University Daily Kansan, March 31, 1963
Page 9
Social Security proposals of'30s retried
By DAVID POWLS Staff Reporter
Some proposals for the Social Security program resemble unsuccessful proposals that were tried in the 1980s, a KU professor of sociology said yester
Jill Quadagno, the professor, said law records about the poor, state pension records and federalensus records describe those failed proposals, including a move in some states to back out of the Social Security program.
"One of the most startling insights I have had is that many current legislative proposals that would affect the aged poor resemble laws that simply did not work in the pre-Depression days," she said.
PRESIDENT REAGAN'S PROPOSALS to impose more stringent rehospitalization emergency assistance and other relief programs are reminiscent of early poor
laws in the state, she said.
Quadagno will present her research April 14-17 at a Rockefeller Foundation Conference at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
"Although Social Security is best equipped to ensure the financial security of retired Americans," she said, "state governments may try to withdraw from the system because of severe budget shortfalls and because they need to match every contribution made to the program by their employees.
"Of course, legislatures who advocate dropping Social Security also argue that the system is faltering and they should be better met by state government."
THE 77 "POOR FARMS" that Kansas had during the 1920s and 1930s are an example of inadequate state aid to the poor, she said.
Poor farms, she said, were often working farms in the country.
"Some of these places were terrible."
she said. "The people who lived there were old often or mentally retarded and had no other place to go."
In 1934,2,540 women lived in poor farms, she said.
A 1834 book called "A Study of Kansas Poor Farms," said, "The older women who are feeble sit quietly in their squeaky rocking chairs in the downstairs bedrooms. One room, which is painted bright blue, contains no furniture except a bed on which there were, during the summer, no sheets, but only a pair of gray cotton blankets, a heavy quilt and a pillow.
"The woman who occupies this room said she would like to have sheets but had not been given any. Old dresses and soiled underclothing are hung over the bed, where the sheets lie on the upper half the stream in so that the room is not unbearable hot."
KANSAS' FIRST LAW dealing with old age pensions was passed in 1914. That law said that counties could
provide money for people 70 years or older
Many old people were denied pensions, however. Oudagadno said.
Another issue also caused problems.
the system was very particu-
laristic," she said. "If someone drank too much or lived the wrong kind of life, they might be denied aid."
Wouldn't make this challenge possible?
"If you weren't born in a particular location, you couldn't get any money until you lived there 15 years," she said. "If a person moved from one state to another, even from one county to the next, he might lose his chance of getting relief."
She said that some employers had provided pensions for their former employees through municipalities, but it has not been confirmed whether provided any pensions until after 1935.
THAT YEAR, THE Social Security program began providing old age insurance and old age assistance for people 65 and over.
Daring team prevents hydrogen tank explosion
By United Press International
PHOENIX, Ariz. — A tanker truck loaded with liquid hydrogen caught fire yesterday but a team led by a daring engineer facing extreme danger sealed the flaming leak and ended the threat of fire in a firebubble explosion in northwest Phoenix.
The truck driver and his assistant were the only ones injured. Residents, school children and business people over a 2-square-block area were evacuated during the 7/9-hour crisis.
ROBERT PREDMORE OF LIQUID Air Corp, owner of the truck, flew to Phoenix from San Francisco and went immediately to the scene, sealed the leak and drove the truck safely away from a nearby hydrogen storage tank
The crisis ended at 4:20 p.m. It began about 10 a.m. when the driver and his assistant were unloading hydrogen from the truck about 8 miles from downwind Phoenix. A valve exploded and started a fire that threatened to blow up the adjacent large tank. Both men were burned.
The drivers recalled hearing a
"pop," but a nearby worker said it was louder.
"I thought it was a sonic boom — a giant sonic boom" said A.J. Pfeifer of Richardson's Carpet Shoppe, about three blocks away. "It rattled the building."
A Fire Department spokesman, Steve Jensen, said a storage tank explosion could have sent a fireball roaring through business and residential districts of northwest Phoenix for a quarter-mile in all directions.
FIRE CREWS WERE CALLED
away because of the danger and were powerless to stop the leak or the fire. They hosed down the fire until Predmore arrived, donned protective clothing and led an 11-man team to the burning truck.
They turned a valve on the truck that transferred the hydrogen into a sealed compartment of the tanker, suffocating the fire, and Fredmore drove the tanker from the storage tank from the storage tank. Firefighters called the job "extremely dangerous."
Predmore would not talk to reporters.
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Senators favoring parimutual wagering argued that the state needed extra tax revenue and said gambling would bring in revenues without increasing the burden for taxavers.
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Despite final efforts to swing support to the two resolutions, proponents could not muster the 27 votes, or two-thirds majority, required to send the legislation to voters.
"I don't know what the issue would be, that I would look down my nose with disdain at my fellow Kansans and say, 'You are not qualified. You are not smart enough to vote on this issue.'" D-Kansas City. "D-Kansas City. The people in Kansas do not need a big mama or papa in Topeka."
STATE SEN. EDWARD Reilly, R-Leavenworth, said he was not surprised by the vote on open saloons, but said some senators had ignored the votes of voters.
Liquor, parimutuel bills die in divided Kansas Senate
By JEFF TAYLOR Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — In a race to the wire, the Kansas Senate once again defeated proposals yesterday to allow parimutuel gambling at race tracks and to permit the open sale of liquor in bars and restaurants.
because tax revenues are so short," said Minority Leader Jack Steinger, D-Kansas City. "We could have raised $15 million."
Others argued that the Legislature should offer voters the chance to finally settle the issues, which have hingered in the Legislature for
TWO BICYCLES, worth an estimated $200, were stolen Tuesday from the porch of a Lawrence resident's home in back of Massachusetts Street, police said.
BURGLARS STOLE stereo equipment, worth about $1,500, from a Lawrence resident's home in the 1000 block of Illinois Street yesterday, police said.
On the record
ANOTHER BICYCLE, worth an estimated $210, was stolen from a bicycle rack at Joseph R. Pearson Hall Monday, police said.
A CAR STEREO, worth an estimated $134, was stolen Tuesday from a Lawrence resident's car parked in the 1900 block of East 19th Street, police said.
ATTENTION STUDENTS:
The Board of Class Officers
will hold Sophomore, Junior and Senior Class Elections April 20 and 21.
Petitions and filing forms are available in the BOCO office.
FILING DEADLINE—Tuesday, April 5
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JAYHAWKER TOWERS APARTMENTS 1603 W. Fifteenth 913-843-4993
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