The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1936-02-13
Letters to the Editor

| " CIlLiClZS CIS ULLSI1y WdSOS1ul pun
cies in the administration of relief, as
hard hearted person who likes to
see people starving, has prevailed.
Self righteous apostles of waste
have pointed at the critic as one who
puts property rights above human
rights. Like most demagogues they
pose as champions of the poor while
they are themselves engaged in help
ing to impoverish this very class of
people by fattening themselves out
of the Golfers of the poor.
How long do you suppose the writer
of the article in last weeks Republi-
can would volunteer his services as a
relief aid if his salary were to be dis
continued. How much did this boy or
any of his associates, who write about
! their relationship to God and their
fellow men, donate toward helping
that poor family in the unsanitary log
hut they write so pitifully of. How
many miles would they drive their
automobiles to administer to the poor
if the Five Cents per mile they re-
ceived out of the welfare funds were
to be discontinued.
If there is any place that common
sense is needed it is in this relief
problem. Every time dollar is spent
unnecessarily for administration some
poor person who needed that dollar
has been robbed, and the taxpayers
have been robbed likewise. Every time
relief is granted to a family who
could make its own way, some needy
family must come that much nearer
to starvation, or the taxpayers must
bear that much heavier taxation, and
our country is brought that much
nearer to destruction.
Every thoughtful person must sure
ly know that if there is to be no hung
er, the administration of relief must
be purged of waste. Costs must be
kept down to where our people will
be able to carry the burden, or else
we destroy the very source from
which all charity has to come. The
most charitable thing we can do for
our children, as we'll as the children
of those persons on relief, is to spend
prudently and wisely in order that
they may not all come to even greater
want in the future.
Neither the State nor the Federal
Government will be likely to go on
playing Santa Clause to Garrett coun-
ty for ever. Would it not therefore
be wise for us to begin now to put
our house in order for several rea-
sons? The only way in which this can
likely be accomplished is by substi-
tuting local management to take the
place of the overly expensive and I'M
wieldly relief organization we have
at present.
This, 1 think, is in accord with a
wide spread demand from thoughtful
persons all over the state. 1t is to be
hoped that under such a plan the
State would levy some special taxes
with the understanding that whatever
is collected in each county is to be
returned to that county, to be ex-
pended for relief under the super
vision of the County Commissioners,
State organized relief to be discon-
tinued. By this plan the funds avail
able for relief would be limited to
what the SPECIAL tax from this county
would yield, and the necessity for see
ing to it that every dollar was judi
ciously and prudently expended for
the poor would have to be uppermost
in the minds of our responsible Off
Gals.
By reason of having only limited
funds at their disposal our Commits
sioners would have to see to it that
relief is made less attractive. 1t can
not be denied that the practice of
sending trained social workers from
Baltimore to coach our people into the
habit of depending upon Govern
ment for support has had its influ-
ence. 1t has been responsible for the
creation of a large class of depen-
dents who had heretofore been self
supporting. 1t has made some of our
citizens social minded so that relief
has now become a habit of thought
with some people to the extent that
as soon as one Of the family gets sick
they run to the welfare Office for fl
nancial aid. The old spirit of self re-
lance seems dead, their fighting in
stinct is all but killed. Our people are
nearly all poor and the temptation to
take something for nothing was more
than they could stand, but it has
lessened their desire to be self sup
porting and the fine spirit that was
bequeathed to them by their pioneer
ancestors is lying dormant.
I wish it were possible to say some
thing that would make ablee bodied
men ashamed to depend upon relief