Evening star., 1934-06-10
$4,000 DEFICIT
IN RELIEF FUNDS
SEEN IN DISTRICT
Officials Will Meet Tomor-
row With Commissioner Al
len to Discuss Economies.
200 WORKERS FACING
DISMISSAL UNDER CUT
Hating of Truck Hire and Pur.
chase of Materials Are
Among Proposals.

Faced with the prospect Of $75,-
900 deficit in relief funds at the end
Of this month, District relief of1cials
will meet with Commissioner Allen to-
morrow to chart essential economies
and decide how drastic curtailment
must be made in the emergency works
program.
Reduction in The size of the works
division administrative forces. hault-
ing of truck hire and the purchase
of materials during the remainder
Of June are among various proposed
steps, 1t was reported.
The scope of the emergency works
program here in future months will
be studied at the same time, one Of
fetal said, indicating that considera-
ton will be given to adoption of a
type of projects requiring less over
head cost than the present program
demands. Elwood Street, director of
welfare, said he saw no need, how
ever, Of abandoning the work pro-
gram and the transferring of all Of
the workers to the direct relief list.
200 Employees 10 Be Dropped
Street announced that some 200
employees Of the emergency relief d.
vision would be dropped as progress
is made in reducing the overhead
cost Of administration Of relief. Some
employees already have been let out.
All eligibles for relief will 60 back
to the relief rolls, he said.
Just recently, Street explained,
there were IT'S clerical employees in
the emergency relief division, while
there were but $50 case workers. He
is convinced the number of clerks can
be greatly reduced by establishment
of new clerical. auditing. accounting
and disbursement methods now being
developed For instance. he said,
each of the 10 branch relief stations
is to have its own clerical force as
the central staff Is decentralized. It
was decided this would mean more
economic operation. Also, the ac-
counting work, where there has been
a duplication of effort, is being con-
solidated, he said
Decision to effect economies quickly
was reached after the Federal Emer-
gency Relief Administration declined
to approve a request for an additional
grant of s75 900 for June. The Com
missioners sought grant of s725.000
for direct and work relief purposes.
but Federal officials cut this to $780,
900. The June grant totaled $4,000,
but this sum included items for
transient relief and other special re-
lief activities.
Revamping of the works program,
to place it on a simpler and less
expensive scale, is being considered,
according to one source, because
$50 900 now is required monthly for
salaries of administrative officials,
purchase of project materials and
provision of trucks.
$4,000 Persons on Rolls.
There now are some 10000 persons
engaged in the work relief projects,
and about II 900 cases on the direct
relief list, according to the best
available figures.
Miss Alice Hill, the new emergency
relief director; Maj. Daniel J. Dono-
van, District auditor. and William c.
Cleary, manager of the works division,
had a preliminary conference yester-
day with Street. but they declined to
announce just what new steps would
be recommended to Commissioner
Allen tomorrow.
Miss Hill left yesterday for Harris
burg for three weeks to finish her
service there as secretary of the
Harrisburg Associated Aid Societies.
While she is there Leroy A. Halbert,
former emergency relief director, now
assistant director in charge Of re-
search, will head the relief staff.
Halbert yesterday informed Street
there was a net reduction of l,l03
in the relief case load during the
past month.