Town Welfare Costs Far Below 1933 But Old Age Equals Entire 1924 Bill

Expenditures of the welfare department continued to show a sharp decrease during November from the same month of a year ago. Records of agent E. K. Ballou show that last month the total expenses of the department were $8,103.67 as against $16,081.26 in Nov., 1933. There was an increase $142.50 over the Oct., 1934 costs, however, due mainly to fuel and other needs of the colder weather.

The total expenditures up to Dec. 1 reached $105,195.42, the smallest amount in several years and were markedly smaller than for the same period last year, when the total costs had amounted to $169,775.70 on Dec 1. With only one more month left in the fiscal year it is now assured that the welfare department will make a very favorable showing in comparison to the 1933 record.

The expenditures are very much increased over those of the department 10 years ago, for in 1924 the total cost was $22,479.53, whereas this year the cost of the old age assistance, required under state law, will probably surpass that amount, the total up to Dec. 1 reaching $20,046.39, all of which is figured in the total expenditures of the welfare department. The old age assistance costs for November of this year were $2,019.25.

An increase in the number of persons aided was also noted in the past month, the number receiving aid in various amounts on Dec. 1 being 1,209 as compared to 1,008 on Nov. 1, but less than on Dec. 1, 1933, when there were 1,310 names on the list. Last year, however, almost all of those on the list were receiving full aid, while this year a large number are only receiving partial of temporary aid.

The total expenditures of the department for 1933, including the personal account, reached $189,168.70, whereas the appropriation for this year was $148,168, of which $20,000 was transferred to the highway department at the special town meeting on Dec. 7.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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There is currently no available "Beginner" label. The following is the default level label: This article in the Greenfield Daily Recorder-Gazette suggests that New Deal work relief programs, combined with a modest economic recovery, had reduced the welfare rolls in Greenfield, Massachusetts by the end of 1934. Prior to these federal work relief programs, most needy unemployed workers received welfare from local public and private agencies. A key goal of the New Deal was to eliminate local "doles." However, the article also shows that the number of elderly on the welfare rolls had increased dramatically. This was the result of a state "Old Age Assistance" law requiring local aid for poor elderly residents. The expansion of such welfare programs for the elderly played an important role in creating support for the Social Security Act of 1935. The Act created a national old age pension program.

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