T
daily nebraskan '"day, October 23, 1981
Professor says welfare state
page 8
contains too much flexibility
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Place: 16th & IKS,S
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Date: October 25, 1981
Barbecue & Band at 16th & "S"
Music by: The Ripchords
Starting at 3:00 p.m.
Proceeds Go To The
Cedars Home For Children
By John J. Jesse III
An economics professor
Thursday traced the devel
opment of the VS. welfare
state to the time of Henry
VIII.
'The welfare state of
America today contains lit
tle or no original social
thought," said Jonathan
R.T. Hughes of Northwes
tern University. "It is a
hodge-podge of concepts
ranging in time from Henry
VIII to the present
The presentation at Shel
don Art Gallery was the sec
ond in a seven-lecture series
funded by the Dr. Scholl
Foundation, which is ad
ministered by the Associa
tion of Private Enterprises
Education. The forum is en
titled "Security in the 80s:
Private Enterprise and Pub
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Jonathan R.T. Hughes
He spoke of the origins and great influx of indigent. The
lie Policy." It is hosted by development of relief for government tried monetary
the College ot Business Ad- the poor. reforms, but, Hughes ex
ministration's Department "Poverty is by no means plained, this failed to releive
of Economics along with a modern concept," Hughes the pressures on local agen
the Center for Study of the said. "We can trace poor cies.
American Business System, relief programs all the way
Dr. Hughes' talk was on back to Henry VIII's time."
"Security and the 'Safety Hughes said during the
Net': From Henry VIII to Middle Ages care of the
indigent was mainly the
responsibility of the
Church, along with private 1918 though,
charities. The transition of changed and
J the Social Security Act.
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this responsibility to the
state began during Henrv
VIII's reign in 1535. He
prohibited private charity
and instructed local govern
ments to administer the pro
gram. The people's attitude
during these times, which
was greatly supported by
Henry VIII, was that care
for indigents was fine, but
able-bodied poor and unem
ployed tended to severely
harm a society's economy.
"Today it is felt that vol
untary unemployment is a
luxury we can afford,"
Hughes said.
The infirm and aged were
cared for by the state
Hughes said, but it was still
an enforced social net
against starvation.
It was not until the late
19th centruy that unem
ployment and poverty were
regarded as social problems.
These drawbacks had been
widely visible since as early
as the 1830s, Hughes said.
The notion of a guaranteed
annual income developed,
and was considered to be
about 30 percent of a com
mon laborer's wage, he said.
Hughes added that this
did not change until the
1970s when government
realized this did not consti
tute a living wage.
During this period of the
1800s the call began for fed
eral intervention in aid for
the poor, Hughes said. The
old system of local care was
not equipped to handle the
However, with the out
break of World War I , the
U.S. economy became a
command one, and little
thought was given to the
poor, Hughes said. After
attitudes
government
tried to achieve rational
solutions to social problems.
Reforms in labor and indus
trial areas were initiated,
but little else was done.
According to Hughes, the
deficiencies of the system
were made glaringly appar
ent between 1929 and
1933. The number of unem
ployed reached 15 million
by 1933 and only one-quarter
of this number received
aid. This led to a call by
many for a system which
not only aided the crippled
and the aged, but the able
bodied poor as well.
When Franklin D. Roose
velt drafted the. Social Se
curity Act of 1935, he was
against direct relief to the
poor, but favored a federal
social insurance program,
Hughes said.
"This was weakened by
the fact that local control
and responsibility was still
quite strong, and there was
no standard set on pay
ment," he said.
There are two major
problems with our welfare
program today, Hughes
added. First, there is "too
much flexibility" with the
administration of the Social
Security System and its ben
efits. Hughes said pensions
should be put on a straight
contractual basi:.
"I also feel that the gov
ernment should draft a set
schedule for payment into
and out of the aystem,"
he said.
OPENS OCTOBER 23rd AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU!
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