ABBOTT, GRACE. From Relief to Social Se curity. Pp. viii, 388. Chicago: Univer sity of Chicago Press, 1941. $2.50

• Author: Marietta Stevenson
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222100178
• Published date: 01 May 1942
• Date: 01 May 1942
• Subject Matter: Articles

236

(Part

II,

Chap.

8)

deals

with

the

actuarial

problems.

Here

we

find

the

significant

fact

that

the

United

States

has

had

the

same

experience

as

did

some

other

countries.

The

actuarial

estimates

&dquo;proved

to

be

far

from

the

truth.&dquo;

However,

one

should

not

blame

the

actuaries,

but

the

people

who

misunderstood

the

actuarial

horizon.

As

excellent

as

the

actuary

is

in

answering

cer-

tain

mathematical

questions,

it

is

not

his

job,

but

the

economist’s,

to

find

out

the

correct

economic

suppositions.

Besides,

it

took

some

time

even

in

this

country

for

the

responsible

offices

to

become

aware

that

social

insurance

differs

and

has

to

differ

from

the

private

insurance

business

in

some

points,

especially

in

regard

to

its

financing.

ALFRED

MANES

Indiana

University

ABBOTT,

GRACE.

From

Relief

to

Social

Se-

curity.

Pp.

viii,

388.

Chicago:

Univer-

sity

of

Chicago

Press,

1941.

$2.50.

During

her

long

years

as

a

public

welfare

administrator,

Grace

Abbott

wrote

many

effective

papers

dealing

with

current

prob-

lems.

A

collection

of

these

Edith

Abbott

has

now

brought

together

and

edited.

As

a

member

of

President

Roosevelt’s

Council

on

Social

Security,

Grace

Abbott

was

in

consultation

with

those

charged

with

the

responsibility

of

framing

the

Social

Security

Act.

As

chief

of

the

Federal

Chil-

dren’s

Bureau

for

many

years

and

later

as

professor

of

public

welfare

administration

at

the

University

of

Chicago,

she

was

also

in

touch

with

the

main

currents

of

other

public

welfare

developments.

Coupled

with

the

vantage

point

of

her

position

was

an

ability

to

see

clearly

and

realistically

both

the

long-range

goals

for

public

welfare

and

the

expedient

steps

to

accomplish

these

ends.

Consequently,

what

she

had

to

say

-whether

testifying

before

Congressional

committees

or

speaking

to

groups

of

pro-

fessional

social

workers

or

lay

audiences-

carried

considerable

weight.

Considerable

space

in

the

book

is

de-

voted

to

various

pictures

and

discussions

of

relief.

A

vivid

picture

of the

unmet

needs

during

the

early

years

of

the

de-

pression

is

given

in

a

paper

entitled

&dquo;Rural

Public

Relief

During

the

Early

Depression

Period:

The

Lesson

of

the

Coal-Mining

Communities.&dquo;

During

this

period

the

Children’s

Bureau

made

studies

of

areas

of

special

depression,

like

mining

communities

and

single-industry

towns,

in

which

local

resources

were

entirely

inadequate

for

the

needs

that

developed.

Other

pictures

of

the

depression

and

what

it

meant

in

human

values

are

given

through

Grace

Abbott’s

testimony

before

a

Senate

committee

on

&dquo;The

Need

of

Federal

Aid

for

Relief

in

the

Winter

1932-33,&dquo;

and

through

an

article

that

was

published

in

the

New

York

Times

on

&dquo;Children

and

the

Depression.&dquo;

Again,

her

testimony

before

a

Senate

committee

regarding

the

tragedy

of

transients

makes

clear

her

position

that

inadequate

relief

is

an

impelling

factor

in

the

growth

of

the

transient

problem.

Speaking

in

1939

on

&dquo;The

Social

Serv-

ices :

A

Public

Responsibility,&dquo;

Grace

Ab-

bott

said

in

regard

to

stabilizing

the

pro-

gram

to

deal

with

the

unemployment

crisis:

&dquo;The

program-the

permanent

program-I

suggest,

then,

is

(1)

unemployment

com-

pensation,

which

we

now

have;

(2)

a

public

works

program

which,

built

upon

our

ex-

perience

with

WPA

and

PWA,

will

avoid

the

delays

of

the

latter

and

the

impetuosi-

ties

of

the

former.

And

it

is

important

that

employment

on

this

work

program

shall

not

be

confined

to

those

in

need,

that

it

will

be

a

means

of

retarding

the

spiral

in

periods

of

depression,

that

it

will

promote

recovery,

and

will

add

to

our

civic

wealth.

Finally,

(3)

there

must

be

an

unemployment

assist-

ance

program

supported

by

grants-in-aid

to

the

states.

That

is,

we

need

a

modern

cate-

gorical

form

of

relief

which

will

stem

from

the

twentieth

instead

of

from

the

seven-

teenth

century.&dquo;

The

series

of

papers

on

social

security

in-

clude

constructive

opinions

and

suggestions

regarding

the

Social

Security

Act

as

it

was

when

under

consideration

before

Congres-

sional

committees

as

well

as

later.

It

is

obvious

that

though

Grace

Abbott

never

lost

sight

of

the

practical

and

of

what

was

expedient

at

the

moment,

she

had

also

clearly

in

mind

a

long-range

point

of

view

regarding

the

amendments

that

should

even-

tually

be

made.

After

passage

of

the

act,

she

wrote:

&dquo;In

attempting

to

evaluate

the

Social

Security

Act,

even

those

of

us

who

are

its

best

friends

must

admit

at

once

that

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