North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration. Emergency Relief in North Carolina. A Record of the Development and the Activities of the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration, 1932-1935. North Carolina Emergency Relief Commission, State Administrator, Mrs. Thomas O'Berry. Edited by J.S. Kirk, Walter A. Cutter [and] Thomas W. Morse

Emergency Relief in North Carolina. A Record of the Development and the Activities of the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration, 1932-1935. North Carolina Emergency Relief Commission, State administrator, Mrs. Thomas O'Berry. Edited by J.S. Kirk, Walter A. Cutter [and] Thomas W. Morse:
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North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration

Edited by J.S. Kirk, Walter A. Cutter, Thomas W. Morse

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(title page) Emergency Relief in North Carolina. A Record of the Development and the Activities of the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration, 1932-1935. North Carolina Emergency Relief Commission, State administrator, Mrs. Thomas O'Berry. Edited by J.S. Kirk, Walter A. Cutter [and] Thomas W. Morse
(cover) Emergency Relief in North Carolina
(spine) Emergency Relief in North Carolina
North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration
Kirk, J.S. (Jacob Sydney), 1909-, Cutter, Walter A. (Walter Alrey), 1902-, Morse, Thomas W.
544 p., ill.
[Raleigh, NC]
[Edwards & Broughton]
1936

C360 U58e1 (North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

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[Frontispiece Image] The Restored Chapel of Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island

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[Title Page Image]

EMERGENCY RELIEF IN
NORTH CAROLINA A Record of the Development and the Activities of
THE NORTH CAROLINA
EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION
1932-1935

NORTH CAROLINA EMERGENCY RELIEF COMMISSION
HOWARD W. ODUM, Chairman
C. A. DILLON
TERRY A. LYON
L. H. KITCHIN
HARRIET W. ELLIOT
STATE ADMINISTRATOR
MRS. THOMAS O'BERRY

Edited by
J. S. KIRK
WALTER A. CUTTER
THOMAS W. MORSE

1936

Page 4

TO
THE WORKERS

on the staffs of the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration whose enduring services made possible its record of achievements in the State, this book is gratefully dedicated.

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NORTH CAROLINA
EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

JOHN C. B. EHRINGHAUS
GOVERNOR HOWARD W. ODUM, CHAIRMANCLYDE A. DILLON, COMMISSIONHARRIET W. ELLIOTT, COMMISSIONLELAND H. KITCHIN, COMMISSION TERRY A. LYON, COMMISSION MRS. THOMAS O'BERRY
ADMINISTRATOR

HONORABLE J. C. B. EHRINGHAUS
Governor of North Carolina
State Capitol
Raleigh, North Carolina

My dear Governor Ehringhaus:

I have the honor to submit herewith the final report of the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration covering the period from August 8, 1933, to December 5, 1935, operating as a state agency under Federal direction.

Included with the report of this administration is a brief summary of the preceding administration under Doctor Fred W. Morrison, State Director of the Governor's Office of Relief, for the period October, 1932, to August 8, 1933, which summary has been approved by the Executive Assistant to the former Relief Director.

This report was prepared not only as a permanent record of the administration of relief in North Carolina, including the accounting of all funds advanced to the Emergency Relief Administration, but also as a reference book through which students and public citizens alike may find an accurate picture of conditions as they were at the beginning of Federal aid for relief to the state and the progressive development of measures and activities to relieve the situation.

On behalf of the administration, permit me to express the appreciation of your splendid cooperation, and the coöperation of all the departments of state government in furthering the program and policies under the direction of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.

I also desire to record the fine coöperation of local municipal and governmental units in furthering the program in political subdivisions and the loyal and unselfish service of the members of the staff and of the employees of both state and local administrations.

With high esteem, I am

Respectfully yours,

MRS. THOMAS O'BERRY,
Administrator.

September 1, 1936

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FRONTISPIECE. . . . .2
ADMINISTRATOR'S FOREWORD 7
INTRODUCTION 9
DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATION OF RELIEF IN NORTH CAROLINA 22
OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 63
CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION 65
REPORTS OF THE DIVISIONS OF THE EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION AND REPORTS ON SPECIAL PROGRAMS 123-279,317-386
RURAL REHABILITATION 281-315
DIRECTORY OF PERSONNEL 115-118,387-413
APPENDIX 415
INDEX 539
GUIDE TO APPENDIX: LEGISLATIVE ACTS, EXPLANATIONS, SUMMARIES AND TABLES IN THE APPENDIX 542
LIST OF TABLES IN TEXT 543
LIST OF MAPS AND CHARTS IN TEXT 543

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FOREWORD

In compiling the final report of the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration, we have endeavored to present a complete summary of the program as a permanent record of the relief problems and activities in the state. Included with a detailed account of the Emergency Relief Administration is a brief summary of the activities of the preceding program financed from Reconstruction Finance Corporation funds, administered by the Governor's Office of Relief, and of the Civil Works Administration. It is hoped that it may serve as a reference volume wherein may be found the inception and development of the Federal program of unemployment relief. The Congressional Acts authorizing each appropriation will be found in the appendix.

The second annual report of the Emergency Relief Administration was in the process of preparation in 1935 when it was announced that direct relief would be discontinued in the early fall, to be followed by the liquidation of the Emergency Relief Administration, and that its program would be absorbed by other agencies. It was then decided to include the annual report in a final report of the entire relief program.

A pictorial review of work projects and special programs has been combined in this one volume with the narrative and statistical accounts. The photographs were made by photographers on ERA work relief projects.

It has been a privilege to have a part in the President's Recovery Program, and the courageous leadership of the Federal Administrator and his assistants has been a constant inspiration to all members of the relief organization.

On behalf of the entire Emergency Relief Administration, both state and local, I wish to express our gratitude to the Governor of North Carolina, who at all times gave full coöperation in the interpretation and application of the policies of the Federal Administration in the state, and constructive criticism and advice in administrative matters and relief policies.

We acknowledge with appreciation the coöperation of all Federal agencies in the effort to coördinate policies and programs, thus aiding in the success of the relief program.

State officials and all the departments of the state government have contributed their full assistance in furnishing information, and in the supervision of work projects concerned with the functions of their respective departments.

The state educational institutions have rendered invaluable service in directing research, furnishing technical information and supervision in all phases of the relief program.

A further contribution of the state has been the provision of rental and maintenance of offices for the state administration.

Local government officials have contributed materials, supervision for work projects, and assistance in administrative matters. In the majority of counties and districts, office space and equipment were made available to the relief administration by the local governments.

Special mention should be made of the leaders of the Adult Education Movement in the state who have so generously assisted in the Emergency Relief Education Program.

Religious, fraternal, civic, and private charitable organizations, and interested citizens have been generous in their services.

Recognition should be given to those representatives of the press who have endeavored to interpret the policies and purposes of the relief program in their true light.

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The entire Relief Administration is grateful to all those who have so splendidly coöperated in furthering the relief program.

The administrative personnel of the state office, the local and district administrations, and others who have been a part of the organization, have served with a devotion to a cause, a loyalty and an enthusiasm rarely found. A unity of purpose and action and an "esprit" on the part of all who were responsible for the welfare of those for whom the Emergency Relief Administration was created to serve has been evident. Whether the position was minor or executive, the work has been regarded as an opportunity rather than a job. No work has been too hard, no hours too long, for the staffs to respond to the constant demands made upon them. During my thirty months as administrator they have never failed to swing into action for reorganization or for a pressing request of any kind. To them, my co-workers in the program, I pay tribute for their courage, their loyalty, and their determination to do the job to the best of their ability, regardless of the personal sacrifice involved. Their hearts were in the success of the program. Their consideration was for the people whom the Emergency Relief Administration served. No reference is made to names of those in the employ of the Emergency Relief Administration, but the names of the administrators of the reorganized districts and the full staffs for the peak month are given in the personnel directory. The names of persons on administrative projects are not included in the personnel directory, but the Administration recognizes and appreciates their valuable service in directing special programs.

The liquidation of the Emergency Relief Administration, begun immediately following the cessation of relief on December 5, 1935, has progressed in an orderly fashion and as rapidly as possible. Social work records were transferred to the State Public Welfare Department. Financial, statistical, and work project records were checked and filed for future reference. Materials and equipment have been made available to the Works Progress Administration, the Resettlement Administration, and other Federal and state government agencies. Other materials, tools, and equipment have been transferred to the Rural Rehabilitation Corporation for continued use in the state. The final audit of all expenditures will be completed at the earliest possible date.

For the preparation of this report, we acknowledge with appreciation the coöperation of the State Treasurer in furnishing the administration with financial figures of the state government; the Local Government Commission in furnishing analyses of municipal and county finances; the Public Welfare Department in furnishing the summary of activities of the Governor's Council of Unemployment, and state and county aid to Public Welfare; and the county officials in furnishing the figures on local contributions to charitable institutions and county relief.

This report has been compiled from the reports of heads of divisions of the Emergency Relief Administration, whose names are given in the directory of personnel, many of whom are now with other organizations. The responsibility for compiling and editing this report has fallen on a few people, to whom acknowledgment is due. The Bookkeeping Division, under Mr. S. A. Rowe, and the Statistical Division, under Dr. Hugh P. Brinton, Mr. Thomas Betts, and Mr. J. S. Kirk, have had a major part in preparing the work project and statistical analyses; the Works Division report was written and compiled by Mr. T. W. Morse; reports on special programs have been compiled by Mr. W. A. Harris; the graphs and charts were made by Mr. Waller Wynne, Mr. Arthur Carraway, and Mr. J. S. Kirk; Miss Cora Page Godfrey, Mrs. Mary Dunaway Scheld, and Miss Georgia Biggs have typed the copy for the printer; and the entire volume was edited by Dr. Walter Cutter, Mr. J. S. Kirk, and Mr. T. W. Morse.

MRS. THOMAS O'BERRY,
State Administrator.

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INTRODUCTION

The forms of public relief, limited as they were, which existed in the United States before the present emergency, were in a line of direct descent from the English poor law system established in the 16th century. With the enactment of the Statute of Henry XVIII in 1536 which enjoined local public officials and church wardens to search out and make provision for the poor, the foundation of both English and American poor law was laid.

Although no public funds were set aside for the relief of such persons, this law marked a decisive step away from the repressive and penal measures which had been enforced in the period immediately preceding, when the swarms of masterless and landless men which were roving over England, due to the dissolving of the monasteries and the gradual breaking-up of the feudal system, seemed to call for summary action.

Publicly financed relief really began in 1572, with the Second Statute of Elizabeth. Although there had been an injunction, accompanied by some compulsion, to contribute in the past, this law marked an advance by providing for the appointment of specific civil officers ("collectors and overseers of the poor") to administer needed relief and to levy a tax on their fellow citizens for the purpose.

When the British Parliament, in 1597 and 1601, codified English poor laws, certain major principles were enunciated: (1) Persons unable to work were to be maintained, usually in almshouses; (2) Work was to be provided for those able to work, and punishment for those able but unwilling to work; (3) Needy children were to be bound out as apprentices; (4) Relatives were made responsible for needy kinsfolk; (5) Public relief was to be financed by taxation; (6) There was to be administration by overseers of the poor appointed by justices of the peace.

This Elizabethan Poor Law was the first great systematic relief measure in modern times. Until 1834, it served as the legal and philosophic basis of English poor relief, and when the early colonists came to America, this philosophy of relief was brought along as were so many other British institutions.

Although poor laws and relief of poverty in the United States continued to rest upon the principle of the British law until the beginning of the present decade, there was in the American system one basic difference. Whereas in England, legislation and provision for the poor tended to be national in its character, in this country it was local. While greater economic opportunity made poverty relatively rare, there were, as early as the 17th century, certain definite methods of dealing with poverty.

The almshouse was the commonest form of relief, and even recently, it has been described as the fundamental institution of American poor relief. This institution, unfortunately, became the repository for all types of dependency and maladjustment, being used for aged persons, sick and insane persons, persons with contagious diseases, transients, or as popularly termed, tramps, crippled persons, and perhaps worst of all, children.

Relief outside of the almshouse in general, took three forms: (1) Children, and those adults who were physically able were farmed out to work to contractors who supplied in whatever measure the needs of the workers in return for the work to be gotten out of them. (2) Another form of relief disposed of needy persons to employers who contracted to care for them, the usual auctioning procedure

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being reversed in that the unfortunate person went to the lowest bidder. (3) Direct aid was sometimes extended in the home, but such aid was infrequent, inadequate and extended usually when the need was of brief duration.

Public poor relief was provided only by local governments, with two types of poor law administration being developed, based on the township and the county. Gradually these types were supplemented by the city plan of relief administration. When state governments entered relief activity, and this was comparatively recently, they restricted their participation almost exclusively to supervision.

RELIEF PRACTICES UNDERGO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES

In the period elapsing between colonial times and the present emergency certain profoundly significant changes in public relief practices transpired, some gradual, some of recent occurrence.

1. There has been a growing tendency towards the use of "outdoor relief," that is, direct relief outside of institutions, and toward the segregation of different types of dependents. This tendency has served to a great extent to displace the almshouse as the fundamental institution of poor relief.

2. The almshouse, which is now called by various names, the county home, the county infirmary, etc., ceased to be the repository for all types of delinquents, and for children, and became an institution primarily for the care of the aged and infirm.

While there was no comprehensive plan for the adequate care of all types of needy persons, there were, nevertheless, appreciable advances.

3. Public relief activities underwent appreciable coördination and centralization, proving conducive to both uniformity and to elevating standards for administration.

4. Other trends became increasingly important as time went on, although these were limited in their influence until the present emergency. (a) Needy persons have come to place an increasing relative dependence on public relief as compared with private charity; (b) More adequately trained and better qualified persons have been used to a greater extent in the administration of relief; (c) There have been growing attempts, with some degree of success, to provide more adequate relief and individualized treatment; (d) Preventive and rehabilitative measures have been substituted for merely palliative relief.

But even in the present century, the majority of people were reluctant to accept public aid, its acceptance being regarded as a humiliation and a disgrace, attaching an undesirable stigma to the recipient. This attitude has developed, doubtless, from a number of causes. The repressive and penal character of early English "poor relief" legislation undoubtedly played a large part. Then the perfectly understandable human aversion to being considered a failure in the battle of life has entered in. This consideration joins naturally with our American individualism. There is always a public feeling that failure to achieve success (usually measured in material gain) is proof positive of a basic lack, and for this lack the unfortunate person should be penalized, and his care should be so arranged that it could be undertaken at the least possible expense.

But it becomes increasingly apparent, that the State in its general program of protecting its citizens has as a fundamental responsibility the lending of assistance to those whose welfare and actual security is endangered. Normally, when times are less disturbed, care for destitution is a comparatively minor governmental activity. In an emergency as widespread as that of the present, governmental participation in the problem of relieving relief is of an importance difficult to appraise.

In the past five years of economic depression, vast numbers of workers, normally independent, have been compelled to accept private and public aid as a desirable alternative to starvation. A peculiarity about this crisis lies in the large numbers and classes of persons involved who were fortunate

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in escaping the consequences of previous periods of economic upheaval. This almost unbelievable increase in dependency has compelled the State and Federal Governments to assume a larger share of the responsibility for relief. With the development of new plans and new methods, the administration of relief has become a major function of government.

With this brief notice of the historical antecedents of our present day views of relief, it will be valuable to trace the developing recognition of the Federal Government's direct responsibility to supplement state funds in aiding impoverished citizens.

DEVELOPING RECOGNITION OF GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY

In a statement made by President Herbert Hoover to United States Senators Robinson and Watson, he proposed that loans to the states for relief purposes be made through the existing Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Excerpts from his statement, published in the New York Herald Tribune on May 13, 1932, follow:

"The policy steadfastly adhered to up to the present time has been that responsibility for relief to distress belongs to private organizations, local communities and the states. That fundamental policy is not to be changed. But since the fear has arisen that existing relief measures and resources may prove inadequate in certain localities and to insure against any possible breakdown in those facilities it is proposed that authority be granted to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to assist such states as may need it by underwriting only state bonds or by loaning directly to such states as may not be in position temporarily to sell securities in the market. The funds so obtained to be used for relief purposes and the total limited to $250,000,000 or $300,000,000.

"The second part of the program contemplates providing the machinery whereby employment may be increased through restoring normal occupations rather than works of artificial character. Without entering the field of industrial or public expansion, there are a large number of economically sound and self-supporting projects of a constructive replacement character that would unquestionably be carried forward were it not for the present situation existing in the capital markets and the inadequate functioning of the credit machinery of the country. They exist both in the field of public bodies and of industry. There is no dearth of capital, and on the other hand there is a real demand for capital for productive purposes that have been held in abeyance. The problem is to make the existing capital available and to stimulate its use in constructive capital activities. This involves under existing conditions resort to special machinery which is adapted to furnish the necessary element of confidence.

"It is proposed to use the instrumentality of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which has a nation-wide organization, by authorizing the corporation either to underwrite or make loans for income-producing and self-sustaining enterprises which will increase employment whether undertaken by public bodies or private enterprises.

"In order to safeguard the program beyond all question it is proposed that there must be proper security for the loans; that, as said, projects must be income-producing; that borrowers must have sufficient confidence to furnish part of the capital and that the project must contribute to early and substantial employment.

"It is proposed to provide the necessary funds as they are required by the sale of securities of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and its total borrowing powers to be increased up to $3,000,000,000. It is not proposed to issue government bonds. It is hoped that this further process of

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speeding up the economic machine will not involve any such sum. But in view of the early adjournment of Congress it is desirable to provide an ample margin.

"It is necessary sharply to distinguish between the use of capital for the above purposes and its use for unproductive public works. This proposal represents a flow of funds into productive enterprises, which is not taking place today because of abnormal conditions. These being loans on security and being self-liquidating in character, do not constitute a change against the taxpayer or the public credit. The issue of bonds for public works, non-productive of revenue, is a direct charge either upon the taxpayer or upon the public credit, the interest on which and the ultimate redemption of which must be met from taxation.

"An examination shows that to increase Federal government construction work during the next year beyond the amounts already provided for would be to undertake works of largely artificial character far in advance of public return and would represent a wasteful use of capital and public credit."

THE RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION, JULY, 1932

In July, 1932, legislation empowering the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to use certain funds was enacted and the Corporation was authorized to make available the sum of $300,000,000.00 to aid the several States and Territories. (The full text of this legislation will be found in the Appendix.) This act provided for payments to the governors of the several states, after application had been made and approved, with the reservation that not more than 15 per cent of this sum could be made available to any one State or Territory.

Provision was made for systematic repayment to the Corporation by deductions from regular Federal grants made to the States (for highway construction and rural post roads). Interest was to be at 3 per cent per annum. Provision was made also for successive applications, when necessary, by the state governors. The central social provision of this legislation is found in an excerpt from the statement of description, that the money should be used "in furnishing relief and work relief to needy and distressed people and relieving the hardship resulting from unemployment."

On this basis, the Federal funds were made available to the states in the early fall of 1932, the states having full control of expenditures of the funds advanced to them, and full responsibility for determining policies best adapted to the varying local conditions. During the winter of 1932 and 1933, millions of people, suddenly thrown out of employment through the rapid failure of banks, industrial and business plants, were facing starvation. Aid was extended in both direct and work relief. No uniform plan was developed until the Emergency Relief Act was passed in May, 1933.

Following his inauguration, President Roosevelt, in his message to Congress, on March 21, 1933, presented his plans for an expanded and unified program of unemployment relief. These plans included a broad public works program with the double objective of giving needed employment, and the conservation and development of the country's natural resources. The President's recommendations resulted in the immediate passage of CCC legislation, on March 31, 1933, and the Federal Emergency Relief Act on May 12, 1933.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S MESSAGE OF MARCH 21, 1933, TO CONGRESS, RESULTING
IN THE FERA LEGISLATION

(As published in the New York Times, March 22, 1933.)

To the Congress:

"It is essential to our recovery program that measures immediately be enacted aimed at unemployment relief. A direct attack on this problem suggests three types of legislation.

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"The first is the enrollment of workers now by the Federal Government for such public employment as can be quickly started and will not interfere with the demand for or the proper standards of normal employment.

"The second is grants to States for relief work.

"The third extends to a broad public works labor-creating program.

"With reference to the latter I am now studying the many projects suggested and the financial questions involved. I shall make recommendations to the Congress presently.

"In regard to grants to States for relief work I advise you that the remainder of the appropriation of last year will last until May. Therefore, and because a continuance of Federal aid is still a definite necessity for many States, a further appropriation must be made before the end of this special session.

"I find a clear need for some simple Federal machinery to coördinate and check these grants of aid. I am, therefore, asking that you establish the office of Federal Relief Administrator, whose duty it will be to scan requests for grants and to check the efficiency and wisdom of their use.

"The first of these measures which I have enumerated, however, can and should be immediately enacted. I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects.

"I call your attention to the fact that this type of work is of definite, practical value, not only through the prevention of great present financial loss but also as a means of creating future national wealth. This is brought home by the news we are receiving today of vast damage caused by floods on the Ohio and other rivers.

"Control and direction of such work can be carried on by existing machinery of the Departments of Labor, Agriculture, War and Interior.

"I estimate that 250,000 men can be given temporary employment by early summer if you give authority to proceed within the next two weeks.

"I ask no new funds at this time. The use of unobligated funds, now appropriated for public works, will be sufficient for several months.

"This enterprise is an established part of our national policy. It will conserve our precious natural resources. It will pay dividends to the present and future generations. It will make improvements in national and state domains which have been largely forgotten in the past few years of industrial development.

"More important, however, than the material gains will be the moral and spiritual value of such work. The overwhelming majority of unemployed Americans who are now walking the streets and receiving private or public relief would infinitely prefer to work. We can take a vast army of these unemployed out into healthful surroundings. We can eliminate to some extent at least the threat that enforced idleness brings to spiritual and moral stability.

"It is not a panacea for all the unemployment, but it's an essential step in this emergency. I ask its adoption."

THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS LEGISLATION, MARCH 31, 1933

In the period elapsing between the Presidential message to Congress, and the passage of legislation necessary to set up the FERA, there was another significant development which occurred, the establishment,

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by Act of Congress, of the Civilian Conservation Corps, usually designated the CCC. Designed to provide employment for unemployed young men, this CCC program has been one of the most profitable activities among those in which the Federal Government has engaged. The Corps was to engage in "the construction, maintenance and carrying on of works of a public nature in connection with the forestation of land belonging to the United States or to the several States which are suitable for timber production, the prevention of forest fires, floods and soil erosion, plant pest and disease control, the construction, maintenance or repair of paths, trails and firelanes in the national parks and national forests, etc., etc. (The full text of this act will be found in the Appendix.)

The advantages of the CCC program were so numerous that after it had been operating for a period, the enrollment was increased so that more young men could receive the benefits of camp life while contributing subsistence to their families and useful public services to the States. The Corps has made a distinguished record throughout the nation. The report of its activities in this state will be found elsewhere in this volume.

THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ACT, MAY, 1933

(The full text of this act may be found in the Appendix)

In May, 1933, a national relief authority, designed to avert the collapse of state and local relief was created by act of Congress. This authority was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which assumed, under the act, responsibility for the distribution of Federal relief funds and for the coördination of relief activities in the various states. The sum of $500,000,000.00, later augmented by an additional $950,000,000.00, was put at the disposal of this authority to assist the states in meeting relief costs and to permit more adequate standards of relief. A further purpose was to improve the methods employed by relief administrative units in the several states.

Under the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the duties and powers of the national organization are clearly prescribed. One of its essential features was a recognition of the duty of the Federal government to contribute directly to the aid of the States, and without provision for future repayment.

Grants were made on a twofold basis: which provided (1) that each state should receive a "matched" appropriation, paid quarterly, equal to one-third of the amount of public funds spent for relief purposes within the State in the preceding quarter year; and (2) that further grants should be made to those States which could demonstrate that funds under the matching provision were inadequate. The funds provided were to be used by the States to provide direct relief in cash or in kind, to pay work relief wages, and to finance other specified types of aid. Funds for transient relief and for grants to self-help organizations are allotted apart from the "matching" provision.

Under the provisions of the Federal Emergency Relief Act, there came into existence the largest relief-dispensing agency that this country has ever seen. The operation of the various programs under its regulations has constituted a social phenomenon of a magnitude and significance difficult to appraise with any adequacy at the present time. It is sufficient to say that in one way or another the effects of this bold and unprecedented excursion into the field of public relief will have an undeniable influence on any future philosophy of dispensing monetary or other aid to those suffering the evils of widespread unemployment.

Beginning in July as a combination work and direct relief program, it soon became apparent that measures to accelerate actual employment were necessary, so the CWA, a strictly works program, was inaugurated by Executive Order of the President on November 9, 1933.

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EXECUTIVE ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Creation of the Federal Civil Works Administration:

By virtue of the authority vested in me under title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (Public, No. 67, 73d Cong.), and for the purpose of increasing employment quickly:

(1) I hereby establish a Federal Civil Works Administration, and appoint as Administrator thereof the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator, as an agency to administer a program of public works as a part of, and to be included in, the comprehensive program under preparation by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, which program shall be approved by the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works and shall be known as the "civil works program."

(2) The Federal Emergency Relief Administrator, as the head of the Federal Civil Works Administration, is authorized to construct, finance, or aid in the construction or financing of any public-works project included in the civil works program and to acquire by purchase any real or personal property in connection with the accomplishment of any such project and to lease any such property with or without the privilege of purchase.

(3) The said Administrator is further authorized to appoint without regard to the civil service laws or the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, and fix the compensation of such officers, experts, and employees, and prescribe their duties and authority and make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books and books of reference, and for paper, binding, and printing), as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the Federal Civil Works Administration and, with the consent of the State or municipality concerned, may utilize such State and local officers and employees as he may deem necessary.

(4) For the purposes of this order, there is hereby allocated to the Federal Civil Works Administration the sum of $400,000,000 out of the appropriation of $3,300,000,000 authorized by section 220 of the National Industrial Recovery Act and made by the Fourth Deficiency Act, fiscal year 1933, approved June 16, 1933 (Public, No. 77, 73d Cong.).

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.

The White House,
November 9, 1933.

The general plan for CWA as given, on November 15, 1933, by Harry Hopkins, Federal Emergency Relief Administrator, is printed in full in the text because of its social significance. Part is given immediately following, and that part which deals specifically with the actual set up and procedures of CWA will be found immediately preceding the CWA report on page 65.

THE PLAN FOR CWA AS OUTLINED IN HARRY HOPKINS' SPEECH OF NOVEMBER 15, 1933

"I think everybody in this room knows as much about this relief business as I do. You know that last winter four and a half million families were receiving public relief, or about 21,000,000 people in the United States. You know that that list has come down from four and a half million families to about three million families in September, but that those three million families still represent between fourteen and fifteen million people. You know that these fifteen million people in America have been placed upon a relief basis, that these carpenters, brick-layers, masons, engineers, architects, draughtsmen, have gone to relief offices and have filled out application blanks and an investigator has gone to their homes to find out whether or not they had any money in the bank or whether they had a life insurance policy, whether or not they had any resources, and that a record

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was made of that information, and then if that person was in need he or she was given relief. He was given a grocery order or perchance his rent was paid or his gas bill was paid by an order.

"Other large numbers of them numbering well over a million, were given what is known as work-relief, and they were given as many hours of work per week on some kind of public project as would provide enough money to meet this minimum budget. Many of them on work relief instead of receiving cash were given grocery orders for their work relief, so that literally millions and millions of people in this country for the past two years have never seen any money, have been living on a scheme and a system of grocery orders. Other millions who have received cash or work relief have received how much? Well, the whole four and a half million families last winter received an average of fifty cents a day per family, and right now they are getting about sixty cents a day per family--fifteen million people in America placed on a standard of living that nobody in this room would say is a decent American standard. Then on top of that these fine people, the finest there are in the country, have got to come to these relief offices of ours, no matter how well they are run, and ask for relief, have strangers come into their homes, and, in the main, get a grocery order. Nobody likes it. Let no one say that the people that have been administering relief in the United States like it. They have been trying to do a job and in the main that job has been well done. Relief, in the main, over the United States has been administered on a fair, decent basis. People have been treated decently when they have gone into those offices. But the idea of fifteen million people depending for their livelihood in that fashion is unthinkable; it is unthinkable that that system should be continued any longer than it absolutely has to be.

"The President has decided that in so far as it is humanly possible that shall be wiped out, and in its place men able and willing to work on the relief rolls and other millions not on the relief rolls shall be given a job on public works that is a real job at a fair wage, at a going rate, so that they can be self-supporting, independent American citizens. The program I am going to discuss with you this morning is the program of the President by which he proposes to put four million men in the United States to work in thirty days. So much for that speech.

"This could not have been possible were it not for the fact that the Public Works Board appropriated $400,000,000 to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which in turn by the President's order has become the Civil Works Administration to prosecute those projects. Our funds for this come from Public Works entirely and therefore any funds that we spend from this $400,000,000 must be expended according to the Public Works Law."

BEGINNING OF AN EXPANDED ERA PROGRAM

After four months of operation of the CWA, a program which for the rapidity with which it was begun and the tempo at which it operated is unequaled by any venture of comparable size, there was a decision on the part of President Roosevelt to discontinue it and to absorb its activities in the work program of ERA. Accordingly the President made a statement on February 28, 1934, which statement is reprinted from the New York Sun of the same date."

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S STATEMENT OF FEBRUARY 28, 1934, CONCERNING HIS PLAN FOR THE
JOB PROGRAM TO TAKE THE PLACE OF CWA

"The experience of the last nine months has shown that the problem of unemployment must be faced on more than one front.

"Coincident with the plans for the demobilization of civil works has been the development of a

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program to meet the peculiar needs of three separate and distinct groups in need through no fault of their own.

"It has been found that these three groups fall into the following classifications:

1. Distressed families in rural areas.

2. Those composing 'stranded populations,' i.e., living in single-industry communities in which there is no hope of future reëmployment, such as miners in worked-out fields.

3. The unemployed in large cities.

"The administration will be guided by these groupings in expending the $950,000,000 recently appropriated by Congress.

"The care of needy persons in rural areas is a problem quite distinct and apart from that of the industrial unemployed. Their security must be identified with agriculture. They must be placed in positions of self-support. In many parts of the country this calls for a change from commercial farming and dependence upon a single cash crop, to the raising of the various commodities needed to maintain the families.

"Relief funds, therefore, will be expended on behalf of rural families in a manner and to an extent that will enable them to achieve self-support. Work for wages from relief funds is not an essential part of this phase of the program and will be provided only in so far as it is necessary to accomplish the primary objectives. No encouragement of an extension of competitive farming is contemplated, but rather the placing of thousands of persons, who have made their living from agriculture, into a relationship with the soil that will provide them a security they do not now enjoy.

"Some of the methods to be employed include building or rebuilding to provide adequate farm homes; the provision of seed, and of stocks for other than commercial purposes, and opportunities to these workers to earn modest cash incomes through part-time or seasonal employment in small industrial enterprises. There should also be a planned distribution of the regular jobs on highways in the national and State parks and forests, and other public work prosecuted in agricultural communities.

"The plan calls for complete coöperation with the Department of Agriculture, and with the State and county agricultural departments throughout the country. It substitutes for direct relief an opportunity to obtain and maintain self-support in an accustomed environment, and completely divorces relief activities in rural areas from those in the cities.

"Only a careful survey can determine the number of families included in 'stranded populations,' but there are sufficient data already collected to indicate a situation of substantial proportions. The solution of the problem of these families involves their physical transplanting in a large majority of cases since the areas in which they concentrated offer neither future employment at wages nor opportunities for self-support through agriculture.

"It is planned to explore this difficult situation and, in collaboration with the Subsistence Homesteads Division of the Department of the Interior, and with other Federal and local agencies devise and apply definitely remedial measures which will affect an appreciable number of these families. These measures will be directed first at maintenance on small tracts of land and then at the developments of supplemental or industrial opportunities to provide for a normal standard of living.

"The needy unemployed living in cities and towns, who, in the course of coming months may reasonably look forward to regular jobs are entitled to, and should receive, in so far as possible,

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adequate assurance of means to maintain themselves during the balance of the period of their enforced idleness. The Federal Government, both in its relief measures and in its Civil Works program, now nearing completion, has been meeting an emergency situation.

"Direct relief as such, whether the form of cash or relief in kind, is not an adequate way of meeting the needs of able-bodied workers. They very properly insisted upon an opportunity to give the community their services in the form of labor in return for unemployment benefits. The Federal Government has no intention or desire to force either upon the country or the unemployed themselves a system of relief which is repugnant to American ideals of individual self-reliance. Therefore, work programs which would not normally be undertaken by public bodies, but which are at the same time outside of the field of private industry, will be projected and prosecuted in and near industrial communities. Labor on these projects will not be expected of dependent members of the communities who are unable to work, but will be confined to those needy unemployed who can give adequate return for the unemployment benefits which they receive.

"Work will be given to an individual for a period not to exceed six months. This is in order that it may not be considered, or utilized, as a permanent method of support. It will be administered by and under the direction of these relief activities in industrial communities.

"Every effort will be made to continue opportunities for work for the professional groups in need--teachers, engineers, architects, artists, nurses and others.

"This program expresses a conviction that industrial workers who are unemployed and in need of relief should be given an opportunity for livelihood by the prosecution of a flexible program of public works. The several States will be aided, as the Federal relief law provides, in the financing of this enterprise."

THE DISCONTINUANCE OF CWA AND THE REORGANIZATION OF ERA

CWA was discontinued on March 31, and its activities were absorbed in the expanded Emergency Relief Administration.

Full administrative control of the work program was returned from Federal authority under CWA to the State Relief Administration. Under the re-organized Emergency Relief Program, as of April 1, 1934, the work program was reëstablished as work relief.

The primary objective of the ERA had been that of providing subsistence as a temporary means of relief for distressed persons. Under the expanded program, it became a long-range program for the rehabilitation of persons in rural areas and stranded populations, and to provide work for the unemployed through a comprehensive program of conservation of our natural resources and promotion of public works and professional services not in competition with private industry.

THE EMERGENCY RELIEF APPROPRIATION ACT OF 1935

Again on January 4, 1935, the President addressed Congress on the "State of the Nation," outlining plans for further reorganization of the Emergency Relief Program which message resulted in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, JANUARY 4, 1935

(as published in the New York Times, January 5, 1935)

"In defining immediate factors which enter into our quest, I have spoken to the Congress and the people of three great divisions:

1. The security of a livelihood through the better use of the national resources of the land in which we live.

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2. The security against the major hazards and vicissitudes of life.

3. The security of decent homes.

"I am now ready to submit to the Congress a broad program designed ultimately to establish all three of these factors of security--a program which because of many lost years will take many future years to fulfill.

"A study of our national resources, more comprehensive than any previously made, shows the vast amount of necessary and practicable work which needs to be done for the development and preservation of our natural wealth for the enjoyment and advantage of our people in generations to come. The sound use of land and water is far more comprehensive than the mere planting of trees, building of dams, distributing of electricity or retirement of submarginal land. It recognizes that stranded populations, either in the country or the city cannot have security under the conditions that now surround them.

"To this end we are ready to begin to meet this problem--the intelligent care of population throughout our nation, in accordance with an intelligent distribution of the means of livelihood for that population. A definite program for putting people to work, of which I shall speak in a moment is a component part of this greater program of security of livelihood through the better use of our national resources.

"Closely related to the broad problem of livelihood is that of security against the major hazards of life. Here also a comprehensive survey of what has been attempted or accomplished in many nations and in many States proves to me that the time has come for action by the national government. I shall send to you, in a few days, definite recommendations based on these studies. These recommendations will cover the broad subjects of unemployment insurance and old-age insurance, of benefits for children, for mothers, for the handicapped, for maternity care and for other aspects dependency and illness where a beginning can now be made.

"The third factor--better homes for our people--has also been the subject of experimentation and study. Here, too, the first practical steps can be made through the proposals which I shall suggest in relation to giving work to the unemployed.

"Whatever we plan and whatever we do should be in the light of these three clear objectives of security. We cannot afford to lose valuable time in haphazard public policies which cannot find a place in the broad outlines of these major purposes. In that spirit I come to an immediate issue made for us by hard and inescapable circumstance--the task of putting people to work. In the Spring of 1933, the issue of destitution seemed to stand apart; today, in the light of our experience and our new national policy, we find we can put people to work in ways which conform to, initiate and carry forward the broad principles of that policy.

"The first objectives of emergency legislation of 1933 were to relieve destitution, to make it possible for industry to operate in a more rational and orderly fashion, and to put behind industrial recovery the impulse of large expenditures in government undertakings. The purpose of the National Industrial Recovery Act to provide work for more people succeeded in a substantial manner within the first few months of its life, and the act has continued to maintain employment gains and greatly improved working conditions in industry.

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"The program of public works provided for in the Recovery Act launched the Federal Government into a task for which there was little time to make preparation and little American experience to follow. Great employment has been given and is being given by these works.

"More than two billions of dollars have also been expended in direct relief to the destitute. Local agencies of necessity determined the recipients of this form of relief. With inevitable exceptions the funds were spent by them with reasonable efficiency, and as a result actual want of food and clothing in the great majority of cases has been overcome.

"But the stark fact before us is that a great number still remain unemployed.

"A large proportion of these unemployed and their dependents have been forced on the relief rolls. The burden on the Federal Government has grown with great rapidity. We have here a human as well as an economic problem. When humane considerations are concerned, Americans give them precedence. The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. Work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers.

"The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief.

"I am not willing that the vitality of our people be further sapped by the giving of cash, of market baskets, of a few hours of weekly work cutting grass, raking leaves or picking up papers in the public parks. We must preserve not only the bodies of the unemployed from destitution, but also their self-respect, their self-reliance and courage and determination. This decision brings me to the problem of what the government should do with approximately five million unemployed now on the relief rolls.

"About one million and a half of these belong to the group which in the past was dependent upon local welfare efforts. Most of them are unable for one reason or another to maintain themselves independently--for the most part through no fault of their own. Such people, in the days before the great depression, were cared for by local efforts--by States, by counties, by towns, by cities, by churches and by private welfare agencies. It is my thought that in the future they must be cared for as they were before. I stand ready through my own personal efforts, and through the public influence of the office that I hold, to help these local agencies to get the means necessary to assume this burden.

"The security legislation which I shall propose to the Congress will, I am confident, be of assistance to local effort in the care of this type of cases. Local responsibility can and will be resumed, for, after all, common sense tells us that the wealth necessary for this task existed and still exists in the local community, and the dictates of sound administration require that this responsibility be in the first instance a local one.

"There are, however, an additional 3,500,000 employable people who are on relief. With them the problem is different and the responsibility is different. This group was the victim of a nationwide depression caused by conditions which were not local, but national. The Federal Government is the only governmental agency with sufficient power and credit to meet this situation. We have assumed this task and we shall not shrink from it in the future. It is a duty dictated by every intelligent consideration of national policy to ask you to make it possible for the United States to give employment

Page 21

to all of these 3,500,000 employable people now on relief, pending their absorption in a rising tide of private employment.

"It is my thought that with the exception of certain of the normal public building operations of the government, all emergency public works shall be united in a single new and greatly enlarged plan.

"With the establishment of this new system we can supersede the Federal Emergency Relief Administration with a coördinated authority which will be charged with the orderly liquidation of our present relief activities and the substitution of a national chart or the giving of work.

"This new program of emergency public employment should be governed by a number of practical principles:

1. All work undertaken should be useful--not just for a day, or a year, but useful in the sense that it affords permanent improvement in living conditions or that it creates future new wealth for the nation.

2. Compensation on emergency public projects should be in the form of security payments which should be larger than the amount now received as a relief dole, but at the same time not so large as to encourage the rejection of opportunities for private employment or the leaving of private employment to engage in government work.

3. Projects should be undertaken on which a large percentage of direct labor can be used.

4. Preference should be given to those projects which will be self liquidating in the sense that there is a reasonable expectation that the government will get its money back at some future time.

5. The projects undertaken should be selected and planned so as to compete as little as possible with private enterprises. This suggests that if it were not for the necessity of giving useful work to the unemployed now on relief, these projects in most instances would not now be undertaken.

6. The planning of projects would seek to assure work during the coming fiscal year to the individuals now on relief, or until such time as private employment is available. In order to make adjustment to increasing private employment, work should be planned with a view to tapering it off in proportion to the speed with which the emergency workers are offered positions with private employers.

7. Effort should be made to locate projects where they will serve the greatest unemployment needs as shown by present relief rolls, and the broad program of the National Resources Board should be freely used for guidance in selection. Our ultimate objective being the enrichment of human lives, the government has the primary duty to use its emergency expenditures as much as possible to serve those who cannot secure the advantages of private capital."

THE CREATION OF NEW FEDERAL PROGRAMS AND THE DISCONTINUANCE OF ERA

The Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 was passed by Congress on April 8, 1935, and plans for reorganizing the relief activities divorcing the work program from relief slowly took shape. Two new Federal agencies were created to take over two major programs of ERA as Federal programs, the WPA to absorb the works program, and the Resettlement Administration to take over Rural Rehabilitation. The Federal Government discontinued grants to the States on December 1, 1935, for direct relief, placing this responsibility on the States. It is expected that the unemployable persons on relief will receive aid under the provisions of the Social Security Act.

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DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATION OF RELIEF IN NORTH CAROLINA

Prior to 1932, relief of destitution was a minor phase of governmental activity in North Carolina. Each county provided, through public funds, for its own indigents--mostly the aged and infirm--by outside poor relief, or in county homes. The state and counties, jointly, through the Public Welfare Departments, cared for a relatively small number of dependents. In general, needy and unfortunate persons were aided through churches, private organizations, and charitable agencies--from funds contributed by individuals. The responsibility of investigations and aid rendered was usually delegated to members of boards or committees who gave such voluntary service as their time and private responsibilities would permit. In a few of the large towns and cities, part and full-time social workers were employed by private agencies.

During the economic crisis of the past few years, thousands of independent workers were thrown out of jobs, while thousands of persons of both large and small incomes were left penniless by failures of banks and businesses. Private and public agencies could no longer carry even the pre-depression numbers of destitute families, as incomes of contributors to relief funds were swept away, and taxable resources depleted. The Federal Government was compelled to assume responsibility for the citizens who otherwise faced slow starvation.

Preceding this crisis which was reached in 1932, the rising tide of unemployment was a matter of grave concern. The first organized effort to cope with the situation was the appointment, by Governor Gardner, in December, 1930, of an emergency committee, which was designated as the Governor's Council on Unemployment and Relief. The members appointed by the Governor were: Eugene Newsome, Chairman, Durham; Mrs. W. T. Bost, Vice Chairman, Raleigh; Frank D. Grist, Raleigh; Robert Latham, Asheville; Oscar A. Hamilton, Wilmington; Albert S. Keister, Greensboro; Reuben Robertson, Canton; Dr. J. M. Parrott, Kinston; R. R. Lawrence, Winston-Salem; Dr. Carl Taylor, Raleigh; E. B. Crow, Raleigh; Mrs. Palmer German, Raleigh; Julian S. Miller, Charlotte. Mr. R. W. Henninger, of the State College School of Science and Business, was appointed Executive Secretary to the Council. The Council was appointed to coöperate with the various Federal, State, and local agencies as a study and planning unit to work out a program to meet the conditions brought about by widespread unemployment and the accompanying need for relief.

Under direction of the Council, local councils or coördinating committees were organized in many counties and cities for the purpose of coördinating all of the Federal, State, and local agencies to meet the relief needs. Bulletins were issued frequently by the Executive Secretary, suggesting plans and means of meeting the situation. Local communities were considerably strengthened in meeting local conditions through the aid of the Governor's Council.

In 1932, the Council was reorganized and enlarged, made up of the following members representing both public and private agencies: Stuart W. Cramer, President's Committee; Mrs. W. T. Bost, Commissioner of Public Welfare; Frank D. Grist, Commissioner of Labor; Dean I. O. Schaub, Agriculture Extension; Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon, Director Home Demonstration; Reuben Robertson, Champion Fibre Company; R. R. Lawrence, President North Carolina Federation of Labor; E. B. Jeffress, State Highway Commissioner; A. T. Allen, Superintendent Public Instruction; Dr. J. M. Parrott, State Board of Health; Mrs. E. M. Land, Federation of Women's Clubs; T. A. Finch, Thomasville Chair Company; Dr. Fred Morrison, Tax Commission; Mrs. Raymond Binford, President Parent-Teacher Association; Miss Lona Glidewell, Business and Professional Women's Clubs; Rev. R. T. Weatherby, Chairman Negro Advisory Committee.

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During 1930, the Executive Secretary and staff members of the State Welfare Department visited the cities and counties to advise with and assist them in organizing the counties. As the work increased in 1932, voluntary field organizers were added, their only compensation being traveling expenses.

Although no appropriation was made for the work of the Council, Governor Gardner provided funds for the administration out of the State Emergency Fund. This money was expended for the Council through the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. The amount spent for this purpose was $17,469.96, all of which came from the State Emergency Fund, except $1,028.72 collected from private sources. The Council was nominally discontinued on July 1, 1932.

THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF RELIEF

Under authority granted by the United States Congress to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in July, 1932, Federal funds were made available to the states for relief needs. On September 1, 1932, Governor Gardner created the Governor's Office of Relief as the agency to direct relief activities in North Carolina. Dr. Fred W. Morrison, Executive Secretary to the State Tax Commission, was appointed State Director of Relief. The State Commissioner of Public Welfare was appointed Administrative Assistant, in charge of county and city organizations. Dr. Roy M. Brown, instructor in the School of Public Administration of the University of North Carolina, was loaned by the University to fill the position of Technical Supervisor for the Governor's Office of Relief. Other members of the staff were: Mr. Ronald B. Wilson, Executive Assistant to the Director; Mr. George W. Bradshaw, Accountant; Julian S. Miller, Director of Public Relations; Felix A. Grisett, Assistant Director of Public Relations; and ten Field Supervisors--T. L. Grier, Mrs. May E. Campbell, William Curtis Ezell, W. T. Mattox, Mrs. Thomas O'Berry, Mrs. J. H. Frye, Miss Lois Dosher, Miss Pearl Weaver, Miss Nancy Austin, and Miss Mary Ward; and secretarial and stenographic assistants--Miss Emma Neal McQueen, Miss Doryce Wynn, and Miss Cora Page Godfrey.

Existing local private and public agencies were used to direct the program in the political subdivisions. Relief Directors, chiefly Superintendents of Public Welfare, were appointed in each of the one hundred counties. In counties in which the Superintendents of Public Schools were ex-officio Superintendents of Public Welfare, Superintendents of Public Schools were appointed Directors of Relief. Superintendents of Public Welfare and Superintendents of Schools served in this dual capacity without compensation. All additional administrative personnel employed for the relief program was paid from relief funds. Exceptions were made in Franklin, Durham, and Cumberland counties, due to local conditions. In these counties, Relief Directors were appointed who were officially connected with existing agencies.

In the seven largest cities in the state, the relief program was directed by recognized private agencies. Public officials acted in advisory capacity only. Local Advisory Boards, composed of members representing local government officials, and public and private agencies, were appointed in each political subdivision.

Full authority for administrative control and determining the policies and standards of relief rested in the state administration. Considerable latitude was permitted the political subdivisions in administering the program.

The grants from the RFC to the state for relief purposes were made on the basis of a loan to be absorbed in the Federal Road Program. The following table gives the allotments from the RFC to the State from October, 1932, through May, 1933; total allotments to the counties made by the Governor's Office of Relief; case load for the state; and number on work relief.

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1932 Month RFC Grants to N. C. County Allotments Case Load No. on Work Relief

October $407,500.00 $376,000.00

November 407,500.00 426,851.00 87,187

December 571,000.00 515,800.00 136,436

1933

January 825,000.00 740,000.00 166,901 97,257

February 825,000.00 895,000.00 176,124 98,484

March 849,166.00 1,071,000.00 168,183 90,929

April 1,188,834.00 947,000.00 148,692 61,286

May 876,000.00 866,000.00 122,963 46,823

June* 662,350.00 102,744 40,667

* Funds granted in June were emergency relief funds.

These funds were supplemented by private contributions, and contributions by local private agencies, American Red Cross, local governmental organizations, etc. In many local units, funds from these sources were pooled with Federal funds and deposited with the county or city treasurer.

The case load reached the peak of 176,124 in February, or 26 per cent of the state population. After February, the case load decreased each month, and in June, at the close of the RFC program, the case load was 102,344 or 10 per cent of the state's population. This decrease is partly accounted for by the fact that in April relief was discontinued in rural areas for a period of three weeks, in order to get people started on the farms. When relief was reopened in rural areas in May, clients receiving American Red Cross flour only, or aid from churches only were not included in the case load as being on public relief rolls.

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

The relief program provided both direct relief, and work relief for persons able to work. In selecting work projects, preference was given to public works of permanent value that would not have been undertaken at this time except for the availability of Federal funds. These projects included: assistance in highway and road maintenance; construction, and repair of public buildings; beautification and improvement of school grounds and other public buildings; improvement and beautification of municipal parks; drainage; water and sewer extensions; city streets; geodetic surveys; lunches for school children of families on relief; farm and garden work; and other work benefiting communities at large. By November 7, approximately 107 projects of these types had been set up in the counties.

Construction and all types of engineering were practically at a standstill. The engineering profession was among the first to feel the widespread effects of unemployment. North Carolina was the first state to initiate Geodetic Surveys as work relief projects. Exceptionally good work was accomplished in North Carolina in this field under RFC and continued under CWA and ERA.

The approved wage scale ranged from 50c per day for unskilled to $2.50 per day for skilled labor, according to the prevailing wage rates in the community, type of work and labor.

No materials were purchased from Federal funds. The funds provided from local public and private sources usually exceeded the expenditure of Federal funds on work projects. Under this program, 52 new school buildings and 209 classrooms were constructed, part of which were completed under ERA; 69 gymnasiums and work shops were undertaken and completed under this program and ERA; 396 were repainted and repaired; school grounds were improved at 639 schools. Expenditures of Federal funds for school improvements were $273,217.19, and from the Literary

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Loan fund, local public funds, and private contributions, $338,851.53 was spent for materials and skilled labor.

Following the passage of the CCC legislation by Congress, the first enrollment for CCC camps was in April, 1933. The quota for North Carolina was 6,500. An additional quota of 1,150 was received in May. North Carolina was the first state to complete the enrollment.

In the early spring, Mr. Charles A. Sheffield, Assistant Director of Extension Service, was loaned by State College to the Governor's Office of Relief to direct the farm and garden program. With the coöperation of the Home Demonstration Agents and local communities, the relief agencies, under Mr. Sheffield's direction, conducted a really remarkable garden program. This farm and garden program was inaugurated under the RFC program and completed under ERA. The expenditure of $496,086.17 from RFC and ERA funds for seeds, fertilizer, cultivation, canning equipment, harvesting, supervision, and labor, yielded a return of $12,335,825.17 in fresh vegetables, canned and dried fruits and vegetables, syrup, etc., which were used for relief clients.

There were 90,831 transients aided by local relief agencies during the period from October 1, 1932, to July 1, 1933.

In December, 1932, a percentage of relief funds was set aside to provide compensation under the North Carolina law for workers injured on relief projects.

The coöperation of local physicians in giving their services without compensation, in most instances, made it possible to provide medical care for relief clients. No physicians' fees were approved. The purchase of drugs and hospitalization in emergency cases at charity rates were approved. In the early part of the program, no fees for hospitals were paid, and throughout the program, many hospitals continued free care for the clients.

TRAINING OF PERSONNEL

From the beginning, the relief agencies were handicapped by inadequate personnel in investigating and aiding the overwhelming numbers applying for relief. The few trained workers in the state were employed by the relief agencies, and additional workers drawn from the most experienced and qualified persons available. In June, 1933, through the coöperation of the Division of Public Welfare and Social Work of the School of Public Administration of the University of North Carolina, the Governor's Office of Relief was enabled to send to Chapel Hill over one hundred workers for an Institute of one month. The workers were given instruction in case work methods and administration, especially office organization.

In April, 1933, Dr. Morrison resigned as Director of Relief to accept a private position, and the Executive Assistant, Mr. Ronald B. Wilson, was appointed Acting Director. He served in this position until August 8 when the State Relief Commission and a State Emergency Relief Administrator were appointed.

Following the enactment of the Federal Emergency Relief Act in May, 1933, the Relief and Reconstruction Act of 1932 was ineffective as of June 1, and all unused funds were transferred to the FERA. The first ERA funds were received in North Carolina June, 1933. The relief activities in North Carolina were continued under the direction of the Governor's Office of Relief until the reorganization of the administration of relief as the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration on August 8, 1933, to conform with the Federal organization.

The relief program under the Governor's Office of Relief was the pioneer program in the State. There was no precedent to follow. No definite policies nor regulations had been formulated by the Federal Government. Each state was feeling its way on uncharted seas.

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North Carolina is largely a rural state. It should be remembered that in 1932, farm land values, and farm incomes reached the lowest ebb. Farmers could not receive sufficient income from the sale of crops to pay even very low rates for farm labor. With this condition, the rate of the minimum of 50c per day on relief work in rural areas presented a problem.

The experiences of these first few months in relief as a governmental activity on a large scale formed the basis on which succeeding programs were founded.

REORGANIZATION OF RELIEF ADMINISTRATION, MAY, 1933

Harry L. Hopkins was appointed Federal Relief Administrator, in May, by the President, following the passage of the Relief Act by Congress. Federal Emergency Relief Field Representatives, Field Engineers, and Special Representatives had general supervision over the State Administration, acting as liaison officers between it and the Federal Administration.

The first grant of Federal funds under the provisions of the Emergency Relief Act of May, 1933, was made to North Carolina on May 29, 1933. However, the general reorganization to conform to the policies of the new Federal Emergency Relief Administration did not take place until the creation of the State Emergency Relief Commission, and the appointment, in August, of the State Relief Administrator.

Under the Governor's Office of Relief, which was financed by funds from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, full administrative control of relief policies and expenditures rested in the state. Under the new Federal Emergency Relief Administration, although funds granted the state became state funds, and although the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration was a state agency, policies and regulations were prescribed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The Federal Relief Administrator held direct control over state administrations, through authority provided by the Relief Act, to grant or withhold funds, and to assume full control of state agencies when "in his judgment more effective and efficient coöperation between the state and Federal authorities may thereby be secured in carrying out the purposes of this Act." (See Relief Act of May, 1933, Appendix.)

Funds were granted the state upon application by the Governor, who was requested to furnish the following information with the application: (1) the extent of relief needs in the state, and state and local funds available for relief purposes; (2) the provision made to assure adequate supervision; (3) the provision made for suitable standards of relief; and (4) the purposes for which the funds requested would be used.

THE STATE ORGANIZATION

On August 8, 1933, the Governor of North Carolina appointed an Emergency Relief Commission of five members, and a State Emergency Relief Administrator to administer relief funds in the state.

FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION

The North Carolina Emergency Relief Commission functioned as a policy-making body, interpreting policies of the FERA, and formulating policies for the state in harmony with those established by the FERA. It also exercised general advisory control of the relief program and standards in the state. The Commission held regular monthly meetings, and special meetings as occasions arose making consideration by the Commission necessary. The Commission approved and recommended to the Governor the amount of Federal funds required for adequate administration and to meet relief needs.

Administrative authority and responsibility were vested in the State Relief Administrator, who

Page 27

was directly responsible to the Commission and to the Federal Administrator. The Administrator was responsible for furnishing reliable information to the Commission, at all times, concerning local conditions which indicated relief needs and affected relief administration.

ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL

Immediately upon the appointment of the Commission and the State Administrator, the state relief agency was reorganized, to conform with the new policies of the FERA. The administrative activities fell into three groups, Social Service, Accounting and Auditing, and Work Relief, with a state director for each division. The Director of the Social Service Division had the responsibility of determining social work policies, standards of relief, and the approval of social work personnel in the local administrations.

Control of the accounting and disbursing of relief funds in state and local units was effected by the appointment of a Chief Auditor and a staff of Field Auditors. The Field Auditors were directly responsible to the Chief Auditor, their duties being to examine and ratify the expenditures of local administrations. A uniform system of accounting and financial control was established in all local administrations.

Emergency Relief funds has been disbursed locally by county government officials until the reorganization of ERA in 1934. At this time, ERA bonded disbursing officers were employed in each local administration, responsible to the local administrator, and to the Chief Auditor, for the disbursement of local ERA funds.

A control of work relief standards, and the selection of work projects, was established under a State Works Project Supervisor. A State Statistician was added to the staff who was responsible for the proper reporting of case loads and obligations incurred from all local units to the state office, and then to Washington.

The Transient Division was established under the direction of a State Transient Director, whose duties included directing the care of homeless and nonresident individuals and families.

A Director of Public Relations, to interpret relief policies, and the progress of the relief program to the public, was appointed. These officers, in addition to the Assistant to the State Administrator, the Director of County Administrations, an Accounting Officer, and District Supervisors, composed the administration of the organization prior to CWA. Heads of departments and state staff members were directly responsible to the State Administrator.

The District Supervisors, later called Field Representatives, were directly responsible to the Director of the Division of Social Service and through him to the State Administrator. Although a part of the personnel of the Social Service Division, and selected for their ability to supervise case work, these District Supervisors came to be the general Field Representatives of the State Administrator in the areas to which they were assigned, and were held responsible for the operation of all phases of the program in these areas. When other specialized field representatives were added to the staff during the Civil Works Administration, the former District Supervisors were made the ranking representatives in each division in the state and directly responsible to the State Administrator. The Field Representative stood as a liaison officer between the state office and the local office, interpreting each to the other: policies and regulations on the one hand, and practices, needs, and unusual local situations on the other.

The inauguration of the Civil Works Administration added almost over night engineers, architects, construction men, and the Divisions of Purchasing, Pay Roll, Compensation, Safety, and Women's Work. With further reorganization following CWA, the Rural Rehabilitation program added trained agriculturists, practical farmers, and home economists.

This rapid expansion of the program developed within a few months a direct and work relief,

Page 28

PER CENT DISTRIBUTION OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
BY FIELD OF ACTIVITY

Page 29

and rehabilitation organization, employing in state, district, and county organizations over 2,000 persons, with an administrative cost well below the national average. Personnel was selected solely on the basis of qualifications, experience, or training.

COUNTY OR LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Reorganization of local administrative units followed the reorganization of the State Administration. Since regulations of the FERA required that Federal funds be administered by public agencies, the private agencies formerly directing relief activities in the seven larger towns and cities were taken over by the Emergency Relief Administration and converted into public agencies.

In the counties where the Superintendents of Schools were ex-officio Superintendents of Public Welfare, full-time Relief Administrators were appointed with salaries paid from Federal funds.

The local administrators appointed by the State Administrator were the executives upon whom depended the success of the local relief programs. They had full responsibility and authority for the administration of the relief program in each of the local political subdivisions and were given discretionary powers within the state regulations of the Federal and State Administrations. They were responsible to the State Administrator in the execution of the program. As the program developed, in the local administrations in the larger cities and counties, divisions corresponding to those of the state office were created. The local administrative personnel was selected and appointed by the local administrator, the state administration retaining approval of the supervisory personnel.

The local administrator was responsible for furnishing to the state office full information regarding conditions affecting relief needs, such as agricultural, industrial, and business conditions, seasonal employment, health conditions, and unusual occurrences, such as strikes, epidemics, etc. The coördination of relief activities, commitments against relief funds, certified reports, and information required by the state administration were further responsibilities of the administrator.

County Advisory Committees, composed of public officials, heads of private agencies, and interested socially-minded citizens, were appointed to interpret the relief needs of the community to the administrator and relief policies to the public. Where these committees functioned actively, they rendered valuable service as liaison groups between the relief organization and the public.

With the reorganization of ERA in 1934, a budget was fixed in the state office for each local administration, based on the consideration of: (1) the extent of need as shown by the local administrator's request for funds; and (2) the amount of Federal funds granted the state as a whole. The local administrator was responsible for keeping expenditures within the budget.

CONSOLIDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS

Constant efforts were made to increase the efficiency of the state-wide organization through the adoption of uniform case records, project, accounting, and report forms, and the coördination of administrative procedures. To further reduce administrative expense, increase general efficiency, and to strengthen social work, the local administrations were consolidated, in the fall of 1934, into thirty-three, and later, thirty-one district units, the administrator assuming full authority over the counties in the district.

All social work, engineering, and rural rehabilitation supervision, accounting, disbursing, statistical work, and commodity distribution were consolidated under the appropriate division directors on the district staff. A branch social work office, with a head case worker in charge, was retained in each county, in order to continue close contact with relief clients. An assignment clerk was responsible for assigning clients to work projects, the hours to be worked by the client being governed by his budgetary needs as determined by the case worker. Local farm foremen for rural

Page 30

NORTH CAROLINA EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION DISTRICTS AFTER CONSOLIDATION
OF COUNTY UNITS--NOVEMBER 1934--AUGUST 1935
(Districts 6 and 25 consolidated into Districts 10 and 26 respectively)

NORTH CAROLINA EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION DISTRICTS AFTER SEPTEMBER 1935
ARRANGED BY AREAS COTERMINOUS WITH THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION.

Page 31

rehabilitation clients worked out of each county office. The personnel of the Social Service Division was increased from approximately 600 to about 1,100, while the number of workers in other divisions was decreased. In August, 1935, existing administrative units were consolidated into eight districts to coincide with the eight WPA districts in the state.

Although there is always some waste in a program of such magnitude, the entire relief program has been executed with a keen sense of responsibility, throughout the whole organization, for handling public funds wisely, efficiently, and honestly. The administration kept abreast of the developing program, adjusting the organization to meet demands made upon it, gradually evolving a coördinated administrative control of all relief activities.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL WORKS

In November, 1933, when the Civil Works Administration was established, the State and Local ERA Administrators were appointed by the Federal Civil Works Administrator as Civil Works Administrators to act in the dual capacity of Emergency Relief and Civil Works Administrators. The ERA staff members also served in the dual capacity. The Administrator and staff took and subscribed to the Federal Oath of Office.

The State Disbursing Officer for the Veterans Bureau was State Civil Works Disbursing Officer, directly responsible to the United States Treasury Department for all CWA disbursements. Assistant Civil Works Disbursing Officers who disbursed Civil Works funds locally were appointed in the 107 administrative units by the State Civil Works Administration with the approval of the State Disbursing Officer. They were responsible to both the State Disbursing Officer and the State Civil Works Administrator. In addition to the new divisions created, the personnel in all divisions rapidly increased to handle the tremendous Civil Works Program. Copies of all local administrative and project pay rolls and checks were sent to the state office weekly where they were carefully checked and forwarded to the Federal Civil Works Administration in Washington. The administrative control of CWA was in the Federal Administration, but at the close of CWA, administrative control of the work program was transferred to the State Administration.

TREND OF ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, 1933-1936

Before entering upon a discussion of the volume of relief in this state, and other aspects of relief administration, it may be well to notice the general trend of economic conditions between 1933 and 1936. The intention here is not to present an analysis of the economic forces which were operative, but merely to record the fact that conditions grew better through a combination of forces, governmental effort, and the natural forces of recovery.

In discussing general economic recovery, it may be asserted that it is important that incomes become larger. It is more important, however, that such incomes be equitably distributed among individual families. Not the number of dollars, but the purchasing power of each dollar, not the number of persons paying income tax, but incomes among the lowest earning groups; these are the facts that must be considered. Although accurate figures are not available, certain trends are indicated.

Persons on relief rolls come, as a rule, from groups who have had the least economic advantage. It is well known that all classes do not benefit equally with improvement in business conditions. Certain groups are the first to feel the effects of depression and last to receive the advantage of returning prosperity. Generally conceded as falling under this classification are the following: unskilled laborers, both farm and city; farm tenants; and domestic and personal service workers. More than three-fourths of all persons on relief belong in this category. While improvement in

Page 32

DISTRIBUTION OF RESIDENT PERSONS ON
RELIEF IN NORTH CAROLINA
JUNE, 1935

1 DOT = 100 Persons on Relief

GENERAL RELIEF CASE LOAD FOR NORTH CAROLINA BY MONTHS

Page 33

PER CENT RELIEF AND GENERAL POPULATION IN NORTH CAROLINA BY COLOR
AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE

Page 34

general business is undeniable, it has not as yet had the effect which might be expected upon those on the relief rolls. This is due to a considerable extent to the accident of birth into an unfavorable economic situation rather than to inherent defects, physical or mental. The majority of those on the present work program are able to do a good day's work when given the opportunity. Through no fault of their own, they are a group apart, for whom there is no place in the economic mechanism.

Possibly half of those on relief when the depression was most severe have now found sufficient employment to sustain themselves for the year without the necessity of requesting governmental aid. Another group, certainly over 50,000, cannot live for a year without help at one or more times of seasonal unemployment. They are the victims of changing conditions in agriculture and industry which even a return to the boom conditions of the twenties would not absorb. In addition, there is a large group of persons, variously estimated at from 20,000 to 30,000, who are permanently incapable of earning a living because of old age, mental disease or defect, or physical handicap. These would all come under the proposed Social Security program.

Since North Carolina is predominantly an agricultural state, an examination of certain farm statistics may furnish a clue to some of the economic forces at work during the depression. Farm operators in the Federal farm census of 1935, when compared with the 1930 census, show an increase of 7.6 per cent, or 21,259 family units. This group obviously did not move to the country in order to earn a better living, but they migrated as a last resource when all hope of making a livelihood in town was gone. In most cases it meant a definite lowering in their standards. During this same period, there was a reduction of about 670,000 acres in cotton and 200,000 acres in tobacco compared with an increase of 445,000 acres of corn, 456,000 acres of hay, and 143,000 acres of wheat.

Although acreage of cash crops decreased, the higher prices received have actually meant a greater net income to farm owners. In 1932, cash income from all North Carolina crops was $81,136,000, while, in 1934, it had jumped to $223,730,000. As for tenants, and more especially farm laborers, it is doubtful if their position has improved. The crops substituted for cotton and tobacco are such as require much less hand labor. Agriculture in the state is becoming better balanced at the expense of work opportunities for farm laborers. In certain sections, a trend toward the payment of day wages rather than tenant contracts has been noted. Such a system would greatly increase the severity of seasonal unemployment in agriculture.

Figures concerning industrial employment are not available, but from the experience of local relief administrators, certain facts appear. All three of North Carolina's chief industries show wide seasonal variations. Stemming and redrying of tobacco employ many unskilled and semiskilled persons during the fall and early winter, but employment declines abruptly just at the time when the demand for farm labor is at its lowest point. Each year a great increase in case load was noted in late winter in all the important tobacco centers. By spring, many of these same people were engaged in farm work and did not need help again until the following January.

The dull season for the textile industry occurs during mid-summer when most mills operate only part time and many close altogether. This phenomenon was observed during each of the past three summers. Dwellers in mill villages have little chance to secure other income when the local plant closes, since more than most groups they are dependent upon a single occupation. Conditions during the past four years have not changed greatly, although in the summer of 1935, the dull period was more severe than usual, lasting in some sections for more than five months.

There was a decided increase in private building during 1935 which has continued into 1936. However, it has little effect upon the relief rolls, as this work employs largely skilled artisans who have never constituted a significant number of those requiring Federal aid. Retail business, likewise, has improved without reducing the need for relief. Based on figures for March, 1935, and January, 1936, there has been some lessening in the number of domestic and personal service workers on

Page 35

relief. Better business has caused an increased demand for servants, but at wages that are still pitifully inadequate.

The general picture is one of small gains here and losses there, with no decided reduction in the severity of seasonal influences nor increase in the purchasing power of the ordinary laboring man, whether on farm or in factory. Such slight stimulus as was given by the NRA has now been lost.

The factors discussed above may be examined briefly, as they bear upon conditions in the three chief geographical divisions of the state, namely the mountain, piedmont, and coastal plain areas.

MOUNTAIN AREA

The mountains of North Carolina, justly famed for their scenic beauty, afford their inhabitants only the barest living, below all minimum standards of well-being. From the very first days of relief, this area proved to be the most intense problem in the entire state, and with the improvement in general economic conditions, this section has shown least change. It is primarily a land of small home owners who grow their own food on the small amount of productive land which is available and depend on outside employment for the little cash income they are able to obtain. Even before 1929, they were in distressed circumstances, due to the depletion of timber resources and the lack of demand for mineral products. With the depression, two important sources of supplementary income disappeared entirely, namely, the sale of wood products, flora, and herbs and the trade with tourists in handicraft articles. Probably the greatest hope for the future in Western North Carolina lies not in industry but in the development of recreational areas which will attract tourists from the urban centers of the east and the middle west. At present a National park-to-park highway is actually under construction.

PIEDMONT AREA

The piedmont area is the center of the industrial life of the state, where are located most of the important textile, tobacco, and furniture factories. Agriculture is also important, with diversified farming in the western part, cotton in the south and east, and tobacco in the north. There has been a gradual decline in the rural case load, but the urban load has been subject to violent fluctuations due to mills closing. Local conditions, such as floods, droughts, hail storms, etc., have affected agriculture in limited areas, but the problem has not become very serious, and it is the general impression that the entire rural population is considerably better off now than two years ago. In the cities there is a large population now employed on the Works Program who would not possibly be absorbed by private employment even under best conditions. They are the group which suffers from technological improvements that allow business to produce the same output with less manpower.

COASTAL PLAIN

The coastal plain is a predominantly rural area, with the chief crops consisting of tobacco, cotton, peanuts, potatoes, and early vegetables. Industries are few, the most important being the highly seasonal one of processing tobacco. There are a few cotton mills, fertilizer factories, saw mills, and cotton seed and peanut oil mills operating mostly only part of the year.

This is distinctly an area of cash crops and large plantations operated by tenants and day laborers. As such, it benefited most from higher agricultural prices, although it is doubtful to what extent relief clients have benefited proportionately. Seasonal labor, both in town and country, presents a problem for which, as yet, there is no solution. In the tidewater country is an area of very high relief case load due partially to the severe storm of 1933 and to the depressed condition of the fishing industry. The fisherman's coöperative is a method of helping these people to become self-supporting. The only hope of prosperity in the tidewater region is in the development of the sea food industry.

Page 36

RESIDENCE OF RELIEF CASES
NORTH CAROLINA

JUNE, 1935
TOTAL RELIEF CASES FOR MONTH 62,010

Page 37

VOLUME OF RELIEF

In February, 1933, the number of families and single persons on relief reached the peak of 176,124, or 27.3 per cent of the state's population. In June, 1933, this number had been reduced to 102,744 including 14,871 recipients of American Red Cross flour and other commodities only, or 16.0 per cent of the state's population. In June, 1933, those aided from public funds only (not including American Red Cross commodities) number 87,873. Due to discontinuing relief in rural areas on account of the harvesting of crops, the case load dropped to 55,054 in September.

In 1934, the highest number of families and single persons on relief was 96,230 in March, the lowest number, 62,207 in October. The average for the year was 76,175, or 11.8 per cent of the state's population.

In 1935, the peak was 74,155 cases in January. In June, 62,010 were on relief. The average for the first six months was 68,907 cases, or 10.7 per cent of the state's population. The case load dropped very rapidly the last six months of 1935 as clients were arbitrarily cut off due to the reduction in Federal grants to the state and the starting of WPA projects in October. In November, there were 42,919 on relief, and for December, 14,986 received relief through December 5, when relief was discontinued in the state.

The relief population was constantly changing; as persons on relief found employment or sources of income were available, their cases were closed. Others, as their resources were exhausted, came on relief for the first time. A third group included those who had been on relief, but having found only temporary or seasonal work, were forced to come back on relief, and were known as re-opened cases. This case load turnover given below depicts clearly the constantly changing relief population.

For comparison, the case load turnover is given, by seasons, for the winter months from November, 1934, through April, 1935, and for the summer months from May, 1935, through October, 1935. This includes only those who were accepted for relief. Approximately 60 per cent of applicants was accepted as relief cases.

CASE LOAD TURNOVER

1934-35	New Cases	Reopened Cases	Total Cases Added	Cases Closed
November	5,722	12,727	18,449	10,816
December	4,899	11,646	16,545	11,103
January	5,737	9,836	15,573	17,218*
February	4,347	7,611	11,958	15,010*
March	3,481	7,687	11,168	9,635
April	4,451	7,177	11,628	9,123
May	2,669	5,453	8,122	6,132
June	2,799	4,247	7,046	10,199
July	2,176	4,109	6,285	9,445
August	1,545	3,381	4,926	9,985
September	1,033	3,543	4,576	10,228*
October	1,240	3,701	4,941	7,385

* The heavy closing of cases in January and February, 1935, was due to the turning back to the counties 9,189 unemployable cases which was accomplished in these months.

* Harvesting season.

AVERAGE CASE LOAD TURNOVER

	New and Reopened Cases Added	Cases Closed
November 1, 1934, through April 30, 1935	14,220	12,151
May 1, 1935, through October 31, 1935	5,982	8,895

Page 38

CASE LOAD AND OBLIGATIONS INCURRED FROM PUBLIC FUNDS BY MONTHS APRIL, 1933, TO DECEMBER, 1935 BY N.C.ERA

Year and Months	Family Cases	Single Persons	Total Cases	Obligations Incurred
1933 April	118,509		118,509	$ 974,914.00
May	97,558		97,558	927,356.00
June	87,873		87,873	836,740.00
July	65,984	6,904	72,888	592,913.00
August	56,680	5,076	61,756	500,914.00
September	50,387	4,667	55,054	570,006.00
October	52,296	5,216	57,512	556,154.00
November	65,641	6,180	71,821	623,796.00
December	56,992	7,248	64,240	575,091.00
1934 January	66,852	8,484	75,336	605,321.00
February	72,847	9,482	82,329	648,337.00
March	85,887	10,343	96,230	943,553.00
April	66,520	9,817	76,337	1,015,697.00
May	65,960	7,104	73,064	1,050,408.00
June	66,047	8,099	74,146	1,069,697.00
July	67,161	7,949	75,110	1,386,302.00
August	72,187	8,386	80,573	1,472,590.00
September	69,022	8,083	77,105	1,141,163.00
October	54,481	7,726	62,207	1,205,590.00
November	59,836	8,017	67,853	1,692,809.00
December	65,621	8,192	73,813	1,7

1932 Month	RFC Grants to N. C.	County Allotments	Case Load	No. on Work Relief
October	$407,500.00	$376,000.00
November	407,500.00	426,851.00	87,187
December	571,000.00	515,800.00	136,436
1933
January	825,000.00	740,000.00	166,901	97,257
February	825,000.00	895,000.00	176,124	98,484
March	849,166.00	1,071,000.00	168,183	90,929
April	1,188,834.00	947,000.00	148,692	61,286
May	876,000.00	866,000.00	122,963	46,823
June*		662,350.00	102,744	40,667