Evening star., 1936-01-08
GRANT Of S225,O)O
FOR RELIEF SEEN
delayed" Fund From F. E.
R. A. May Meet D. c.
Crisis.

Washington'S critical rellef PROP
lem may be eased by a delayed"
grant of about $225 900 from the Fed
eral Emergency Relief Administration
to make up deficits in the loca! re-
lief purse, which faces exhaustion be-
fore the end of the current fiscal
year, according to reliable reports to-
day.
The grants, 1t was said, are dated
back to November, when the F. E.
r. A. announced it had ended the
dole as the, w. P. A. program was
expanded.
Belief that Congress may act to
solve the problem also was expressed
in official circles. If there is any con-
gressional action, it was said, 1t prob
ably will come after debate on the
White House report on the progress of
the w. P. A. program to be submitted
by January 10.
Allen Promised Fund.
Commissioner George E. Allen, Dis
trict relief administrator, had under
stood last November that he would re-
ceive an additional $780, 900, and there
were suggestions then that more
money would be forthcoming, although
he refused to confirm reports.
On this assumption, however, Allen
this month lifted the Is per cent cut
| in relief disbursements ordered for
December because the Districts own
relief appropriation was being used
up faster than would meet needs until
the 1897 appropriation becomes avail
able.
The extra grant, if actually forth
coming, however, will not anywhere
near fill the needs until July l, and
Allen still plans to ask Congress for a
supplemental appropriation of Dis
trict funds of 100000 or 100000, or
possibly more. The extra grants
would only take up some of the slack
in available funds to account for out
lays in December and January, Off
cials said.
The President barely mentioned re-
lief in his budget message, which said
| future needs could not be estimated
accurately at present.
While the w. P. A. program was
launched to eliminate relief rolls, $500
works progress ineligibles remain on
the District rolls to be cared for
wholly by the District, from which
F. E. R. A. was cut off December l
with the Relief Administration liqui-
dation.
Deadline Change Seen.
The ruling forbidding w. P. A. jobs
to those who entered relief rolls after
November / is blamed for the large
number of the Capital dole. In theory
only unemployables, few in number
are supposed now to receive relief.
Putting the W. p A. deadline up to
March Is is advocated as probable
long step in solving the Districts as
well as the States problem, made
doubly acute by the fact the District
has not enough money to pay relief to
all on the rolls until July and that
the Community Chest is prevented by
its prior obligations to its own
agencies from easing the emergency
relief situation at all.
The work-relief act requires that
"a report of operations shall be SUBJ
mitted to Congress before the tenth
day of January in each of the next
three regular sessions of Congress
which report shall include state
ment of the expenditures made and
obligations incurred"
Work-relief officials said a detailed
report on allotments and expenditures
to date, with the number employed
on different kinds of work-relief prof.
ects. was being prepared for the Presi-
dent by the National Emergency
Council.
Hopkins Report Ordered.
Early in last years session Harry
L. Hopkins was directed by the Sen
ate to make a detailed report on
activities of the Federal Emergency
Relief Administration, which has since
been liquidated.
The new report Is expected to arouse
criticisms of many of the projects un-
dertaken, notably those for white COL
lar workers. Some quarters predict q
drive for revival of direct relief allot-
mentS to States declared unable tt
take over the "unemployables" now
returned to their care.
With the exception of s405 900 ,00C
for continuing heavy engineering
projects and $248, 600, 900 for the Civil
ian Conservation Corps, the Presi-
dent said in his budget message thai
he would delay additional relief re-
quests for two months.
He estimated that s1,1o2 1924, ,632
would be left over from recovery
funds already appropriated, and SAID
he did not anticipate that additional
relief appropriations would be as high
as $2,l36,0o0, 900, the size of this years
deficit.