Evening star., 1936-01-12
BY ELWOOD STREET.

Director District OF Columbia Board Of
Public Welfare.
A VITAL question confronts
~ Congress in the matter Of
~ renewing Fedora relief.
n Vivid awareness CT this is
the portion of every one identified
with the administration of relief on a
local basis. either public or private.
1t manifests itself in scores of routine
WAYS daily. a specimen of which Is
offered in the following letter:
Hon. George E. Allen,
Commissioner.
Washington, D. c.
Dear Mr.. Allen:
I am writing you in behalf Of
myself and family. who are in
destitute circumstances. Mr.. Allen.
I have been on relief drawing
$l700 a week on a job.
Now they are cutting me down
to S4500 a month. I have a wife
and six co. young children to
support. I have TO feed them,
dress them for school and all, and.
sir, cannot do that on s45.00 a
month.
am distressed to have to ask
you to assist me, but cannot help
myself.
l am only asking you to see If
you can get me a little more
money than s45OO a month. I
am not asking for charity, only a
sufficient wage to feed my children
and wife and a few clothes on
their back.
You know me when worked
at Wardman Park Hotel as a
cook. I am a very good cook,
but my lack of reading the Eng
lish language prevents me from
getting a good job as a cook.
Won't you please see what you
can do for me? Anything that
you will do for me will earn my
undying gratitude and that OF my
young children and of my wife
Am willing to work as a COOK
or anything. just so that I can
make enough to feed and clothe
nv children. Please, sir, help me.
One Letter in Hundreds.
This letter is one of hundreds re
ceived by the relief authorities IN IN
District of Columbia and is Slmlla
to thousands received by relief au
thorities throughout the United State
when the works program was suostl
tuted for the relief program by IN
Federal administration.
This problem of works progres
earnings, which are less than mini
mum relief budgets, is one OF the man
reasons why Congress must conside
seriously the need for renewed ap
propriation of relief funds to be dis
ributed among the States and throug
them among the local communities @
the country.
The F. E. r. A. Is comatose, if no
dead, for its guiding spirit, Mr.. Harr
Hopkins, declares he has distribute
the last dollar available for relie'
Should the F. E. R. A. be revived an
more millions poured out in Feders
relief of the destitute2
This question is one which affect
the well-being of millions of our tel
low Americans. 1t divides itself INT
three main parts:
/. Will the Works Progress an
Public Works Administrations max
oil relief unnecessary?
2. If need for relief remain!
should it be handled by private or b
governmental funds?
3. If governmental relief is renewed
should any of it be Federal or Shoul
all of it be merely State and local?
This three-pronged question
based upon one major premise whic
seems to have been generally adopte
in the United States since the de
preston brought us to some. at leas
of our social and economic senses
This premise is that in a society !
which the forntiers have disappeare
and individual employment is de
pendent upon the vagaries Of a ma
chine civilization, society owes I
every individual either work, or,
lieu of work, relief.
Vital Question Raised.
From that premise we may well as
the question: What kinds of relief,
any, will be necessary, granting thu
the Works Progress Administratio
and the Public Works Administratio
do their utmost in providing work fl
the employables who cannot find VOL
In private business or industry?
1t is quite clear that these admini
trations, with the interchangeable le
| ters-P. W. A. and w. P. A.-wll