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MAR 2 - 1936
WORK S
PROGRESS
ADMINISTRATION
HaTry L. Hcpkins , Administrato r
Co-rringtoYJ. Gill
·J.ics2.1sthnt .A.d,;1inist:::·at()r
RESEARCH
Boward B. Myers , Director
SociaJ_;Reseo.rch Division ,
BULLETIN
SURVEY OF UNEMPLOYABLE CASES Tr-i.ANSFERRED FROM FEDERAL
CARE TO STATE AND LOC_,U, CARE IN THO CC1LOP}J)O COUNTI ES
( Stud,y made in Nnvember 1935 covering June a nd J uly closings)
Series II, No . 13
Ii'ebruary 4, 1936
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'\l(JRT lWE STERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
8218
Preface
During October and November 1935, a
series of special inquiries was conmicted in a group of we stern and
southwe stern states to study the
condition of cases closed from the
relief rolls in anticipation of the
Works Program and in o.cc~ rd.ance with
the policy of transf e;:ring unemployable cases from Federal to state and
local care.
This group of studies
was planned to supplement the information obtained fro rr.: earlier inquiries into the results ofl/dministrative closings in Geor gia· .
The second series of studies wa s
carried out in mucli the same manner
a s the Ge0rgia stul i e3 .
B~ckground
information on eQch community was
secured from relief agency officials
and from citizens familiar v'.'i th the
pr oblems of relief.
Fami ly interviews were conductec in order to
secure primary da ta bearing on the
family composition, the occupational
experience of the workers, and the
economic status of each household
for comparable periods befo re and
after the closing s.
Both urban and rural communities
were covered -oy field surveys.
The
cities chosen were Sioux Falls,South
Dakota, and Little Rock, Arka11sas ;
the rural areas included Oister,
Corson, Hand,and Hutchinson Counties
1/
See Research Bulletins Seri r s II
No. 8 ; Series 1, No . 11; a nd C-19.
in So Qth Dakota and Kit Carson and
Weld Counties in Colorado.
These comim.lnities were selected not
for t he purpose of giving a picture
of conditions prevai ling generally
in the .United States, but because
they showed clearly certain kinds of
problems .
Their value in giving
direction to future admi nistrative
policy is increased by the fact that
they d.i splay di verse conditions. Two
of the studies--those in Colorado
and Arkansas--cover only unemployabl e cases and hence thro w light
upon the probl ems confronting the
state and local agencies tbat are
assuming the care of such cases. The
t wo South Dakota in~uiries, including only employable cases, yield
information u pon the significance of
ha rv~st ing work as a means of re- ducing the r elief rolls and upo n the
pro ble ms i nvolved in the development
of a com~reh ensive program to meet
tr.e needs of t he se :people.
In the t wo Colora d.o counties chosen,
the propo rtion of
administrative
closing s was consistent with that
sho wn in other parts of the state •
These counties ha~ previou sly been
s elec te d. a s Tepre s enta t i ve of t wo
rural a req,s of, t l1e state. Kit Carson
which was
heavily
affected
by
drou~ht, is chiefly devoted to the
raising of winter wheat . Sugar beets
are the chief a gricultural product
of Weld County.
Prepared by
Gordon Blackwell
under the supervision of
A. Ross Eckler, Chief,
Special Inquiries Secti~n
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-i-
.. SUi>l.rAARY
This study of tbe status of 72
rur al cases cl assi fi ed a s unc~nl oyable which wer e r emoved fr om Fed~ral
r oli of in Kit Carson and Weld cou.nties , Colorado , in June ani July 1 935
r ovealed that these cas e 3
f ar ed
~lmost as well from oo economi,
point of view, under sta te and local
c a r e as when r eceiving E.R. A. as3istance . Under the E. R. A. the aver age
amount of a id gr antei for t he l as t
full month of r eli ef was $17 . 44 f or
the ~3 cases eventually t r ansferr ed
to lo cal c a r e , while for a l ater
month the ave r age grant from state
and county funds f or the same cas es
wa s $16 . 46 . Mo reover, after r emoval
from Federal r olls , the p r iv a te i nc ome of these
c a ses
inc r ea sel
slightly.
Only 7 c a ses had eve r r eceived
a s sis tance f ro m a welfar e agency
p rior to applic a ti on fo r Feder al r eli ef .
The 72 c a ses had r eceive d
Feder al r elief for an aver ag e of 16
months each , half of them having
come on the rol ls befo r e the middle
of 1933.
However, it was not until
the nine months ' pP r iod just prio r
to the admi nistrative closinGs that
as many as thr E:e four tl..s of the
c a ; es wer e on r elief conti~uously .
Slightly mo r e than one fifth of
the fa~ilies r epo rt ed s ome decr eas e
in the amcunt cf food cons~med in
the post E.P~ -4.. roli ef pe riod as
compar ed \Vi th the E. R. A. r '3 li ef
pe ri od. Half of the c a ses wer e managing to wo r k a garden and t o c a re
for poultry or liv ~stock , and for
such far::ilies gar dJn pr oduce and
poultry and dai r y p ro ducts we r e imp ortant items of food.
Approximately two thi rds of the
p rop erty owne rs in the sample owed
re al e3 tate mo rtgage s ; these averaged nearly $1, 5C' ) in amount . Furthermore, almost thr ee fourths of all
cases owed sho r t ter m debts , averaging $2C' 9. Debts for f a r m ope r ating
expenses , delinqu ent t axes , a,.~d b ack
interest acc ounted fo r two t hi r ds of
the shor t term debts . Medical bills
we r e als o i mport an t, and gro cery
b i llR , while usually small in amount
were numerous .
Practic ally none of t hese f ami li es had any av a il able r e3our ces . Few
had life insurance in force . Most of
those with p olici e s had borrowed on
them t o the l imit . Acco r ding to investiga tion s by E.R. A. c a se wor ke r s,
ther e we r e no s Rv ings accou_~ts , and
ve ry few r ela tives could be called.
upon for ass ist ance .
.Almost all of
t De f amilies h~d exhausted thei r
av ~il ~ble r e sour ces and it app ea r ed
certa in tha t most of them would continue to be de uendent upon s ome form
of :public a s s ist ance .
Th e need fo r u ers ons t r a ined in
aQ~inisteri ~g a ii ha s b een r ecognized by th 8 sta t a. I n December 1 935
a well- organiz ed and well staffed
st~te welfare ag ency wa s crea ted to
meP,t this need oh a county b as is .
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On the whole, it a~pears t h;:i,t t he
transfer of unempl oyable c a ses fr om
Feder al to sta t e and. loc al c ar e ha s
been ac co mplished s a t i sf~c t or i ly in
Color ~do , p ro vi ded t ha t , av a il able
fun ds prove sufficient to c a r e for
the increa sed ne eds of the p resen t
lo ad throughout t he winter, together
wi t h t he needs of such additi onal
c a ses as may b e admitted to the
ro lls .
:Not e : The above c onc l 11.s ions wi th r ega r d to the
adequa cy of sta te and loc al c a r e for un employabl e c a se s i n Colorado ar e consistent wi th
t hose b a sed upon unpublisl:ed da t a col lec t ed in
Denver, Colora do . Home i n t erviews we r e not undertaken in Denv er its el f, but i nf ormation was
gat he r ed fro m loc al offici a ls a s to the success
with wh ich the t r ansfor h a d been accomplished.
Disbursemen ts of r elief f unds afte r the transfe r i n July 1 935 continued to be made t h rough
the Denv er Bur eau of Public Welf are, the same
agency which di st r ibut ,3d E. R. A. f unds .
So f a r
af; t he Bur eau of P1-1blic Wel f a r e was concer ned ,
t h e ch,:mg e i nv oJ.ved chi efl y a shift i n the
s ou r ce of funds . Henc e , the twen t~r- seven hundr ed
unemployeb l e c a s es wh ich we r e t r an sferr ed from
E. P.. A. r el i ef to state and loc al r elief expe rienced no i ntAr rup tion of buil_ge t ar y allowances .
The i r av er ,.,_g e r oli of al l owan. c e undnr s t a te and
county funds i n Sep tember wa s $20 . 76 , An amount
r ep r e s en ting only a mode r a te decl in e from t he
aver age of formQr E. R. A. gr en ts .
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3URVEY OF UllEr.~PLOY.iL8LE CMm~"3 TRAf .ST<'EREED FPOhI FEDERAL
CLRE TO STA1E Ai-JD LOCAI.. C,\ll.E IN 'TWJ C0LO?. ATO C'JUNTIES
According to an administra tive
order of July 1 , 1935 , all unemployable cases in Colo r ado were to b e
re move d from Federa l r eli ef rolls
and to become the care of the cou nties or muni ci palitie s . In June the
uumb er of unempl oyables receiving
Federal rel i ef was/ e stimated at appro ximat ely 12,9001. By the mi ld.le
of July , a c cording to fig~res relea sed by the s tate E.R .A. , 8 , 58 0
u nemployables ha d been removed from
Federa l reli ef rolls . By Sep tember
30 v ery f ew cases which could be
classified a s unemplo yable still remained under the care of the E.n . A.
The findi ngs of t his survey sulst2 nt ia te the belief t ha t the trarsf er
of most of the rural u nernploya·ole
cases from Fe Jeral relief to s t a te
and coun t y c a re wa s accompl i she d
f a irly success villy.
A fifty per cent r andom s ampl e ,
consisting of 8 0 ru r a l cases, was
selected from t he case s thus removed from Feder a l r elief rolls in
Kit Ca rson ant Weld Co un ties du r ing
June and J i l;r 1935 .
Throu f;h f a mily
i ntervi ews, full i nformati or. wa s obt a ined for 72 cas es which IJr ovid.e
the basis fo r I t he fi ndi ngs
- r euorted
~
in t hi s s tu.cl~, •
Compos itio n and Char acter i s~j_f_~
of the Families . The cases i ncl u ~ed
in t he survey fell i nto thr ee disti nct gr oups .
Ther e were 45 ca se s
in which the hec.1 d of the househo ld
l/
From da ta on file in the Dj,-i si on of Socia l Re search , Works Fr-ogr es s Admini st r a tion .
'?:_/ Five ca ses had moved ou t of the
count y sinc e t he da.te of t he a clmi ni str at ive cl osi ng , one wa s deceased,
and no tr a ce could b e ob t ained. of
t he other t wo.
wc1 s 65 ye2-.rs of age or over. In 1 0
ca ses the hea d wa s a ·.voman with one
or more children 1 6 years of a g e or
younger.
Finally in 17 ca ses the
head wa s under 65 y ear s of age, but
wa s ph ysica ll y or menta ll y di sab led.
Six of t h e 72 ca ses could no t be
call ed unemplo yable in the ; ~rict
sense of the ter m, si nce t here was
one eligible wor k er in the fami l y .
All except seven of the 45 heads
in the a g ed group we re recorded by
the E .R.A. as having some p ermane~t
disa c i lity other than old age~/ ,
r heu::ic.1 t ism occurring mo st frequently.
Tbre c ~f the 10 mothers with depen den t Ghi ldren had pe rma nent di sabili ti,a s .
The f a milies we re small,averaging
Mor e than a thir d of
the l~f., ed group a nd a n even l EJ.r ge r
pro pc :·J_l on of the di sabl ed group
consi sted of singl e - person ca ses.
2 . 3 me.::i1: e:r.'s .
Mothers with dependent chil dr en
were mu0h you nger a s a rule t r.:an the
head s of di sabl ed cases , half of
whom we re over 55 years of age and
ther ef ore usual ly too old for physica l cure or voc a tional rehabi litation . The average (medi an ) a.e:e of
heads i n the age d group wa s 68 years.
In sl ~gh tly more t han half of the
aged a nd disabled c a ses, husband and
wife wer e living to g eth er in the
hous eho ld.
Les s than half of these rural
c a s es lived in t he open country, a
~/ Da ta on heal th of the f amili e s
were t r an scribed from E .R.A. ca se
record s w~i ch had been f ill ed out by
ca se ai de s . It is no t known whe t her
the r ecords o f d~sabi liti es we re
ba se0 upon medi cal examinations in
a ll crrs es .
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proporti0n IDich smaller than in the
gener al r elief popul a tion . Nevertheless, out of every te n of these
cases, the forme r occupatiod/ of
the head was reported a s agriculture
for seven ; for t wo a non- agr icul tural occupation was record~d ; while
one in ten had neve r had an occuSi nce a majo rity
pation (Table 1 ) .
of the heads were for merly enga g ed
in agriculture , the figur es on r e si dence suggest tha t there has been a
d eci d ed tendency for unemployable
c a ses to move i nto villages.
Only seven of these unempl oyable
c a ses had ever received a id fro~ a
welfare agency prior to Federa l reThe 72 ca s e s had r eceive d
lief .
Federal r elief for an a ver age of
Ap~roxi mately
six t een months e ~ch .
one ha lf of the case s first came on
b efo r e the middl e of 193~
r elief
Early in the Feder a l r eli ef pro gr am
this parti cula r group of families
te nded to r equire only i nter mitt en t
r eli ef, but du ri ng each of the nine
mo n ths i mm edia tely p rior to t he a dminis t rative clo s i ng s of June a nd
Ju ly more than three fou r ths of
these ca ses received relief .
Compa rison of I ncome s during b . R.
A. Relief Peri od an d Pos t E.R.A. ReThe a ver age mon t hly
lief Period .
income of the 72 f amili e s ·wa s sli ghtly lo wer in t h e pos t E. n . A. r el ief
p eriod t han i n t he E .R .A. r elief
pe r ioa2/ , decli ni ns from $2O.l S to
$18 . 54 (Table 2) .
1./
Former occupa t i on w:::>.s defi ne11_ as
the occupa tion at which t n.0 head bad
b een en~ag ad f or t he l : n~e st p er iod
during h i s ,,orki ng yea r s .
'§__/ Thr,rnghou t this di ~~us sion the
l a st mo n th of Federal rel i ef is designa ted a s th e 11 E .R. A. r elief pe riod!'
a nd the p eri od Sep t ember 15 to Oct -
direct a nd v:ork r elief
av er ag ed $1 7. 00 per c a se duri ng the
Non last mon t h of Federa l r eliGf .
E.R.A. assistan ce , avera ging $1 . 76 ,
consisted in the main of Federal
surplus co rn.modi ti e s a l though a n occasional ca s e ~a s rece1v1ng ai d from
the cou nty while still on th e Feder a l rolls.
E.R.A.
D.iri ng the post E. R.A. r eli ef
pe r iod , the average amount of non-E .
R. A. assis t ance , consisting pri nci pally of aid from state and county
funds (with a small a mount of assist :3.nc e from rel a tives ) , was $1 5 . 1 9 .
I ncome co r.ipa risonsare not g r eat ly a ltered if the nine cases which
were not transferred to state a nd
county ca re are excluded . D.iri ng the
l a st month of Feder a l relief, the 63
ca ses which were t r a nsfe rred rec eived from E.R.A. an averag e of
$17 . 44 ea ch , while dur ing the post
E. P. .A. r eli e f month t hey r e ceived an
a ve r 2.ge of $1 6 . 46 from stat e a nd
cour.. ty funds .
Bo th the number of cas e s having
of
priva te in8ome and the amount
such inc ome incr ea s ed in the pos t
Ev en so , the
E.n .A. r eli ef pe riod .
privat e inco mes demon s tra ted t he in iti at ive and self-reli anc e of t hese
ca ses r ath er tLa"l their ability to
su:)po ::-t t he::1 selves . h 2l f of t he 18
ca:,es havi !1f; pr i vat e err:) loyme nt other t~an f arm O?e:,:a tion reported it
to b e o f a s easona l na t u re . In only
t hr ee i nsta nc e s v,r"l.s all of this cmpl0 y;nen t h,~ld t efore r Gmov2. l from
r eli ef . Si::t ee n of t :.-ie age d and
11 po st E .n .A. r oli cf
obcr 1 5 as t he
l,"ont:tly incor: e he re exper i ri d . "
va l e of poultry, da i ry ,
he
t
clud3s
and ,;ard e:n. pro du c ts pr oduc ed a nd
co nsuned a t home .
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disabl ed
cases 2ttempted to farm in
of them r euorted
a gro ss cash income of mor e than
$100
7om sal e of crous and livesto ck.::V .
1935 but only four
!
Debts and Available Resources .
About t wo t hirds of the 20 prope rty
owne r s in the samp l e had
t hei r
p lac e s mortgaged ;the mort gage s averaged ne B.!lY $1 , 500 .
Furthermor e ,
almost thr ee f ourths of a ll cas e s
owed shor t t er m debts which aver aged
$209 (Table 3) .
One t hir d of the
a ggr egate of the se short t erm deb t s
we r e fo r farm oper a ting expenses ; and
delinquent t axes and inter es t account ed for an other t h ird . Debts fo r
med ical car e also cons ti tut ed an imp ort ant p ortio n of the sho rt t erm
deb ts . Groc ery bills , whi l e numerou s
were usual l y smal l in amo unt . Duri ng.
t he four or fiv e months betwe en the
dat e of the administrat ive clos ing
and the ti me of int ervi ew , 30 of the
72 cases had con tracted debts a vera gi ng $30 .
The heQds of 11 fami li e s had life
i nsurance in for ce , but mo st of t hem
had b orrowed to the li mit on thei r
p ol i cies .
Investi ga tions by E.R. A.
case wor ker s r evealed no savings acRe l at i ve s who mif'.:ht
be
count s .
called up on fo ~" a ss i s tance wer e few
i n nu..rr1ber.
It ap-oear ed tha t f ew
available r esources exi sted whi ch
these families haa not exhaus t e~ and
that a h::.rse ma}ori t y wou ld continue
to be depenclent upon some f or m of
public as s i stance .
Living Co ndi t ions .
About e i ght
famili es ou t of ev,3ry ten renorted
that thei r di e t c::mtaineci as muc}1 or
mor e milk , stap les , cQnned goo ds and
~/ Expe ,t ed r ece i p t s fro m cro ps and
l i ve st ock to be sold during t he r emainder of the y ear were included i n
gro ss in com e .
fr e sh vegetab l es during the post E.
R. A. r eli ef period as d .rring the E.
Ther e appear ed
R. A. relie f pe riod .
to have been l itt l e suffe r ing up to
the ti me of the survey and l ess than
one t en th of tbe cases r ep ort ed food
as an immediate need . The ge ner ally
adequate di e t was pa:::-tly due t o t he
fac t that appro xi ma,t ely half of the
cas e s wer e manag ing t o work a smal l
ga.1~de n and to car e f or a f ew chickens
or live s to c~ .
1
The 72 cas e s we r e distribut ed
f a irly eve nly among the thr ee r a t ing s for housing condi tions : go od,
fa ir , and p oor .
Bence , the l ack of
adequate housing was a s er ious probl em for some of the fami~ies . Slightly mor e t han one f ourth owned t he ir
hom e s , while a bou t a t hir d wer e paying cash r en t and a t hir d r euor t ed
r en t - fr ee dwellings .
Case s r ep orting fr ee house r ent we r e some t ime s
living with r el a tives , whi l e a f ew
v.rer e i n dilap ida t ed shacks . A fourth
of t he famil i es had. r unn ing wat er,
whil e a fi f t h had el ec tri c ity .
I mmec.i-".t e Ne eds and Fu tur e Pro spects . Al~ost thr ee f i fths of the
case s r ep ort ed i mmediat e and definit e need s .
Mo r e than a thi r d wer e
in ne ed of winte r clothing .
One i n
e ve r y six r eport ed i nabi lity to obtain ad.equate f ue l as wint er s gt i n.
One in seven needed promp t medical
car e .
Other ne eds r ep or t ed l ess
fr equen tly were f ood , fur n itu r e , and
Over half of the sas Ls
b edd ing .
s t a t ed t.1a.t they would -be 1i nable to
ge t throw:;h the winter on the a.mount
of assistance ·being pro vid ed i n NovembE.r .
I n ad.cii tion to t hese needs f or
incr eased ass i s tan se on t he part of
the pr esent r e lief lo a d, the counti e s
we r e faced also wi t h the pro babili ty
of a marked i ncr ease in· the number
of r el i ef cast:::s during t he wint er .
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- 4Many cases not aidsd by E.R. A. or
the counti es i n tr-.2 £:.u noer or fall
of 1935 we r e e:irnectcd t o need ::i.s sista:-ise thi s wint e r .
Desp it e the li;:eliho od of an incr easing burden dl1ri ng the wint e r
r.io:i.ths , which wi l l r e su lt fro r1 incr eR..ses b o t ':l in tne arno·_rn t of ass i stance r eq,l ir e d per fam il:r and in t he
n1.unber of n 1:; e dy fa,'.lil i t-s , coun t y of ficials we r e ce r tain that
t he r e
would be no i ncr ease i:1 local fund s
above the Noverr.ber l e v el .
Th ough
allotments of stat e a id wer 1:; l ~r ge r
in NovE:mbe r
t he.n in Sep t ~rnb er and
Oc t obe r ,
it w~s
n o t ce rt ain t he t
f unds wou l d b t:! a vail~b le 0 : 1 t he
lar ge r
sc2l"° t~1ro1ighou t the wint eT,
Wit h to t a l
r,,•-::ec1. s likE:l v to expA.nd
anl tot a l f unds unli ~ely to increase
the pr o spec t
clearly is for a decr ensed amo·1n t of f inancial ass i st ance pe r case .
The Car e of ~nempl cyab l es in the
St a~ . The State of Colo r0.do has had
l egisl;:i,tio n s i nce 1910 gr an ti ng a id
to depend s- n t
childi'e:'.l in the ir own
h om es . An Ol d Ase A~~s istance A.:: t was
enac t ed in 1927 .
Unoer t he. le g i s l a tioc1 gr2nting a~d to d 0n-3:·.d e n t
chi l dren , it was m.1.d.e ma:1.c.~ato r y u1Jo n
the s eve r a l
ccmntie s to
r rovide
funds .
T~e r esponsibility f J r the
admi nis tr . t ion of
t hese f u::ids w2.s
p l aced sole ly on t he CJunti es .
The
setting ur of an old c..ge as s i s t ance
sys t e:n w::i.s 8.lso ma.de manclatorv U:!:)J n
a ll count i es .
'l1he c om1ti e s were
r eimbur se~ by the State on a ~o pu lat i o n basis f or expenli tll.J' es made
for ol d a ge ass i stance .
~he Ol d Age Ass is tance Ac t has
been amended to pe r mi t t he St ate t o
parti c i :!:)at e unde r the p rovision s of
the F ederal
Social Secur ity
Act
sral1 ting old age assista.nce .
The
l egi ela ti on gr ,rnt ing aid to depend Ent cnildr e n i n t he ir own homes has
not be en thus amended .
A two p&r cent stat e sale s tax , in
eff ect
since llar ch 1935 , has b e en
p rovidi ng a ppro ximately
$100 , 000
monthly to the counti e s and mun i c iu aliti e s to suppl emen t
exis ting
f urnls
for
old a ge assis t a nce ,
$195 , 000 monthly to suppl e me nt county
and municip al
p oor
fun d s f or the
car& of cases not e li gi~ l e for spe~
cial t ype s of as ~i s tance , and $5 , 000
~ onthly for rrdm i nis tr a tive expen s e s .
~h 2 a~ount a lloc~ t ed for cases not
e li Gible f or spe cial t;vpe s of assistan ce may be , and of ten is , used to
supuJ.emen t pensi ons when such are
i ns .J.ff i cient . These sales t a x funds
~Te ad.m ini s tered by a State Re li e f
Comr:1i ttee which r ece i ves r ep orts on
n eeds fro;-:i the se ve ral lo cal g over nment a l u nits and makes mont:ily a llocations of f unds a ccor ding l y .
1
The Care of Unerwl oy8.bl e s in the
a.s sistance
'2:'v10 Coun t ie s . Old age
childr e n in
und aid to d epe ndent
the ir own ho mes a r e administ e r e d in
bo t i.1 Kit Ca r so:t and We l <'l Co un ti e s .
Ai 1 to d E,oendent
ch ildre n is comparatively i ns ignificant in t he two
cou:-it i es because of l ack of availab le co'rnty funds .
The follo wing summar y of :pe r ce ntage change s in the numb er of cas e s
o n t he various relief p r ograms f rom
J 2.r.'.1a r y t r, Octo1Je r 1935 sho ws cl early
the tran s f e r of cases fro m F e d eral
to s tate and lo cal
r es~ ons ibili t y
(see t ab les 4 and 5 for detailed
da t a ) .
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8218
-5-
Tab l e h •
Percen t age Change s in the
Number of Cas e s hi ded by t he Vari ous
Reli ef Progr ams, J anuary t o Oc t ober
1935
Percent a ge Change
TYPe of Progr am
Kit Car s on Weld
County
County
Fede ral Program<3:./
E . R. h,( wo rk and
di r ec t r eli ef)
St a t e and Coun ty
Pr ogr ams
St ate Old J..ge
Pensions
Gene ral Rel i ef
to Unemployabl e s
Total (dupli cations
el iminated)
- 20
- 40
- 51
- 59
+86
+89
+57
-1-115
+123
+ 64
+2
-1 7
a / Include s E. R. 1,_ . , Rural Rehabi l i tation , Rural Re s ettl emen t, and W. P . 1,_.
Wi t hout sta t e aid , t he coun tiAs
would have b een ab s ol u t ely unabl e to
as sume t he ful l bur den transf err ed
t o t hem . I n t he two coun t ie s s tud i ed ,
thi s stat e aid , in t he fo rm of a ll ocations fo r ol d age assi stance and
fo r care of ot h er cas e s, amoun t ed
b etween J u l y and Octobe r to mo r e
t han four time s the t ot a l . expend ed
fr om county fun ds f or r eli ef pur Si nce t he s al e s t ax f unds
pos e s.
ha ve b een a vai l abl e , l ocal coun ty
fund s have decr eas ed noticeab l y a lthough the r eli ef l oad l:as be E:.,n ri sing st eadily .
The t 0tal amount of
state aid a llocat ed ~on t hl y t o t he
t wo counti es , bas ed on the tot al
number of case s a i ded, ranged du r ing
the l a t e summe r and ear l y fal l of
1935 f r om $11 to $18 pe r cas e .
Even with s tate aid f r om the
sales t ax , the total amoun t of avai l abl e funds did not inc r e a s e in pr o-
po rti on to th e r i s e i n t he unempl oyab lP l oa d duri ng J u ly a nd sub s e quen t
Ol d age assistan ce cas e s
months.
far ed r el at i ve ly b e tt er than other
t YPe s.
Hee d for Servi ce of Trained - pers ons .
I n Kit Cars on County , as was
true of mo st r u ral cou nt ie s i n Col orado , assistance
f r om coun ty and
st a t e f unds has b een admi ni ste r ed by
the coun t y commissi one rs , each be i ng
r e s pons ib l e fo r t he·parti cular distri c t which he r eur e s en ts .
1,_s t he
county commiss ioners have had the i r
t ime occupieQ with dut ie s ot he r t han
admi nis trat ion of r eli e f, they have
s eldom made an~r sy st ema tic inve stigation of cas e s, and med i cal examinat ions t o de t e r mi ne empl oyabil ity
have been t he excep t ion r athe r t han
the r ule . Commi ssi one rs have r eli ed
chiefly upon t he ir knowl edge of t he
citizens of the county, and a ls o upon
E. rt ,h, case r eco r d s, and have u ndoubtedl y done we ll conside ri ng the
diff i culti e s wi th whi ch t hey have
been con:!: r ont ed .
I n the absence of car eful inve st iga ti on s, r el at ive s with a dequat e
r e sour ces s ome t ime s have been abl e
to r eli eve th ews e l ves of l egitima t e
r e spons ib il i t y -by 11 r ailro ading 11 ..unemploya.b:e cas e s upon county
or
state car e .
Hon thly grants have
b een bas ed upon nur.1be r i n f amily,bu t
be;r ond that , diffe r en ti a ti on .among
cas es has no t been fr equent.
Wel d County is one of the Col or .9.dC' cour:.t ie s i n which t he r e has
t e P,n a we lfa r e organiz a t ion with
pe:rsonnel o.ualif i ed to handl e the
adminis trati on of r eli ef f r om stat e
and county fund s . The coun ty we l far e
office functioned s moo t hl y in cooffice ,
ope r ation with the E . R. 1,_.
car ing for ne edy case s not eligi bl e
f or Federal r eli ef .
Investigation
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8218
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of an application f ~r assi st ance
f r om the county included : acquisition
of past r e lief histo ry f r om the E . R.
~- offi c e , contact wi t h appli cant
and a h ome visit , collat e r al consubsequ ent
t ac ts , and occasi onal
home vi s it s if the client was accepted .
The adequacy of this investigation expl ain s why some of the
cas e s r emoved fr om r elief in this
county we r e no t able t o effec t the
transfer t o state and county aid ,
wh il e all were
Carson Count;y .
tran s ferred in Kit
Th e nee d fo r ne rs ons trai ned in
administering aid has been r ecogIn December
ni zed by the stat e .
19 35, a well s taffed s tate welfar e
agency was created , and it is pl anned
to place trained
or expe rienced
s ocial worker s in most of the c01mties .
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8218
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Tabl e 1. Distributi on of Heads of 63 Unemploya ble Cases
Removed fr om F9deral Reli e f , by Form er Occupation§.fand Sex
TotalE./
Mal e
Female
63
47
16
l,.gr iculture
~a r r.i ovmer
Farm t enant
Farm laborer
-43
17
-38
14
-
20
6
20
4
-
Non-J..gricul tur e
Vi,' hi t e- col lar
Skilled
Semi -skill ed
Unskilled
-145
-9
4
-5
2
3
4
1
1
3
6
-
For me r Occupation
Total
No usual occupation
~/
E,/
5
3
2
1
1
2
1
i
6
For me r occupati on was defin ed ~s t he occupati on at
which the head had b een engaged f or th e l onges t pe ri od
duri ng hi s wo rking years.
I nformati on c o:icerni ng fo rmer occupati on of head was
not asce rt a i nab l e for 9 cas e s with fe mal e head .
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8218
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Tabl e 2 . Di s t r ibuti on of 72 Unemp l oyable Cas e s Remov ed fr om
Fede r a l Reli ef , by Sour ce of I ncome and by .!,,mount of I ncome
f or the Las t Month of E. R.t... Rel i ef ( J une or J u l y) and t h e
Pe r i od Sept emb er 15 to Oc t ober 15
Numb ~r of Case s Re ce iving Specifi ed .!,,mounts
Sour ce of I nc ome
$40 and t..verage
Total : a ll
over per cas e"E../
amounts
$0 $1-9,$10-19 $20- 29 $30- 39
La s t Month of E . R.t...
Re l ie f
Tot a l§./: all s ourc e s
E . R.t... r e lief
No n-E . R.t... as si s tance
Priva t e inc ome
72
-
10
28
24
8
2
72
72
72
46
57
11
22 1
10 1
37
1
21
2
3
1
5
-
-
-
-
17. ooi;,__/
1.76
1. 39
7!
30
23
6
3
18 . 54
8
36
4
20
4
2
1
1
15 .1 9§;/
-
I
Sep t. 15 - Oct . 15
-- -
I
II
Tot al !!E:.f : all s our c e s
No n-E . R.t... a ss is t ance
Pri vate inc ome
72
3
72
72
5
50
13 1
I
a/
tQ/
Q/
§;/
.
$20 .1 5
I
3 . 35
The total numb e r of cas e s r'r.lli ng i n R {;" -:.. ve:c cJ.as s i nt er val i n thi s r ow do e s not
equal t he sum of t he cor r e .:;pcn di ng fr ~T.-c"nc ie s i n the t wo or thr ee subordi na t e
rows i mmediat e ly bel ow it b scaua e a ca s e :r ece iving a sp ecifi ed total i nc ome ,
e . g . $25 . 00 , may r ec e ive $15 . 00 fr om E . R . J,. ., $7 . 50 f r om Non- E. R.t..., and $2 . 50
f r om p r i va t e earnings, and hen ce will no t be cl a s sifi ed in the $20- 29 class
int erval in any of t he subordi nat e r ows .
t..ve r age s we r e bas ed on 72 cas e s.
The a verage amoun t of E . R.t... r el i ef f or t he 63 case s even t ua l l y trA.n s f er r ed t o
stat e a nd county car e was $17 . 44 .
Th e a verage amount of a ssistance f r om state and c oun ty fund s f or the 63 cas e s
t r ansf err ed t o s t a te and col:.Ilty c ar e was $16 . 46 .
Digitized by
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821 8
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Ta-bl e 3 . Deb ts Othe r t han Real Es tate Mortga ges of
72 Unemployab l e Ca ses Remo ve d fr om Fede ral Relief ,
Cla ss if i ed by Type of Deb t
Type of de bt
UuJnber of
case s
I r epo rt ing
I debts
I
Debt s
Percent
.hilJOunt
of
t otal
Tot al shor t term deb ts~/
52
$10 ,869
100 . 0
Far m operatirrs, l oan s and
expen2e sl
Tax a rr ears
I nteres t ar r ears
Medical
Gr oce ri e s
Rent
Other
12
21
9
30
28
9
16
3 , 630
1, 97 7
1, 654
1, 326
920
242
1,1 20
33 . 4
18 . 2
15 . 2
12 . 2
8 .5
2.2
10 . 3
I
Ii
I
I
~/
b/
.b.verage
debt
pe r cas e
r epo r ting
$209
I
I
I
303
94
1 84
44
33
27
70
I
I ncludes $903 in debts cont r ac t e d by 30 famili e s s ince the adnini st rati v e cl osi ng .
Include s fe ed and s eed l oans , chat t el mortgages held by individua ls, banks , supply merchan ts , etc . , and fa r m ope r ating
ex~ense debts not s e cured by cna tt els .
Digitized by
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Table
4.
l'hunbe r of Cases Airlc d by t he Vario us Re. l •.ef Pro gr ams (Feri eral , Stat e and Cou-:1.ty)
in Kit Car s on an rl We l rl Coiinties , Colo
r ad o , J anua r y - Oc tot e r 1935
-.
I
Month
z
1~135
0
~
~
m
--J
co·
m rt
:;;o ;:::;·
Z ro
0..
o-
C
z
'<
<
m
:;;o
l/l
~
11:i t Ca rs on
J anuary
Febru ary
Marc i,
Apr:i 1
May
Ju ne
---
J1.1lv
J.UGU St
Septembe r
Oc tobe r
z
0
~
I
~
mo
V) :::!.
Weld
--January
Feb r uary
March
Ap r i l
I-.iay
June
1, 007
97 1
945
758
858
676
3, LJ.+R
3, 367
3, 141
2,1 28
I
i
·· , ••A.. •
·! • .r
1;_a
152
151
160
165
281
353
I
I
I
I
I
I
:;;o
OJ
z:::;;
co
z3
<
m
:;;o
Ju l y
Aur.;ust
Septe;nbe r
Oc t obe r
l/l
~
~
~
1, 843
1, 783
1, 638
1,321
3
385
410
406
W+5
469
537
!p
200
I
I
I
78
132
no
138
i
I
I
25
31
31
I
I--'
C__i
I
I
Li>O
I
29
71
56
61
210
222
229
230
--j lO
m 3·
Total b/
62
53
l?Li
II
Count y Ain t o
:lepenr1ent
Ch· l c1 r en in
The:i r Oi:m Homes
Gene r a l
r e l jef t o
unemp lov -·
a h les ~/
State
Ol d Af!,e
Assi.stan c e
178
5h9
532
520
Lr95
3, 189
3, 43e
-
Ru ral Re - I Rur a l Re habi l itase i~t le men t ,, on
t i on ( on
rol lP)
r olls )
EP..A (work
· & d:i. r ect)
I
l/lo
-
425
5
600
676
772
826
I
i
i
I
I
I
318
305
352
331
299
3J_J+
3
3
521
606
~
5
3
3
3
3
3
I
3
3, 05
J_
County funds , su pp l emented a fte r Ju l y by f und s f r om s t ate sa l e s tax: inc l udes c ash a nd co nmorlity
outdoor r e l ·ef , medica l c a r e , h os pltaJizati on, b l i nd bene fits , hu r ia ls , e tc .
Adjusted t o e l imi nat e dup l i cati ons . I t was ne c essary in som e in s t a nces t o use e s timate s by local
offi c ia l s as t o the number of dup l i c a ti ons between r u ral r ehabi l itati on and ERA r e l ief , general
r e li e f t o ~nemp loyab l es and ERA r e l ief , gene r al r e l ie f t o unempl oyab l es and old age pensions , etc.
CD
t\)
I--'
(X)
8218
-11-
Table 5.
Numbe r of Case s Aided by Fede r al arid St ate and Count y Re li e f
Pr ograms i n Kit Carson and '.Ve ld Counties , Colorado,
J ;muary - October 1935
Kit Ge rson Coun ty
St a te &
Federal§) County§:/ Total~
Month
1935
J anuary
Febr uar y
March
April
M<Q"
J une
J u ly
Augus t
September
October
§:./
~
I
Weld County
St a te &
Federalg_/ Count/51 TotalQ/
1, 007
9 71
945
934
1 , 060
1, 003
209
205
180
231
221
235
1,1 64
1,139
1,109
1 , 108
1, 072
1, 023
3 ,1 89
3 , 438
3 , 448
3 , 376
3 ,191
2 , 488
706
798
761
779
791
884
3 , S95
4 , 036
4 , 021
4 , 002
3 , 837
3, 240
863
825
796
288
368
379
388
1,124
1, 184
1,175
1, 192
2 , 293
2 , 223
2 , 068
1, 907
1 ,11 2
1 , 248
1 , 281
1 , 333
3 , 28 3
3, 336
3, 184
3 , 056
80 4
i
I
:Base d on Table 4 but adjus t ed to eli!llinqte duplica t ions .
Ad j usted to eliminate du1)li cat ions .
Digitized by
Original from
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Digitized by
Original from
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
