Evening star., 1934-03-04
ID. c. RELIEF Slow;
SHORT CUT SOUGP7
Allen Describes Situation
as "HorribIe"- to
Cut Red Tape.
Continued From First Page.)

place and c street. From headquar-
ters a check is mailed out to the ap-
plicant If the check Is mailed the
same day it gets there on the next,
and unless there are neighbors kindly
enough and prosperous enough to
help out, the starving family starves
until it arrives.
But the system is not always
prompt. In the specific case under
discussion there was an "authori-
zation" Of SIS on February %. Three
days later the check had not been
mailed. On February 10 there had
been an authorization of $40. The
family claims that it never received
this, and yesterday, In fact, said that
1t had received nothing whatsoever
since February 13. when q check for
81 arrived. A search showed that this
check had been mailed and not re-
turned. but whether it was ever actu-
ally cashed by anybody does not yet
appear.
Food Orders Abolished.
Inquiry at the substation at
o'clock Friday afternoon developed
that family which claimed to have
received nothing beyond a 81 check
on February 13 could not possibly re-
ceive any food before Saturday. Yes
terday a second check-up at noon
showed that at noon February % the
check had still not arrived. There
used to be system of giving out food
orders, but this has been abolished
and the relief is now limited to
checks, which must travel the cir
cuitous route above mentioned.
1t should be noted that the Police
Department, which is not organized
for the relief welfare business, seems
to find no difficulty in getting food to
hungry people within a half hour
after the patrolman on the beat has
reported deserving case. This fam
lily, becoming desperately hungry last
month, called the eleventh precinct
and asked for aid. The man on the
beat called and within half an hour
there was q stock of bread, canned
beans and other eatables left at the
house sufficient to last for several
days.
At the precinct, 1t was explained
SAAoe tAAC kOllCc llhte no Official
funds for this purpose. but look after
the needy cases in their district partly
from funds raised by giving a benefit
dance in Congress Heights Hall last
Christmas. This is supplemented by
contributions from individual police
men and by groceries given by trades
men in the precinct boundaries. There
is no red tape to all of this. The
judgment of the man on the beat is
accepted as final and the food comes
along in quick order.
The family, however. Is hesitant
about calling the police because it
fears becoming a nuisance to an out
mt which really has no business feed
ing the hungry.
Burden on Workers Blamed.
What the family does in most cases
is to borrow" food from neighbors
frequently no better of. When the
relief check arrives, it goes partly
to repay these borrowings, and dis
appears in a period regarded by the
relief division as suspiciously short.
And yet it must be remembered
that much of the slowness of getting
relief to its recipients may well be
due to the extreme burden on the case
workers whose business it is to in
vestigate the applicants and recon-
mend the size Of the donation. In
the northeast section there are eight
case workers and approximately 1000
active cases." or families on relief.
No case worker has less than 800
families on her list. Relief workers
believe that 100 cases represents the
maximum load to be handled with
efficiency by any worker. And the
new applicants at this time number
some "a per week at this station
alone.
Commissioner Allen said that the
load had increased from approxi-
mately 5000 families in the entire
city on relief in December. 1888. to
approximately 1900 today. To effect
a reorganization in the course of such
an increasing load. he said, was very
difficult, but he intends to put on
enough case workers so as to reduce
the load to 100 cases per worker.