PAGE SIX
EDITORIAL
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 1940.
The Kansan Comments-- EDITORIALS ★ LETTERS ★ PATTER
Sociologist Views 30,000,000 Joads
(Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles on current topics by University faculty members which will be published each Sunday in the Kansan.)
By Marston McCluggage Instructor in Sociology
Extraordinary international events, significant as they are, should not be allowed to divert our attention from domestic issues that need our attention. The problem of adequate relief for the twenty-three per cent of our population now outside our economic system is one of the most crucial of these issues. The unemployed, their dependents, the unemployables and other members of the "dispossessed" now total nearly thirty million people, or seven times the population of Finland. In spite of Dorothy Thompson's remarkable abolishment of unemployment by statistical manipulation we still have between one-fifth and one-fourth of our total labor supply unemployed. The American Youth Commission estimates that of six million young people between 16 and 24 seeking work, 3,800,000 are wholly unemployed.
Kansas has had a thirty-fold increase in relief costs in the last sixteen years, with over 44 million dollars being spent on some 101,000 cases in 1939. In the excitement generated by such statistics it is easy to jump to fallacious conclusions concerning relief. For example, the Kansas Government Journal for April, written on this campus, states, "It is the opinion of some county social welfare officers that many social welfare clients live on a plane above the standard of a good portion of the independent tax-paying citizens of the counties—the comfort and 'security' provided by relief are more attractive than those offered by many private jobs, businesses or professions. The standard of life of a relief client is simply outbidding industry, the farmer, the demand for domestic help and even the public service. Reports indicate men and women are quitting private employment by the hundreds to go on relief."
Yet, a few pages later in the same journal, the relief data for February for Kansas showed that the average grant for general assistance was $15.12, for old age assistance $19.50, the two principal classes of relief expenditure. In Mississippi the average case gets under $4 a month. New York state is the highest with $35.30. The national average is around $24 with fifteen of our states having an average grant during the last five years of less than $10 a month for relief.
The function of the social worker is not only to administer the minimum necessities of life—food, shelter and clothing—but also to develop the client's self-reliance and teach him to utilize his own resources. It requires more to get "reliefers" to stand on their own feet than to tell them they ought to, when frequently neither the client nor anyone else can see anything for them to stand on. Social workers cannot do much constructive work with a case load of over 200 as is now the average in Kansas. The really vital work of the social worker demands the successful cooperation of the community in organizing self-help opportunities, rather than carping criticism because relief costs are too high. The proper approach is not to beat down already inadequate relief standards, nor to infer that any large number are on relief because they like it.
It is obvious that such standards are not causing many persons to quit private employment, nor are they attracting many to relief rolls. The problem is a deeper one than lack of incentive on the part of the client. In fact, such standards create a tremendous incentive to find employment.
If we cannot bring these dispossessed back into our economic system through opening investment outlets by breaking down monopolistic price structures,then at least we should assist them in establishing an economic system of their own on the basis of "self-help" cooperatives.
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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Vol. 37 Sunday, April 14, 1940 No.128
ALPHA PHI OMEGA: There will be a meeting of the National Service Fraternity at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon in the Pine Room of the Memorial Union building. New officers will be installed. All Scouts and former Scouts are invited to attend this meeting. Kenneth Cedarland, president.
ATTENTION: All cases to appear before the Student Court should first be appealed to the Clerk of the Court, Bob McKay, telephone 2903.—Gene Buchanan, chief justice.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ORGANIZATION: The regular weekly meeting, open to students, graduates, and faculty members, will be held Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 in Room C. Myers hall - Patricia Neil, secretary.
CREATIVE LEISURE COMMISSION—PERSONAL RELATIONS COMMISSION: The Creative Leisure Commission and the Personal Relations Commission will have a bicycle hike this afternoon, meeting at 14th and Massachusetts streets at 1:30. Bicycles will be rented after the group meets. Everyone is invited—Marjorie Wiley, Charles Yeomans.
EL ATENEO: El Ateneo se reunira el dieciseis de Abril a los tres u media en el cuarto 114 de Frank Strong Hall. El programa sera par la close de conurosicion del senor Shoemaker. Todos los que hoblau expanol eston invatades.-Louise Bush, president.
MUSIC ROOM: The music room will be open from 3:30 to 5:30 tomorrow afternoon and from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening.—Ernest Klema, chairman.
ROGER WILLIAMS FOUNDATION: Roger Williams Foundation will meet this evening at 6 o'clock at 1124 Mississippi street. Honorate Eschavez, Isami Tashima, and Beatrice Rijos will speak on "Manner and Customs in the Homeland." Everyone interested is urged to attend—Emily Wray, secretary.
JAYHAWKER BEAUTY QUEEN CONTEST: Entries must be in the Jayhawker office tomorrow. Pictures may be any size or style—Richard MacCann, editor.
SENIORS: All seniors who wish to reserve space in the senior section of the Jayhawker should fill out application blanks at the Jayhawker office before May 1. Chad Case, business manager.
WESTMINSTER FORUM: Westminster Forum will meet this evening, at 7:30. The speaker for the evening will be Dr. T. F. Rudisill, chaplain from Lansing. The topic of his speech will be the second in the series of crime now being discussed by Westminster students. Betty Thoman will be in charge of devotionals.-Bob Talmadge, president.
Publisher ___ Walt Meininger
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Official Student Paper of
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas
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ROCK CHALK TALK
By Marilyn McBride
By Dale Heckendorn Guest Writer
With the help of the British navy, the Norwegians have thrown out a spiked welcome mat for the German invaders. If Hitler is really looking for pushovers he should investigate the American heavyweight boxing field.
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Admiral Eyrd is putting up "keep off" signs for Uncle Sam on newly discovered Antarctic territory. Now that all the other major powers of the world are busy fighting, let's fortify it.
Post card sender Mary Elizabeth Kirsch is discredited with the thought that a port of entry is an imported wine.
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With spring in the air again and a young man fancy lightly turning to thoughts of love, steak frys, and pin hanging, let me drop these discordant notes—a republic is a country where all the rulers, except wives, are elected by ballot—many a man keeps his nose to the grind-stone so that his wife can turn hers up at the neighbors.
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Prof. John Ise, the human Declaration of Independence and champion of rugged individualism, refers to the Nazis as millions of Germans with their brains turned off, yelling, "Heil Hitler."
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A professor in the Medical School asked one of his bright students for the color of lymph. Referring to a chart that had arteries indicated by red, veins blue, and lymph ducts green, the student replied, "Green." As a result the following jingle by the other would-be doctors.
Arteries are red.
Veins are blue.
Lymph is green.
And so are you.
Arteries are red.
Invin S. Cobb tells the story about an editor who turned down manuscripts from amateur writers with such kindly words that the scribblers came from miles around to thank him for his kindness and to stay for dinner.
Incidentally the hopefuls, aspiring to great heights in the fourth estate $^{17}$ belligerently beating out features under the tutelage of Prof. Henry Ladd "$1200" Smith, are not sending manuscripts out on trips for their health. Several have been accepted and the students have received nominal remuneration for their efforts.
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When Fraser hall was built to house the then very young University, wooden steps were considered sufficiently imposing. For a long time thereafter, the Board of Regents annually refused to appropriate money for a new entrance way. And the present generation of students might still be using the wooden steps if somebody hadn't made a mistake that couldn't be erased.
Stone-Cutter's Field Day--- Misfit Porch Given Fraser By Nut House
If a mis-fit from the University is sent to Osawatomie, that's nothing. But if a mis-fit at the state insane asylum is sent to the University, it's at least a little unusual. And certainly the front porch of Fraser hall is unusual.
For years, visitors to the campus have admired the distinctive and noble lines of venerable Fraser. That is, they admire them until they get around to noticing the portico. Then they realize that something is wrong—and they're right.
The state architect had designed a porch for one of the new buildings at the insane asylum. The stone-cutters, however, made a mistake. When the porch was finished, it was found to be a mis-fit. Generously enough, the state architect then offered the porch to the University. The Board of Regents eagerly accepted the gift, and within a short time, the wooden steps were carted away.
Since then, professors of architecture at the University have pointed out Fraser's front porch to their students—but only as a glowing example of what not to do to a building.
Quill Club Plans Contest For Hill Creative Writers
Prof. Helen Rhoda Hoopes, of the department of English, announced the opening of the annual contest for members of Quill Club at a meeting of that organization in the Memorial Union building last night.
Manuscripts must be submitted by May 15 and will be eligible for publication in the intercollege magazine, "Parchment." Prize offered to the winning contestant is an autographed copy of Madeline Aaron's "Prairie Galleon." Miss Aaron graduated from the University in 1922, and was a member of Quill Club during her college career.
Two Student Defeat Pneumonia Harold Haight, e'40, ended three-weeks siege this morning against pneumonia when he was released from Watkins Memorial hospital.
Eugene Maxwell, e'40, also of pneumonia patient, will probably be kept another week in the hospital, attendants said, but is improving steadily.