1938: Public Social Service

What It Includes.

Public social service includes all social work or welfare activities undertaken by governmental agencies and financed out of public funds. At the center of the field are various types of relief, now called public assistance, given to the unemployed and needy and to special groups such as the aged, the blind, dependent children, transients, and veterans, and, secondly, welfare services to various groups, including the sick, the physically and mentally handicapped, the delinquent, and neglected children. Closely allied is the field of social insurance. Nearer the periphery is a variety of educational, health, protective, and other activities of a social work character. The relative importance of public welfare as a function of government, as indicated by both the amount of public funds expended and the number of people affected, has increased tremendously during the past few years.

Former Systems.

The traditional American system of handling the problem of relief has been by private charitable agencies and local government units, with the former carrying the larger share of the burden and having better organization and standards. The depression has greatly altered this situation. As the number of unemployed grew, the volume of expenditure required to provide relief was well beyond the resources of the private agencies, and the task was taken over in large part by the local governments. As the problem increased, the latter had to seek aid from the states, which in turn were forced to appeal to the Federal Government.

Steps toward a National System.

We are in process of building up a national system of public welfare. The Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 is a landmark, since it accepted Federal responsibility and appropriated Federal funds. In 1935, this emergency program was supplanted by one having a more permanent character. Responsibility for direct relief was thrown back to the states and localities, while the Federal Government assumed the task of providing a works program and, under the Social Security Act, a permanent system of Federal grants to states for assistance to certain groups of unemployables and a program of old-age and unemployment insurance.

Direct Relief and Work-Relief.

At the close of 1938, public social service activities centered in two main groups: direct assistance and work-relief programs. The first includes the direct relief provided by state and local welfare agencies: aid to the aged, the blind, and dependent children (known as category relief), administered by the states with financial assistance from the Federal Government under the terms of the Social Security Act (such programs are now in operation in all but three of the states); direct relief to destitute farm families, administered by the Farm Security Administration; and the distribution through state and local relief agencies of surplus commodities, purchased with Federal funds by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation. The second group of activities — work-relief programs — carried on through the Works Progress Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the National Youth Administration, are designed primarily to provide employment for heads of families in need of relief and to give work opportunities and training to young people of working age. State and local governments which sponsor WPA projects meet a part of the cost (about 22 per cent) of the WPA program. The other programs are financed entirely with Federal funds.

It was estimated in June 1938, that approximately 2,600,000 persons were employed in WPA programs, 300,000 by the CCC, and 485,000 by the NYA, while some 2,000,000 cases were receiving direct relief from state and local welfare agencies. All told, about 6,600,000 households, representing over 20,000,000 individuals, were receiving some form of public assistance. Estimates at the end of the year were somewhat higher. This constituted a marked increase over the numbers receiving aid in 1937.

During the first half of the fiscal year 1938, Federal, state and local funds expended for direct assistance and work relief amounted to $1,444,000,000.

Financing.

The Federal Government was thus contributing 63 per cent of the total cost of relief. It continued the policy of meeting its share by borrowing. State and local governments, with greater restrictions on their borrowing powers, sought new sources of tax revenues. In recent years the general retail sales tax has spread rapidly, until approximately half the states now employ it. There has also been a tendency in some states to share with localities certain state administered taxes, while practically all states now distribute grants in aid of certain local services. The trend from local to state and Federal financing has not only continued into 1938 but has also become part of a permanent policy. It is being realized that relief can no longer be viewed in emergency terms or treated on an emergency basis, and that much of it is not directly related to unemployment. While legal responsibility remains primarily in the local units of the government, both local and state resources are insufficient to finance the present welfare program.

Valuation.

Increased participation by the states and the Federal Government has resulted in improved standards of relief and a higher level of administrative performance. It has also led to the reorganization of public welfare in many states. The tendency is definitely toward the establishment of a single agency — usually termed the department of public welfare — that administers or supervises all the welfare functions assumed by the state. The Social Security Act, by requiring the states to administer public assistance functions directly or to supervise local state-wide administration, as a condition of Federal grants, has accelerated this trend. It has also promoted the movement away from institutional care, by providing that assistance be given in the home. The Federal program itself, however, still remains uncoordinated.

While comparatively few state and local governments have civil service requirements for public welfare positions, the trend is toward a merit system of some sort that recognizes professional qualifications. There is also at present increased provision for better fact-finding machinery and for the publication of statistics, while the more progressive public welfare departments are carrying on research and educational publicity.

Public social service is thus being reorganized on a permanent basis, integrated, except on the Federal level, and professionalized. The growing recognition of government responsibility, especially state and Federal, in the field of human welfare, is one of the most significant movements of our generation.