Evening star., 1933-06-18

come: State mothers pension, $40; al
lowance from the County Community
Chest, $50; allowance for home relief,
$40; old age pension allowance for a
father who lives with her only part of
the time, $50.
In addition to this, she does laundry
work for one family that pays her $25
month, and for another person who pays
her $12 month. She also picks up occa-
sional odd jobs of house cleaning at $3.50
a day. Thus her minimum monthly in
come is $177, of which $140 is paid from
public funds. This family has been
known to attend the movies" three or
four times in week. and, with prices low
and steady income, has been living
much more comfortably during the de-
preston than many families lived in days
of prosperity.
This, of course, is an extreme case, but
it involves no violation of the law. There
is no law against duplication Of certain
types of relief, but every efficient official
guards against it, knowing that If one
person gets more than his share of aid
another will get less. Most States, how
ever, have passed law making it a mis-
demeanor punishable by fine and impris-
onment to give false information when
applying for relief, and where relief
official learns that a person is receiving
help from one source he usually refuses
to increase that allowance
But all officials aren't capable, and in
many of the smaller communities there
is little systematic supervision. In one
town in Illinois the overseer of the poor,
who had charge of the distribution of re-
lief funds, employed simple and unique
system-a coin from his pocket to needy
persons who met him on the street.
When asked for an accounting he could
produce no record or account of poor re-
lief funds in his control. At the last town
meeting, however, indignant citizens
voted to place the special poor relief levy
they had passed in the hands of the
mayors committee for spending. They
could not do that within the law, but the
law did not concern them so much as the
notoriously wasteful habits of the super
visor.
NOW that the Government has as
sumed the major burden of provid-
ing relief funds it is probable that there
will be a general improvement in relief
methods, and many of the practices of
some of the less carefully administered
districts will be eliminated. In the past
each State has dealt with the problem as
it saw fit, and the efficiency of relief ad-
miniStration has varied with the meth
DDS and laws of each. The Federal
Emergency Relief Administration will
not, of course, be able to dictate new laws
and methods to the individual States.
But it will be in a position to set the
conditions on which its free grants of
relief funds shall be made, and in that
manner greater uniformity in method
and even greater efficiency in local ad-
miniStration may be achieved.
While the taxpayer wants to know if
relief funds are being properly spent, the
student Of social problems has another
and equally important question to ask:
To what extent is our lavish program of
relief tending to pauperize our people-to
destroy their desire for Independent self
support? While admitting that relief is
necessary evil, many welfare workers
take the practical position that the i'm
mediate need for relief is so great that
other problems growing out of it are sec
ondary.
One of these problems was sharply in
dicated by the following case. young
girl, the sole support of her family,
worked in shop and earned So a week.
With relief being limited of necessity to
families that had no income whatsoever,
this girl was not eligible to receive relief.