Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 9, Number 41, DeMotte, Jasper County, 31 August 1939 — TRUSTEE IS FORGOTTEN IN PUBLIC RELIEF BOOM [ARTICLE]

TRUSTEE IS FORGOTTEN IN PUBLIC RELIEF BOOM

“It seems seems strange that in the boom-day rush of the public relief and other assistance programs, the one elected official, the township trustee, who is best qualified to disburse such funds is practically forgotten,” declared Edmond C. Foust, editor of The Hoosier Farmer. (Here in Jasper Co., according to the county budget, the welfare department will spend practically the -ame amount as that required to conduct all other county business and offices.) “The trustee is the head man of the smallest political unit of government, and consequently knows a greater percent of his people than any other official, yet the only part of this great program entrusted to him is poor relief. “Other divisions of this mammoth program must come under the supervision Of men whose salaries equal that of the governor of the state, offices carpeted ankle deep, and under the direction of college graduates whose sheep skin evidently qualifies them to analyze family trees of recipients and to prognosticate political trends,” continued Mr. Foust. “If too few applicants are recorded, then case workers must find excuses to bring forth the cases of the less forward who are still trying to get along on their own initiative. In other words,” claims Mr. Foust, “relief offers careers for an army of people, while the township trustee labors on, with small pay and no college degree in social work. “Relief supposedly is granted to the less fortunate who have lost out in the economic fight, and unless the present trend of ‘foreign’ supervision is curbed, this old-fashioned idea will vanish,” prophesies Mr. Foust. “The trustee is handling school funds coming from the .state, and doing a good job. He caan do equally a- good a job with relief and public works money, without a super-organ-ization proved to be so expensive. “If taxpayers want relief, them a move to change the whole relief setup and place it on a sfmple basis under the town-hip trustee must start now,” he stated.