Evening star., 1937-01-14
RELIEF NEED CITED
. IN REPLY T0LUSK
Letter to The Star Points to
Large Number of Persons
in Want.

work done and the mSelnSh moClVeS
Of social workers are voiced by four
community leaders in q letter ad-
dressed to the editor Of The Star re-
Gently.
The four, whose expression was de-
signed to answer the opposition Of
Rufus s. Lusk of the washington
Taxpayers Association to further re-
lief expenditures, are Carroll Glover,
Coleman Jennings, Frederic w. Per-
kins and Arson Phelps Stokes.
Their letter, dated January 8, fol-
lows In full:
I'm your issue Of January 5. 1887, |
there Is q long quotation from q letter |
written by Mr.. Rufus S. Lusk, presi- |
dent Of the Washington Taxpayers
Association, asking the District Com
missioners to reject all requests for
additional appropriations for relief.
Mr. Lusk gives various evidences Of
improved business conditions in Wash
ington and then asks Why this
clamor for relief? The answer, &C
cording to Mr.. Lusk, who has pretty
consistently opposed relief appropria-
tions in recent years, Is very simple
one:
"a curtailment Of direct relief
means q loss OF relief workers jobs.
In q nutshell that Is the reason for
the howl for more money. That this
Is true is shown by those who advo-
cate it. Almost without exception
they are either on the taxpayers
pay roll or closely allied in some way
with welfare work
This statement was read with deep
regret and Indignation at meeting
held in the office Of the Family Serv-
ice Association q few days ago to
consider the very critical situation IN
the District because Of the continuing
relief problem. That Mr.. Lusk's posi-
ton is shallow and i'll informed would
seem to be so obvious that 1t Is not
worthy OF serious consideration. But
what should enlist the thought OF
every citizen is how these distressing
needs can properly be met. That there
is unrelieved and insuficiently re-
lieved want and suffering among
hundreds of families is not ma tier Of
conjecture. but a fact. 1t can be
ascertained first hand, should any
one care to do so. One of the signers
Of this letter recently spent two after
moons in verifying cases where public
relief resources were reported as be-
ing inadequate. and his findings re-
vealed situations that were shocking
and needed immediate action. The
directors of the Family Service Asso-
-. t. n Il yottA
suggestions for bringing the situation
to the attention of the philanthropic
public, are at present attempting to
work out some plan with the Com
munity Chest.
May we indicate the seriousness OF
the situation by the following facts:
The Family Service Association during
the month Of December had 494 ap-
plicants for assistance. This Is more
than any month in the last three years.
The extraordinary feature Is that OF
these, 155 were never known before
to any relief agency in Washington,
and that twice this number were new
applicants as far as the Family Serv-
ice Association was concerned. Owing
to the small relief funds Of this So
ciety, due in turn to the failure OF
the Chest to meet its full objective,
1t was possible to accept only l0l
Of these applicants for service and
relief. About 100 were not thought
TO have reached the limit Of their own
resources. and another 100 were re-
ferred to other agencies with more
or less hope OF assistance, leaving
1T least 200 last month who were
believed by the officers to need re-
lief, for whom no relief could be
provided. An outstanding fact is the
large number Of persons Of youth and
intelligence in the group, who only
need aid for q short time to be
permanently rehabilitated.
If we turn from the largest of our
private family relief organizations to
the Public Assistance Division, we are
told that at the end Of December there |
were 7,150 active relief cases divided |
roughly as follows:
$500 on old age pension.
100 on blind pensions.
1900 on aid to dependent children |
and their home care.
3,100 on relief for unemployables.
1000 under investigation for pen
sion but receiving no relief.
THE division reports that in De- |
cember some 248 employables applied |
for help who for the first time had |
reached the end of their resources,
while $50 cases which had previously
had relief, reapplied in their despera-
ton for help, although ineligible" as
some member Of the family Is EN-
playable.
1T s for the Board Of Commis-
sioners Of the District, after hearing |
from the Board Of Public Welfare, to |
decide on exactly what deficiency ap-
preparation is necessary to meet these !
and similar cases. We wish to state, |
however, that in our judgment the
estimate of $3.50, ,o00-which makes Mr..
Lusk so angry, although it represents
only about $3.50 for each citizen of |
Washington-is not an unreasonable