The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-11-03
Cuts As High As Sc
Secretly Put Over
By TamrnanyBurOS
Most Unemployed Get
No Rent At All

NEW YORK.-The amount
of money allotted by the
Home Relief Bureau for rent
to unemployed workers was
yesterday drastically reduced by as
much as $3.50 per month a family.
At the same time the food allot-
mentS were increased only 10 per
cent, which means another drastic
reduction in the living standards of
the unemployed in view of the rise
in food costs in New York City,
which have gone up % per cent in
the past three months. Only unem-
ployed workers, faced with eviction,
get any rent at all from the relief
bureaus. The reduction in rent and
food allotments, issued in orders to
home relief workers yesterday, are
to take effect Immediately Even the
rise OF 10 per cent Is probably tenn
porary and due to the elections.
These facts have so far been with
held from publication. Previously
S25 was the maximum allotted by the
relief bureaus for rent to unem-
ployed facing eviction. This sum in
itself afforded only the shabbiest
living quarters for those lucky
enough to get it. But the new
schedule, which says, mo rent shall
exceed s55 monthly" gives tor a
family Of four $l2 if the rooms are
unfurnished and unheated; an addi-
tional sum of s1.4O if the landlord
supplies the heat, and an additional
81 II the flat contains a bathroom.
Thus, a family of four can get a
maximum OF $17,4O instead of the s25
previously given. The only ones get
ting the $25 now are families of nine
Or more.
Families of five and six, IN the
new schedule now in operation are to
get only SIC for an unheated flat,
with an additional 81 if they have a
bathroom and an additional $2.10 if
the heat is supplied by the landlord.
This totals S20.10 maximum for a
family of five and six, reduction
OF $3.50 in the rent allotment. A
family Of 7-8 gets a maximum of
$22.90, or reduction of $220 in the
rent allowance. Families of two are
given a maximum of 147O, a reduc-
ton of $1,000 in their allowance.
Robert Minor, Communist Party
candidate for Mayor, stated: "On the
eve of election Tammany brazenly
reduces the standard of living of the
workers, cutting down on food and
on rent allowance. The city govern
ment is determined, evidently, to
force the unemployed into even more
crowded and miserable slums and
reduce their diet to salt pork. All
PARTIES are agreed on this program
OF starving the unemployed and all
parties are against raising relief ap-
preparations, speaking of economy. >
This economy program is a good
program for the bankers backing
these candidates, as 1t saves them
from digging down for unemployment
relief and throws the whole burden
OF the crisis onto the suffering work
ers."
The food allotment was increased
only from 81 so to $165 for a man;
from sl.4o to $1.55 for women and
for children from IL to is years old,
This is a reduction in the actual
amount of food given each unem-
ployed worker, because of the % per
cent rise in prices of food in New
York City in three months time.
The Unemployed Council Of New
YORK demands 81 week for each
family head and an additional SIS for
each dependent, and rent, light. gas
and heat free for all unemployed
workers.