FORUM MEETS ON BEVERIDGE

Discussing the economic, administrative, and social connotations of both the English and American Beveridge plans, Professors Alvin H. Hansen, Morris B. Lambie, and Talcott Parsons addressed a Post-War Council audience in the Lowell House Junior Common Room last night.

Emphasizing the conflicts between state and federal control of various social security measures, Hansen, who has served as Consultant to the National Resources Planning Board, also explained many steps that England and Canada have made towards the goal of the Beveridge plans.

Of particular interest to College men, he stated, was the Canadian Order-in-council by which, besides providing ex-servicemen with unemployment compensation for a period of 52 weeks, the government would give tests to all such men and provide them with tuition, board, and room for as much education as the results of the tests show them to be qualified.

Local Level Sought by Beveridge

Lambie, treating the administrative aspects of the plans, stressed the importance of coordination of the plans at the local level. Carefully pointing out the confusions that have resulted from England's and America's bureaucratic administration, he showed that no "Ministry" came down to the common level.

Establishing a fourpoint program of his own, Lambie stressed: (1) the local level of control, (2) the respect of every level of government for every other level, (3) the highest degree of decentralization through rule that is accepted as common practice, and (4) the functional basis of governmental levels, these functions resting on common standards.