The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1936-01-30
FRIENDS RELIEF REPORT
rs NOT BASED ON FACT
Thus States Welfare Board in
Reply to Committee Who In
vestigated Fifty-five Cases
SAYS PUBLICITY is GOAL

That Clifford Friend and his in
vestigating committee, in making q
report of relief conditions in the
county, based their findings on opin-
ions unsubstantiated by facts, was
charged by the Garrett County Wei
fare Board at the conclusion of Mon
day nights meeting.
Senator Friend and the other mem
bers of the committee were invited
by registered letter to meet with the
Welfare Board Monday night to COM
pare the Investigations of the commit
tee with the case records of the Board
according to the original agreement
under which the committee was APP
pointed.
Mr.. Friend refused to attend, reply
ing in letter to Miss Ethel Miller
executive secretary, "The report
speaks for itself; it portrays condi-
tons as the committee found them
If the information furnished by the
Committee is not clear, then we will
be glad to attend meeting at any
time to clarity our position"
The Boards statement in full fol-
lows:
January %, 1886.
IT, -
The Garrett County Welfare board,
believing that the report presented by
Senator Friends investigating COM
mittee represented opinion, -unsub-
Stimulated by facts, invited the COM
mittee to meet with the Welfare
Board Monday evening, January 27
The purpose of this meeting was to
compare the Investigations of the
committee with the case records of
the Welfare Board, according to the
original agreement under which this
committee was appointed. Mr.. Friend
not only declined the invitation of the
Board but also demonstrated that his
reason for this investigation" was to
give wide newspaper publicity to the
report before the Welfare Board had
been advised of its contents. This &C.
ton, in addition to the failure of the
committee to report to the County
Commissioners (the Board which ap-
pointed them) seems to indicate that
publicity is the ultimate purpose of
this committee.
The case records of the Welfare
Board are the results of many home
visits and of information gathered
from reliable citizens and official rec
ords. We wish to cite few examples
of the incomplete Investigations of
the committee. In one case the COM
mittee states that the lady investigat-
ed is .forty-four years old, with two
children, both in school. The fact is
the lady is twenty nine and only one
child is in school. Perhaps the con-
ditions under which this woman has
lived made her look forty-four when
only twenty-nine, and Mr.. Friend
jumped at conclusions. Another case
Mr.. Friend represents as injury in the
mine, while the party is actually in
capacitated from a growth, probably
cancerous, on his arm. The man is
sixty-one years old.
Mr.. Friend states that the staff
has been too lenient in granting re-
lief to Hundreds" of cases although
he admits investigating only fifty
five of them.
The committee says: eve found re-
lief clients living on farms in idle
ness, their stock and equipment dis
posed of, their agricultural activities
at standstill, their fields growing up
into weeds and going to waste be-
cause of relief; and later in the re-
port we find this statement: "Due to
the deep snow and the untraveled
condition of the roads, our activities
were restricted to cases along the I'M
proved highways, or within walking
distance of improved roads, and to the
several small villages and towns
throughout the county" Garrett coun-
ty has been under a blanket of snow
since before the investigation began
and a comprehensive knowledge of the
condition of farms is impossible to
obtain.
These and other comparisons, toe
yoluminous to include in this state
ment, convince the Welfare Board
that Mr.. Friends report was opinion
rather than fact.
GARRETT COUNTY WELFARE
BOARD.
Members of the Board include
Charles w. Ream, Crellin, chairman
Delbert Davis, cashier of the First
National Bank, Oakland; Blaink
Giessman, president of the Board Of
County Commissioners; Irwin R
Rudy, Oakland; Fred G. Fox, Friends
vile; Jasper Meyers, Kitzmiller; G. J