Evening star., 1937-02-04
The Relief Problem.

Senator Bailey, a North Carolina
Democrat, caused a mild uproar in the
Senate yesterday by demanding that
local communities reassume the burden
Of looking after the unemployed and the
destitute. He tried to amend the pend
ing deficiency appropriation bill, carry
ing 100000, 900, so that none of it would
be handed over to any community unless
that community was able to demonstrate
it had reached the end of its tether and
was unable to help itself. This was con-
trary to the psychology that has been
built up in the past few years, contrary
to the view that Uncle Sam should take
care of ali the relief problems. 1t is no
wonder that Senator Bailey's proposal
was found to be sensational.
And yet, fundamentally, the Bailey pro-
poSal was sound. 1t was along the lines on
which America operated for years. Even
those who attacked the proposal would
find difficulty in denying the correctness
of the North Carolina Senator's purpose,
if they desired to do so The fact that
his amendment was Immediately at
tackled from all sides Is indicative, how
ever, of the long way the country has
gone toward believing that only the
Federal Government is to be relied on
to do the relief job.
1t was in vain Senator Bailey pointed
out that in the earlier days of the de-
presSion-indeed, in the darkest days Of
the depression during 1882 and early
l933-the sums appropriated by the Fed
eral Government for relief had been a
paltry few hundred millions of dollars.
1t was in vain he suggested that today,
when recovery has come about in big
way, the local communities should be
able to take up the burden of looking out
for the unemployed within their limits.
He told the Senate that as far as he
knew no one had been permitted to
starve in the United States during the
black days of 1932-1933, when the Fed
eral Government was putting up COM
paratively little money for relief. They
were not permitted to starve, he said,
by the local communities.
The truth of the matter is that the
Treasury of the United States has come
to be regarded as the community chest
for the entire Nation. And because that
is so, the local communities, the cities
and the States are inclined to rest on
their oars and let the Federal Govern
ment, through the w. P. A. and other
relief agencies, take over the entire job
of caring for the unemployed and the
destitute. Whether the country will ever
abandon this idea is decidedly a ques-
ton. More and more the people are
being taught that the Federal Govern
ment must be relied upon to see that
they are cared for; that they have a
living. They have come to believe that
the billions of dollars expended by the
Government are inexhaustible.
New demands for hundreds of millions
of dollars to be expended for relief have
been forced upon the country overnight
by the disastrous floods in the Ohio and
Mississippi Valleys. 1t is right that the
Federal Government should do all in
its power to alleviate suffering due to
this national disaster. The very fact,
however, that there will be the need Of
providing this relief makes it all the
more advisable that the local COM
munities reassume, in all parts of the
country, as much of the burden of
looking after the destitute as they can.
There is no proposal to tighten the
Federal belt because of the new demands
for relief money. Instead, there is
constant demand from many that the
Federal relief money for the unemployed
be still further increased.
President Roosevelt in his budget mes
sage to Congress looked forward to a
balanced budget during the fiscal year
1899. This hope will be knocked into q
cooked hat if steps are not taken to limit
the responsibility of the Federal Gov
ernment and that responsibility is not
taken over by the local communities.
If the country has made up it's mind
that hereafter the Federal Government
must deal with unemployment and relief
of all kinds, then it might as well make
up its mind to more and heavier Federal
taxes. For they must come, if the bills
are to be paid. And these taxes will
not fall upon the wealthy or even the
well-to-do alone. They will fall with
heavy hand upon the poor. They may
be concealed in the higher prices which
the people must pay for their food and
shelter and clothes. Yet all the people
will share in the burden.