Evening star., 1939-01-02
D. {. Families
At $500 Level
| Hit in Report
81 Such Receiving
OId-Aee Grants,
Congress Told
BY JAMES E. CHINN.

lnlTJy-Onc DlSCTlCL ldmllleS nav.
ing incomes from other sources Of
more than $500 a month also receive
old-age grants in the household
averaging about SIS month, Bur-
dette G.. Lewis. public relief investi-
gator, disclosed today in the second
installment of his report to Con-
gress.
In the first section Mr.. Lewis crit
icized the system under which pub
lie relief funds are administered,
claiming that there was "surpris-
ing proportion" of households where
a security grant supplements rela-
lively high level of income from
other sources. AS check on those
believed to be receiving "too much,'
he recommended establishment of a
ceiling of income in household.
A major portion of the second in
stallment is devoted to an explana-
ton of two charts in the report, one
relating to the income levels in
American life and the other old-age
assistance grants. There is also an
explanation of the procedure fol-
lowed in collecting data used in
compilation of the old-age assist
ance chart.
Seeks adequacy" Gauge.
THE act of Congress ordering the
investigation of relief requires the
director to report concerning the
adequacy or inadequacy of individ-
ual grants of relief, social security,
w. P. A. and N. Y. A. aid" said Mr.
Lewis Hence, there must be some
standard or yardstick against which
to measure adequacy or inad-
equacy.'
Heretofore adequacy and inad-
equacy generally has been left to
the judgment of the individual case
worker after certain standards of
the more general type had been
furnished her. Occasionally COM
parable grants in so-called compar-
able areas have laso been used as a
guide. At the 1887 annual meeting
of the National Conference of So
cial Work at indianapolis, Ind. data
was presented by DR.. Roy Blough
showing the average income in good
years and in bad years of the aver
age person in America, and a ques-
ton was asked but not answered,
Would the public approve in the
long-run grants in excess of these
average earnings?'
When the methods of conducting
the investigation of public relief in
the District of Columbia were being
determined, suggestions were made
concerning standards of measure
ment which might be used in the
District of Columbia as a basis of
comparison against which adequacy
or inadequacy of individual grants
might be determined. These were:
Il. Average income of the average
family.
%. Average wages earned by the
average gainfully employed worker
in the District of Columbia Gin pri-
vate business.
'3. The cost of living for the aver
age family of four in the District.
a. Comparable grants in COM
parable cities"
Mr.. Lewis said to assist him in
reaching his conclusions as to the
adequacy and inadequacy of relief,
he also used special data collected
by the District Minimum Wage
Board, the Washington Housing As
sociation, the Board of Trade and
groups of organized labor.
Fears Greed and Chaos.
while responding to the evident
need for real coordination be-
tween the cost of services and the
ultimate results to be obtained" he
declared, I'VE do not hesitate to say
that our chief concern has been
the lower economic groups, taken as
a whole, and not merely those who
are on relief, and also those other
groups of thrifty, self-reliant per-
sons who must earn the where
withal with which provisions can be
made for all classes and groups of
individuals in our beloved land.
With feeling that greed and hate
have been much overworked, and
are too rapidly bringing certain
chaos in their wake, we have hoped
to indicate how cooperation and a
feeling of brotherhood, guided by the
findings of science, may reverse the
trends and save this civilization from
the menace of distempers and of
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