Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-06-30
POWELL'S FOLLY.

\hOCkN MULTI AASAeAASA'f
Quite furore in local dailies the
past few days over discovery tina
Charlie Powells mother has been re
ceiving about $21.12 a month IN
sewing room at Oxford. Mr.. Powell
is chairman of the North Caroline
Unemployment Commission at a sa!
ary of $500 year and the papers
profess horror that he should allow
his mother to go ION relief
Mr.. Powell's mistake was IN no1
getting his mother a job that paid
5000 a month instead of $21.12. Moth
ers and wives of other high salaried
persons have these good jobs an'
nothing is said about it.
For instance: The mother of tht
solicitor of this judicial district i:
superintendent of welfare for Wake
county. at a salary more than ter
times that drawn by Mrs. Powell.
The wife of the mayor of Raleigh
was for some time on the ERA pay
roll at a good salary as a supervisor
So was the wife of a former chair
man of the board of county commits
sioners, who is a reasonably wealthy
man.
Federal state and county, relief o.
fees employ wives and daughters Of
high officials and this apparently the
accepted thing.
Salaries of WPA administrators, su
pervsors stenographers, ditch dig
gers, privy builders, sewing room
workers, ETC., all come from the same
source-the billions of dollars appro
priated for relief Custom has estab
lished a false rule that if the pay
amounts to a good salary it is gov
eminent service; if the pay is barely
enough on which to subsist it is re-
lief.
If Mrs Powell had wangled a JOB
that paid her 5000 month or more
she would have been honored an
banqueted and feted as a public Of
ficial Such honors have been con-
ferred upon the state welfare commits
sioner. who is the wife of we'll
rector of the old PWA and ERA
reputedly rich man.
Mr.. Powell processes surprise at
his mothers connection with the sew
ing room, and says that if any way
can he found to get the money which
she received back into the public
treasury he will pay it back. That IS
a lot of bosh. If Mrs. Powell rendered
value in seams sewn for the pittanca
she received then the gesture of re
funding it is foolish. Besides it would
set a bad precedent for if solicitors
MAYORS, commissioners of labor, rner1-
bers of the legislature, ETC., have t.
refund money drawn from the public
treasury by their immediate relatives
there just will not he room at the
wailing wall for them-and money
lenders will be stampeded
Perhaps the placing Of Mrs. Betty
G.. Powell on the sewing room ro,,
at Oxford is hard to justify. Perhape
the criticism leveled at Chairman
Charlie is prope~. But why make such
a hullaballoo about It, when the pay
rolls of relief agencies are and have
been all the while packed with moth
ers. wives and daughters of other Of
ficials? Is it really true that the man
who steals a dollar goes to Jail, while
the man who steals million goes to
Congress? Is it shameful to accept
from the government relief funds a
pittance for honest work, and honor
able to draw from the same fund a
salary twice as large as the recipient
could earn in private industry?
This writer does not know Mrs.
Powell. He processes no love what
ever for her son Charlie. But simple
Justice revolts at the policy of hold
ing up one person to scorn and an
other to honor for doing exactly the
same thing.
Speaking of knowledge, the poet
once advised his readers TO drink
deep or touch not the spring. The
same advice applies to getting money
from relief. Dc deep and you'll be
honored; dig up just what you need
and you'll be seorned.