Correspondence: 1930, Nov 13 - 1931, Feb 5., 1930

The Association continued to devote its work in November and December to the ever increasing problems of unemployment, with a renewed interest in public works projects to reduce the ranks of the jobless. John Andrews, John Fitch, Grace Coyle, Mary Drier, Rose Schneiderman, and many others formed a committee to push unemployment insurance in the New York State legislature under the auspices of the AALL. Governor Roosevelt requested John Andrews' concrete proposals to fight unemployment (12/29/30). The new year brought the involvement of even more people in the Association's plans for unemployment insurance. Paul Raushenbush wrote from Wisconsin that he and Elizabeth Brandeis had ideas about the unemployment problem and wished to cooperate with the AALL. His letter (1/8/31) began many years of correspondence with Andrews on this subject, ending only with Andrews' death. Under discussion was the Association's "American Plan for Unemployment Insurance," a plan that featured no contribution to the fund on the part of the employees. William Doak, newly appointed United States Secretary of Labor, accepted the vice-presidency of the AALL on January 17, and a few weeks later (2/2/31) resigned because of the Association's advocacy of the Wagner employment bills.