local conditions, and that these state systems are simply re quired to satisfy minimum standards established by the federal act in order to obtain federal cooperation in financing them. No other method has ever been devised so likely to establish unemployment insurance with the majority, at least, of the industrial states falling into line for the common welfare. The amazing climax of Gov Lon don's attack on the federal-state social security act was his denuncia tion of it as a "cruel hoax." A "hoax" is authoritatively defined as "a deception for mockery or mis 'chief.'' A "hoax" is deliberate and studied. It is difficult to believe that Gov Landon seriously meant to charge those responsible for the present law with infamy. For it could be nothing less than infamy to "hoax" many millions of Amer ican people with a calculated mock ery of their desire for more secur ity against unemployment and the handicaps of old age. [October 3] Democratic registration in Phila delphia has increased by 33 per cent over last year's figures, compared with a 3 per cent gain by the Re publicans, according to nearly com plete unofficial returns. Republican Being Poor In IVew Jersey In New Jersey a destitute man and his wife have been put into jail because no public agency would give them relief. John Holter, 77, and- Ellen, his wife, 63, after a varied experience each step of which was innocent of crime or of fense save that of being poor, are plainly the victims of the present New Jersey local relief system, which has been so much praised be cause of its economical administra tion. The story comes from Tom's River in Ocean county. To con dense, the case may be said to have reached an acute phase on August 19 when Mrs Martha Leonard, with whom the Holders had been boarding under ERA sponsorship, decided to quit being their hostess. The state, having ex hausted its appropriations and thrown relief back on to the towns, had long since stopped payments for their keep. To quote:-- She (Mrs Leonard) took the Holters to the office of Dr J. Lewis Lane, mayor of Tuckerton, and demanded that the borough of Tuckerton support them. At a special session held that night the borough council refused aid. Dr Lane then went before Recorder John W. Polk with a formal complaint that the Hol ters "had no visible means of support." He explained today that the borough council's decision in the matter was based on a rec ommendation of State Senator Percy Camp, who is borough solicitor. The Holters were not im mediately committed to jail on Present Trends in the Presidential Election Four weeks only to the elections. Business gets better and better. There is now, it appears, no possi bility of a serious slump in the mar kets or in industry before the people go to the polls. Unless all prece dents are to be upset, the admin istration in power must profit polit ically in votes from a rising tide of economic welfare. Precedents, however, furnish an unsafe basis for election forecasts. What never happened may still hap pen. There is the historical fact that no President has been defeated for reelection whose party had car ried the congressional elections' in the middle of his term, as the Demo crats did by an overwhelming ma jority two year^ ago. But that precedent, perhaps, was made in the course of 148 years only to be smashed in 1936. The several straw polls, at this time, are inconclusive. The expert statisticians admit that. If the Lit erary Digest poll, in which the President has week by week made slow but unimpressive gains, were now revealing Roosevelt ahead of Landon, instead' of the reverse, the contest would seem to be over, with the President's reelection virtually conceded. Now the Digest poll, writes Prof Crum of Harvard in the Wall Street Journal, has possible defects. It may fail to cover ade quately urban voters, women voters, particular economic or social classes and particular racial or religious groups. But, by his own method of adjusting the Digest poll for pos sible faults, Prof Crum still finds that the Landon lead'is holding up well in the totals. Other polls that are worth atten tion give the President a better break. The American Institute of Public Opinion, in its report yester day, gives Roosevelt 53.2 per cent of the major party popular vote and an electoral vote of 306, or 40 in excess of a majority. In this poll, taken monthly, the President has gained slowly but steadily since June. An arresting aspect of the institute's poll is the division by age groups. The younger voters are strongly for Roosevelt, the older voters are as strongly for Landon. As the three younger age groups outnumber the older by about 47,- 000,000 to 31,000,000 on a popula tion basis, the President's advantage must be conceded, if the institute has correctly sounded the predomi nant sentiment of the younger voters. Oddities abound in the straw polls. Dr Crum's analysis of the Digest poll leaves Kansas very close, Landon's lead in his home state over Roosevelt being but about 16,000. Pro-Landon David Lawrence last week, after visiting Topeka, guessed Landon at home would get 20,000. Kansas's total vote runs up nearly to 800,000 in a presidential election. All summer there have been reports the complaint, however, but were sent to the home of George Bass in Little Egg Harbor township. He cared for them until last Saturday, when he took them to Mrs Leonard's boarding house and left them on the front porch, according to the record in Sheriff Applegate's office. This record shows that Mrs Leonard took Mr .and Mrs Holter back to Mr Bass. He then informed Dr Lane of the situation, and the Holters were committed to jail for two days on the August 19 complaint. Mrs Leonard's crisp comment is worth recording: "In Ocean county, 'if a dog has a sore foot, there is 'an S. P. C. A. to care for it, but 'these poor old people are human 'beings and no one cares. I took 'care of them as long as I could." It is premature to aficept the New Jersey system as the final solution of the relief problem. It is but fair to point out that the Holter case is by no means typical; it is ex ceptional. Yet it happened when the greatly lauded system of full local control of relief was restored. Liberality "may run to sentimental ism and "pauperization"; but, on the other side, the hard-boiled policy may send people to jail for being poor. The extremes are to be avoided. [October 2] The prompt conviction at Detroit of seven "Black legion" plotters on a charge of murder in the first degree is a reminder that the death penalty has been abolished in Michigan. That the fact is not un related to tlje jury's action is a thought that naturally occurs. from Kansas to the effect that Roosevelt was strong there, even against the governor, but it has been generally assumed that state pride would make it safe for Landon. An other oddity is the poll by Fortune magazine, a de luxe publication in New .York that only people of means can afford to buy. Fortune's sampling of its constituency shows 59.2 per cent for Roosevelt--which leaves the student of political trends with a headache. There may be significance in the heavy Roosevelt majority in the Baltimore Sun's poll of Maryland. On Saturday Roosevelt led Landon by 145,535 to 64.423. A ballot was sent to every registered voter, in suring a much greater coverage for that state than the Digest can get on a nationwide scale. The present indications, based on Roosevelt's steady gain since the straw voting began, are that the President's plurality at the election next month will even exceed his plurality over Hoover in 1932. Such a result, how ever, seems incredible to many, but the Sun is certainly conducting a fair poll and the returns are wholly contrary to its own editorial prefer ence. Maryland has always been re garded as a stronghold of conserva tive Democrats. The late Gov Ritchie was «a conservative Demo cratic leader. The Baltimore Sun itself has been one of Roosevelt's most consistent Democratic critics and opponents during the past three years or more. The anti-Roosevelt papers published in Washington and Philadelphia circulate in Maryland to a considerable extent. If Mary land is strongly pro-Roosevelt, con trary to the prevailing journalistic propaganda, the assumption that the whole northeastern tier of states along the coast are against the President must be revised. One clew, perhaps, to the Mary land showing for the President is to be found in the Negro wards of Baltimore. A distinct Negro drift to Roosevelt has been discovered there. Confirmatory evidence ap peared whhn the President drove through New York city on Friday last. In Harlem he was cheered by great masses of the Negro popula tion. The explanation? American Negroes comprise about one'sixth of the people on relief in the United States. They are at the bottom of the economic scale --the first to feel depression and the last to come up with recovery. The Republican has no forecast of its own to offer. But it will ven ture this much: Roosevelt's chances of reelection at this stage seem at least to equal President Wilson's early in October, 1916. [October 5J In meeting Japan's four demands with four counterdemands China is logical, even if it is not likely to get much satisfaction. SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1936 The Retrenchment Policy 1 Criticism of the President's Pitts-' burg speech on the administration's fiscal record commands serious at-' tention for the reason that the President did not forecast a reduc tion in expenditures as part of the* program for the future balancing of the budget. He was content with 1 the prospect that the budget could; be balanced with the increasing revenues he thought would be yielded by the present tax structure in the next two or three years. The' most aggressive champions of budg et balancing, of course, have de manded balancing largely by reduced spending. That way lies lower taxes. Neither Landon nor Roosevelt is promising much in the way of re l duced expenditures. Landon has a farm program of cash benefits, amounting to the equivalent of tariff duties, on the domestically consumed portion of surplus export crops, that would be very costly. For he would tolerate no production control. Secretary Wallace and his staff of economists will not be re garded just now as unbiased critics of the Landon farm program, but it is worth while to notice their estimate of its cost to the govern ment. Two billions of dollars a year, so they figure it. Wallace himself has pointed out that, without any pro-] duction control and with farmers i producing all they could, one or twoi years of good crop weather would result in surpluses causing a treas- ury drain of at least a billion. 1 The foreign market has been The Spanish Government and the League Spain has decided not to press its demand that the League of Na tions publish its notes to Germany, Italy and Portugal, charging them with giving aid to the rebels, and instead, will itself make them pub lic. Issued in this way they will lack the authority which publica tion by the League would give, but they will contain the evidence of foreign interference collected by the Spanish government, and it is said at Geneva that the formidable strength of this evidence was what made League officials unwilling to act. The League would have no option in the matter if Spain were to make formal appeal against any of the powers accused, but the Spanish government does not care at present to take thidf step. For one thing, it would involve delay for submission by the League of the Spanish charges to Berlin, Rome and Lisbon which might be a long time in answering if they answered the League's note at all. At best the process would be slow, and the same forces which tried to oust Ethiopia from the Assembly would do their best to keep the League from becoming involved. This is understandable, and even Russia, winch came out strongly for seating the Ethiopian delega tion, is said to be reluctant to have the Spanish question raised at Geneva. For evading it as long as evasion is possible the League has not a little justification. Few would deny that it already has on its hands more than it can perform. In its vote on Ethiopia it defied Italy, and if it took up Spain'* largely wiped out for our farm products. An attempt is being made to nurse it back again through the reciprocity agreements, but Gov Landon will have none of them. While both sides realize that ex penditures for unemployment relief must be heavy for some time- to come, with a chilling effect on prom ise-making in connection with the budget, there remains for considera tion something that no one men tions, not even the advocates of drastic financial retrenchment. That something is the growing expenditure on armaments. The United States is now spending nearly a billion a year on its mili tary services and its .rearmament program. The world situation does 3 not encourage hope for an early re duction. Both Britain and France 1 are spending feverishly to Strength en their respective defensive posi tions, with little concern for bal anced budgets. A balanced budget t here is pretty sure to be subject to "the same influences, to some extent, 'at least, as in Britain and France. 3 There is obviously a tacit inter party agreement in the present cam -5 paign to ignore this phase of the c fiscal situation. r [October 5] Americans visiting Russia ale i struck by the scarcity of dogs. In i Moscow or any other center one may go about for a week without i seeing more than a half a dozen of i them. The most famous of Russian [breeds, the lean and long-legged -wolf-hound called the borzoi, could hardly be expected to fit into a proletarian background. charges it could hardly escape com ing into collision with both Italy and Germany. There are precedents as well in favor of avoiding responsibility in the matter. In forming the covenant the founders took care not to make the League a new H6ly Alliance, charged with the maintenance of law and order. Since it was founded there have been numerous revolutions and revolts, with charges of foreign interference on one side or the other, but the League has held aloof from these mainly domestic questions. It would have difficulty now in acting on Madrid's complaint without be coming involved in the domestic af fairs of Spain as well as in the controversy between the present Spanish government and the powers accused of supporting the rebels. If Spain has cause for complaint its grievance is not against the League but primarily against the three powers, two of them League members, which it accuses of inter ference. In a lesser degree it has a grievance against those powers, led by France, which outside of the League framework have applied a novel theory of neutrality which thus far has favored the rebels and may perhaps cause the downfall of the lawful Madrid government. Such an outcome would not be at all vfchat the advocates of an embargo on arms sought or desired, but in such matters policies are inevitably judged by results. It is not sur prising that the publication of the Spanish notes, with evidence of for eign aid for the rebels, is awahed with some apprehension. (October I] Victory for Premier Blum Fear of a cabinet crisis in France has been dispelled for the present by the Senate's acceptance of a compromise satisfactory to Premier Blum. The necessity of devaluation of the franc is now generally ac cepted, but devaluation involves measures to soften the shock of a sudden change in the gold value of the nation's money, and it has been in regard to these provisions, framed by the cabinet subject to approval of Parliament, that political opin ion has most sharply differed. Premier Blum had little difficulty, after a vigorous debate, in secur ing the support of the Chamber of Deputies, where the popular front has a majority. Much stiffer off position was met in the Senate, which made changes in the com pensation clauses which the Cham ber in its turn rejected, the result being a deadlock which would have had formidable possibilities if not quickly broken. The debate Wednes day was one of the hottest in re cent years, and while Premier Blum was subjected to a withering fire he stood to his guns and his cour age won respect. The compromise measure adopted by the Senate does not restore the provisions for compensating work ers and pensioners which had aroused controversy, but it confers on the ministry discretionary power to prevent excessive rises in prices and to settle labor disputes due to changing values while France is adjusting itself to new price levels. The New Deal and the House of Representatives The present overwhelming Demo cratic majority in the Senate, com bined with the fact that, except for death or resignation, only one-third of the Senate's membership comes up for reelection every two years, makes recovery of the control over that body by the Republicans im possible this year, and practically j impossible in 1938. Interest in cur -1 rent senatorial campaigns has con sequently centered upon individual contests, as in this state between Lodge and Curley, rather than upon the complexion of the Senate as a whole, since that is bound to remain Democratic. The situation in the House of Representatives is different and more attention is now being given it as election day approaches. This is in spite of the fact that the Democratic majority in the House, where there are 318 Democrats, 103 Republicans, seven Progressives, three Farmer-Laborites and three vacancies, is relatively even greater than in the Senate, where there are 70 Democrats, 24 Republicans or nominal Republicans, one Progres sive and one Farmer-Laborite. It is possible for the Republicans to regain control of the House, since all of its membership, with the exception of the three Repub lican representatives already chosen in Maine, will be elected in Novem ber. This, however, would repre sent an overturn of improbable vio lence in the face of straw votes and of other indications that there will be no tidal wave for either party in the presidential election. Cautious observers appear to discount the rival claims of both congressional campaign committees and to be studying the possible effects of Re publican gains which while numer ically large are now considered like ly to fall somewhat short of an ac tual transfer of control. Here in New England the Maine election already represents a net Republican gain of two seats. The peculiar situation in which the Democrats of this congressional dis trict now find themselves apparent ly assures for the Republicans the gain of another seat; further gains are likely elsewhere in Massachu setts and in Connecticut. But in the final analysis mathematical de tails may be disregarded. The most reliable indication of sizable Re publican gains in the House is found in the fact that the results of the 1934 election were plainly abnormal and that the signs now point to a more even party divi sion. This should be a better basis for the healthy functioning of rep- I resentative government. It must be recognized, however, by friends of the Roosevelt admin istration who are confident of Mr Roosevelt's reelection that Repub lican gains in the House which fall short of actually transferring con trol may yet have an important ef fect on the administration's pro gram. The influence of any Pres- Under less portentous circum stances a stubborn political struggle, probably involving resignation of the cabinet and a new general elec tion, would have been almost in evitable, but the most strenuous of the premier's critics had to recog nize that this was a time for democ racy to keep its head. It is ex pected that the Chamber, in the same spirit, will accept the modified amendments voted by the Senate. [October 2] President Lazaro Cardenas, Mexi co's new "strong man," is reported by close observers to be "running his own show," the members of the "brain trust" that backed him at the start having slipped into the political background, with the pos sible exception of Arroyo Ch. Cer tainly a name like that ought not to be lost from the historical pic ture of the times. The approaching centennial of Martin Van Buren's retirement from the presidency of the United States would seem to be an appropriate occasion for the appearance of his portrait--for the first dime--on a United States postage stamp. Doubt less Mr Farley has received such a suggestion; if he hadn't already thought of it himself. A drop of 55 per cent in applica tions for relief in the state of New York in the present year is re ported by the chairman of the tem porary emergency relief administra tion. That "no reduction in unem ployment" assertion was already pretty threadbare. ident over Congress diminishes as he approaches the end of his stay in the White House. Democratic representatives who have conserva tive leanings will find themselves in a stronger strategic position. If the margin should be so close that their votes are actually necessary to the maintenance of Democratic control, they may even be in a posi tion to dictate to an administration of their own party some modifica tion of its policies. Such possible developments in the membership of the House are given added significance by a survey: First, of those items in the new deal upon which Congress must necessarily pass again because' of the expiration of the limited and temporary authority which it orig inally conferred on various agencies and commissions and on the Pres ident himself; second, of those is sues which may be returned to Con gress by further adverse decisions of the supreme court. Incidentally, the need of reconferring authority, or allowing it to lapse, is another demonstration that we are not quite so far gone in the iniquities of despotism as some people seem to fear. The President's special powers further to devalue the dollar, to fix the weight of the silver dollar at a ratio with gold, to direct the coin -1 age of gold and silver at such a ratio, and to direct the use of the 52,000,000,000 stabilization fund, recently employed in connection i with the devaluation of the French franc, will expire, unless Congress I extends them, on January 30. Be j tween then and the end of July will similarly come the expiration, ,in certain cases of some of the powers, and in other cases of all of the powers, conferred upon such 1 bodies as the Reconstruction Fi nance corporation, the Electric Farm and Home authority and the Fed eral Housing authority; while on j June 12, the President's authority >to negotiate reciprocal tariff agree ments will expire. The neutrality act, which may be made of more critical importance by events in i Europe during the interval, expires on May 1. Such a list might be almost in definitely extended to include many temporarily ordained taxes, the nec essary appropriations for the CCC, and even the three-cent postage stamp. Potential additions are to be found in practically all of the laws establishing the new deal upon which the supreme court ha 3 not yet decided but which are in vari ous stages of progress toward sub mission to it These include the social security act. the utilities holding company act, the railroad labor act and other highly con troversial pieces of legislation. That the court will uphold the constitutionality of all the new deal laws on which it must yet pass probably no friend of the admin istration now expects. That some of the issues which they represent •nraraaM to xvsx_aizu PRICES THREE CENTS. 81.80 YEARLY More Shipping Troubles To the natural desire of a con* scientious public official to avert labor troubles at any time, Pres ident Roosevelt must be recognized as having special reasons, during campaign for reelection, for using his best efforts to prevent the acute strife which had threatened *to break out on the Pacific coast be tween longshoremen and seamen and their employers on the expiration at midnight, Thursday night, of a two-years' wage contract. At last reports a 15-day truce had been precariously agreed to. The exact effect of acute dis orders on that coast might not be easy to predict; but it is difficult |to see how they could help a Pres ident to whom the Pacific state* have already been generally con ceded. Disorders of extreme vio -1 lence might even produce wide spread apprehension and conserva tive reactions tending to change th* political situation. The newly created Maritime com mission seems to be doing its ut most to adjust things, in spite of the fact that under the law creating ;it 30 days must elapse after the original appointment of its first members before it may be regarded as formally in existence. But th* division which has existed in th* past in the ranks of labor, with radical and conservative wings, ap parently makes the situation on th* i Pacific coast more difficult to deal with. While the situation on the At lantic coast is not so menacing, the same factor seems to be aggravat ing it. It was not a happy circum stance that the American liner Roosevelt--named after Theodore' Roosevelt--should have been pre vented from sailing on Wednesday for European ports because of an other split in union ranks and the claim that the steamship officials should cease to recognize those who were, until recently at least, the un questioned union officials but whose i right to office is now disputed within the union. The season for the heaviest pas senger lists eastward across the Atlantic has now passed, although there has been an organized effort to promote travel to Europe at this time by advertising various at tractive opportunities offered else where than in Spain. As normal times return, passenger traffic in that direction will not fall off so heavily when the summer's rush is over. The Roosevelt, whose 14,000 tons make her small compared with the approximate 80,000 tons of the Queen Mary and Normandie, had apparently booked only some 90 passengers. But because of the de lay of more than 24 hours in her sailing, while another truce was be ing arranged, all of these pas- sengers took other ships. It is obvious that delays or can celations of sailings of Americas passenger ships, of which this is unfortunately far from the first this year, can only have a cumulative effect in encouraging passengers to sail under other flags. If without prejudice to vexed questions of wages, food and accommodations, the Maritime commission can bring this fact home to union leaders who are struggling among themselves, j one of the growing handicaps on i the development of an American 1 merchant marine may be mitigated. It is likely to be a very long time before the Maritime commis sion is able to facilitate the coa struction of the 350 merchant ships of various classes which have been |so glibly talked about as to foster the impression that some new and magic formula had been invented making it unnecessary to go through such tiresome details as fabricating the steel for their hulls and rivet ing or welding their plates to gether. The commission obviously has a chance to be of early service lin dealing with labor troubles. Yet any realist must also recognize j that commission regulations which have the effect of still further raia ing the cost of operating ships un der the American flag will either discourage those disposed to enter j that field or increase the subsidies which must be paid out of the pub i lie treasury under the recently. enacted law. must be reconsidered by Congresa is apparently certain. Altogether it does not promise to be a dull win ter and spring in Washington if, in the event of Mr Roosevelt's reflec tion, the party division in the House of Representatives is never theless restored to more normal proportions. (October l]