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ee BS |G 7 i SOCIAL SEC * XACT FOR spt ee | As scrnen tucolve no benefita fra: ‘he gresen? ociil Security Act which ids in fovce it 4s recoanended that we introduce a “lll of thi: . for our benefit. 2 have tit buis Luought in mind for some time now and Gur Nest Coasy crcovhere nave already suinitted Congressman Yoorhis and myself the firet draft of # similar Bill for euggestions | snd Pace mendation. ‘Brother Frank Evana of District Council #2 of the Meritine Federation of the Pacific has sent me a number of extra copies of his proposed measure which I shall be gla to give to any of the Delegates present ae long as they last. While the general provisio of the West Coast draft are good, + do not think their Bill is practicable in its present form; as it is Grefted elong the lines of unemployment insurance and relief, lowever, this should srevics us with a baste Pram which to mork un aB REL. which would he practicat Do ae ee eh oe ee ee ee et ee pte ewes and which would have a very good chance of being favorably considered by Congress, A Bil of this tyre would necessarily have to be lengthy snd ell~inclusive of the supject on whi it deslt and therefore would require « creat deal of atudy and research work before it wo be. ready, Congressman Voorhis recently requested ne to confer with him as soon as possib in ordur te start some action on this but to date 4 ieve not had the time, However, 1 shall start this work as soon as other more urgent matters cave baan attended to. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO TARITF ACT “AVO.ABLE TO SEAMEN Tnaere is a clause in the prvsent Tariff Act that allows residants of the United States returning from ebroed to bring into the Country, free of duty, articles or merchan purniased in foroign countries up to a value of $109.0). It hes veen generally thought t cur seamen were not entitled to ruceiva the benefit of this law, Hovevar, this is not th osse as there 13 absolutely no law on the atatute books which would ber us Prom having th same rishts and crivilezes as otners returning to this country. Jn regarc to this matter though, the Treasury Department has taken the responsibility of any rules and reguiations promulgated whereby we are not entitled to these same -rivilieges that are accorded other™ citizens of thic cvuntry. oy Now in regerd to remedying this ‘pituation there are two courses which we oan. puruse, We can wither take a test case to court through our attorneys and which I think - we would have a gyod chance of winning, or else we can introduce a bill which would © specifically include all aeenen on American Merchant Ships as beine defined as entitled + all rights and privileges wnder the present Tariff Act. J an of the opinion that we shou take this to court first as introducing a Bill would be adultting that we ere not sure as to whether we are cntitied to the rignts of other claases of American citizens, AMEUDMEENT TO BYRNES LAW : . This law was intended to prevent the transportation of interstate commerce of ‘atrixe ‘breakers but you can all remember how ineffective Lt was during the late nero atrike. Cereful consideration should be given this so that constructive amendments \ be introduced thet will realiy be effective and upon Which convictions can be gott when the Law 13 vioisted. ee fe . we