Click for Table of Contents Our First Claimant

By Ray Bender as told to Phil O’Brien

When a Vermonter is in a particularly expansive mood the guise of a social security check numbered 00-000-001, he talks about the Connecticut River joining his State in the amount of $22.54, in February 1940, marking this with New Hampshire. As a rule, however, to most true tranquil person as the very first monthly beneficiary under Vermonters the Connecticut River separates Vermont from the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Program. New Hampshire, because Vermont to the native-born is a “I do recall the day I went ‘downstreet,’ ” Ida replies world in itself. Not a commercialized, hectic, grasping, to our question, “and boarded the train at Ludlow with pushing and shoving world-but a serene, quietly pro- a Rutiand ticket in my purse. It wasn’t that I expected gressive rusticity with the development of the spiritual anything mind you,” she continued, “but I knew that having a high place of importance in the measure of things. I’d been paying for something called Social Security and In such an atmosphere making one word serve where three I wanted to ask the people in Rutland about it.” or four would not be excessive becomes a virtue that That day was in November 1939, just a few weeks after transcends the concept of frugality. Ida had retired from her job as legal secretary to the Such is the first impression of Miss Ida Fuller of Lud- firm of Stickney, Sargent & Skeels in Ludlow. As luck low, a kindly, likable, practical, and placid woman, whose would have it, Ida arrived at the Rutland Field Office the ability to derive deep satisfaction from simple, whole- same day as the newly created OA-Cl applications. some living has eased her through life gracefully and When she departed she left behind what for us was a leaves her much younger than her 81 years. historic document-the first completed monthly insurance Into every well-ordered life Chance now and then in- claim to be paid. trudes to insert a grain of irritant which may or may not Now, 188 months and 187 checks later, Miss Fuller pays develop into a pearl. To Miss Fuller notoriety came in tribute to the efficiency of the organization that has never missed sending the checks and was never late in sending one. “I think that Social Security is a wonderful thing for the people,” she remarked, as she rocked back and forth, looking out with alert, light blue eyes over the lawn from her porch. “With my income from some bank stock and the rental from the apartment, Social Security gives me all I need.” Perhaps Chance had parlayed two events to make Miss Fuller the First Lady of Social Security. She had started teaching school back in 1893 after leaving the Black River Academy where Calvin Coolidge had been a fellow student. Her decision to abandon the teaching profession and to seek secretarial training at the Pernin School in Boston set her forth in 1905 in an employment that was covered 32 years later under the Social Security Program. Even though she had given up teaching school pro- fessionally, she said to us, “I can’t remember when I wasn’t teaching Sunday School. It must be the best part of 65 years. The good Lord, a contented, useful life and the good Vermont air can keep one going a long, long Miss Ida Fuller time.”

AUGUST 1955 7 This is the condensed ver- sion of the article, “Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Looking After Twenty Years,” which is appearing in the August issue of the Social Security Back Bulletin.

The old-age and survivors insurance program was Twenty created to provide monthly benefits upon retirement for the Nation’s working population. These benefits, financed by the worker’s contributions and those of his employer, were to be related to his past earnings and to provide a significant replacement of previous income. There was Years later added a provision for the payment of benefits to surviving members of the worker’s family upon his death. The purpose of the program is to provide protection against economic insecurity for the worker and his family when the earnings upon which they have depended for support are cut off by his retirement or death. This basic purpose was reaffirmed by President Eisen- hower in his social security message of . A Review of The President pointed out that the old-age and survivors insurance system had been developed in response to the need “arising from the complexities of our modern so- Program Highlights ciety * * * The system is not intended as a substitute for private savings, pension plans, and insurance protec- tion. It is, rather, intended as the foundation upon which these other forms of protection can be soundly built. Thus, the individual’s own work, his planning and his thrift will bring him a higher standard of living upon his retirement, or his family a higher standard of living in the event of his death, than would otherwise be the case. Hence the system both encourages thrift and self-reliance, and helps to prevent destitution in our national life.” The old-age and survivors insurance system, established by Congress in 1935, has moved toward its goal by rela- tively rapid stages when the years are viewed against the backdrop of a nation’s history. A scant 10 years after the program’s adoption, Arthur J. Altmeyer, then the Chairman of the Social Security Board, observed that “Probably never before in a corresponding period of time has legislation done so much to establish a ground work

OASIS The Field-Then and Now

Houston, Texas By “then” an assignment as acting employee in the office. In December by Fred C. Rogers information-service representative in 1947, 11 years later, there were 26. our regional office, at that time located Here are a few more memories: Though memorable events are photo- in San Antonio, Tex., was finished The long-winded “essay” type of graphed in my mind, I, nevertheless, and the first field office in the United weekly reports. stumble over words to use in a story States was opened at Austin, Tex., in How the Regional Office compiled covering the past 20 years, not under, October 1936. weekly statistics on each office show- but with social security. “Rather Home at last. The Houston field ing the number of OA-702s typed than a long-drawn out chronological office was opened for business on De- “per person per day.” history,” said the Editor, “we’re at- cember 14, 1936. Two days later in The delinquent employer pro- tempting to highlight the interesting New Rochelle, N. Y., according to the gram-how we checked the yellow changes 20 years have brought. press, “John D. Sweeney, Jr., 23, a pages in the telephone directory and Give us about 1,000 words on Hous- Princeton graduate, shipping clerk the city directory against our EIN ton, then and now.” and Republican, was the first man in files in an effort to find employers By “then,” I had completed my as- the to receive a social who were not reporting. We found signment with Colonel McCormick’s security registration card. His name plenty. Field Organization Committee in came out first in a drawing lot.” How we plugged a new radio pro- Washington and the first basic train- At about this same time, new Ford gram, “Pleasantdale Folks.” ing course was behind me. v - 8's were being advertised at base By October 31, 1937, a grand total Social Security was by “then” ap- price of $480 and up at the Dearborn of 29,000 claims had been certified for proved in the momentous Supreme plant. On December 11, King Ed- payment by the Bureau of Old-Age Court decision on May 24, 1937, by a ward VII signed a warrant of abdica- Insurance. vote of 7 to 2, though about this time, tion and the next day Britain pro- At the close of the same year, Joe 1 writer expressed the sentiments of claimed George VI as king “and Fay had received the astounding total a large segment of the Nation’s popu- mourned Edward as if he were dead.” of 36.5 million applications for em- lation when he said that the Social Loin steak was selling at the meat ployee account numbers and his shop Security Act was “not an assured markets for 19 cents a pound that was swamped with almost 15,000 re- success.” week. You were not reimbursed for quests for wage statements. I dis- John G. Winant was Chairman of travel to and from Washington. You tinctly remember that three of these the Social Security Board. Arthur J. paid for your own living expenses were from the Houston office. Altmeyer, soon to become Chairman, while there, whether for 3 weeks or and Vincent M. Miles were the other 6 months. Portland, Oreg. Members of the Board. John Corson Two weeks after the Houston office by Jim Peebles was our bureau chief. In his letter was opened, on January 1, 1937, wage When we took over enumeration, in of resignation later, Governor Winant, earners and employers began making July 1937, from the Post Office De- Ambassador to England during the social security tax contributions on partment, we had a staff of three, all wages earned. Five and a half war years, recalled that the Social which included Carl D. Monroe, now years later, old-age and survivors in- Security Act in its inception was District Manager at Pasadena, Calif., “viewed as a nonpartisan, humani- surance payments in the Houston area plus some 30 temporary typists. We tarian measure,” and that three times were being made to 1,450 persons at were mailing out about 3,000 A/N as many Republicans in Congress the rate of $24,980 a year. Today, cards a day. It was easy to get the voted for it as voted against it.” He monthly payments are being made to said he had never held the Act was over 30,000 beneficiaries at the rate typists on duty but not so easy to get without fault, and that he had “as- of over 1 1/2 million dollars per month urgently needed additional office sumed and even hoped that time and in the 7 counties now served by the equipment. experience might dictate many im- Houston District Office. We borrowed chairs from the portant changes.” “Then” the manager was the only Chamber of Commerce. Carl Mon-

10 OASIS . . . Seven old-time managers recall the early years

roe and I trucked these by hand the are the half dozen promotions of men I recall opening the field office in 2 blocks through the business center who have worked with us to offices Harrisburg with one stenographer; a and he passed them through an office of their own. boy who operated a stenotype ma- window to my wife. chine. In those days, the manager Our need of office equipment was did everything; opened the mail and so pathetic that we contrived a way Philadelphia answered it himself; typed social se- to evoke the sympathy of our Central by Joe Skorup curity cards; used packing cases for Office people. The old movie camera furniture until desks and chairs were did the trick. We might have exag- I entered on duty in Washington, received, opened crates and cases and gerated the primitiveness of our office June 15, 1936 and came to the Phila- counted and checked supplies against equipment, but not long after we had delphia RO in August, 1936 as an requisitions. shown our movie at the first Regional ARR. Mike Reap was Manager in Scran- Managers Conference-where, of I spent considerable time in the ton. No one in the field knew much course, we had no idea the chairman field getting bids for field offices in the about claims at that time. As .Assist- of the Board would be in attend- eastern part of Pennsylvania and ant Regional Representative I would ance-our requisition for a hand- northern New Jersey while Mike go out to the field after arranging operated envelope machine was filled. Shortley covered the western part of meetings of Managers of the nearby In such a local setting the major Pennsylvania looking for space. We offices. On my first such trip to the initial jobs of enumeration and em- didn’t open many at first. (Continued on page 12) ployer reporting were accomplished so creditably that our Regional Repre- sentative, never satisfied, developed a plan whereby we could do better. Mr. Tallman’s idea was to have the Tax Collector send the district office copies of his letters to employees who had submitted incomplete returns. The late Charles Beach and Roger McCulloch worked out this innovation with the cooperation of Roy Wade, now Chief of Collections, I. R. S., Los Angeles. And thus, the “Collector’s letter” procedure was born. Coverage questions were formida- ble. The original law excluded “agri- cultural labor” from covered employ- ment, but the term was not defined in the law. The NRA in dealing with this question of agricultural labor found that there were about 50 differ- ent definitions employed by federal agencies. The sound maturing of our pro- gram (Oregon now ranks sixth in the country in OASI beneficiaries per 1,000 population 65 aged and over) is gratifying. Gratifying too during the growth of our staff from 3 to 53

AUGUST 1955 numbers. I recall a few of the old- timers around here in 1936 and 1937 were Herbert Gruber, H. Conrad Hoover: Munsey Gleaton, and Bob Fraker, now Regional Representative in Region II-B. “Personnel Assistant” was the title of our present Field Representative job aud it was a Grade 3 at $1,620 PA. As the neophytes came from Wash-

Conference of Field Office Managers, November 13-26, 1946. L. to r. treated): T. A. ington, to fill these. jobs, they first re- McDonald, J. S. Fehr, E. H. Dunaway, C. S. Hoover, E. C. Lupton, J. L. Fay, H. F. McKenna, ported to the Regional Offices and L. Zawatzky, C. F. Beach T. Hughes, F. J. McDonald. Standing, first row, I. to r.: C. W. Legeman, J. Morrison, P. Elder, R. H. Hendrick, L. E. Holt, N. F. Conger, J. E. Stamps, H. A. were then assigned temporarily to McNary, J. T. Phelan J. E. Peebles, V. Sadd, J. S. Futterman. Standing, second row, l. to r.: Mike Shortley to tramp the streets with G. W. Duey, T. M. Galbreath, W. H. Nixon, J. G. Hunsaker, K. A. Albrecht, E. H. Amos, R. E. lists of missing numbers. Now many Austin, A. S. McClellan, C. A. Edson, F. N. Adcock, J. J. Skorup, Jr., F. C. Rogers, J. H. Johnson, L. Shield. of these original personnel assistants are District Managers; some have (Continued from page 11) when we took over from the Post become Regional Representatives or Scranton field office to meet with Mike Office. A new employee had reported are Assistant Regional Representa- and other nearby office Managers, I to the field office and had been in the tives or are making policy in found they expected me to answer a field office for about one day without Baltimore. multitude of technical questions on the staff having been told what his job Among our original field men were claims. Our Claims Manual at that was. The girl at the account number Ford Blumenthal, now Assistant time was about the size of our present counter was very busy and asked if he Manager in New York; Peter Paul OASI-35. I didn’t have the answers, could type. When he said “yes” she Sokas, Claims Policy; George Hoke, nor did anyone else in the Regional gave him a batch of account number Manager at York, Pa., and Bingham- Office. Mike was disappointed with cards to type and kept him busy at it. ton, N. Y., now in the potato chip me but thanked me for coming as they A couple of days later, he dictated a business in Texas with George had not seen anyone from the Re- letter signed with his name and title, Rawson. gional Office in a long time. “Assistant Manager.” In 1936, 1937, and 1938---those Alex Fleisher was our Regional Later, we had a weekly report prob- were the days-never a dull mo- Representative. In the early years, lem. Each field office had a claims ment-by golly it hasn’t changed a the field offices were not permitted to control clerk. She maintained a set bit from the time I joined up June send what they thought were com- of 5 x 8 cards on which was posted 15, 1936. From last to pleted claims direct to Washington data about the claim. Each card had the present, it has been hectic. If for adjudication. They were all sent a little metal flag, position of which the public isn’t breathing down your to the Regional Office where they were indicated various items. Almost neck, then Regional Office is, or Cen- examined for accuracy and complete- every action necessitated a change in tral Office is asking for reports due ness. Alex was good at it; he ap- the position of the flag. Every Satur- not later than yesterday. It was fun; peared to glance at a page of the ap- day morning, because of the weekly I can say it now and I’m not sorry I plication and okay it. I had to do it report, several hundred flags had to had a part in it. the hard way : check each item against have their positions changed. If a the check list. Alex would review 3 flag fell off, as they often did, or was Miami, Fla. to my 1. As a field office would re- moved to a wrong position, the report by W. B. Weaver duce its percentage of errors and wouldn’t balance. By the time the omissions to a reasonable level, Alex report was ready (12 :59 1/2 P. M. Sat- There were 6 employees on duty in would “graduate” the field office and urday) the control clerk was barely the Miami Field Office when I ar- permit it to forward claims direct to able to stagger home. rived on , 1938. Space was Washington for adjudication and Mike Shortley was the first field of- cheap in those days and we had plenty certification. fice manager in Philadelphia and his of room in which to expand. Our Enumeration was the big job in service area was Philadelphia and Miami service area first extended 1937. We in Philadelphia had a day four nearby counties. from Titusville to Key West-a dis- and night shift-a regular factory The Philadelphia field office had 2 tance of some 370 miles and running production setup. One of our old- assistant managers at that time, 1 in clear across the state from the At- timers recalls that our enumeration charge of claims and the other in lantic to the Gulf. It was not unusual force was 12 employees in July 1937 charge of enumeration and account to be out over a week end.

12 OASIS Managers had an annual confer- Francis McDonald was lecturing us all had early field office training here. ence-usually in Birmingham, Ala., back in 1938 during one of my visits. We often wish we had kept a guest the Regional Office city-where we I was sitting back with my hands over book listing all the visitors we have were enlightened by John Corson, my eyes concentrating (not on had from other district offices. Oscar Pogge, Charley Beach, Ewe11 OASI) when he barked “Bill Weaver, Many of our 49 staff members Bartlett, and the other Central Office what about that?” Fortunately for dropped in as visitors, got sand in staff. Press releases and radio scripts me the last few words he had spoken their shoes on Miami Beach, and in a were mostly written by the Informa- were still fresh in my mind so I was few months transferred here to hold tional service representative in Re- able to comment sensibly. Francis down a unit in the claims section or to gional Offices. “Loss of benefits” was said, “D-, I thought you were be a receptionist or steno. a familiar theme all through the early asleep ! ” years. We made regular reports for Then we reached the postwar era. St. Louis, MO. a long time showing how much had Many of those doing war work began by Tom Gaukel been lost by claimants who didn’t file to retire. I remember the thrill we soon enough after they quit working experienced in Miami the week end- Frank Bane, at the recent Confer- (they only had a month to take action ence on Aging, at Ann Arbor, recalled then before they starting losing his early experience in drafting the benefits). original Social Security Law and Another chore which all field of- some of the problems encountered in fices handled was the “collector’s let- its early administration. Mr. Bane ters.” Some 26 percent of all account who is the Executive Director of the numbers were omitted from the re- Council of State Governments at Chi- turns filed in Florida in the first filing cago was the Executive Director of the period, ending in July 1937. As soon Social Security Board in 1936. as this became known we started run- His remarks prompted me to take ning down “missing numbers.” Offi- another look at a group picture taken cers were judged then by their “purity at a regional meeting of field man- ratio,” which meant-how many of agers in former Region IX, on No- those missing numbers were they able vember 19, 1937, confirming Mr. to track down? Those who did the Bane’s description of the modest start leg work were managers, assistant in both program and organization. managers, and field assistants. Many The picture shows only 20 managers were former DAO Baltimore em- present, who were outnumbered by ployees who found they preferred central and regional office personnel. working with people rather than The group included Ed. McDonald, paper. then Regional Director; Jack Wrenn, During 1937 and 1938 we had cen- Executive Assistant; and Howard tral office experts at training classes Dunn, Regional Representative. Mrs. for us and our claims clerks (CAF-2 Ova Stuart, then Manager of the Fort at that time). John Sanders, Jim July 1937. Carl D. Monroe passes borrowed Smith, Ark., office was the only furniture through office window to Mrs. Jim woman in the group. The picture Murray, and T. Sylvertis Wilcher Peebles. were early trainers in the complexities brought to mind many happy associa- of “Theories of descent and distribu- ing January 9, 1948, when for the tions and occasions through the years. It is difficult now to visualize this tion” which enlightened us about who first time we took in over 100 claims. small beginning compared with the could file a claim for one of those We had just been made a Class I present 52 district offices, with about small lump sums we paid them. office, too. We thought we were busy 750 employees in Region VI. Visits to the Claims Divisions in then but along came My most prized museum piece, next Washington, just before the Area and we knew we would never be bus- to the picture, is a tattered four-page Offices were created, were a happy ier. Nobody had told us about 1954. Information Leaflet (I. S. C. 9, “Se- experience for groups of managers. Miami has been a training office curity in Your Old Age”), directed Many of us treasure the group pic- (as so many of the larger ones have) tures, always taken at such meetings for rising managerial talent. Del to employees in industrial and busi- during the early years, showing us Webb, Manager at St. Petersburg, ness establishments. It explains that sitting beside Hugh McKenna, Pink Fla. ; Mell D. Eadie at Daytona the initial very limited program: Lupton, Charley Beach and the Beach; Walt Kehoe at Tallahassee; “Will, beginning Nov. 24, 1936, give Director. and John Carey at Panama City, Fla., (Continued on page 21)

AUGUST 1955 13 Wage Record

Herman Bye

0 story of Social Security’s first 20 years would be complete without a look at all that all-important N “Wage Record.” A large part of OASI’s opera- tions are devoted to setting up the wage record and main- taining it, for it is the wage record on which we must Wage Reco depend to arrive at the benefit amount. The passage of the Social Security Act in 1935, calling for benefits based on the wages earned by individuals in submitted by the International Business Machines Cor- covered employment, created the tremendous task of poration. It was decided that the wage record for each setting up a system of individual wage records for the individual would be kept on an individual ledger sheet to millions of wage earners covered by the program. Gloss- which information would be posted by means of punch ing over, for the moment, the related, but no less difficult card accounting equipment. problems of registration of wage earners and employers, The big task of heading the individual ledger sheets establishment of account number systems for positive with the names and account numbers of the wage earners identification and of methods for reporting wages and gave rise to one of the special inventions and devices paying contributions, we propose in this article to talk which have been developed over the years to meet our about the “Wage Record” in its narrowest sense, the recordkeeping needs. The ledger sheets to be headed actual individual account of earnings. were in continuous form, with perforated strips on each In analyzing the earnings records needs, the Commit- side to permit rapid feeding and accurate placement of tee on Old Age Benefits Equipment, Records and Methods, the heading information. Before the ledger sheets could which had been set up to do the planning for the regis- be filed for future posting operations, they had to be tration, establishment and records operations, developed separated and the perforated strips removed from both a statement which included among the desired results sides. “A simple task” you may say-but think of doing (a) a current cumulative record of the earnings of each that manually for all the 33 million ledger sheets which individual during his working life, (b) a rapid method were in the original group to be established. The task was of furnishing periodic wage statements to individuals, started manually but before it was finished, two Bureau and (c) a method for quick certification of cumulative employees had developed a machine which simultaneously earnings and calculation of benefit payments. stripped the sides, separated the ledger sheets and stacked All manufacturers of business equipment were asked to them for filing. A manufacturer agreed to produce these submit proposals for accomplishing the desired results and machines for Bureau use and they were used until the after considerable study the Committee recommended the elimination of individual ledger sheets which is described adoption of the punch card electric accounting method later in this article.

16 OASIS Its History lies in the future

Although the ledger wage record was about the best that could be developed with the equipment on the market at the time, it was apparent from the beginning that eventually the Bureau would be faced with some rather serious problems. The ledger sheets provided space for only 12 years of earnings (less in cases where individuals worked for several employers). The problems involved in posting and referring to the wage record when the accounts would all have two or more ledger sheets were such that early thought was given to the possibility of de- veloping some kind of a continuous earnings record which would eliminate the “second ledger sheet” problem. In addition, the 1939 Amendments introduced such new con- cepts as “quarters of coverage” and “increment years,” as well as new formulas for computing benefits. Due to these changes, the ledger sheet no longer reflected all the essing of the future? detail needed for certifying a wage record and computing benefits. The DAO methods staff, after considerable study, de- Well now we have the ledger sheets in file; reports of vised a plan which successfully met both of these problems. earnings are being received and processed; and the time This plan required what amounted to practically a new for posting these earnings to the individual ledgers has machine for the posting operation. This machine was arrived. The first posting machine was an adaptation of constructed according to specifications by the IBM com- the IBM numerical tabulating machine to which a special pany, and met all operating tests in a highly successful device was added for the feeding of individual ledger manner. The essentials of this plan, which is still in sheets. The posting machine operator had to feed each operation today, were as follows. ledger sheet individually, compare the account number on All the ledger sheets would be microfilmed (photo- the ledger sheet with the account number on the earnings graphed) and the microfilm file set up with a separate roll card (the serial number was made visible on a special of film for each 1,000 series of accounts. Each year, in- indication on the machine), push the start button which stead of posting the current wage items to an individual would cause the machine to post until the account number ledger sheet, a machine lists the items on a continuous changed, and then repeat the process. listing. The listings are microfilmed, separated by 1,000 By collaboration between members of the Bureau staff series of accounts, and spliced onto the rolls of film for and the manufacturers’ staff-with many of the basic ideas each 1,000 series-thus the entire wage history for each actually originating in the Bureau-many improvements 1,000 series is on the same roll of film. However, some- were made in the original posting operation. Automatic thing new was added which was not possible with the old ledger feeding devices were installed. Methods were de- equipment. As the earnings are listed each year, the post- veloped for punching the account number in the ledger ing machine analyzes them for quarters of coverage and sheet and mechanically comparing it with the account increment years, punches the results of this into the bal- number punched in the earnings cards. This eliminated ance forward summary card and prints it on the listing. the hand feeding and the visual comparison previously In addition, the summary cards and the listings carry the made by the operator. Newer, faster tabulating machines annual earnings totals for the current year and the three were introduced, and the whole process was made as previous complete years, as well as the to-date earnings and accurate, rapid, and automatic as the equipment then the earnings since 1950 (because of the “new start” pro- available could make it. (Continued on page 18)

AUGUST 1955 17 the continuing search for improved and more economical methods of performing the ever growing recordkeeping. When the cloak of wartime secrecy was lifted from the science of electronics, it was apparent that electronic com- puters showed great promise for eventual development of improved recordkeeping methods. The first use of these computers was for scientific problems where their great speed of computation enabled scientists to perform in minutes what previously would have required months of arduous work. Bureau staff members have followed the development of this equipment with close interest since the first information became available in 1946. It is only more recently, however, that developments have reached the stage of showing real promise for the DAO recordkeeping job. The National Bureau of Stand- ards made a study in 1951 and 1952 of the possible appli- cation of electronic equipment to DAO operations and their report, dated , although indicating some real possibility of using the equipment for statistical work, says that there are some difficult problems to over- come before it is economical to perform the recordkeeping job electronically. Progress has been rapid, however, and equipment is now being developed (perhaps almost ready) which we believe can be used for the recordkeeping operations. The 1954 Amendments spurred the Bureau’s efforts to obtain satisfactory electronic equipment. The “drop-out” provisions made it necessary to retain annual earnings for Frances Whitley displays the present method of setting up wage records. That’s a microfilm tape she’s holding. computation purposes for more than the four years cur- rently in the summary cards. This can not be done after visions of the 1950 Amendments). Wage statements are , without introducing a trailer card and greatly prepared mechanically. References to the detailed earn- increasing the posting and claims cost. To meet this ings record are made to the microfilm. problem, the DAO methods staff has worked out an All of this, of course, required the development of new electronic program for the posting operation which types of microfilming equipment in addition to the new appears to be more economical than the punch card posting machines. Many of the new developments were operation would be after 1956. The plan, briefly, is as made specially to meet DAO needs and have required con- follows: tinued close collaboration between DAO methods staff (a) The basic wage data for each account, including and the equipment manufacturers. For the ledger sheet each year’s annual earnings since 1950, will be on job special duplex microfilm cameras were installed which magnetic tape. would photograph both sides of the ledger sheet simul- (b) New earnings items will be processed in punch taneously and place the images side by side on the same card form until they reach posting. At that point, they film. Improved types of microfilm readers were obtained will be converted to magnetic tape and the posting opera- for the Certification Section to facilitate rapid reference tion will be performed on electronic equipment. to the earnings record. To meet the need for prints of (c) Without going into detail about the electronic the detailed earnings record in certain types of cases, process, we will list the end products of the posting opera- special microprinters (cameras) were constructed to DAO tion as follows: specifications. These cameras can make a continuous 1. A new to-date summary tape-including the addi- print of the earnings record for an individual account even tional year’s earnings. though each year’s earnings for the account is widely 2. A second tape in which the data for each account separated on the film. has been analyzed for dropout and other factors affecting The introduction of this continuous listing-microfilm computation. From this tape a balance forward card will method of maintaining the records-was a considerable be prepared for use during the year for claims and wage improvement over the old ledger sheet method and resulted statements. in substantial economies. It did not, however, diminish (Continued on page 26)

18 OASIS A Fabulous History

NCE upon a time an owl lived in a tree Such were some of the difficulties the beasts had to Next to a district office of social security. overcome 0 And he decided animals needed an insurance Because no records of any kind had been kept by some. plan Similar to the one that had been devised by man. A dependent husband, a bull, So into the district office flew this wise old bird Came with his wife, Mrs. Holstein, a cow. And memorized the Claims Manual, word by word. Of the finest milk she had produced the full That devoted owl worked tirelessly, And her SEI was the maximum the law would allow. And established a milestone in animal history. Because of his dedication and untiring endurance, There was an old race horse whose speed had once There came into being Beasts’ Old Age and Survivors’ been fabled. Insurance. But he spent his latter years pastured and stabled. He was told if he could win another u-ace, Almost at once the owl enlarged his staff, A 1954 Work Recomputation might be made in his By hiring a cat, mouse, and a giraffe. case. The claims load was immediately so great That they scarcely had time to adjudicate. In poured 65-year-old animals from the zoo; To relate all that did take place Some even remembered their 1’954 form W-Z. Or the development required in every case, A few had personal records of their 1955 wages Would be an impossible thing to do. Which they had carefully kept inside their cages. It would take a day and a night and another night too.

The animals came from far and wide. Milk-wagon horse, rooster, organ-grinder’s monkey, They all waited their turn side by side. honey-producing bee, A pool was provided for fish, like the whale and the All were treated indiscriminately. shark, Everyone was equal under the law. Until the place resembled Noah’s Ark. This was one thing to which the old owl saw. A widowed Alaskan brown bear, Who came to the DO with three cubs in a carriage, And if you pay a beast in your employ Was told by a claims representative who interviewed Fifty dollars in a quarter, her there You should pay two percent for that beast. That she would have to submit proof of marriage. And if you don’t, you ought’er! Birth certificates were a requirement the DO could not waive, But these were hard to obtain as the cubs were born Minna J. Hyatt in a cave. Philadelphia (Downtown)

AUGUST 1955 19 (Continued from page 13) before paying taxes or “premiums” There is much more that could be about 26 million working people for 5 years (the law from Jan. 1, 1937, reported by one who has spent a third something to live on when they are to 1939), constituted our next big of his working life in 1 job and in 1 old and have stopped working.” workload. This brought no special location but space is limited. Suffice “Set up Social Security accounts for problems as the law was definite, the to say that each day has brought new eligible workers and send checks to procedure simple and we had excel- and interesting developments. It has retired workers after they have lent cooperation from employers and been a privilege to work with an or- reached age 65 and met a few simple funeral directors. However, the ganization which at times has done requirements of the law.” small checks in amounts from $1.00 to the impossible, and to have had a part Instructions were received on Oct. $20.00 did not produce much enthusi- in a program which has grown so sub- 6, 1936, that the St. Louis field office asm for the early program. Some of stantially through the years and has would open on Oct. 15. (Branch them were reproduced in newspapers almost come of age. offices were to be opened later but with notices that the payees were plans were changed and five district framing them as souvenirs. Orlando, Fla. offices now serve the million and one- Early 1940 brought the first influx by Paul K. Weaver half residents of the St. Louis metro- of monthly benefit applications. The Orlando District Office was politan area.) About 800 square feet Much preparation, planning and opened July 11, 1937-at least that is of space was obtained in the New training went into this effort. Train- the official date, but my recollection Federal Building and the office opened ing was given the field staffs at the is that I was answering a lot of ques- with three clerical employees. It has regional office. The claims consid- tions even while unpacking a roomful now grown to a staff of 35 requiring ered complex then, but simple by pres- of desks and stationery. 3,668 square feet of space. The Clay- ent standards, were developed mostly Our first recruit was a stenog- ton office, opened in October 1937 by clerk-typists in Grades 2 and 3. rapher-typist. For awhile we bundled with a staff of 4 and 450 square feet of In those days, claims personnel up the SS-5’s and sent them to Tampa space, now has 30 employees and were very error-conscious and hesi- for issuing, but early in August we 2,362 square feet of space. The tated to deviate from the inadequate commenced to type our own account Southside office, opened in November claims manual. The more adven- number, and what a job that was. It 1939 with a staff of three and 500 turous used the “trial and error” bore no resemblance whatever to the square feet of space, now has 24 em- method and if the central office ap- present click, click, click-staple, ployees and occupies 2,600 square proved, we then had a precedent case and hand over the card. At that time feet. to follow. the job consisted not only of typing The opening of the office brought a How many of you remember the in- the name on the account number card, virtual flood of questions with little terviewing booths which were first but also of copying on the left-hand but a copy of the law available for use considered so necessary for privacy portion in duplicate, practically all in answering them. Explaining the and then discarded when the unified the personal data on the SS-5. The 1954 amendments and other earlier claims program was initiated? One typing of the data on the left-hand changes with the advance prepara- of our later uses was for such privacy portion had to be checked by 2 peo- tions and material made available as to permit an applicant to remove ple-l reading aloud to the other. was simple compared with those early several pair of trousers to reach the days. Gradually, a pattern of ques- pocket containing his social security Before the end of the year we had another stenographer and a claims tions was recorded, the official an- card or to check the number tattooed clerk, and early in 1938 (bless the swers obtained, and information sup- on his anatomy. day) an assistant manager, whom we plied, usually on mimeographed ques- After the 1939 amendments the promptly lost to Central Office. He tion and answer sheets. field organization was strengthened was the only assistant manager this In St. Louis early problems of miss- by the assignment of new personnel office has ever had. I have taken a ing account numbers were aggra- trained in the central office. A staff lot of ribbing from other District member recollects that when she vated because of the large number of managers in Florida over my bouts transferred from DAO to the St. Louis central offices of retail chains, some with the Classification System. Start- Office on July 5, 1939, there were 16 with over 1,000 retail stores where the ing with 13 counties reaching from employees. The present staff of 35 sales-minded managers did not report Gulf to Ocean, the Orlando area has includes 5 of these original 16. store employees’ account numbers. been gradually whittled down to 5 The year 1942 found the office ex- While this continues as a problem to- counties as new offices were opened. panding and moving to new and larger day, it’s only a trickle in comparison. quarters in the Old Post Office Build- Although OASI does not date back Lump-sum payments on the wage ing located in the center of downtown as far as the citrus industry, there records of workers who died or retired St. Louis. is a close parallel between the two in

AUGUST 1955 21 their very rapid growths. Beginning with the 1939 amendments, questions of coverage became the major stum- bling blocks in claims development. It became necessary to define the vari- ous operations in the citrus packing houses and to determine the coverage of each. Section 209 (e) 4 of the Act was the featured article in the daily diet of the claims assistant. In the meantime, the citrus fruit business had expanded beyond the packing and shipping of the raw fruit. The juice plant, which at first used only grapefruit, soon branched into oranges and tangerines, and more recently the concentrate plants have grown to such an extent that they now use approximately 60 percent of the entire crop of oranges. Here is the cradle of the citrus concentrate. The process was initiated and perfected at what is now the Minute Maid plant at Plymouth, Fla. We have witnessed its growth from a small pilot plant to a giant in the industry. It should not be inferred that Flor- ida’s growth is due primarily to the citrus industry. That is not the case. The tourists are Florida’s first crop and it is in those areas that the District ACROSS DOWN Offices have experienced the greatest 2. Protected against loss 1. Mainstay of the S. S. program growth. There are four offices in 10. News service (abbr.) (plur. ) Florida-Miami, Jacksonville, St. 12. Faux pas (colloq.) 3. Note well (abbr.) Petersburg, and Tampa-having a 13. One of ten 4. That lucky old sun greater workload than Orlando. 14. Federal bookkeepers 5. One 16. Back talk (slang) Our claims output in 1937, from 6. Agent (abbr.) 17. Reference for wage matters (abbr.) 7. Wage earner~s boss ( abbr.) August through December, was 38. 18. Field of learning (abbr.) 9. DAO are experts at this In 1938 the word got around and 284 20. Fellow 11. This is handy for jotting notes claims were completed that year. 21. Our colleagues on Rush St. These were the old lump sum claims 23. Work at 13. Law for railroad workers (abbr.) based on the original 1935 Act. Jan- 24. One of six 15. Pronoun 17. Child’s favorite question uary 1940 ushered in the first of the 25. Madam or Mrs. Secretary 26. Needed for backlogs (abbr.) 19. Sing popular tunes with emotion monthly benefit type of claims. In 27. Marine call for help 20. What the record-keeping is for that year we completed 545 monthly 28. Assist 22. Where you get proof of age (ab.) benefit claims. Output for the first 30. Time for lunch 23. School civic association (abbr.) 6 months of 1955 was 1,978, exclusive 33. Germinated grain 27. Male progeny of recomputations and disability 35. Sea-bird 29. Accountants for millions (abbr.) freeze cases. 36. --profit organization 31. Raw mineral 38. Federal retirement protection From 2 employees at opening date 32. Game or sport (abbr.) and 4 employees a little later, the 34. Youngster 39. Concerning Orlando office has outgrown its quar- 40. Erases 36. Man’s nickname ters 3 times. Our latest move was on 42. One of over 500 37. Never used before May 14, 1955, when our staff of 15 43. He was helped by the ‘50 Amend- 40. 501 (Roman) (Continued on page 30) ments 41. Trade or business (abbr.)

22 OASIS WORKING TOGETHER

Twenty years ago, Internal Revenue and OASI were teamed together by the Social Security Act

hen the original Social Secu- to be merged as a unified system of rity Act was approved, Au- insurance. W gust 14, 1935, there was Here the administrators moved in launched, perhaps unwittingly, what A long-time practitioner in the and Congress wished them well. probably was the greatest exercise in art of day-to-day inter-agency co- Benefits were to be paid related to interdepartmental cooperation in the operation reviews the record. the wages on which taxes were paid, experience of our Government. Now, so there must be a record of those almost 20 years later, it might be in- wages; a lifetime wage record for teresting to look back at how it all BY PERRIN LOWREY every covered employee! To estab- began and how it has developed. lish and maintain such records cur- It began with the base plan for rently and accurately would have what was then called “Federal Old- been a staggering task for a unified Age Benefits.” The idea, which has cise tax on employers at a set per- administrative agency, but here the now matured into an accepted part centage of “wages” paid for “employ- law put two agencies in the picture. of our American system, was to col- ment.” These taxes were to be “col- Only the President had authority lect contributions at a set percentage lected by the Bureau of Internal over both agencies and only in the of wages from employers and em- Revenue” and “paid into the Treasury President’s immediate office were to ployees and deposit them in a fund of the United States as internal reve- be found common staff services. from which wage-related benefits nue collections.” Clearly, in an organization the size of would be paid to the worker in his the Government the situation pointed old age. What sounds almost trite We were the other part to interagency cooperation with an now in 1955 presented in 1935 a very Back over in Title II, “Federal Old- unprecedented degree of intimacy. dubious problem in constitutional Age Benefits” there was authorization Two staffs under separate lines of Iaw. In 1935 it was thought to be for Congress to appropriate “an authority and with different condition- fairly well settled that the Congress amount sufficient as an annual premi- ing and emphasis had to be merged as could not impose a tax and earmark um to provide for payments required a single staff. This called for close it for specific expenditure in advance. under this title” to an “Old-Age Re- personal daily contact on a continuing No, all taxes collected must go into serve Account.” From this account basis from top to bottom. Remark- the general fund and only by appro- the Social Security Board was au- ably it was done. The IRS collec- priation can Congress authorize ex- thorized to pay benefits at a set per- tions-DAO report processing oper- penditure for a designated purpose. centage of “wages” received for “em- ations require the interchange of Then how could contributions be col- ployment.” The only statutory tie-in hundreds of tons of paper with closely lected to be later paid in benefits? It between titles II and VIII was to be timed continuity. took a measure of legal ingenuity to found in the fact that the definition It does work figure out that one. of “wages” and “employment” was the same in both titles. A slowdown on one side may mean Taxes were one part So there were taxes to be collected idle hands and machines on the other As enacted, the Social Security Act by Internal Revenue and benefits to while a speedup on one may present of 1935, in its Title VIII, “Taxes with be paid by Social Security, com- the other with storage problems. Respect to Employment” imposed an pletely independent of each other as This graphic generality illustrates the income tax on employees and an ex- a matter of law but as a matter of plan necessity of close coordination in in-

24 OASIS Fan Mail And from Ben Wilson, AO chief, Kansas City, a touch of pathos: “I am writing jest a few lines to let you all know how I apreshate the Great help you all exstended to me we ben a law biding siderson all my life. I havent give the country in which I live a minute troubel. we lived heare in Columbia CO all my life I will be 74 years ole August 24th I 55. Ive all wais paid my tax every Not Quite Twenty conventions and not include a flock since I was 21 years ole Ive ben work- of social security speech makers on In the course of compiling reminis- ing all my life trying to make an the program. cences for this issue we happened to onest living. But I dont feal like The Birmingham Treasury Disburs- run across a little fellow whose every working so much but I have a little ing Office once wrote OASI benefit expression bespoke neglect and dis- light job. Ive been wondring if I checks. Remember ? He’s been doing his all for would get some help form some saurs. comfort. And field trainees used to come the Bureau for lo these 6 months since I thank you all so much for the won- into the Central Office for three weeks’ he joined us, and he was just begin- derful help you all have rended me exposure to Francis McDonald and ning to feel like a veteran when sud- and my wife. I will never forget Co. Ah, those were the good old denly he was hit with all this talk the great help you all have did for me. days. about “ledger posting,” “increment it means so much to me. I hope you Some of us oldsters can remember year,” and “Social Security Board.” all will receive the Good Bessin from back to when DAO was only process- Badly shaken in confidence he re- on high So I remain yours respectful” ing 94 percent of their requests for treated to his little cubicle, and he [S] claimant earnings records in 5 days. Magnolia, Ark. hasn’t emerged since. A rather large proportion of corri- In order to fetch him from his lair dor conversation in the Central Office and also to pay homage to the many was once devoted to speculations con- Wage Record other faithful but geologically re- cerning a move to Washington. (Continued from page 18) cent additions to the Bureau’s staff, Honest it was. 3. A tape containing the statistical we have composed this column of less There once was a time when we had data needed for the Bureau’s 1 percent ancient history. It’s the least we no Bureau movies, when a claims could do for the younger set. authorizer was a mere adjudication statistical tabulations. Do you all remember way back reviewer, and a district was a field 4. A current detail tape for use in when there was no disability pro- office. preparing annual earnings listings for gram? Those were indeed the dark There was no such combination of bringing up to date the microfilmed ages. The fifth floor of the Miller letters as BWEP in the English lan- earnings records. Building echoed to the traffic of the guage when the mother tongue was 5. A balance forward tape for B & 0 Railroad rather than the cool first invented, but that was in an era temporary storage for records protec- murmur of an approved “freeze.” when man was less ingenious, woman tion purposes. Can you imagine district offices in less beautiful, and the pace of daily Current plans are to install the those days? No visits to disabled living slow enough to permit a man equipment in the spring of 1956 and persons in hospitals; no masks from to say “broadening work experience to put the new posting operation in under which to conduct interviews. program” without missing his street full effect in July 1956. In DAO’s Surely all this was long ago. car. Posting Section, which will be the sec- Then there were the ripe old days Also, fellow employees, you will tion most affected by this change, when a “drop-out” was the latest note each year how much younger the some of the personnel will be trained screwy curve designed to haunt Ted secretaries seem. Do not be deluded. on the new operations and others will Williams and had absolutely nothing You are growing old. be transferred to other sections and to do with OASI. There was also a And finally there was a time way No one will lose by time when you had to determine back where there would have been no other operations. whether or not domestics worked 24 organ to remind you of these mem- the change, and perhaps many will days in a quarter for the same em- ories. For, once upon a time, dear gain because of the increase in higher ployer, and they used to hold farm readers, there was no OASIS. paid jobs in the electronic operations.

26 Click on a Topic Below

Editorial

If in reading these pages you conclude that we have left out much that was memorable in the past 20 years, we can only agree with you, for we did it on purpose.

In August 1952, our predecessor publication did a handsome profile Volume 1 Number 8 of the Bureau’s first 15 years starting with 1937. Justice was fully done then to the Washington and Baltimore people who did the early AUGUST 1955 planning, and who are still in positions of leadership. A complete CONTENTS history appeared the same month in the Social Security Bulletin. Page This month, too, the Bulletin will print a formal history we have only Birmingham Takes On Check Writing ...... 4 touched upon in OASIS. Our First Claimant ...... 7 Rather than copy what has been done so well, we have tried instead Looking Back Twenty Years . . . 8 to evoke some memories of the past and to give some background for The Field-Then and Now . . . 10 The DAO Wage Record . . . . . 16 the exciting events of today and tomorrow. We have leaned heavily A Fabulous History . . . , . . . 19 on oldtimers in the field to sketch in the startling changes they have Second Generation ...... 20 They’re Changing Jobs . . . . . 23 witnessed in their own offices, as each wave of program growth reached Working Together ...... 24 out across the country. Square Peg ...... 26 Actually, the complete history of OASI has never been written and The interview I’ll Never Forget . 27 Disaster Story ...... 28 probably never will be. For words alone can never recapture the . moments of individual satisfaction in problems met and solved, the spirit of unity that carried us together through periods of stress, and Published once each month for the employees of the Bureau of Old-Age the sense of dedication to high endeavor which permeated OASI from and Survivors Insurance, Social the beginning and which pulses with equal strength throughout the Security Administration, Department Bureau today. of Health, Education, and Welfare for administrative information only. It does not alter or supersede Regu- Copies of the magazine will be sent to retired employees lations, operating procedures, or on request. We have no current address records so must manual instructions. depend on former supervisors and associates to supply us . with this information. Director-VICTOR CHRISTGAU Deputy Director-ROBERT M. BALL

COVER

Twenty years ago Marion B. Folsom was an outstanding member of the Advisory Council to the original Committee on Economic Security which drafted the Issued by the Division of Manage- 1935 Act. He has contributed to every ment Planning and Services, legislative consideration of the program Editor-ELLEN MCGUIRE since. And this month, quite fittingly, Contributions and inquiries should he takes over direction of the Depart- be addressed to the Editor, Room ment in which the Social Security pro- 934, Equitable Building, Baltimore 2, gram operates. Maryland. Phone Ext. 274

AUGUST 1955 31 This is the way the long dreamed of OASI building nine stories high. Behind it is the four-story main in Woodlawn, western suburb of Baltimore, will look building designed to house DAO. Air-conditioning, when roads, trees, new houses, and a school have praise be, is included in the plans. Architect’s draw- been built around it. Right now the position on the ings are in preparation and we hope to break ground left where the artist has sketched the future home of in the late summer of 1956. If that date is met, all OASI is a peaceful bit of countryside. The property the scattered units of OASI in Baltimore should be at was acquired for us by GSA on July 6, 1955, at a cost the new location in 1958. of $130,500. The front part of the building will be

OASIS