Evening star., 1935-11-15
BY BLAIR MOODY.

/ CHICAGO, November IS (N.A.N.A).
Cutting of OF direct Federal relief
and shifting the burden OF "unem-
ployables" to States and local COM
munities, now scheduled for December
j, carries more compressed social and
political dynaH;te than any other
feature of the program being financed
by President RooSevelt'S S4000000 900.
Creation of jobs for 3,500,000 men
and women, the mammoth task upon
which the Nations attention has been
centered, is in many States a COM
paratively minor and simple problem
compared to that which will exist
when Uncle Sam goes out of the dole
business"
State administrators of relief, press
ing their job of .nsferring employ
able workers to pay rolls in w. P. A.
and other New Deal job-factories,
throw up their hands when asked:
'What's going to happen after w. P.
A. is running full tilt and relief money
Is cut OFF,"
For. after the $500 900 jobs have
been manufactured" there still will
remain, ConServatively estimated,
100000 families that have no person
able to handle a job in the Presidents
program. That means that nearly
100000 persons will be cut of from
the support previously given through
Federal Relief Administrator Hopkins.
Some States Not Ready.
Many communities. OF course, are
ready to assume the load Some like
Massachusetts,. have in the past been
carrying it, and will suffer no jolt
whatsoever when the transition be-
comes effective.
But other States are not ready.
There is an amazing number of coun
ties in the country that are broke, or
nearly broke. These are communities
which have exhausted their legal limit
to borrow and, according to the local
politicians, their practical ability to
tax. A factor everywhere is the
budget system, under which COM
munities have set up a tax levy for
the fiscal year and cannot, under the
law, increase it for relief or any other
purpose.
Some localities apparently have no
resources to assume their share Of
the load. State governments often
are meshed in political complications
A somewhat general feeling exists
among politicians that all we have
to do is sit tight and Roosevelt and
Hopkins will come across"
Face Reality.
The result promises to be tragic.
Roosevelt and Hopkins. if their re-
peated assertions are not to be re-
versed, have no intention whatsoever
of coming across" Their actions
so, far have borne out their words.
Some States already are of relief"
The fundamental concept of the
$4,00o,000000 program was not only
to give the unemployed jobs by which
they could earn their subsistence Sc
curity instead of accept it, but also
to end once and for all the practice
Of pouring Federal money down q
bottomless pit.
Cutting of Federal relief is the
first step toward eventual balancing
of the Federal budget and Mr.. Roose-
welt is not likely to go into next
Falls campaign without having taken
at least that step. 1t was an extreme
emergency which got the Govern
ment into the relief business in the
first place, and the wrench of ending
this must come some time.
The deadline originally was set for
months ago. 1t was moved ahead
from time to time as various factors
delayed the job program. The States
have been given plenty of time to
get ready.
1t is chiefly in the States which
are not ready that the feeling exists
, that, somehow, it can't be true: that
Roosevelt, or Hopkins. or somebody,
must be kidding. There are four
counties in Michigan, for example,
with more than so per cent of the
entire population on relief-Kewee-
nav, in the heart of the copper coun-
try. has rs per cent. In 81 counties
Of the 80 more than 80 per cent Of
the population is on relief.
State Cut Relief.
When asked by H. Lynn Pierson,
Michigan w. P. A. administrator,
whether they were ready for the
shift from Federal to local support.
these county administrators could not
believe the Federal administration was
serious in its intention to shut of
relief. The last Legislature, in a
last-minute political move, cut the
State relief fund from $12000,000 to
100000 for the year, which is not
enough in Persons opinion.
In Kentucky the situation is much
the same. There Is almost no relief
problem in prosperous Louisville. but
60 of Kentucky's 120 counties. accord
ing to Administrator Goodman, are
fat broke. and the rest are in none
too good" condition.
Much Of the revulsion against Gov.
Iaffoon'S Scent sales tax law centers
in the fact that it has been used to
pay county tax notes held by the
banks, but Laffoon has withheld
100000 a month he promised for
relief under the section of the law
permitting him to use one-third of
its proceeds for any purpose he de-
sired. There are $500 unavoidable"
family heads in Kentucky, and there
is prospect that they may get mighty
hungry before this mess Is ironed out.
In West Tennessee the situation, on