The Washington times., 1936-07-15
NOW
Federal Relief
For Lazy
PROBLEM
BY HELEN ESSARY

Are lazy and irresponsible PEG
pie entitled to Government relief?
Why is it that such people fire.
Quently have automobiles for them
selves, bicycles for their children
and summer vacations for their
families, while their small-Salaried
Woodworking neighborS can't at.
ford such luxurieS.
These are a few Of the queS-
tons asked me in letter this
morning by Worried to Distrac,
ton" I have my correspondents
name and address, but shall not
publish it. The letter says:
Dear Helen Essary:
BY the things you have in your
column, should say you touched
every phase of newspaper work.
So, can you tell me this. E.
Why is it that everything is
done for the people who are out
Of work? Mostly it is their own
fault and someone has to be the
goat, but have you ever noticed
that they are nearly always the
ones who never have anything
when they are working, or who
don't care, or who would rather
live off relief than work, anyway?
Yet their children can have BIZ
cycles and go to camp while peo-
pie who work can't send theirs
to one. They themselves can go
places, have more than some peo-
pie who have jobs.
Take us, for instance. My hus.
band was working for the last
four years on salary. Not large,
but we thought we could buy a
small cheap home. We did. My
husbands salary was reduced and
finally he was making next to
nothing.
But he hung on. We got three
months behind in payments on
the house, the same on the fur
niture, one on the automobile
which we needed badly. We are
50 far from town. Now my hus-
bands job has gone altogether.
What are we going to do until
he finds another? No one ever
helps our kind. Even while my
husband was making $33 a week
we couldn't afford the clothes
like people were wearing who
are on relief.
Is this fair? Why don't people
who can afford to help people,
help our kind instead of the ones
who are always depending on
help and getting it? wish you
would bring that UP in your
column. Maybe someone in our
fix could be helped before it's too
late.
Respectfully yours,
WORRIED TO DISTRACTION.
You have asked an unanswer-
able question. It's one that has
worried economists, philosophers
and reformerS for hundreds of
years. 1t is one of the questions
that man began to ask at the be-
ginning Of civilization. Am I my
brothers keeper? and why
should I work when idlers live
comfortably on charity from gov
eminent organizations" It's a
problem that doesn't concern only
this Administration. 1t is a prob
lem of human nature.
In trying to answer your ques-
ton I can only make few sug-
gestionS, possibly unrelated.
How some people manage to
live without working or trying
to work has always puzzled me.
it seems to put premium on
shiftleSSneSS. Trustworthy peo-
pie who can't find jobs in de-
preston times frequently have to
suffer because Of such triflers.
People who are prosperous be-
cause of inherited money or of
their own good luck and intelli-
gence are now being acked to
help both the unfortunate and
the lazy. Is this fair? Does it
make conscientious citizens feel
that shiftlessness pays better
than industry. Even so, are the
triflers to be left to starve?
This is a question that touches
all walks of life. I know Of a war
veteran in New York who having
been out Of work, was compelled to
ask aid of the Hole to save his
house from being sold at auction.
He received his bonus recently.
Did he use it to pay off the mort
gage on his house? He did not
He bought a new car, and rented
a fine cottage at the seaShore for
his family. Soon he will be scratch
ing around for money for food.
YBut what can you do about him?
A woman I know has q husband
who doesn't want to work. Her
family feels so sorry for her that
It has been sending her children
to college and providing them with
good clothes.
You say that your neighbors are
on relief, work relief I gather you
mean. And that their children
have bicycles and trips to camp.
Perhaps someone gave them the
bicycles, and the trips to camp.
Would you deny such opportunities
as these to inoffenSive children be-
cause their parents are not good
citizens?
Won saw that some nennle are