Evening star., 1952-02-18
Bureaucracy Run Wild

1t is unfortunate that the spokesmen for the
professional social workers have chosen to pre-
sent such unrealistic arguments against opening
the relief rolls to public inspection.
From these arguments one is led to infer
that If the secrecy surrounding these rolls were
lifted, the newspapers, for example, would i'm
mediately publish lists of people on relief in
cluding children
The newspapers, of course, would do no such
thing. To imply that they would raises grave
suspicion that selfish motive is involved in
this zeal for secrecy which needs further ex-
planation. The only people apt to be en-
barrasSed by making the relief rolls available
for public inspection are incompetent relief ad-
miniStrators and relief chseers. Why all this
silly talk about embarrassing men, women and
little children who are justly entitled to public
relief under the laws of the land?
In the District of Columbia, we are spending
more than Sc million year in various forms of
public assistance extended to about 1000 men,
women and children. Under the new public
welfare bill now pending in Congress-on which
hearings are soon to be held on the Senate side
the names of the recipients of this money would
be as closely guarded as some of the atomic bomb
secrets with fines and Jail sentences provided
for anybody who violated the secrecy provision.
That section of the proposed law, Section 10, is
a perfect example of bureaucracy run wild and
an excellent Illustration of the extent to which
some legislative craftsmen willing to go to
deny to the public information to which the
public is entitled.
In The Stars opinion, reasonable discretion
should be left with the Board of Public Welfare
to preserve the generally confidential nature of
relief rolls These rolls should not be available
for exploitation in any form. But under the
revealed the names of known chiselers-or if
The Star received and published such names
after its own scrupulous inveStigation-both the
clerk and The Star would be liable to fine and
jail sentence. That is an absurdity and an
affront to the human dignity of the general
public which pays the bill for relief.
The relief rolls are now available for public
inspection in Alabama, Indiana and Illinois.
They are going to be similarly available in other
States No newspaper has abused the privilege
Of inspection. In Illinois, newspaper exposed
q public official who tried to capitalize on this
privilege, and the official was fired. Nobody,
except the crooks, has been embarrassed.
The extreme points of view on this question
are represented, on the one hand, by those who
generalize with horror about the "embarrass-
ment" or degradation" to be suffered by
recipient of public relief by publication" of the
relief lists; on the other, by advocates of pub
licity who, as proposed in Florida want the relief
lists posted in some public place for all to see.
Somewhere between these extremes lies
sensible authority by such an agency as the
Board of Public Welfare to draw up regulations
preventing the exploitation of relief lists but
preserving the publics right to inspect such
lists in circumstances such as suspicion of in
competent or fraudulent administration.
The principle of the publics right to know
the manner of public fund expenditures is i'm
portant and should be protected.