Imperial Valley press., 1938-05-13
RELIEF AS a
DESTROYER OF MEN
SacramentO UnlOnJ

sacramento Umon)
Fourteen of every 100 persons IN Cali
fornia = about $4,000 - are on relief.
The bill is more than S13,0O0,0O0 month
or S156,00 900 year.
Harold Pomeroy. state relief admins
traitor. says the demands for relief have
not been reduced since 1888. He blames
'new. expanded or liberalized" state and
federal relief The conditions which we
are treating today are conditions which
existed before the depression, and which
were met without the costly relief taxa
ton. which we now are shouldered with,
he says
California is the only state west of the
Mississippi which pays its own way, but
California takes back in federal relief
SS3 of every 500 paid in national taxes
Every last one of us may we'll ask
with Pomeroy, "Where are We headed
for?''
Relief is something we must have, but
relief is racket today. We know plenty
of people on relief who are not qualified
to do anything except common labor
people who have somehow arrived at the
conviction that they are above common
labor Do these people unqualified to
hold specialized Jobs do anything about
bettering their capabilities? Some, yes;
many, no.
We know people who never have been
out of a Job since leaving school-people
who started from scratch; we know peo-
pie who never had a steady job. These
latter-the nd-outers-develop psy
chology of defeatism, which takes for its
war cry. "The world owes me a living,'
They are saying that the steady workers
must support them.
They are saying that, somehow. the
social system-of which they seem to con-
slider themselves only a poor relation
is responsible for their welfare, and that
willy-nilly, the social system must care
for them Why constitutes the social sys-
TEN? Not they-the chap with the job.
What does an analysis of our relief
rolls show? That those on relief inVar-
iably are those without the training es-
Sential to competition in the civilization
in which we live We cannot make liv-
ing today with the tools used by our
fathers.
But there is another factor-intiative
willingness, agreeableness. There is no
place anywhere for the crouch or the
sluggard, whatever his qualifications.
Jobs are intangible things. Jobs are
created by initiative that forces addition
al turnover of money. If money can be
forced to turn, there will be jobs. Money
of itself never turns. And the only thing
that makes frozen money move is push.
The man with push is under no obliga-
tion to support the man without it.
A vast mass in America has developed
a parasitical psychology. They are con-
tent to let their neighbor work for them.
They don't fit. And only they can make
themselves over, to qualify for active
membership in modern society. We have
millions who must be supported or re-
lief for very legitimate reasons; we have
millions who have allowed themselves to
become the proverbial flea upon the dog.
This is their country, too; do they ever
stop to look in mirror and ask, whats
wrong with me-"
OUTMODED
Thomas jefferson, anticipating the
farm bill "If we are told from Washing
ton when to SOW and what to reap, we
shall soon want bread" What vision
that Democrat had Toledo Blade.
COlfPENSATION
Germans will not have book beer this
spring but they have Austria.-Bangor