Evening star., 1935-08-04
BY ERNEST Il. uSDLEY.

The attitude Of persons on relief
toward work-relie! icbs has been a
subject OF conjecture but Of relatively
little close examination. Do the un-
employed want lcos II preference to
the dole? Do they lock on small
projects, such as those provided by the
c. w. A. later oy the emergency work
program OF the 2. z. r. A and now
by the Works Progress Administration
as real jobs worthy Of earnest effort?
An intensive attempt to find how q
group Of unemployed on work-relief
really feel about their jobs recently
vas made by Sydney Roslow and
Rensis Likert Of the Department Of
Psychology Of New York University.
With the aid of four relief workers,
two men and two women, they ex-
plored the attitude of 90 persons on
work-relief projects at New York Uni
Versity. The cross section which they
took was thin, but they scrutinized II
carefully. 1t was cross section from
the upper level Of unemployed. Twenty
eight Of their subjects were profess
sional persons, II had business expe-
rience, 20 were clerical workers, 8 were
skilled workers and ~ fell in mis-
cellaneous groups.
Non-Manual Jobs.
Examination Of similar number
of unskilled and semi-skilled workers
on relief has yielded a different
result. But the state Of mind of the
upper level of unemployed is extreme
ly important. And the types of prof.
ects on which many whlte-collar un-
employed have been engaged, rather
than construction projects employing
manual workers, have given rise to
some Of the most heated arguments
concerning the comparative merits of
the dole and work.
Every one of the group of 90 who
we're investigated preferred work re-
lief to home relief. Only 81 per cent
gave as their reasons for this pref
erence the fact that work relief paid
more than home relief. More than
9 out Of 10-92.7 per cent-gave rea-
sons which related to the effects of
work on morale and character Pos
sibly allowance should be made for
the fact that, in spite Of all the pre-
cautions taken to obtain frank answers
some of the persons questioned may
have felt 1t safe or desirable to give
replies that they felt to be correct"
Other portions of the examination
indicate, however, that the examiners
we're relatively successful, in obtaining
honest answers. One-quarter of the
group, for example, said that workers
on relief should not be expected to
work as hard as they would in private
employment, and 40 per cent said that
as a matter of fact they didn't think
most relief workers did work as hard
on their public jobs as they would
work in regular employment.
The aversion Of members Of this
group to home relief was expressed
strikingly when they were asked un-
der what circumstances they would
accept home relief. Fifteen said they
would not accept home relief under
any circumstances. Fifty-seven said
they would accept it under extreme
circumstances such as sickness, the
danger of actual starvation or as
last resort" Thirteen said they
would accept home relief if work relief
were discontinued and they still could
not obtain regular jobs. Five said
they would take home relief only If it
were forced ON them. Four said
they would take it for rent. light and
home expenses. Four gave no answers.
These SO persons w-re asked why
they disliked home relief. Twenty
nine replied that they considered it
charity" Twenty-one said they were
afraid of the effects Of idleness on
their own character and sef-confi-
dence. Thirteen emphasized the
character of the administration of
home relief, citing endless red tape"
and the necessity for answering many
personal questions. Fourteen said
simply that they like the opportunity
to earn money. Four said home re-
lief was insufficient" The others
gave miscellaneous explanations or
no answers.
The converse side of the same at
titude was revealed in the answers
to the question why do you pre-
fer work relief" Three said, Be
cause work relief pays more" Twenty
i've said they liked to be able to earn
money. Sixty-six gave answers in
some way related to the preservation
of morale and character. In this
group of 66 answers Messrs. Roslow
and Likert found these shadings:
Not a uauper 13
Makes one feel more independent 13
Maintains self-respect and morale y
Gives better sense of duty------ 4
Home relief kills initiative 3
No chance of bettering character on :,