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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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,

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The total grants for relief from October 1, 1932, through May 31, 1933, from Federal funds (RFC) were $5,950,000.00; from local public funds and private funds, $2,384,963.00. Total funds were $8,334,963.00. As stated in previous section, prior to June 1, contributions from private sources to relief were reported as local contributions. Subsequent to June 1, 1933, although contributions were made from private agencies and disbursed by ERA, Federal regulations permitted only appropriations from public funds that were disbursed by ERA to be reported and considered as state and local aid.

The total grants for relief purposes from FERA funds from June 1, 1933, through December 5, 1935, were $39,898,184.00, and $12,155,000.00 from CWA, making a total of $52,053,184.00 from Federal funds. Of this amount, $225,000.00 was transferred to the State Public Welfare Department, and $300,000.00 set aside for liquidation of the relief administration, including adjustment of all outstanding obligations, final auditing of all expenditures, disposition of equipment, etc. Federal grants were supplemented with local government expenditures of $679,310.46; total funds for all purposes, $52,732,494.46.

The expenditures, by quarters, dating from April, 1933, are shown on the Chart on page 40. This does not include funds transferred to the State Public Welfare Department, surplus commodities, self-help coöperatives, pay roll for white collar workers on WPA projects, purchases of materials and equipment for WPA, nor research and vocational projects after December 1.

The “Average Relief Benefits per Capita,” page 42, differs widely in the various counties, due to the local conditions and to the size of the relief population. The highest per capita cost is usually found in counties having the highest percentage of the population on relief, which usually indicates low number of work opportunities, or low sources of income from lands, crop production, and market values.

“The Average Benefits per Person,” as shown on page 43, was generally low in mountain and coastal counties, and was influenced by standards of living, health conditions, and type of subsistence found in the counties. In mountain counties, families more frequently had chickens, milk products, eggs, and small subsistence gardens. Their greatest need was clothes, while in coastal counties the people subsisted largely of fish, oysters, etc. There winters are mild, and heavy clothing is not so necessary.

The average benefit per relief person for 1933 was $19.53; for 1934, $27.11; for 1935, $32.98. The average for the entire period was $26.54.

The cost of relief for single persons is higher proportionately than for family groups as shown by the Chart on page 134, “Average Relief Benefits per Person by Size of Family—February, 1935.” Contrary to the general impression that the families on relief are usually larger families, it was also found that the moderate sized family composed the largest number on relief. (See Charts, on pages 136 and 138, “Size of Family-Relief and General Population.”)

The Federal Emergency Relief Act provided that funds should be granted to states on a two-thirds matching basis, or on an unmatched basis to states demonstrating that available funds from all sources were inadequate to meet the requirements. After a complete investigation of the state's resources and bonded indebtedness by Federal Emergency Relief Agents, grants were made to North Carolina on the unmatched basis. It was on the basis of information secured from this investigation that in the fall of 1934, the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator in conference with the Governor agreed on a plan whereby $1,500,000 might be allocated from the state highway funds to employ workers from relief rolls on construction and maintenance of highways. Pursuant to this agreement, the Governor recommended, and the General Assembly of 1935 allocated $1,500,000 for this purpose effective July 1, 1935.

In considering state aid, the bonded indebtedness and constitutional limitation for borrowing, as well as the sacrifice the state had made to preserve its school system and entire economic structure, should be kept clearly in mind. The bonded indebtedness of the state as of December 31, 1934, totaled $174,156,000, and as of December 31, 1935, it was $170,644,000. The constitution of the state limits the net debt of the state to 7.5 per cent of the assessed valuation, subject to deduction of sinking funds and certain state investments. The assessed valuation in 1933 was $2,089,209,000 which was 75 per cent of the true valuation. Seven and one-half per cent of the assessed value was $156,690,000, the difference in this sum and the total indebtedness being due to refunding, etc. It is noted, therefore, that North Carolina had reached its constitutional limitation for borrowing.

The bonded indebtedness of the 100 counties as of December 31, 1935, amounted to $158,927,000, with defaults as of same date amounting to $13,074,000.

For cities and towns, the bonded indebtedness as of December 31, 1935, amounted to $152,316,000, with defaults as of same date of $10,400,000.

The total bonded indebtedness for state, counties, cities and towns as of December 31, 1935, was $481,887,000.

Although not contributing directly to relief, North Carolina prevented an increase in relief rolls in 1933 by adopting the “state-wide” school system, supported entirely from state funds. In taking over the schools, supported in part by 3 per cent sales tax, the state lifted a great tax burden from the home owner and saved thousands of persons the loss of their homes and farms from failure to pay taxes. By thus reducing the burden of local governments, they were aided in meeting their own fiscal problems and enabled to contribute to relief.

In 1933, in the majority of states, the public schools which had been closed on account of the depletion of funds were reopened and maintained through special grants from the FERA to the states for that purpose. North Carolina, by assuming this burden of school maintenance, not only prevented large numbers from going on relief, but by frugality saved the structure of its school system and made it unnecessary for the FERA to grant additional funds to North Carolina to reopen and maintain closed schools as it had done in other states. When it was found, however, that the revenue from the sales tax would be insufficient to pay teachers their full eighth month's salary, a special grant of $500,000 was made by FERA to complete the salaries of those teachers who were shown to be potential relief persons.

Grants were made by the State Emergency Relief Administration to the counties on the basis of number of families on relief, their needs, and conditions in the counties influencing relief needs.

Each month the district administrator was required to send in a report form showing the number of persons on relief and expenditures for the current month, and the estimated number and needs for the ensuing month, probable available work opportunities, opening or closing of industrial plants, seasonal employment, and unusual conditions affecting relief, such as droughts, heavy rains, strikes, epidemics, business trends, etc. Also a form showing the cost of administration was required. These budgets were carefully studied and compared with the previous month's application and expenditures, and with the Field Auditor's report on the previous month's expenditures of the local administration.

A budget was then fixed for the administration of each district, and a budget for relief in each county, according to the indicated needs of the county and the limitations of funds granted to the state by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Allocations were then earmarked for administration and relief.

The downward change in relief loads and allotments to certain rural counties was due to improvements in agricultural conditions through the AAA. In other rural counties, a heavy rainy season or drought causing crop failure increased the load. Seasonal industrial employment, such as tobacco factories employing large numbers of persons, reduced the load.

It was the policy of the N. C. ERA to provide work relief, as far as possible, instead of direct relief, which consisted of cash grants to the family or orders for subsistence. Work relief was discontinued altogether, except in a few cities, in July, 1933, when a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour was fixed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, as this wage was much above the level of wages in practically all sections of the state, due to the extremely depressed condition on industry, business, and the value of farm produce. At that time, farmers could not sell their farm products for enough to pay even low wages to laborers.

CWA definitely established a work program of heavier construction projects at higher wages. Approximately 4,000 to 5,000 persons were employed on work projects when CWA was established on November 15, 1933. As only 50 per cent of the original CWA quota of workers for the state was drawn from relief rolls, the number of relief clients on CWA projects never exceeded 34,000, and a large relief load remained to be aided by direct relief from ERA funds. When the quota was increased by approximately 11,000 workers, with the exception of employable women who were not fitted for CWA projects, these workers were drawn from the unemployed rather than from relief rolls.

With the close of CWA on March 31, 1933, the works program was transferred to ERA with the following definite changes:

(1) CWA was designed to furnish work to the unemployed and to create purchasing power rather than provide a subsistence income. Fifty per cent of the persons employed were not necessarily eligible for relief. Under the new Emergency Relief Program, the work program was reëstablished as work relief, restricting employment to those persons eligible for relief, with the exception of the necessary amount of non-relief skilled labor required to give the maximum amount of employment to those eligible for relief. The number of hours of work was determined by relief needs.

(2) Work projects started under CWA were completed by the Emergency Relief Administration as far as possible; new work projects, however, were developed on the basis of the type of relief labor available in the community.

(3) Under the new ERA program, employment was largely restricted to urban and industrial areas. In rural areas, emphasis was placed on rehabilitation through the usual occupation of farming, and on especially designed programs for stranded populations.

Under the new program, the Social Service Division became the foundation of all other divisions. It was the “hub of the wheel”; it had the full responsibility for determining who was eligible for direct relief, work relief, and rehabilitation, the extent of need, the budgetary deficiency (the number of work hours per week depended upon this budgetary deficiency), of assisting the individual and the family with its varied problems, including fitness and adaptability to work, and of encouraging and assisting the family in securing private employment. Through the efforts of the case workers, hundreds of clients secured private employment each month. An example, in one county, the case worker, by personally securing jobs for the clients, in one month reduced the case load in her territory by half.

Greater emphasis was placed on improved standards of social work. Following the consolidation of counties into districts, and during this period from December, 1934, until the close of relief, December 5, 1935, the ERA made rapid strides in the social work field. In addition to the available trained social workers for supervision, workers were recruited from the ranks of those qualified by experience and adaptability. Training courses were given the social workers to increase their skill in dealing with human problems.

North Carolina has long been interested in a sound program to enable rural families to become self-supporting and independent on “owned” farms. The extensive tenant system has been a millstone around the necks of both the tenant and the landlord, a condition aggravated by the depression, and which threw the tenant on relief and made borderline cases of formerly successful farmers who were unable to carry their tenants. The past Governor initiated the “Live at Home” program to induce farmers to produce their own foods and feed crops and a surplus to yield an income through sales to inhabitants in towns. Both the past and present Governor emphasized newer methods of farming, conservation of soil, and gave their full support for the enrichment of rural life. In 1933, N. C. ERA authorized a survey of farm tenant families in eleven counties, which was used as a basis in a rural rehabilitation plan proposed by the Emergency Relief Director of Social Work to FERA preceding the inauguration of the Rural Rehabilitation program in 1934.

Approximately 65 per cent of the families on relief live in towns under 5,000 and in open country. N. C. ERA laid the foundation for a Rural Rehabilitation program in 1933 when aid was extended to about 30,000 families through small loans for subsistence farming and livestock. A large number of them paid back their loans in full. In 1934, a permanent fund was set up through organization of the Rural Rehabilitation Corporation, for the purpose of financing these families over a period of years, advancing to them funds for lease and purchase of land, subsistence, purchase of work stock, farm implements, fertilizer, etc., to enable them to earn a living through farming. Families to the number of 7,800 were taken off relief and placed on a self-sustaining basis through this program. Careful supervision of farming and conservation of food was provided. The clients were in the midst of their harvesting of crops when the management of the Rural Rehabilitation program was transferred, in August, to the Rural Resettlement Administration. A complete audit of the Rural Rehabilitation Corporation as of June 30, 1935, shows a net worth at that time of $3,081,011.23.

The Emergency Relief Program has not only provided the bare necessities and health protection to thousands of families, allayed the unrest and strengthened the morale of persons in desperate need, but the millions of dollars spent in purchasing food, clothing, household supplies, fertilizer, farm implements, tools and materials for work projects, have stimulated business and industry throughout the state. Under competent supervision of the work program, results of permanent value to the whole state have been realized in the construction of public buildings, highways, bridges, drainage and sanitation, conservation of natural resources, recreational facilities, etc. The services to the general public can best be interpreted through the achievements of the Emergency Relief Administration in North Carolina.

The earnings on the work relief program varied greatly in the state, as shown by the chart on page 58, “Work Relief Earnings as a Per Cent of Total Relief Granted.” The variations were due: (1) to the density and location of the relief population making projects possible; (2) the employability of persons on relief; (3) the occupational type of persons on relief in a community—fitting the project to the worker; and (4) the ability and willingness of local governmental agencies to coöperate by furnishing materials, equipment, and the use of existing facilities.

The work program under both CWA and ERA has included every type of work from making garments in sewing rooms, and mattress making, to heavy construction, such as airports, reservoirs, schools, county homes, community houses, sewerage disposal systems, parks, graveled and hard-surfaced roads, in addition to research and survey projects.

Prior to the Civil Works Administration, the ERA had undertaken a major work program, which was continued throughout the Civil Works Administration and into the reorganized Emergency Relief Administration, for the control of malaria by drainage, as malaria, prevalent in eastern North Carolina, influences both the health and economic status of the community. In malarious sections, a large number of relief clients were victims of malaria, and much of the indolence of people may be traced to malaria as it so depreciates strength and vitality as to seriously impair both the earning capacity and the power of thought. It has been shown that persons so infected are only two-thirds efficient. Experience in factories located in swamp or low areas has been that following malaria control the efficiency of workers increased from 30 per cent to 45 per cent.

With the objective of reducing relief rolls by increasing the employability of relief clients, in October, 1933, the N. C. ERA and the State Board of Health, conforming to plans worked out jointly by the United States Public Health Service and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, agreed upon a coöperative plan of drainage for malaria control which has resulted in one of the most beneficial and constructive projects of the administration. No drainage project was approved unless first approved by the State Board of Health. All drainage projects were supervised by the State Board of Health through the coöperation of the United States Public Health Service, the CWA and ERA employing a complete staff of trained engineers working under the direction of the Special Drainage Engineer of the State Board of Health. The figures given in the drainage section of the Works Division report show the extent and value of this program.

The Sanitation Program, operated on a similar plan and under the supervision of the State Board of Health, has improved the sanitation conditions in every county in the state. Particular emphasis was given to improving sanitation facilities of public schools.

The North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration has had a remarkably low accident record under the direction of the Safety Division. The accident frequency was eleven hours out of every million hours of work under ERA, while the record of CWA was higher, being thirty-one hours. It must be taken into consideration, however, that under CWA the workers were untrained and were not always placed on job according to their skill, and also that the Safety Division was newly organized. As the program developed, classes were initiated to give instruction in first aid, in coöperation with the American Red Cross, and a system for strict safety control was observed.

Under the Educational Program, supervised jointly by the State Department of Public Instruction and the ERA, 2,200 unemployed teachers were given work. Thousands of people were taught to read and write and as many more received instruction in vocational educational classes. In the year 1934-35, 2,949 students were enabled to attend college through Student Aid.

Vocational rehabilitation formed an important phase of this program.

The ERA was the selecting and enrollment agency for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Each quota of CCC enrollees was filled on time by ERA. The basic quota for North Carolina was 11,080. From June 15 to October, 1935, a total of 8,670 boys was enrolled. North Carolina received an additional quota on account of the failure of other states to fill their quotas, so that in one month 2,000 additional boys were enrolled. Of the 8,670 boys enrolled, 69.2 per cent was boys under twenty-one years of age. This group just entering young manhood was eager and anxious when given the opportunity to do something for themselves, their parents, and their state.

The organization of the Self-Help Fishing Coöperative, the North Carolina Fisheries, Incorporated, is one of the outstanding work relief and rehabilitation projects, designed to permanently rehabilitate and remove approximately 3,500 fishermen on the coast from relief rolls. A State Self-Help Corporation was organized and a grant of $29,000 was made by FERA to be loaned to the Coöperative as an operating fund for three months. The Fisheries began operations October 7, 1935. From present indications, this Coöperative is practically self-supporting and will probably not require further loans.

The freezing and processing plants at Morehead, Southport, Swansboro, and Manteo were built by ERA. Substantial contributions of materials were made by the towns, and building sites were donated. The loans to the Fisheries on the buildings and operations, secured by notes and mortgages on property, are to be repaid to the Corporation for the establishment of other coöperatives.

As a result, the fishermen who have been producing members of the Coöperative have been self-sustaining since the plants have been in operation. One fishing community of thirty families which had been on relief since Federal funds were granted in 1932 averaged in October and November $37.00 per family per week.

In July, 1934, the Federal Government requested the state to pasture and care for cattle purchased by FERA in the drought area of the middle west. Through this program, not only were millions of cattle saved from starvation, but the livestock owners were prevented from becoming recipients of relief through complete loss of all resources, and work as well as food was provided for relief clients in the states to which the cattle were shipped for pasture and slaughter. By the end of October, 101,000 cows were received in North Carolina by ERA, tested, vaccinated, and reshipped to pastures. Over 26,000 of these cows were later shipped out of the state by order of the FERA. The remaining were slaughtered and distributed as fresh or canned meat. The total cost of this program, including construction of testing pens, stockyards, canneries, and abattoirs, pasture rentals, fencing, herding, etc., was approximately $3,350,000. The average cost per pound can for all canned meat, including cost of entire program, was 17 cents.

Research and Survey projects to secure information and compile data have been invaluable in furnishing a factual basis for relief and other emergency programs and Federal agencies. The Rural Rehabilitation program was largely based on the surveys on “Rural Relief Families in North Carolina,” “The Problem of the Displaced Farm Tenant,” “Rural Problem Localities,” “Current Changes in Rural Relief Populations,” “The Status of Relief Families After ERA,” “Study of 1,000 Rural Relief and Non-Relief Households,” conditions in cotton-growing counties. The surveys on industrial tobacco centers and the occupational surveys in the larger cities revealed valuable information for urban relief.

The bill for Unemployment Insurance introduced in the 1935 General Assembly was based on the information secured from the Survey for Unemployment Insurance.

The Rural Electrification Survey in North Carolina was the first to be completed in the United States and is now being used by the North Carolina Rural Electrification Authority as a basis for its program. Three rural lines were completed in Orange, Hoke, and Wilson counties, totaling twenty-two miles.

In view of the Social Security Program, and in order to furnish the state with facts concerning persons on relief rolls who will be eligible to share in the benefits of the Social Security Program, the ERA Social Service Division, under the direction of Mr. J. S. Kirk, completed a survey of relief families who were on relief during 1934 and 1935. This survey reveals approximately 29,372 families in which there are single or multiple problems involving over 65,206 persons eligible to participate in the benefits of the Social Security Program. There are approximately 16,313 persons 65 years of age or over eligible for old age assistance, including the aged unemployables turned back to the counties in January, 1935.

This program which has been commonly referred to as the “dole” has been a real work program as shown by the photographs of work projects which are included in this report. It was designed to give employment to persons from every strata of society who were found eligible for relief. In spite of the fact that the case load included thousands of persons who can never work on account of physical and mental handicaps, 67 per cent of the entire case load was on the works program in one month during 1935. The average for the entire year of 1935 was 62 per cent. It was not unusual to find 90 per cent at work in certain counties. The peak of employment was reached under CWA. In a single week, 72,533 were at work. The maximum payroll for any one week was $931,709,28.

Throughout the duration of the Unemployment Relief Program, the state and local relief administrations have given full coöperation to other permanent and emergency agencies, both state and Federal, to insure the maximum benefits of public funds through coördinated programs.

With the establishment of the new work program in July, 1935, the services of ERA personnel were freely given in assisting the new WPA to get underway. Social records were transferred to the State Public Welfare Department and office furniture was made available. Materials, equipment, tools, and trucks were transferred with projects to WPA and office space made available. While priority consideration was given to the needs of WPA, the same services were made available to the Resettlement Administration and other emergency agencies.

As this report goes to press, the North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration is nearing the liquidation of a program of thirty months' duration. The objectives of this program, its methods, and its effects in general social and economical evolution, are not as yet far enough removed from the present problems relative to unemployment, and present methods of alleviating its ills, which are still in an experimental stage, for an evaluation of the program to be made. A true evaluation can be made only in future years.

Based on two and a half years of experience in the administration of relief, the following observations and recommendations are made. With general improvement in business, there has been a noticeable gain in employment, but there is little hope that the thousands of unemployed persons soon will be absorbed in gainful occupations. For the few thousands whose conditions have improved, there is corresponding suffering for many thousands in the state who have not found private employment and who, because of limitations of the program, could not be certified for relief. With the discontinuance of relief in December, more than 30,000 employable persons left on relief rolls became local charges. These employables have added to a burden which local communities have been unable to meet, that of caring for the unemployables turned back to them by ERA in January, 1935. The reduction of workers on WPA, increasing still further the burden, has created a situation with which the local governments are utterly unable to cope. Any permanent solution of these problems demands thoughtful and coördinated local, state, and Federal effort, and must be the outgrowth of careful study, social planning, and sound legislation.

It is hoped that the state will as soon as possible enact further appropriate legislation in order that participation in all the benefits of the Federal Social Security Act will provide necessary assistance to all unemployable persons in distress.

(1) It is recommended that pending further state legislation to provide participation in all the benefits of the Social Security Act, that the Federal Government renew the grants to the state for direct relief to assist the local governments in more adequate care of unemployables, and to meet the needs of those employables not provided with work on WPA and other emergency work programs.

Work opportunities provided from public funds should be on the basis of need and not limited by mandatory regulations that recipients of relief benefits should have been on relief within a specified period. The limitations of the work program have resulted in hardship and suffering for those who had the initiative and ambition to seek and secure seasonal employment, or have precluded employment on public works for those whose resources were subsequently depleted, resulting in the discouragement of those who make every effort toward self-support or even temporary independence.

(2) It is recommended that the regulations of the present Federal works program be made sufficiently flexible to provide that the certification of workers on emergency works programs be made on the basis of their current need of relief without fixed limitations as to time of having been in need and on relief rolls. It is further recommended that direct relief be granted or other provisions made for those persons who are unable to work on projects because of inaccessibility or other reasons.

Through a survey in thirteen counties representing a cross-section of North Carolina, of all rural families on relief, it was found that 51 per cent appeared capable of gainful farming. It was demonstrated by the ERA that with financial aid and proper supervision the majority of these rural families made substantial progress toward becoming self-supporting and that several years would be the minimum time in which these families would be able to become independent. “To aid these prospects to become farm owners would be both financial and human economy.”*

(3) It is recommended that greater emphasis be placed on the restoration of destitute rural families, with a provision for adequate social work supervision to aid in adjusting family problems and farm supervision for successful farm operations, and that any program of rural rehabilitation should include state supervision and should be made sufficiently flexible to meet local conditions.

Thousands of persons have been dislodged from their normal occupations and homes by conditions created by the economic depression. These people have drifted into communities where they have no legal settlement, and therefore no legal right to local relief, since under the law of this and many other states neither the state nor local political sub-divisions may use public funds to relieve non-resident persons. The effort of a family or individual to seek opportunities for self-betterment is a commendable objective. Owing to the diversity of legal settlement laws in the states, homeless transients are often inhumanly passed back and forth by local and state agencies until all legal settlement is lost. Of the 122,144 transients assisted in transient centers and work camps in North Carolina from June, 1934, through December, 1935, more than 78 per cent was interstate transients, the remaining number was intrastate. A substantial number was seeking health or economic betterment in other sections of the state or in other states. It is evident that the transient problem is both permanent and interstate in its scope. The past two years of Federal aid to the homeless transient have demonstrated that on a national plan these conditions can be alleviated.

(4) It is recommended that the states liberalize their legal settlement laws so as to attain uniformity throughout the nation, and that pending such action, legal settlement of non-residents be determined or verified on a social work principle of the welfare of the family or person and that emergency relief on a case work basis be provided for non-residents, if needed, in the form of relief or care. It is also recommended that the states make possible their full coöperation to the Federal government in a permanent Federal-state transient program to be administered and financed according to the principles of grants-in-aid laid down in the Social Security Act. Pending the attainment of these objectives, it is recommended that the Federal government renew its program of direct and work relief to transients.

Understanding and skill are essential in dealing with human problems. The experience of the Emergency Relief Administration has demonstrated that training and efficiency are necessary for all welfare workers to successfully assist in the adjustment of family problems.

(5) It is therefore recommended that a Civil Service plan be established for the selection of all social service and welfare workers, and pending the establishment of Civil Service requirements that the selection of welfare and social service workers be on the merit system.