Evening star., 1940-05-01
Job|ess Emp|oyab|es
OF D. {. Enlist Aid
OF Mrs. Roosevelt
Presidents Wife Plans
To Contact Overton
And Commissioners

Mrs, Roosevelt planned to take
action today to bring the plight of
out-of work employables to the at
tention of District ofncials and Capi-
tol Hill.
Her promise to do what I can"
followed session at the White
House yesterday with a score OF
women laid of the w. P. A. here
and unable to get relief because they
are able to work.
She questioned the women extern
sively on the amount they pay for
rent, the length Of time they have
been residents of the District and
how they manage to get along with
out funds.
Told by Philip Bonosky. president
of the District Workers Alliance,
which sent the delegation, that 1t
has been proposed to take funds for
administration of the food stamp
plan and scent milk plan from the
appropriation for direct relief. Mrs
Roosevelt promised to find out why
the plans are to be handled in this
way
To Appeal to Commissioners.
She also promised to ask the
Commissioners to lift the ban on
giving relief to employables, to write
Senator Overton, chairman of the
Senate subcommittee on District
appropriations, informing him OF
the situation. and to bring the cause
of the able-bodied unemployed to
the attention of the public.
When Mr.. Bonosky started to
tell her the process by which the
District gets its appropriations, she
stopped him with the remark:
I've been all through that run
around with Blue Plains and Gal
linger Hospital, so its very familiar
to me-"
With the explanation that critics
of relief said the number of relief
applicants here was swelled by out
siders, Mrs. Roosevelt asked for a
show of hands on how many of the
group, which also included a few
| IIlcIl, IldO UCCll Ill IIlS xIlStl lCU III
years or more. She found that the
ma jority had been here long periods
u time.
Support Sources Fail.
Mr.. Bonosky, in prepared state
ment. told her that the women
present had all been laid off w. P. A.
recently and that they found them
selves stripped of all resources and
unable to support themselves or
their families
They are caught in a circle out
of which there appears to be no
escape. unless at least one i'm
portant thing is DONE" he declared
They feel that as long as w. p. A
is cut and as long as there is nc
employment in private industry to
absorb them. that they should not
be forced to suffer starvation as a
penalty for conditions which were
none of their making"
Urging direct relief for the able
bodied unemployed .'he declared that
the artificial distinction between
employables and unemployables "can
have no meaning during a time
when there is no employment for
any one"
Interviews Two at Length.
Mrs. Roosevelt singled out two
women and interviewed them at
length. One Of them told the Presi-
dents wife she was about to be
evicted because she was two months
behind in her rent and was worried
most because her sick mother
couldn't be moved except in an
ambulance. She said she had
begged, borrowed and I owe every
body"
Mrs. Roosevelt asked the second
woman. mother of four children, il
there was any place outside of Wash
ington where she had relatives. Tht
woman answered that she was borr
here. She went on to tell Mrs
Roosevelt that her children had beer
i'll because of the lack of sanitary
facilities and the trouble in provid.
ing fuel for the coal fire which heat.
ed her home.
Mrs. Roosevelt. appearing serious
ly troubled by the stories told. her
questioned the group for almost ar
hour. She had wanted Commissions
j. Russell Young to attend the meet.
ing, but was unable to. reach him.