The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-01-04
new CITY RELIEF SCHEME IS
MOST REVOLVING EVER SEEN
Treat Unemployed AS Criminals While Giving
Miserable Pittance

Under the guise of a plan for I'M
employed relief the city of New York
is treating the hungry unemployed
of the city to the most degrading
scheme seen here since the crisis be-
gan.
The bubble of the Emergency Work
Bureau, which was to supply Jobs
for all, has burst. The over 100000
workers, who stood in line for hours
and allowed themselves to be inves-
tigated and re-investigated, got no
jobs. All the fanfare of sobbing
publicity and of robbing the en-
ployed for wages for these jobs has
ended. A new scheme to stop the
workers from demanding relief was
necessary and Tammany has got it.
Over 1000 Investigators have been
transferred to The Home Relief Bu-
reau and their wages cut from $50
to $24. A horde of parasitical super
intendents and other officials by
grace of Tammany with S35 TO $50
salaries are taking the biggest part
of the relief funds.
A worker applying at the Bureau
for aid is confronted with an inves-
tigation blank, which includes ques-
tons as to his former wife's name,
wages of near relatives, religion and
the whole string of questions that
usually accompany such investiga-
tons. Investigators stand around
doing nothing, but the workers must
stand in line for hours. But this
only starts the inquisition.
Two days later an investigator ar
rives armed with a new string of
questionnaires Some of these are
repeats, in order to get the starving
worker to contradict himself. But
now he has to present written EVIL
dence that he has been in the state
for at least two years and in the
city for one year. 1t matters not
whether you have spent all your life
here, if you haven't the written proof
yor are ineligible And should you
be starving to death but less than
year in New York-there is no help.
If the person has received any sort
Of help, be it few dollars worth of
old clothes or the like, from any
other agency, the case is taken off
the list and referred to the agency
Cases eligible for the Veterans Bu-
reau are also not handled.
If it is at all possible to pass the
buck, it matters not whether the
other agency is bankrupt or unwil-
ling to give the starving family
cent of aid, the case is dropped i'm
mediately. But Notwithstanding all
these tricks and passing, thou
sands of starving families do man
age to get past the investigation.
Then the working class family is
faced with the most revolving part
of the whole thing
The investigator leads the appli-
cant for relief to the grocer and
there, within the presence of every
one, advises" what foods and what
price may be bought For this pur-
pose each investigator has been sup
piled with complete list of what to
recommend. Soaps and medicines
are not included If the grocer car
ries no meat then the family gets
no meat.
S1.60 For An Adult For Week.
The purchases for the week are
made on this basis: Children under
2 are allowed sl.1o; from to s, 80
cents; from 6 to 10, s1.15; from 10
to u, $140, and adults, $3.50. I'm
agine, S1.60 of food for a full-grown
person for whole week. The in
vestigator then signs statement al