Newspapers / North Carolina Catholic (Nazareth, … / March 31, 1968, edition 1 / Page 5
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Welfare 'Freeze' May Heighten City Race Crisis This Summer By JOHN R. SULLIVAN <NC News Service) In 1967, as Congress was con sidering a large hike in Social Security benefits for the elderly, widows and their children — bene fit increases which all agreed were much needed — the House suddenly attached to the bill a measure which could very well contribute to the urban racial crisis in 1968. While voting to increase bene fits to Social Security recipients, the House and Senate voted to put a “freeze” on federal welfare payments under the Aid to .Fam ilies of Dependent Children (AFDC) program — the largest and, according to most experts in the field, the most needed of pub lic welfare’s half-dozen aid cate gories. This freeze, which goes into ef fect on July 1, was largely criti cized as an “anti-Negro” measure, an expression of Congressional white backlash in the wake of 1967’s big-city riots, and a harsh reply to spokesmen of the na tion’s growing welfare rights movement. THAT CRITICISM is apparent ly accurate. The measure was voted by a House committee the day after a group of welfare mothers staged a demonstration at the Capitol; one Congressman labeled them “a bunch of brood mares.” But the freeze, which is going to either cost the states large sums of money if they are to keep the AFDC payments at their pres ent level for all applicants, or will cost the recipients money in terms of decreased payments, had its roots in a trend which has been alarming legislators and welfare administrators for several years. In the 10 years between 1951 and 1961 the number of children receiving AFDC aid rose 60% in terms of absolute numbers, or from 3.2% of all children to 4%. In the past seven years, the rate of increase has been even higher. In 1967, about 5% of all children were receiving AFDC payments. THE COST OF this aid in the same period doubled. In 1958 there were 729,385 families receiv ing an average of $101 monthly under AFDC. By November, 1967, there were nearly 1.3 million fam ilies receiving an average of $150. Yet during that same period, the number of old-age assistance recipients decreased by some 400,000, to slightly more than 2 million. The numbers of new welfare recipients and the spiraling cost of aiding them has upset many legislators. Yet they see no end to the trend. While these figures have upset the officials who must ask tax payers for the money to provide welfare, other trends have upset welfare recipients themselves and those who seek increased welfare benefits for them. For example: —Although the average pay ment to families more than dou bled between 1950 and 1967, cost of-living increases wiped out any possible gains. In fact, the one fairly stable welfare statistic is that which describes the amount by which payments fall short of providing simple subsistence — about 12%. —ALTHOUGH THE number of AFDC families receiving aid near ly doubled between 1958 and 1967, it is estimated that between one third and one-half of those eligi ble under present laws do not re ceive any help. —About 8 million people re ceive welfare assistance of some kind — old age, disablement, med ical assistance, aid to the blind, general assistance, and AFDC. Even if that number were half what it should be under the pres ent laws —■ 16 million — it would leave untouched many more mil lions of “The Other America,” perhaps as many as 30 million people ineligible for public aid, yet whose income is low enough to put them below the official pov erty level of about $3,300 for a family of four. The National Advisory Commis sion on Civil Disorders acknowl edged these shortcomings, and urged that all those eligible foi welfare be helped, that payment! be increased to meet the mini mum requirements of decent, ii not comfortable, living, and asked that a system of income mainte nance — a negative income tax or family allowance, perhaps — be studied. THIS IS FAR from a complete catalogue of all the criticisms of the welfare system. In fact, there are many more complaints voiced by administrators and reciDients alike — so many that it often ap pears that welfare has no friends at all. The Civil Disorders Commission itself added other criticisms: com plicated regulations hamper the most needy, who are usually poor ly educated and least able to un derstand them; the constant checking conveys to welfare re cipients the impression that they are considered untrustworthy, po tential thieves, liars and cheats; some investigations infringe on constitutional rights to privacy; residence requirements serve to inhibit the right to travel and keep new arrivals off the rolls; social services are inadequate and only “compound the problems.” BUT PERHAPS the most per vasive complaint — and the one most troubling to Negroes, to the churches and to welfare admin istrators themselves — is that the welfare system, rather than aiding families to cope with their diffi culties, hinders them and often in troduces new problems into lives already overburdened. Why? Lack of money — which leads to discouragement and which forces children and heads BANK of BELMONT Phone 825-5331 Belmont, North Carolina STRANGE BUT TRU Little-Known Facts for Catholics By M. J. MURRAY o>oh imlwjb. mm> /V 7HR FiiSsT CATHOLIC TUTtheTT. WAS THE- E weekly * COURIER. JX BOSTON r PUBLISHED Hi FRENCH. rr FIRST APPEARED IN APRIL 1789 BEH" AND RAN FOR * SIX MONTHS. :r ' THIS IMAGE OF IMF SORROWFUL CHRIST WAS BEEN FAMILIAR IN POLAND SINCE THE 15T? CEMTURy. | Remarked on By manv ( A visitors to ST peters,Rome. THE LIFELIKE STATUES 1 LINING THE ROOF OF THE BASIUCA NUMBER OWE WUMPREP AND POfrTy IN ALL. of families to look outside their homes for escape from their dreary plight — is perhaps the first reason. In 1961 nearly half the families receiving AFDC found that the aid fell short of their minimum needs. In six states, all AFDC families were unable to meet their basic needs of housing, food, clothing and other necessary expenses. Across the nation, the average gap between need and payment was $40 in 1961, according to a survey by the Department of Health, Ed ucation and Welfare. BREWER PAINT & WALLPAPER CO. PAINTING CONTRACTORS Residential Commercial — Industrial PAINT DEALERS Phone 274-5403 Greensboro, N.C. UNITED ELASTIC CORPORATION H. A. White, Mgr. Stuart, Virginia
North Carolina Catholic (Nazareth, N.C.)
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March 31, 1968, edition 1
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