Evening star., 1938-01-23
To the Editor OF The Star.


i 10 days on two subjects which are
very much related to each other. Un-
fortunately, the discussions have been kept
apart, and would like very much to make
clear the close relationship between these
two questions I refer ca to the much
discussed crime wave in Washington, D. c.,
and TO- the decision of the Bureau of the
Budget, approved by Representative Ross
Collins, chairman of the District Appro-
priations Committee, to cut relief to $780,
900 for the coming fiscal year.
The public assistance division requested,
as minimum, s4,o79450 This amount
was cut by our non-elected Commissioners
and further cut by the very much removed
Bureau of the Budget to 5000 900.
1t is difficult for us to see how any re-
sponsible body Of public officials, or elected
representatives, can propose budget which
means that 5000 persons, at present re-
ceiving relief, would be deprived of assist
ance. Nor can We accept the continued
reluctance on the part of this body to
recommend funds to take care of approxi-
mately 5000 families in need of relief and
containing employable persons The fact
that the Federal Government has under
taken the responsibility to provide relief for
employables, and has fallen down in this
responsibility for Washington, D. c., does
not reduce, one iota, the responsibility of
this community to step in and take care of
its own needy where the Federal Govern
ment has failed. Conservative estimates
place the need at 5000 families containing
employable persons and in need of relief.
However, nobody in this community, or
anywhere alse, actually knows how many
more persons need public assistance of some
form or other and are being denied that
assistance at present.
Considers $4,000,O00 as Minimum.
In my opinion this $4,000 900 is a mini
mum, and not one cent less than that
amount should be recommended to the
Congress. According to the press, the
chairman of the District of Columbia Ap-
preparations Committee has opposed any
reinstatement Of the amounts which we're
cut of by the Bureau of the Budget 1t Is
hard for any one who has seen and has
been in touch with the poverty as it exists
in this community, to comprehend so CAL
lous an attitude. That committee should
know, because everybody else in this coun-
try knows it, that We are in the midst Of
an economic recession which calls for not
cut in appropriations to the unemployed
but on the contrary an increase. Ger
tainly by this time that committee must
have noticed that Washington, D. c., ranks
second highest of all States in the country
in the percentage of persons who are un-
employed, able to work and seeking work
A committee with vital concern for the
unemployed in this community would upon
the publication of such data Immediately
ployment relief and public assistance Of
every sort. Such revision Is on the order
Of the day and must be made.
There has been a lot of public discus
sion in connection with = measure now
pending before the Senate on the question
of crime in Washington, D. c. 1t is in my
opinion that the responsibility for the
Jump in the crime rate. which has been 50
adequately demonstrated, Is occasioned
primarily by the relief policy existing in
this community. I ask what person with
no source Of revenue, no relief Of any sort.
family to support, should do under cir
cunstances which prevail In this COM
munity? What did the 5000 employables
do during the last year? What shall the
5000 unemployables do during the coming
year?
Crime, of Course, No Solution.
One cannot condone let alone recon-
mend, crime as an answer to these ques-
tions. However, one can point to public
policy which makes it possible for SO many
fellow human beings to seek an answer to
their personal problem in an anti-social
form, namely, crime The main answer to
the problem of crime, generally, is to create
those social conditions, such as improved
economic standards, better housing, ETC.,
which will make crime less possible.
have with me statistical table which ap-
peared on page 8l1 of the January IS, 1888,
Congressional Record comparing crime In
Washington, D. c., with crime in the city
et New Orleans-both cities containing
more or less the same population, both in
size and composition. It Is both sad and
true that crime arrests ratio in Wash
ington, D. c., Of colored to white is to
in 1885 and to in the ratio Of colored
to white In 1885. In New Orleans the
ratio. as the table points out, is about the
same.
Robbery and Grimes Of Violence.
The interesting thing about this table is
that 1t shows that as far as 1896 and 1885
are concerned there is decline in crime
Of violence and an increase only In crimes
Of theft. The crimes Of violence for both
colored and white people such as murder,
manslaughter, ETC., have declined during
this period, whereas the crimes relating to
poverty, such as burglary and larceny have
increased. It would seem from these fig-
ures that we do have in our poorer popula-
ton not tendencies toward violence, Is
some Of our more hysterical Newspaper
stories might indicate, but rather Q popula-