The 'defense emergency' which turned into full-fledged war toward the end of the year dominated the private welfare field in 1941.
One of the outstanding events was the creation of the United Service Organizations for National Defense (USO) to provide recreational and cultural facilities for Army and Navy men in areas outside of military establishments. The USO consists of six member agencies — the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the National Catholic Community Service, the Jewish Welfare Board, the Salvation Army and the Travelers Aid Society. A total of $15,000,000 was raised for the USO during the national fund-raising drive conducted in 1941. The chief job of the USO is to staff recreation buildings in civilian areas for men in armed services; these buildings are usually erected with Government funds.
War Relief.
The Red Cross greatly expanded its work during 1941, first because of the desperate material needs of war-torn Europe, later because of the entrance of the United States into the war. On Dec. 10, 1941, Norman Davis, chairman of the Red Cross, reported that the organization had administered foreign war relief aggregating $56,555,000 in the 27 months of the war up to Nov. 30, 1941. Of this total, $30,250,000 represented the value of relief supplies purchased by the Government and distributed by the Red Cross abroad under a special Act of Congress.
Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Red Cross launched a $50,000,000 drive for war relief. Half of this sum was to be raised for services to the armed forces, $10,000,000 for disaster and civilian emergency relief, $5,000,000 for civilian defense services, and the rest for assistance to local chapters and administrative purposes. Enrollment in the Red Cross was estimated in December 1941, at about 14,545,000 members, representing an increase in membership of 58.3 per cent over the previous year.
Scores of private war relief agencies that sprung up after the outbreak of World War II continued their operations in behalf of the peoples of particular belligerent countries in the year 1941. According to a report issued by the U.S. State Department, a total of $46,344,900 had been collected by 327 foreign war relief agencies from the outbreak of the war in September 1939 till Nov. 30, 1941.
After Pearl Harbor, of course, those war relief organizations connected with the cause of the Axis powers ceased operation. By far the greatest amount of funds was raised by the agencies active in Britain's behalf, notably the British War Relief Society, which collected nearly $12,000,000. As the year ended, serious consideration was being given to the advisability of merging into one organization the three main drives in behalf of our principal allies — Britain, China and Soviet Russia.
The many millions of dollars poured into foreign war relief efforts did not, as many had feared, impede the flow of contributions to private agencies engaged in domestic social services. Five hundred and ninety-two community chests raised $90,426,589 for private social work for 1941, as compared with $86,297,068 for 1940 — an increase of 3.6 per cent. Reports on the progress of 343 community chest campaigns for 1942 showed that the amount raised up to Dec. 16, 1941, ran 6.4 per cent ahead of that raised for a corresponding period the previous year.
Community Chests.
A significant trend in chest giving was the steady increase in small contributions. According to figures compiled by Community Chests and Councils, Inc., on the basis of an analysis of 118 chests, gifts under $5 were 57.3 per cent greater for 1941 than for 1940. However, nearly 60 per cent of the total amount subscribed to these chests came from gifts of $100 and over. Nearly one-fifth of the population in these 118 cities subscribed to the community chest for 1941. Three out of every four givers contributed less than $5 each, their average gift being $1.62.
Undoubtedly a factor in stimulating contributions to charitable agencies is the Federal income tax deduction allowance for such gifts up to 15 per cent of net income. No estimate is available of the total amount of contributions to private social welfare agencies, but figures published by the U.S. Department of Commerce show that in 1939 a total of $485,103,000 was deducted from income tax returns for gifts to charitable, religious and educational causes. This sum represented 2.2 per cent of net income.
Nearly 25 per cent of the funds raised in chest campaigns for 1941 went for leisure time services, while 24 per cent was allocated for family service and general dependency. Child care came next, receiving 18.7 per cent of the total, while 10.2 per cent was appropriated for the central services of community chests and councils. Health and hospital services together accounted for 20.3 per cent of the total funds. Only 1.5 per cent went toward the care of the aged, reflecting the influence of expanding public old age security programs on private activities. Since the great expansion of Federal financing of relief activities, beginning in 1933, private social work has tended to recede from the field of material relief, with a correspondingly increased interest in services such as recreation.
Income Sources.
Member agencies of chests on the whole derived only 36.9 per cent of their total income for 1941 from community chests. The rest was obtained from other sources, mainly public tax funds and payments by beneficiaries. It is significant that in 1940 nearly 70 per cent of hospital income was derived from beneficiaries who made full or part payment for services rendered. Payments from beneficiaries made up 38.9 per cent of the total income of leisure time agencies, and 27.3 per cent of the income of agencies caring for the aged.
Family Welfare.
Greatly increased employment due to the boom in war industries was reflected in a considerable falling off in applications and intake of family welfare agencies in 1941. A memorandum dated Jan. 15, 1942, on family casework statistics, compiled by Ralph G. Hurlin, shows that applications for help declined substantially in the fall of 1941 as compared with the corresponding period in 1940. Of 56 family agencies in various parts of the country, ten reported that applications in the fall of 1941 had increased by at least 5 per cent; ten showed less than 5 per cent change either way; and 36 reported declines in applications ranging from 5 to 43 per cent.
After the fateful Dec. 7, the paramount problem of private social agencies in the United States was how to gear themselves with maximum effect to the all-out war effort. In most cities, especially along the seaboards, the permanent agencies were engrossed in the task of turning at least part of their facilities to civilian defense work, while many new social agencies sprang up as volunteer rallying grounds for the duration.
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