Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1957-10-24
How UnempIoyoble?

Something called unemployed employables"
is the latest bit of fancy talk which the folks who
like the big words rather than little ones are now
trying to inject into our language 1t means very
simply: those who are able to work but don't At
the outset here we would like to suggest an alter
native description for this segment of our society,"
the ablebodied idle. That, it seems to us, is
simpler, easiertounderstand classification of these
unfortunates.
And now having got that off our chest we
would like to go on from there and very cordially
invite the taxpaying public to come on up and
take close look at proposal now formally adj
vanced which would undoubtedly expand the pro-
gram of giving handouts to the able-bodied idle
No doubt there are all sorts Of reasonable ex-
plantations which can-and WILDE put forth to
show how vital it is to increase the aid to these
people recent study by the Family and Child
Welfare Section of the Montgomery County Com
munity Chest & Council, Inc. included a profile"
on So county families (24S persons) to bolster
their All of them, according to the study re-
ceived actual cash grants from the Social Service
League or the County Welfare Board in 1856 OF
these families threefourths are white the study
reported 60 percent of them lived north of Rock.
vile, all are county residents, almost one-haf of
them have been here longer than 10 years They
are not "repeaters" and they work when work is
available; the majority are unskilled workmen,
60 percent earn less than $2500 per year. They
average four children per family.
The Welfare Department can do little to aid
the ablebodied idle because it is not allowed to-
1t can only aid persons physically unable to work.
the blind, widows with dependent children, and
aged persons without means of support. So, the
Social Service League jumped in and in 1856
spent $3362 in this work
There is little doubt that many of these fam
lilies now are eating better, are better clothed
and housed and the children spend more time in
school than they would have If this money had
not been expended
But say what you will there is one basic fact
in connection with this program that cannot be
denied and should not be overlooked 1t is simply
this: these are people who are perfectly able to
work There should be no doubt in the mind of
anyone that if many of these men are willing to
work. they could work. These are times of high
employment and high wages. Does anyone seri-
ously doubt that II man really wants to work.
and is willing to work hard, that he can't find
something?
Part of the argument advanced for this ill
advised cause is that these unfortunates are sea-
sonal workers. Does that mean that because they
can't work at their speciality in the off they
should sit on their hands and accept handouts
from the social agencies? If they can't find work
in some other line, they should move to a place
where some kind of honest work is available to
them. This has been the historical pattern until
recent years when the social worker began to sue
cessfully expand his horizons through preaching
the doctrine of more and more public response
bility" for the individual who in many cases can
help himself but, unfortunately, won't so long as
he live off the public treasury Let's watch
very carefully this payment of money to people
who are able to work but don't. American inita-
tive is already taking enough of a beatinel