The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-09-07
STATE NAMES new RELIEF
WORKER FOR This COUNTY
Miss Ethel Miller Will Succeed
Miss Charlotte Wilcox as Ad-
miniStratOr of Affairs
LATE REPORT is GIVEN

Miss Ethel Miller, formerly of the
state of Washington, has been ap-
pointed by the Garrett County We'll
fare Board to succeed Miss Wilcox as
Emergency Relief Administrator.
Miss Miller comes to the work
with an unusual rural background.
She was born in Nebraska but later
moved to the state of Washington
where her father was fruit rancher.
She was educated at the State Uni
versity of Washington and taught for
years in the rural schools there. She
also directed the work of All Clubs
throughout the state and taught social
sciences in high schools. Miss Miller
received her masters degree from
Columbia University, New York City,
majoring in vocational guidance. Fol-
lowing her work at Columbia, Miss
Miller did personal work. She also
served as head of the Probation De-
partment at Montrose State Training
School for Girls and assisted in emer-
gency relief work in Frederick county
just prior to coming to Garrett
county.
Miss Miller comes of a family who
have elected to serve their fellowmen
in rural and foreign communities. A
brother is a practicing physician in
rural district of her native state, and
a sister, after serving many years as
medical missionary in China, is now
doing public health work in the noun
tains of Kentucky. At the time of
connecting with the Board of State
Aid and Charities in Maryland, Miss
Miller expressed decided preference
for work in Western Maryland, and
especially in a mountainous section of
the state. Since reaching Oakland on
August %, Miss Miller has visited
most of the districts of the county
with local workers and is enthusiast
tic about the natural beauty of the
county and the possibilities of the
service to be rendered.
In turning over the administration
of the relief work, Miss Wilcox stated
that while there had been a percent
decrease in the number of families on
work relief in the county from the
peak June 18th, the amount of the
payroll for the week ended September
was the largest in the history of
the relief program. "Our peak was
1,131 heads of families but with the
opening of the Conservation Camps,
some of the mines, and the regular
seasonal jobs, the relief load dropped
as low as 1859 heads of families the
middle of August. Since that time the
number has been steadily rising"
Miss Wilcox stated. "The mines re-
tanned some of our relief workers for
several weeks but because they are
now running very short schedules and
because farm products are not ready
for market, we have had to reinstate
many men during the past two weeks.
Most of the men on the relief lists
appear to live within a few days or a
week of dependency" Miss Wilcox
continued, "and the failure of the
mines to call men to work results in
actual need in many homes if there is
no relief work to absorb them. With
the increase in wage scale effective
August IA, it was hoped by the Board
of Welfare that there home conditions
would materially improve, but there
seems to have been a corresponding
increase in the price of food Stuffs, and
rents in some mining sections of the
county, according to the Board. While
the number of men on work relief
has dropped from 1,131 in June to 900
the first week of September, the total
payroll shows an increase of approx
mately 815%. $4,232.10 was paid di-
rectly to workers on last Saturday
and there were also certain number
of families in the county receiving di-
rect relief in their homes because of
illness or desertion of the bread-win-
ner, widowhood, and other reasons.
Miss Wilcox has been called by the
Board of State Aid and Charities to
another county of the state where
relief organizations will shortly be
set I'D.