Excerpt from Report of the Commission on Old Age Pensions, Annuities and Insurance: January, 1910 To the General Court of Massachusetts. In accordance with the provisions of chapter 127 of the Resolves of 1907, and of subsequent resolves, we have the honor to transmit the following report. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

For the first one-third of the twentieth century, proposals for workmen's compensation, unemployment or health insurance, and widow's or old age pensions met steep resistance on the grounds that such programs would diminish the dignity of the individual. In this book, Roy Lubove examines the clash between the traditional American ethic of individualism and voluntarism and the push for an active government role in social welfare assistance, and the battles within the social security movement itself. He concludes his study with the actual legislative enactments of 1935 when, after the experience of the Great Depression, social insurance came into its own.