The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-02-01
MOVE on is
NATIONS ORDER
TO WANDERERS
We Can't Care for Our
Own Needy Is Plant of
Most Towns.
BY RUTH FINNEY
Times stan Writer

WASHINGTON. Feb. Move on
Sometimes the order is accompa-
MED with a bowl Of soup or piece
OF bread.
Sometimes the order is stayed
from dusk till dawn, or a little
longer, but in city after city. state
after state. it greets the weary ears
of destitute jobless boys and men
who have set out alone, or with
their families, in search Of some
relief from extreme poverty.
The. senate manufactures COM
mittee sent questionnaires to small
and medium sized cities in every
state in the Union recently, at
tempting to get detailed informa-
ton as to how the transient relief
problem is being met.
Some 600 cities and towns an
swered. Ninety-f1ve of them said
they we're giving no help at all. and
though they did not specify, it is q
fair inference to suppose that local
police are forcing the destitute out
Of their jurisdiction in these towns
in order to prevent crime.
Keep Them Moving On
One hundred seventy-four cities
sent word that they are taking
definite steps to have transients
passed on to some other community
Some of them permit the wan
dererS to remain overnight and
give them one or more meals. some
of them fix two nights as the limit.
Some of them supply gasoline to
families on the road in a car of their
own A few of them provide other
transportation on to the next town
or county.
Some Of them don't let the desti-
titute stop at all, but order them on
as soon as they appear.
Not all of the towns answered the
committees question in the same
form. In addition to the figures al
ready given 1874 other cities reported
that they are giving temporary aid
or "a little help"
Though no limit on their charity
is specifically fixed, these cities APP
parently are not prepared to deal
indefinitely with those who come to
them from some place else.
Cant Care for Own
City after city answered, 1--WE
can't care for our own"
Behind the sketchy answers giver
was evident determination thai
the principle Of local charity insist
ed upon washington throughout
the depression, shall be insisted
upon now in another sense by COM
munities unwilling to make theil
own people suffer to care for wan
derers. Nor do they permit the
wanderer to establish residence anC
become an added burden any place
Forty of the cities provide moth
ing for transients but a shelter
where they may sleep one night.
Some of these permit begging from
door to door for the food necessary
to carry weary bodies on.
Nine other cities say they give
food or medicine in extreme emer-
gency.
Forty-four permit transient men
to sleep in the Jail.
Few Criticisms of Wanderers
Most of the help that is being
given is given through private
charity. The Salvation Army is
bearing the burden in seventy
cities, and in many others is doing
the relief work with funds provided
by local government or by public
subscription.
Forty-seven of the cities make
applicants for help work for the
food given them. few giving cash
payment and others giving meal
tickets. California cities still are
using work relief more than others
The letters are almost entirely
free of criticism of the wandering
men. Cincinnati reports that 60
per cent of them are college men
or high school graduates