Evening star., 1932-09-11
BY WILLIAM HARD.

speech for another Washington confer
ence. That sentence could be written
almost any time, but this time 1t has
o special significance for every local
community In the country.
This next Washington conference"
will assemble next Friday at the White
House and at the Mayfiower Hotel and
its complete title Is one Of the most ex-
tensive ever devised even in this day Of
super-organization. It Is the Con
ference Of the National Citizens Com
mittee Of the Welfare and Relief Mobili-
zation OF 1892 of the Association Of
Community Chests and Councils" Since
nobody can remember all Of those
words, the conference will probably be
known simply as the Relief Conference.
The chairman Of its National Citi-
zens' Committee Is Newton D. Baker
Of Ohio, President Woodrow Wilson's
Secretary Of War. Mr.. Baker says
truly that the task which this COM
mittee has undertaken is one Of the
most studendous in the Nations history.
It cannot be successfully accomplished
without the thoughtful help Of all re-
sponsible citizens in every community
throughout the land.
~ -
The amount Of money that has to
be raised for the relief Of the destitute
authoritative estimate Is probably that
of Allen T. Burns, who is executive
director both Of the Association of
Community Chests and Councils and of
the Welfare and Relief Mobilization
Of 1882. Mr.. Burns calculates that
the cost of relief during this next IL
months will equal the cost Of relief
during the last IL months plus at least
$500, 100000 more.
Three hundred million dollars of
this additional $500, 900 900, Is avail
able from the resources OF the
Federal Reconstruction Finance Cor
poration in the form Of loans to the
States. The remaining $500 900 900 Of
additional needed money, on top Of the
total Of whatever was spent locally on
relief last year, will have to be raised
by local efforts.
That these efforts will have to be
drastic indeed can be realized by con-
sidering the sums raised by the Com
munity Chests Of the cities of the
Nation in their last two drives" Those
sums were respectively and successfully
100000. In addition to the $100, ,000,-
600 raised by the Chests in their
last drive, there was perhaps $50, 0,000,-
900 raised by other local organizations
not associated with chests. That was
ing IL months will require q repetition
Of that $150,000 900 from local private
contributors plus the special extra $780,
100000 Of non-Federal local funds
which must be gathered either from
private contributors or from taxpayers.
At the Threshold OF this task O new
dif1culty has arisen. It Is brought into
existence by the very fact that the
Federal Government has undertaken to
extend $500, 1000 900 in loans to the
country's local authorities for relief en-
deavors.- From q multitude Of COM
munities the word has come to Wash
to local charities are not now contrib
uting to them because Of q theory to
the effect that the Federal Government
has taken over the responsibility for
the general relief Of unemployment dis
tress
It Is necessary that this theory should
be entirely uprooted If the facts of the
situation are to be recognized and II
the needs Of the situation are to be
adequately met The $500, 900 in
loans from the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation Is not supplanting but
supplementing Of local efforts. There
are two aspects Of that truth.
The first is that the $500, ,00o, 900 is q
small sum in comparison with the re-
lief needs Of the unemployed The sec
ond Is that the $500 ,000, 900 Is being so
administered by the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation as to require every
local community to put forth its best
local efforts before 1t is granted any
Federal assistance whatsoever.
In other words, If local community
now shirks its responsibilities, it will
not be rewarded by the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation with loan, but
will be penalized by rejection of its
application for help. The Reconstruc-
tion Finance Corporation expects every
local community to develop its own re-
sources to the utmost for relief pur-
poses, and the corporation will then
and only then-consider its request for
aid from the Federal Treasury.
This administrative principle will be
explained to next Fridays Relief Con-
lcIcnCc III WdSIlulsto2i w oahAeA 0S
ator Atlee Pomerene Of Ohio, Demo
crat, now the Reconstruction Finance
Corporations chairman. Mr.. Pomerene
viii deliver an address on 'The Policies
Of the Reconstruction Finance Corpora
tion in Distributing the $500 1000. 600
Relief Fund"
The immediate administrator Of the
fund, under Mr.. Pomerene's general
guidance, Is Fred G. Croxton, also q
Ohio, who Is one of the country's most
experienced executives in the field Of
charity and philanthropy. Mr.. Croxton
Is assisted by a stan Of perhaps 20 per-
sons. The "objectives" Of Mr.. Croxton
and his staff are stated in Recon-
struction Finance Corporation ONCE
memorandum as follows.