Red Cross Scrapbook 1934: page 26 - April
Collection: Red Cross Scrapbook 1934
Title
Red Cross Scrapbook 1934: page 26 - April
Subject
Great Depression, 1929-1939
American Red Cross
Food relief--Kansas
Unemployment
Description
A page from the 1934 scrapbook of newspaper clippings from the Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler, dated April 9th, 1934. The scrapbooks were created by local Red Cross volunteers. Articles during the Depression years covered food and other relief efforts, and documented unemployment issues.
Creator
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler
Source
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Publisher
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Date
1934-04-09
Contributor
Red Cross volunteers
Rights
Used with permission of copyright holder. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Identifier
RC34022
Coverage
Cowley County, Kansas
Citation
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler, “Red Cross Scrapbook 1934: page 26 - April,” Digital Arkansas City, accessed May 2, 2024, https://arkcity.digitalsckls.info/item/81.
Text
A NEW
WORKER
Possible Danger of Federal Withdrawal Is Averted
STORMY SESSION
Walker and Brown Clash At Meeting of Commissioners
Averting a possible withdrawal of federal relief funds from Cowley county, the county commissioner in a stormy special session Saturday morning employed Mrs. Jesse Miller as county case supervisor on a six months’ contract at a salary of $200 a month.
Officials of the Kansas emer- gency relief organization, disturbers of government funds in the state, previously had threatened to disqualify the county from participation in the new relief program if it would not work in cooperation with Mrs. Miller, who originally was sent here for a 30-day period to straighten out the tangled affairs of the local relief situation.
Must Change Plans
Announcing that the county had been granted only $10,000 in federal funds to finance relief work for a five-week period starting last Monday, L. L. Petticord, county poor commissioner and work relief supervisor, told the commissioners that a drastic change in plans for the new program would be necessary.
With only about 225 men working this week, the payroll amounted to $2,200, or more than the week’s allotment for the entire county work relief project. It had been estimated previously that $6,000 a week would be available.
Relief budgets probably will be maintained at the level of the last few weeks, with the county filling the deficits in the hope of securing a larger federal grant from the state authorities.
The commission meeting was enlivened by a sharp exchange of remarks between County Attorney L. C. Brown and County Commissioner W. F. Walker, who voted against signing the contract with Mrs. Miller. About 50 unemployed men from Winfield crowded into the commissioners’ room to attend the session. ___
A Bitter Dispute The argument between the two officials started before the meeting was opened and lasted until Mr. Brown left to attend a justice court trial. Starting over the legal aspects of Mrs. Miller’s employment, the dispute grew rather bitter at times, with the two participants doing practically all the talking at this part of the sessions. The other two commissioners said nothing, but joined forces to defeat Mr. Walker in the voting.
After demanding an opportuity to register his negative vote on the contract, Mr. Walker read his reasons for this stand into the minutes. These were made in writing at the request of Mrs.
Mabel Hall, county clerk, who was taking the minutes.
Turn to Page8
Mr. Walker maintained that the contract was misleading be- cause it was not necessary for the county to employ any definite case supervisor; that the county had no definite information that the federal money would be withheld if Mrs. Miller were not employed; that duress and threats were being used in the matter; and that Mrs. Miller should present a proven, workable program before she was employed.
“I have confidence in your ability,” he told Mrs. Miller, “but we haven’t seen it yet. I always want to look at a horse before I buy it. I believe this contract should be withheld for about three weeks until you have shown us that you have a program that will work.”
Brown Objects
Mr. Brown objected as Mr. Walker started to read the reasons for his vote as he wrote them down.
“I think a motion to adjourn is in order,” he said, addressing the other two commissioners, Russell Hanna and James Grant. “If this man wants to make a speech, let him hire a hall.” “The county attorney’s office is upstairs,” Mr. Walker replied. “That’s where you belong and I suggest that you go on up there where you belong.”
The duration of Mrs. Miller’s contract was changed from a year to six months at her request after it had been accepted by the commissioners. Mr. Walker opposed the amendment making the change.
Accepts a Challenge “The objections that have been raised since I came here might develop into something so unpleasant that I would not care to remain a year,” Mrs. Miller said. “To speak frankly, I was not particularly anxious to accept this appointment. I am a member of the state staff and there are many other counties and several other states in which I might work. I am given to accepting challenges, however, and this county was recommended to me as a difficult one, offering some real problem.
The commissioners approved the appointments of Mrs. Miller, L. J. Bennett and E. R. Kinin-month as assistant poor commissioners at salaries of $1 a year. Mrs. Miller’s name was included in the list after Mr. Walker had objected to her assuming the authority of this position without it being granted by the board. The federal regulations, he pointed out, merely outhorized the case supervisor to hold the position and did not make it mandatory.
The county is entitled to from eight to 12 assistant poor commissioners, Mr. Petticord pointed out, one for each 500 persons on relief.
March Relief Costs
The net cash cost of relief to the county during March was $11,509.24, according to a report prepared by R. M. Roseberry and accepted by the commissioners Arkansas City received $5,-805.72 of this amount and Winfield $5,703,52. Labor valued at $3,295.20 was performed during the month in payment for commodity orders. There were 978 families receiving direct relief, 556 of them in Arkansas City and 422 in Winfield.
Mrs. Miller authorized Mr Petticord to release the March salary check of Mrs. Alice King, former assistant case supervisor for Arkansas City. The check has been withheld since Mrs. King left a week ago to take a similar position in Independence.
The total cost of relief and associated activities in the county during the 19 months in which the civil works administration
was in operation amounted to more than $300,000, Mr. Walker said, about $225,000 of which came from the federal government.
This expenditure was at the rate of more than $1,000,000 a year, Commissioner Walker pointed out.
Appoint Case Workers
The applications of Mrs. Louise Steinberg, Mrs. Della Bullard, Miss Ernestine Young, Miss Alice Palmer, Leland White and Joyce Elwell as case workers were accepted by the commissioners and by the three members of the county emergency relief committee present.
The commissioners also con-firmed the appointment of Wayne Lambert, assistant county engineer, as assistant work project supervisor for the new federal relief program.
The minimum number of working hours allowed under the federal plan has been cut from 60 to 24 a month, Mr. Petticord announced. Most of the men put to work under the program in the county probably will be given this schedule unless a larger grant is secured.
About 500 county grocery orders, covering a period of from two weeks to 30 days in April, were issued in Arkansas City by Mrs. King before she left, it was reported, and these will reduce the number of persons needing immediate assistant through the federal program, although, of course, proving expensive to the county.
Original Format
Newspaper clippings on scrapbook page
Title
Red Cross Scrapbook 1934: page 26 - April
Subject
Great Depression, 1929-1939
American Red Cross
Food relief--Kansas
Unemployment
Description
A page from the 1934 scrapbook of newspaper clippings from the Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler, dated April 9th, 1934. The scrapbooks were created by local Red Cross volunteers. Articles during the Depression years covered food and other relief efforts, and documented unemployment issues.
Creator
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler
Source
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Publisher
Arkansas City Public Library, Arkansas City, Kansas
Date
1934-04-09
Contributor
Red Cross volunteers
Rights
Used with permission of copyright holder. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Identifier
RC34022
Coverage
Cowley County, Kansas
Citation
Arkansas City (Kansas) Traveler, “Red Cross Scrapbook 1934: page 26 - April,” Digital Arkansas City, accessed May 2, 2024, https://arkcity.digitalsckls.info/item/81.Text
A NEW
WORKER
Possible Danger of Federal Withdrawal Is Averted
STORMY SESSION
Walker and Brown Clash At Meeting of Commissioners
Averting a possible withdrawal of federal relief funds from Cowley county, the county commissioner in a stormy special session Saturday morning employed Mrs. Jesse Miller as county case supervisor on a six months’ contract at a salary of $200 a month.
Officials of the Kansas emer- gency relief organization, disturbers of government funds in the state, previously had threatened to disqualify the county from participation in the new relief program if it would not work in cooperation with Mrs. Miller, who originally was sent here for a 30-day period to straighten out the tangled affairs of the local relief situation.
Must Change Plans
Announcing that the county had been granted only $10,000 in federal funds to finance relief work for a five-week period starting last Monday, L. L. Petticord, county poor commissioner and work relief supervisor, told the commissioners that a drastic change in plans for the new program would be necessary.
With only about 225 men working this week, the payroll amounted to $2,200, or more than the week’s allotment for the entire county work relief project. It had been estimated previously that $6,000 a week would be available.
Relief budgets probably will be maintained at the level of the last few weeks, with the county filling the deficits in the hope of securing a larger federal grant from the state authorities.
The commission meeting was enlivened by a sharp exchange of remarks between County Attorney L. C. Brown and County Commissioner W. F. Walker, who voted against signing the contract with Mrs. Miller. About 50 unemployed men from Winfield crowded into the commissioners’ room to attend the session. ___
A Bitter Dispute The argument between the two officials started before the meeting was opened and lasted until Mr. Brown left to attend a justice court trial. Starting over the legal aspects of Mrs. Miller’s employment, the dispute grew rather bitter at times, with the two participants doing practically all the talking at this part of the sessions. The other two commissioners said nothing, but joined forces to defeat Mr. Walker in the voting.
After demanding an opportuity to register his negative vote on the contract, Mr. Walker read his reasons for this stand into the minutes. These were made in writing at the request of Mrs.
Mabel Hall, county clerk, who was taking the minutes.
Turn to Page8
Mr. Walker maintained that the contract was misleading be- cause it was not necessary for the county to employ any definite case supervisor; that the county had no definite information that the federal money would be withheld if Mrs. Miller were not employed; that duress and threats were being used in the matter; and that Mrs. Miller should present a proven, workable program before she was employed.
“I have confidence in your ability,” he told Mrs. Miller, “but we haven’t seen it yet. I always want to look at a horse before I buy it. I believe this contract should be withheld for about three weeks until you have shown us that you have a program that will work.”
Brown Objects
Mr. Brown objected as Mr. Walker started to read the reasons for his vote as he wrote them down.
“I think a motion to adjourn is in order,” he said, addressing the other two commissioners, Russell Hanna and James Grant. “If this man wants to make a speech, let him hire a hall.” “The county attorney’s office is upstairs,” Mr. Walker replied. “That’s where you belong and I suggest that you go on up there where you belong.”
The duration of Mrs. Miller’s contract was changed from a year to six months at her request after it had been accepted by the commissioners. Mr. Walker opposed the amendment making the change.
Accepts a Challenge “The objections that have been raised since I came here might develop into something so unpleasant that I would not care to remain a year,” Mrs. Miller said. “To speak frankly, I was not particularly anxious to accept this appointment. I am a member of the state staff and there are many other counties and several other states in which I might work. I am given to accepting challenges, however, and this county was recommended to me as a difficult one, offering some real problem.
The commissioners approved the appointments of Mrs. Miller, L. J. Bennett and E. R. Kinin-month as assistant poor commissioners at salaries of $1 a year. Mrs. Miller’s name was included in the list after Mr. Walker had objected to her assuming the authority of this position without it being granted by the board. The federal regulations, he pointed out, merely outhorized the case supervisor to hold the position and did not make it mandatory.
The county is entitled to from eight to 12 assistant poor commissioners, Mr. Petticord pointed out, one for each 500 persons on relief.
March Relief Costs
The net cash cost of relief to the county during March was $11,509.24, according to a report prepared by R. M. Roseberry and accepted by the commissioners Arkansas City received $5,-805.72 of this amount and Winfield $5,703,52. Labor valued at $3,295.20 was performed during the month in payment for commodity orders. There were 978 families receiving direct relief, 556 of them in Arkansas City and 422 in Winfield.
Mrs. Miller authorized Mr Petticord to release the March salary check of Mrs. Alice King, former assistant case supervisor for Arkansas City. The check has been withheld since Mrs. King left a week ago to take a similar position in Independence.
The total cost of relief and associated activities in the county during the 19 months in which the civil works administration
was in operation amounted to more than $300,000, Mr. Walker said, about $225,000 of which came from the federal government.
This expenditure was at the rate of more than $1,000,000 a year, Commissioner Walker pointed out.
Appoint Case Workers
The applications of Mrs. Louise Steinberg, Mrs. Della Bullard, Miss Ernestine Young, Miss Alice Palmer, Leland White and Joyce Elwell as case workers were accepted by the commissioners and by the three members of the county emergency relief committee present.
The commissioners also con-firmed the appointment of Wayne Lambert, assistant county engineer, as assistant work project supervisor for the new federal relief program.
The minimum number of working hours allowed under the federal plan has been cut from 60 to 24 a month, Mr. Petticord announced. Most of the men put to work under the program in the county probably will be given this schedule unless a larger grant is secured.
About 500 county grocery orders, covering a period of from two weeks to 30 days in April, were issued in Arkansas City by Mrs. King before she left, it was reported, and these will reduce the number of persons needing immediate assistant through the federal program, although, of course, proving expensive to the county.
Original Format
Newspaper clippings on scrapbook page