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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 15. The Negro in the Public Economy - 10. Assistance to Special Groups - 11. Work Relief
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360 An American Dilemma
the special eligibility requirements contained in most state laws concerning
the ^^suitability” of the home may have something to do with it. A few
state laws even specify that the parent or guardian be a “proper” person.^®
Such regulations, of course, may easily lend themselves to rather arbitrary
interpretations whereby, in particular, many Negro families can be cut
off from any chance of receiving this kind of assistance. According to
popular belief in the South, few Negro low income families have homes
which could be called “suitable” for any purpose j
and, of course, it is
literally true that the poorer the home the less acceptable it tends to be as
a place for rearing children. If standards of conduct have to be considered,
unmarried mothers may easily be at a disadvantage; and since often prac-
tically all Negroes are believed to be “immoral,” almost any discrimination
against Negroes can be motivated on such grounds. Even though it is
unlikely that professional welfare workers in the South would be taken in
by such exaggerated notions, many of them, particularly in rural areas,
may have to follow a compromise policy, the actual meaning of which is
that Negro children are punished for the real or imaginary faults of their
parents.
Average benefits are comparatively high. In 1939-1940 they amounted
to $30 to $31 per family, or $13 per child for Negroes and whites alike.
Some Northern states even paid higher benefits to Negro than they did to
white clients. In the South, of course, it was most often the other way
around.*^®
II. Work Relief
Except for unemployment compensation which, as we have seen, is
inadequate for Negroes, work relief is the only special form of public
assistance to able-bodied unemployed workers in so far as they cannot be
placed under any of the youth programs.’^ This situation is unfortunate,
for, as we shall find, general relief is virtually nonexistent in many
Southern areas, and it is not possible to give work relief to all unemployed
persons who fail to get any unemployment compensation benefits. Work
projects, for one thing, cannot easily be enlarged and contracted with the
fluctuations in total employment and, therefore, they must be kept well
below the average level of unemployment. Actually the American work
relief system is kept at an even lower level in relation to total unemploy-
ment than is necessary. Under such circumstances, an unemployed worker
is fortunate if he manages to get on W.P.A.—and the more so since the
earnings on work relief are usually much higher than the benefits from
the unemployment compensation system or from direct relief.
In April, 194I) there were 237,000 certified Negro workers assigned to
work under the Work Projects Administration. They constituted 16 per
* See Section 1 2 of this chapter.
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