Evening star., 1933-05-07
Federal Relief Grants.

the national relief bill, which will be-
come law as soon as minor differences
are reconciled between House and
Senate, is that the greater the amount
from public funds spent by State for
relief purposes the greater will be the
grant to that State in Federal relief
money. Two hundred and fifty millions
Of the half billion sdollars available
under the act will be apportioned among
the States and the District of Columbia
on the basis of one Federal dollar for
every two local dollars spent in the pre-
ceding quarter for relief from public
funds.
That principle may be sound enough,
as far as the States are concerned, rs
the money is not only apportioned on
the basis of need as already demon
strated by expenditures from public
funds, but encourages the further ex-
penditure of public funds by holding out
the promise of additional Federal as
sistance.
But in the case of the District the
principle of distributing the Federal
grant works to the disadvantage of the
local community. In the latest table
from the Children's Bureau listing ex-
penditures for relief in the States it
happens that Delaware and the District
of Columbia show expenditures for re-
lief in January and February Of this
year that are comparatively close. For
these two months the expenditure in
Delaware was S311,1 ,101, for the District
of Columbia, $685. If the same
rate of expenditure held true for March
and April it might be expected that the
District and Delaware would receive ap-
proXimately the same in grants from
the Federal Government. But the Fed
eral grant for Delaware Con the basis
Of January and February would be
about $780, $50. For the District it
would be S82,243 The reason for this
is that 81 per cent of Delaware's relief
expenditures came from public funds,
while only IA per cent of the Districts S
expenditures came from public funds.
The Federal grant is made only on the
basis of expenditure from such funds.
According to the same table, the Dis
trict's percentage of expenditures from
public funds is among the lowest in
the United States. This is not because
the demand for relief has been lacking,
but because of the inability to secure
appropriations of local revenues in
keeping with what the relief authorities
considered necessary and because pri-
vate relief agencies have been forced to
assume responsibility that elsewhere
has been taken over by public relief. In
the meantime, private relief agencies
are being broken down and may have
to go out of business August l unless
public relief funds are increased.
For almost year the States have
been borrowing from the R. F. C. for
relief The District was not given this
privilege. Through April the total
R. F. C. relief loans to the States
amounted to s289,l9O,5O2. For the
first quarter of this year such advances
amount to s12e,876,5 ,527. Forty States
and two Territories-Hawaii and Puerto
Rico-have availed themselves of the
borrowing privilege. The Children's
Bureau estimates that the Federal funds
advanced constitute from IS to 80 per
cent (for the month of March, of the
total relief expenditures from public
funds in the States which borrowed.
The money borrowed from the R. F. C.
and spent for relief in the first quarter
Of this year will constitute a large part
of the total expenditures during that
quarter on which Federal grants, under
the new relief bill, will be based. The
District of course. having received no
r. F. c. loans, is at another disadvan-
tage when it comes to sharing in the
Federal relief grants.
In passing the District appropriation
bill, the Senate increased the appro-
priation for public relief from 81 00O
to S1,500,000, and added the phrase, ''tC
be Immediately available and to be ex-
pended in the discretion of the Com
missioners without regard to monthly
or other apportionment." The District
is now spending, for public relief, about
$4,000 a week, or $2,184,OO0 year
But Community Chest funds for private
relief are rapidly being exhausted. ano
public relief must take over part OF
the work of private agencies. Even with
the possibility of Federal aid, the ap-
preparation for public relief is moi
sufficient and should be increased.