THE SOCIAL SECURITY STORY

[Music] well I think you ought to take one of the lighter jobs a man your age shouldn't be lifting a heavy motor look who's talking I'm no older than you are Tim I'm gonna remind you of that sometimes when I see you trying to lift one of those heavy off boards of yours into a boat well that's all right I've got to go someplace and get back in a hurry but you all you got to do is sit and wait for the fish to bite hi grant mr. Baxter just trying to get Tim to take some time off and go help me buy a motor yeah certainly if he has a date with me today mr. Baxter I can't bring me down you're a lot prettier than I am oh wait a minute Nancy I am busy I never cease grant well what would you want me along for I told you I have to do a feature story on the social security headquarters building well for heaven's sakes what could I do sharpen your pencils now grant I want to do kind of a double story social security seen from the viewpoints of both older and younger people and that's why I need you grab you might as well give in Tim you know you're gonna have to say yes sooner or later besides it won't hurt you and it'll learn something about Social Security very good for me no Social Security that's all right for you you're retired and me I've got a business to run Gramp I've got an appointment in 20 minutes over at the Social Security building please say you'll come with me all right honey I'll go so soon as I take care of Sam don't worry about me I'll be all right by myself bye mr. Baxter fine Angie go on have fun and so Tim and Nancy start on their way to visit the headquarters of a bureau of old-age and survivors insurance in Woodlawn Maryland in the suburbs of Baltimore [Music] this is the Home Office of the American system of old age survivors and disability insurance nerve center of the Social Security program that affects practically every American family [Music] [Music] miss hall will guide them through the building she will answer many questions questions like what happens if I lose my Social Security card what happens to the report of earnings my employer sends in how are the records of my earnings kept and last but not least just simply why a social security account number each day there are two scheduled tours this one was especially arranged to give Nancy the material she needs for her story about how a knowledge of Social Security is important for both old and young first the basic idea working people and employers pay Social Security taxes which are kept in special trust funds the money can be used only to pay Social Security benefits and operating expenses when earnings stop because of retirement disability or death benefit payments are made from these funds to replace part of the earnings the family has lost from this headquarters the activities of the nation's 600 social security district offices and seven payment centers are directed new york 2ye to Puerto Rico the Virgin Islands and Alaska excuse me I was just wondering if I lived all the way down here say would I have to travel all the way up to Provo to get to the nearest Social Security office no you were not in thinly settled areas a Social Security representative makes trips from town to town at scheduled intervals and then they conduct business in courthouses post office just like the old circuit writer from here the guide will lead Nancy and Tim to the section where over 139 million original applications for social security cards are filed in numerical order actually more than 194 million names are recorded here because many people have changed their names for various reasons and there's one in here for you mr. Miller and another one in here for you mrs. Carol I don't remember filling out any application let me have your Social Security card for a minute and we'll pick out your original application I wonder if I have it here yeah well yes here it is thank you would you find this one please and here's mine out of 194 million names recorded there are bound to be many duplicated names there are actually almost 600,000 Miller's and possibly hundreds of Timothy Millers and Nancy Carroll's that's why individual numbers are assigned to social security accounts which everyone keeps all his working life keeping every account separately is an important step toward keeping each account accurately thank you here you are mr. Miller well I'll be I don't remember making this out but there it is December 14 1936 I was in San Francisco working on the Bay Bridge when Nancy that was before you were born and here's your's mrs. Carroll oh hey this is made out from Miss Nancy C Miller goodness I forgot to change my name on your records after I got married have I lost any credit for my earning no since your account is kept by both your social security number and your name the records can be kept straight even if reports come in under two names but you should apply for a new card you'll keep your original number but the name will be used when your earnings are reached now you can see how your Social Security card is oh I certainly do state I wonder if I could check on Jim that's my husband his application he made his application in Hawaii just after the Korean War but now that I think of it I can't remember his number anyway I wouldn't matter too much in the next section we visit the information is kept by name in alphabetical order so if your husband were here I could find a Social Security card quickly with his name and date of birth but I can't show you that card mrs. Carol all information here is confidential I can show it only to your husband now I think if we go to the next section you'll see what I need and now we come to the section where information is kept by name in these containers of microfilm each container has about 90,000 names and numbers recorded on film the young ladies here can locate any number almost as quickly as it can be spoken it mr. Miller had lost his card they could find his account number in a few moments by using his name and date of birth [Music] these are reports of earnings they are sent by employers and self-employed people to the Internal Revenue Service which forwards them to Social Security in Baltimore we know that account numbers are used to keep each person's record straight but what goes into these records and how is this information entered about 270 million earnings items are received each year from employers and self-employed people no ordinary bookkeeping system could handle this many entries so the Social Security Administration turned to the most modern electronic equipment to do the job with this system the Bureau can now handle all its present work efficiently and keep up with additional workloads in the future the information from these reports is transferred to punch cards which are used to transfer the information to magnetic tape information from this tape goes into an electronic computer which brings the old earnings record up to date and delivers a new tape with a current record of each person's earnings the new tape stores the information for daily use until new reports come in and a new tape is made Social Security offices across the nation wire Baltimore and request information from the earnings record when an application for benefits is made the request starts on paper tape is relayed through a communication center and received in the central office on magnetic tape no further typing is needed to the required at office these machines furnish the records and compute the amount of monthly benefits for more than 15,000 today requests for wage information also come in by mail derp plea from people who want to be sure that their earnings have been properly reported the requests are transferred to punch cards and then handled in about the same manner as requests from district offices they go to magnetic tape to the computer and then statements of earnings are printed automatically and mailed everyone whose work is covered by this law should write for one of these statements about every three years over two million of these statements are prepared every year that was such an interesting two Ermakov I'm sure I have more than enough information to write a good feature miss hall I know we've been taken up quite a lot of your time but there is a question I'd like to ask you go right ahead mr. Miller that's what I'm here for well back there you said some man drawn benefits even after he keeps on working yes you don't have to quit working entirely you can earn quite a good deal and still collect some benefit Oh Nancy I'm sure glad I came out here with you when business falls off I'm gonna be applying for benefits yes you can and not long after his visit to security building with Nancy Tim did decide to apply for old-age insurance benefits he went to the post office and met a social security representative who was making one of his regular visits the application blank Tim signed that morning was in social security district office later in the day a request for information from Tim's earnings record was sent by teletype through a communication center to the record-keeping center at the national headquarters tim's earnings record was located and the amount of his benefit figured by the computer later in one of the payment centers monthly payments to Tim were authorized [Music] [Music] [Applause] here's your MailChimp all right I don't oh you'd be interested in this check would you okay Treasury Department hey that must be my social security check yeah you finally applied for it did you you remember the day I went with my granddaughter on that story assignment yeah hey did I ever show you that story that she wrote up yeah you sure do mean the day it come out let me find it now yeah you showed her to me here it is and mighty fine piece of writing I remember it very well social security story by Nancy Carol Nancy's report is one chapter in a continuing story which every American should know the story of old age survivors and disability insurance protection under the Social Security Law [Music]