In the early 20th century the US used to be full of mutual aid societies taking care of insurance for health and unemployment.
Lodges weren’t just about secret handshakes.
How much of a welfare state (in the present-day understanding of the term) was the US back then?
For government, I believe next to nothing at the Federal level, and some in States.
The Social Security Administration has a history: http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html
And a Chronology: http://www.ssa.gov/history/chrono.html
Some libertarian guy wrote a book on the mutual aid, charity aspect of it in the early 20th century (his name rhymes with Hansky?, but I can’t dredge it out of my neurons). Maybe someone else will recall.
In the early 20th century the US used to be full of mutual aid societies taking care of insurance for health and unemployment.
Lodges weren’t just about secret handshakes.
How much of a welfare state (in the present-day understanding of the term) was the US back then?
For government, I believe next to nothing at the Federal level, and some in States.
The Social Security Administration has a history: http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html
And a Chronology: http://www.ssa.gov/history/chrono.html
Some libertarian guy wrote a book on the mutual aid, charity aspect of it in the early 20th century (his name rhymes with Hansky?, but I can’t dredge it out of my neurons). Maybe someone else will recall.