Evening star., 1934-03-28
VUST how 100000 pounds Of sur

IUST how 100000 pounds Of sur
plus food comm odities are taken
from the cluttered American
~ markets each month and dis
tributed to the nearly $4,000
mouths of WaShington's needy was
illustrated by emergency relief officials
yesterday during a tour of the city.
In addition, the 1900 needy Dis
trict families have burned 100000
in coal, cost estimated at about half
the market price, since fuel distribu-
ton started January /. The cost of
food. melting out of which started a
month earlier, is about the same as
coal.
R. L. King, superintendent of COM
modify distribution in the District,
and Frank R. Hunter, assistant, both
of whom were jobless, were demon
strating the functions of their Office
built up entirely from rolls of the un-
employed. They also wanted to
answer criticism that the needy have
been unable to get this free food and
to answer the charge that some stores
have been taking advantage of the
CALLhCAt NY ScHlilS llc llec AoOu.
Trace Route of Food.
King and Hunter trace the food
stuff from the time it leaves the great
packing houses, most of them located
in the Midwest. until it is doled out
to the members of relief rolls. The
surplus foods are "all No. l products"
king assured. The butter, cheese,
canned roast beef. eggs, smoked pork,
lard and cereal were received by more
than a tenth of the city population
on last weeks run. The families
numbering four or more got flour and
oranges, too. Food reaches consumer
through the help of So grocers, who
get 10 cents per 100 pounds or about
a third of the handling cost.
The families to receive assistance
are determined by 127 case workers,
who investigate applications coming
into District Relief headquarters, John
Marshall place and c street Then
slips amounting to an order on the
cooperating grocers are forwarded
to the needy families with directions
and a list of stores. The lists are
sent out semi-monthly. Each person
gets slightly more than a half pound
of each food week
Large quantities Of the more hardy
foods are kept on hand, but supplies
of the perishable are constantly COM
ing into the Terminal Storage House,
Eleventh and E streets southwest,
where space valued at $1,000 is sup
piled free.
Chain Stores Cooperate.
All commodities except those used
for lunches for school children are
transported from warehouse to the
stores by the chain groceries. The
runs are made every two weeks, and
in less than day afterward supplies
at individual stores are exhausted.
Kings office has been criticized Sc
verely by needy who find the supply
of food at the store nearest their
home has been used up. However, to
furnish store with food enough to
care for the demands of a particu-
larly needy neighborhood, King ex-
planned, would require so much of the
time of store employees that regular
business would be neglected, so the
order slips are good in any of the
So stores.
The material used in the public
school kitchen to prepare the daily
lunches for some 6,700 graded school
children is transported in Federal re-
lief trucks.
King and Hunter, in demonstrating
the tremendous volume of business of
their Office, showed that more than
$4,000 pounds of pork are doled out
each month. $4,000 pounds of canned
roast beef, $4,000 dozen eggs and thou
sands of pounds of cheese and other
commodities.
This distribution of potential food
to the needy is carried on at a high
rate of efficiency, King declared. The
cooperating stores have furnished ex-
cellent service and only one instance
where a groceryman attempted to sell
the free food has been brought to
light. This man was arrested and
prosecuted. Materials and slips are
checked so thoroughly that little op-
portunity of graft is afforded.
Although all the food furnished the
Districts unemployed is not taken
from surplus commodities, this idea of
the administration has taken a tre-
mendous financial burden from the
Governments shoulders However, the
recent pairing of civil works forces has
added 5000 more mouths to feed In
the last six weeks.