Food, Clothing, Shelter

May 19, 1950

The Social Security Program of the 20th Century goes far beyond the basic needs--of Food, Clothing and Shelter. Today it includes Family Allowances, Unemployment Insurance, Workmen's Compensation, Health Insurance, and Old Age Pensions. Whether these are legitimate charges upon the nation as a whole is often the subject of debate. That they are to a great extent upon the Statute Book is due to the demands of organized labour, and the expansion of Industry since the close of the First World War.

But if we look a little closer we shall also see that we are passing through an epoch, one that the historians of a hundred years hence, will look upon much as we look upon events that just happened centuries ago. We just read about them, maybe wonder a little, and forget about it. Yet this phase through which we are passing will be one of the landmarks in history.

Because the whole human race is slowly but surely casting away the tenets and conventions of centuries, and following another line of thought which will bring them they fondly hope--peace and security. To the student of history these changes are as natural as that of the day following night. A thousand years ago, the Feudal System was in vogue. Very few thought of questioning the right of the Baron and the Prelate or that of the Monarch himself to do just as he pleased with his vassals and serfs. The few who did paid the penalty but the seed was sown.

The vision of a brighter day was held up to the lower classes. The system lasted 500 years. We can imagine the shaking of heads, and the talk of the country going to the dogs, as the last of the aristocrates of that age saw the collapse of all that they held dear and right. Followed two hundred years of Absolutism. The Feudal System had this to its credit, that when the Monarch went beyond the bounds, Baron and Prelate joined forces to force demands for better treatment of the people.

To this day we enjoy the benefits of the Magna Charta--the peoples charter--even in Canada. Under Absolution, the great Barons and ranking Clergy had practically disappeared. But taking their place was the rising power of trade and commerce, men rising from the lower classes, and men of wisdom and foresight, and above all men with ideals.

The common people they claimed had just as much right to life and security as the Monarch and his courtiers. In the struggle between the Crown and the People, the latter triumphed, and a great step was made on the road to liberty when a King was tried and condemned to death for making war on his subjects.

The Feudal System, and Absolution had had their day. Then came the days of the rise of the middle classes, the two party parliamentary system--and the rise of what is known as the Capitalist system. The power of steam, the many inventions that did away with so many of the old hand trades, the herding of people into factories, and the great expansion of Industry, all known today as the Industrial Revolution, produced a new era.

The French Revolution gave a stimulus to the Equality and Brotherhood cry of the revolutionists. Slowly but surely the workers began to organize--outlawed at first, by sheer persistence the unions were recognized, and today are part and parcel of our economic system. The demands of these unions for recognition of the rights of the working man, has been the means of passing many, if not all of our social security measures.

How much further it will go is hard to say. But the general trend of the world today--in the countries which call themselves Democratic is towards the middle left or Socialism. It is inevitable--some deplore it, whilst others rejoice. We in Canada and the United States talk much about free enterprise, but the Capitalistic System, like the other systems, is on its way out. It has had its day.

It was good in its time, it suited its day and generation. Two world wars have changed the people's opinions, and out of this change has come the demand for Social Security--as I said we are so close to it, and in the midst of a great social change, that we fail to see it in its true prospective.

(Editor's Note -- The writer of the above article, W. W. Howell, has been a contributor to the columns of The Observer for many years and while most readers are aware of his Socialistic Tendencies, The Observer feels it necessary to point out that it assumes no responsibility whatever for statements made by the writer and reminds its readers that the views expressed are Mr. Howell's own opinions. While it may be true that the so-called Capitalistic system is turning towards Socialism, it is also true that Socialism is turning Capitalistic.)

(Faye's Note -- This article began a summer-long series of articles along the same vein. The next week, Mr. Howell ended his article with: "Again Mr. Editor, these are my own opinions, and you need not apologize for printing them. You claim to be 'independent'. Does that mean having no opinions at all?" The Editor retorted with "No apology was intended. The Observer has pointed out on many occasions that that it is independent but not neutral. Some of Mr. Howell's articles in the past have caused readers to ask why they were published; one reader felt sure he was a Communist."