Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-31
MANY SUGGESTIONS.
FOR RELIEF OF IDLE.
Proposal to Turn Crop Sur
plus Over to Needy Held
FaIIaCiouS.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Many and varied are the suggestions
coming to the Government here as to
how to handle next Winters unemploy-
ment problem.
With the prospect of about 1000 goo
out of work and predictions by Presi-
dent Green of the American Fedora
ton of Labor that Winter will see the
need for more relief work than last
year, plans already are being made for
the coordination once more of Federal,
State and municipal agencies.
Why not turn the wheat surplus over
to the unemployed-this is one Of the
questions most frequently asked. With
everybody complaining about the huge
SURPRISES Of commodities. why should
there not be some distribution where
the goods and supplies are most needed?
Queries like this fill the mail of Gov
eminent officials.
SURPRISES Privately Owned.
The answer is that all the wheat and
all the products of which there is such
an abundance are privately owned
Government agencies could get possess
sion Of these supplies only if the owners
were to donate them as philanthropy
or If the Government were by act of
Congress to have funds appropriated
authorizing CueIT purchase.
The wheat would have to be made
into -four and baked in bread to be
edible. To get the surplus wheat into
bread, somebody would have to make
available millions of dollars for pur-
chase. The Hoover administration con-
tended last year in the case of the
Arkansas drought that Government
purchase Of food was wrong in principle
and that 1t would lead to the dole
system in vogue in Great Britain, the
disadvantages of which are supposed
to be the development of a large class
of people who lean on the Government
and make no effort to work or become
wage-earners again.
Overproduction Too Great.
AS for purchase of surplus goods and
food from charitable funds, this is ex-
actly what happened last Winter. Mil
lions and millions of dollars were
donated through relief agencies, but the
SURPRISES Of products are so large that
even after feeding and clothing the I'M
employed hardly a dent was made in
the overproduction. To absorb the wheat
surplus alone, the United States would
require an additional population OF
from 20 to 40 million persons
The question then arises whether the
surplus cannot be used to feed millions
of people in other parts of the world
who may need it. The Congress would
have to buy the wheat and other gov
ernments would have to agree to re-
ceive and distribute it. Purchase of
wheat for foreign consumption would
never pass Congress as long as Gov
eminent charity to American citizens
as in the Arkansas case remains I'M
acceptable.
Problem for Local Agencies.
So the problem is one of direct re-
lief through local agencies President
Hoover insists that the State and city
relief organizations know local condi-
lions and know how to raise the neces-
sary funds to buy food and shelter for
the unemployed. Last Winter, 1t is
argued, anybody who really wanted
shelter got it, and that in the large
cities there was plenty of relief. Dona-
tionS of clothing and beds were made
on an unprecedented scale.
Next winters hungry will be fed at
less expense because charity funds will
in the cost Of food products. Arrange
ments are being discussed for the dona-
ton of non-periShable food products by
the public.
The relief job is still regarded as a
private responsibility, with local COM
mittees in State and city cooperating
with Government agencies to bring
about efficient distribution of food and
clothing to those who are in need.
Copyright. 1919