Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-01-31

cit goes something like this"
and he waved a cigarette before his
face, as If seeking to find the lines
cf the elusive verse in the trail Of
smoke.
Organized charity, something
- that's the word I can't get
something and iced,
"'In the name of cold, statistical
Christ"
Il couldn't help him then, but
later found the lines he sought in
John Boyle O'Reilly's poem, I'm
Bohemia" They read like this:
''The organized charity, scrimped
and iced,
In the name of a cautious, statis-
tical Christ.'C
what put that in your head?" I
asked.
''Oh, I've been thinking about the
horrors of relief work. You know,
7 hate relief work." said the man
VINO already had spent more money
In that manner than any person in
history.
Habits of Thinking.
What I mean is, hate the ne
cessity for 1t and hate the way we
have to do it, because of our habits
of thinking and the customs that
have grown up around 1t, customs
we've had to conform to. I'm proud
of the WPAl That's something else.
That's work. That's getting away
from philanthropy and all that rot.
That's saving mems souls and their
human dignity, enabling American
men and women to keep their heads
up until better day comes.
But relief!
Look" he said, what we do. We
walk into mans home, into his sa-
cred privacy, and we ask him every
thing We can think of that's none of
our business. How much does he owe
the grocer? How long since he had
any money in the bank? Who are
his relatives-all of them? What
has he been feeding the children?
Where did he get their clothes? His
own clothes? His wife's? What kind
of food have they had? How much
coal and how do they use it? Is he
behind in his taxes? Has he been
getting any help from his church or
any other organization?
THE insufferable gall of it! Is it
any wonder that men don't tell their
wives that they've lost their jobs
until they simply have to? Any
wonder that they wait until things
are really desperate before they can
bring themselves to ask for relief?
You know, there have been cases,
lots OF them, where men and women
have walked past the relief Office for
days before screwing up their cour-
age or whatever it takes, to 60 in
and register for relief. ,.s
WPA Something Else.
"The WPA, that's something else.
In the years to come WPA workers
can look with pride on the buildings
they've built, the useful national and
community projects they've had a
hand in. They won't have to hang
their heads for anybody. God knows
they aren't profteering, not on WPA
wages"
This conversation, it seems to me,
is worth relating now that the frail
frame that supported the thin Iowa
boys rugged heart has collapsed, now
that his clear mind is no longer at
his country's service. The disposition
at the moment seems to be to re-
member chiefly the devoted assist
ance he gave to a great wartime
President, the part he played in
making Roosevelt, Churchill and
Stain an effective working team, and
to forget all he did in the dark days
OF the depression to save the dignity
of a generation of Americans.
How deeply the philosophy of this
man they called do-gooder i'm
pressed itself on our national think
ing is hard to tell. Observing the
treatment being accorded by Con-
gress to President Truman's enlight-