Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 November 1949 — Page 27

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Receptionist Betty Steele tries 10 find an answer for two “lost soul” of the welfare progrem. jobless because Api Sn old,” they are ineligible because under 65 they are “too young."

Domestic Troubles Often Lead To Need for Welfare Help

By DONNA MIKELS

THIS IS the story of 61

people who walked through

the door at 148 E. Market St. one day last week. The door leads to the intake section of the Marion

County Welfare Department.

Through it pass the people

upon whom some 5 million welfare dollars will be spent:

next year. It used to be that the door would swing open to only 30 to 40 clients on peak days. The 25 folding chairs in the reception room were enough to seat clients while they waited to talk to caseworkers. But in mid-summer and early fall, while adding machines were Micking off estimates for the highest welfare budget in Marion County's history, the dobr was opening and closing more often. In the month of October 1184 persons came through that door, seeking help. Sometimes more than 100 came in one day. Long lines started forming in front of the receptionist desk. An appointment-system had to

be instituted to spare mothers with fretful children and tired old-agers two and three hour waits. : Sone OVER THE desk of the receptionist, Mrs. Betty Steele, . come the problems of all these . I took over. a -corner of this desk one dy Jast week. I wanted to see the people whose small doles will add up to almost $5 million next year, to learn what circumstances make their welfare a public burden. - It was 8 “light day.” There were only 61 clients. In the 61 I saw the perennial welfarers, the ‘would-be chiselers that tax groups cite when they decry welfare spending.

But in the 61 I also saw the other side. The people who through no fault of their own are thrown on public aid: Deserted mothers, hungry helpless

‘children and-—most pathetic of

all—-the bewildered, no longerneeded old-agers. : . ® »

THE FIRST client in was a white-haired man whose workcalloused hands belied the opinion that all welfare recip fents are “loafers.” He came in to arrange hospital care for wife. “We could pay for the last operation ourselves,” he told Mrs. Steele. “But now doc says she’s got to go back to the hospital and he said we could get help here” He was referred to the hospital commitment section to make way for six or seven women who wanted to see their caseworkers, Things quieted down until a grey-haired woman came irr and marched determinedly to the desk to demand to “talk to someone about helping me and my boy.” After she was seated Mrs, Steele confided she was a standing department “problem.” Not yet 65, she isn't eligible for an old-age grant. Her son is too old for an Aid to Dependent Children grant. Inves-

The man who doesn't want relief. Leitar Holley, onetime “Hol

lywood Flash” of boxing, just needs “fiding over" help.

tigations have shown the case foo “borderline” for private agencies to give financial aid and the militant mother has refused to enter into: compromise arrangements . suggested by workers. é » mo» “WE'VE TOLD her time and time again we can give grints only as the law specifies,” Mrs. Steele said. “But she goes out and someohe tells her we're giving her the brushoff and then she comes back and we start all over. “There are lots of people like her, too old to get jobs but not yet 65. We try to find someone, the township trustee or private agencies to help them. They're our ‘lost souls.’ ” The next client caught my eye as she came in. She was in her middle-sixties, very neat and moderately well - dressed. I thought she might be a foster home mother but when she reached the desk she asked to make an application for aid. Here, 1 decided, was one of the people I'd heard about, people who don’t need welfare but take it because it's there to be

"taken. As soon as she finished

an hour-long talk with a worker

I went over to confirm my ime pression.

“ » - AT FIRST I thought I was right. She was a woman with some means. Her bank had called’ previously to talk to workers about her, But here is the story the woman we'll call Mrs. Jones told the worker.

She and her husband, a moderately successful businessman, had one child, a daughter. The daughter ran away and married a boy stjl! in colJege. Although the parents, who were middle-aged at that time, disapproved, Mr. Jones took most of his savings and sét the couple up on a farm for a “substantial” start in life. > A few years later, after three children were born, the marriage broke up. The father deeeried. The mother, freed from farm drudgery, left her children with the grandparents and went on her own. As the years passed she remarried, to a man who did not want the children and they remained the grandparents’ responsibility. : Two years ago the elderly grandfather died. The grandmother was left alone with two

school-age children. Her total income from insurance benefits is $46 a month. The payments on her home are $40 a month. When she drew out the last of her savings last week a bank official who knew her problems sent her to welfare to get a grant for the two children, =» ” r “HERE IS a woman who's proud, who had to go against every principle she's ever had to come here,” the worker said. “She's finally realized she owes (it to the children to take a grant to'give them food and clothing. But you can tell she still doesn’t think it's right. “Because she lives in a nice home, because she's known as having somie means we might be criticized for giving money to her. These ‘are the kind people call ‘unworthy recipients.’ ” Unworthy? I wasn't so sure. : vem. + WHEN I returned to the desk Mrs. Steele had just finished

* talking to an elderly Negro who

was painfully hobbling to a

chair, ’ “I don't kmow what to do with him,” she said. “He's over 70, but he doesn’t want old-age assistance. He says he can work ‘and ‘support himself, but

can't go batk to work for a week or so. All he wants is a food order. “He looks so weak I was afraid he'd fal! but he says he doesn’t, want relief.” An hour later, while he was waiting for a worker, this man almost did fall over. It was then, after we sidestepped office rules and gave him his first food of the day, that we heard his story. The man who didn't want relief was Leitar M. Holley. He's better known among the oldtimers around town as the “Hollywood Flash,” an oldtime lightweight boxer. » - . “] BOXED for years, 'til I was too old” Mr. Holley told me. “Then I worked. I worked

R 3 § 3 5 i :

Br a

U. s. Speech Habits Rewriting Webster

Old Taboo Expressions Like ‘It Is Me’ “Now Have - Blessing. .of Grammarians. CAN YOU lay little words end to end and make them say

exactly what you mean?

Or do you talk with your mouth full of “grammar salad”

with “who” and “whom.” “shall” and “will,” and “farther” and )

“further” all mixed up? Lots of people do, and it's play around long enough with “Can I go?” and “May I go?” you will go, straight to the bughouse, The prim little old lady with the hair knot on the back of Ber head who used to crack your knuckles with a ruler for ending a sentence with a preposition would faint dead away if she could see what's happening in talk and writing today. ~ . . ENGLISH GRAMMAR just won't. stay put. We Americans won't let it. And because we insist on saying “awfully sick” and “It is me” we are rewriting Mr. Webster's masterpiece. Norman Lewis, who has written: a half-dozen word bogks and teaches- several grammar classes at the College of the City of New York, has been sleuthing American speech habits. ‘ He found some of the hard and fast rules of our formative years rusting on the language junk pile. "sn IT’S HARD to draw the line where educated, unaffected

grammatical speech begins, But the line isn't where you think it is, Let's try a few tests.

“If you eat green apples you'll surely get sick.” Maybe you think you

should say “become” but rest assured, says Mr. Lewis “get” is all right. ‘Here's another: “Who do soe" : : It's all right to use “who” Instead of “whom.” Use “who”

Conn., started right off with |

“It .is me, Winston Churchill.”

To back him up the editorial | Re a

staff of the Merriam-Webster dictionary wrote, “We assure

you that ‘It is me’ has long been | 8

established as good colloquial |

speech.”

And If you want to say you 4

have a “nice dress,” go right

ahead. There are plenty of au- | Such |

thorities on your side. authors as Rex Stout, Betty MacDonald, Christopher Morley and Hervey

Allen, says Mr. Lewis, voted |

unanimously with 23 other authors that “nice” is all right.

In fact 60 out of 69 magazine |

Lillian Heilman, |

editors gave it a pat of ap- |

proval, “Pretty sick” is established English, although it may not sit well on your educated tongue, but Prof. Sterling. Andrus Leonard of the University of Wisocnsin showed In a survey that it is established English. r ® » AND IF ‘you hear someone saying “Indiana has a healthy climate,” don’t raise your eyebrows and correct with “healthful”. Twenty-three of twentyeditors gave

repair signs which say “ is perfectly safe. In ne Stout, novelist, said ww 1 I

is not paid for.

Defunct Barrett

nobody bothered to collect.

taken the loss, The delinquent bonds were discovered a few months ago when Robert Becker, Mayor Feeney's Barrett Law Bond Department supervisor, and State Accounts Board examiners made an audit,

. no" IT WAS the first audit In

bonds, and the bondholders had falled to press collections in court, , Barrett Law bonds are the

Bonds issued under Barrett Law to finance the pavi | portion of S. Warman Ave., near Ray St. have od The job Investors are the losers. .

N» One Bothered to Collect .

of this

Law Bonds

By DAVID WATSON THERE IS a lost treasure in the vaults at City Hall, Once it was worth $1.25 million. But not any more. The treasure is in defunct municipal Barrett Law bonds which

Today the bonds are just worth the green and white they are printed on. They expited years ago and the bondholders have

Once each year, the householder is required to pay one tenth of his assessment plus in terest. This ‘is held by. . the County Treasurer and turned

over to the bondholder on de~ mand.

Lost Treasure Of Over A Million In C

Charles Slinger, bond clerk (left), and Robert Becker, depert-

ment supervisor, are in direct charge of the auditing program, Five women-keep accounts and records. :

At the end of 10 years, the bond is redeemed plus interest. But it hasn't worked that way in the case of many street improvements here. Property owners didn't make their pay-. ments. Some contractors did not bother to press collection. In some instances, they had discounted the bond to a hank or private investor. The bondholder assumed the City would press the collections. But the City failed to do so, Is under no obligation to do so. r . ¥ AFTER THE BONDS became delinquent 15 years, they expired under law. The bondholders were left holding the bag.

Take the case of 8. Warman Ave. between the old interurban railroad and W. Morris St. It was paved with concrete in 1930 at a cost of $17,687.82. ; There were 77 property owners who asked for the easy payment plan to finance their combined assessment of $14,176.16. Interest alone was computed at $4603.70, which made the bonds appear to be a good investment, The._contractor sold his Barrett Law bonds at a discount. Some property owners against whom bonds were issued fell behind In their payments. The City never pressed them, Under it doesn’t have to

Lod

exact payment. That's the bondholder’s worry. Co When the bonds expired th 1045, there was $6824.74 unpaid. Bondholders can not collect it now unless property owners de- . cide -to make good in order to clear titles. A Barrett Law bond is a prior lien on property. » ~ n BUT WHEN ‘the statute of limitations (15 years) has passed, the lien becomes meaningless, In many instances, contrac tors who were stuck with delinquent bonds simply went to court and got a judgment against the property. Some of

Mrs. Agnes Lawlor, assessment roll clerk at City records of account files in the first major audit years in the Barrett Law depariment,

By ART WRIGHT With the introduction of the

Also there will be a special prize for the grandma selected. .. Lettérs should describe as briefly as possible those things

grandma does that brings “good cheer” to her neighborhood. The ‘grandma

introduced in the let-

£

must be an actual i ty

“antics” and general dally routine stamps her as “the life of the neighborhood.” = She could also be a counterpart of the character in Indianapolis artist Charles Kuhn's

Do You Know a Grandma Who's Life of the Party? Win $25 by Writing The Times a Letter About Her

of grandma The Times is seeking, twn now .to the color comic section. You'll get a

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1 > Sale

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the vacant lots they acquired became valuable in the cur .