The Washington times., 1934-09-18
1900 ON ROLLS
SUBJECT To
SUSPICION
Handling $4,000 People Found
Huge Job; D.. c. Head Sees
Small Rackets Certain
BY EARL GOODWIN

BY EARL GOODWIN
Talks with District of Column
bia relief officials bring out the
fact that they do not expect a
great improvement in the way re-
lief is administered for some time
to come.
They believe that with 10000
individuals to handle there will
be Just as much chiseling and
cheating and complaint here as
there would be in connection
with any other activity in which
so great a number Of people are
concerned.
They are constantly checking
and rechecking and endeavoring
to see that the hungry are fed
and the sick cared for and that
too many professional panhan-
oilers are not on the rolls, but
they definitely do not promise
they will be able to have 10000
simon-pure cases Of distress at
any stage Of the procedure.
Policy Is Liberal
In fact, at the bottom Of the
entire matter, the policy Of the
New Deal and the FERA seems
to be to feed all the hungry, be
as liberal as possible, and accept
O little chiseling and cheating as
necessary in a New Deal which
promises that the hungry shall
be fed.
The plainest words came from
George E. Allen, in his role Of
State Administrator Of Relief. He
said:
1--WE are dealing with $4,000
people: that's q cityfuI; does
anyone think that relief can be
given away to that number Of
people without someone cheat.
ing? Can that many people
anywhere get together and elimi-
nate all racketS and cheats?
There's less relief racketeering
than any other style Of cheat
ing, I think.
FEW CASES FAXED
''I think about S Per cent Of
our relief cases are faxed; at
least Susp ciOuS. Criticism
against the relief arises out of
that 5 per cent-a little section
but it makes the noise. OF
this criticism I think half is
right; we deserve it. The other
half is wrong, and we don't de-
serve it.
But while all this charge Of
cheating and inefficiency or
waste or heartlesSness, or what
ever it may be, is going on we
are keeping IS per cent Of &c..
900 bona fide cases from starva-
ton. We are giving each case
very little; we ought to give
them more. We are going to
have them on our hands a long
time.
eve may increase the $4,000
to q higher figure, and I wei
come constructive suggestions as
to how to handle this problem
without making mistakes.
II asked for suggestions as to
how to keep chiselers off the
roles and one man told me that
we ought to put these $1,000 on
oath so we could prosecute them
II they turned out to be cheat
ers. That would cost more than
the cheating costs. 1t would
add tremendously to our legal
staff"
Source of Complaints
Many relief officials have criti-
cisnS against the relief clients.
The commonest complaint is that
Q large number Of relief families
appear to be definitely on relief
and are making no attempt to get
off and on to some job. It is
from this class, relief heads say,
that the complaints arise against
the relief machinery and the case
workers.
One Of the troubles that the re-
lief unit has here Is that whereas
the District government was once
peStered by Congressman demand
ing jobs for their constituents, the
relief unit is now pestered by con-
gresSional letters demanding re-
lief for various individuals and
families who originally came to
Washington as job seekers. Some
got jobs: the jobs gave out; their
connections at home were broken,
and they are now forced to ask
for relief.
Many a case worker complains
that the rules are broken because
Of someone with influence de.
manding that a favored relief
client be given more help than the
olOA1y