In 1930 only $14,450 was spent in Union County for publicassistance and
of this amount $7500 was for blind pensions and $2000 for mother's pensions.
There were five methods then used for caring for the poor: care at the county
farm, outdoor relief administered by the county commissioners through overseers
of the poor in each precinct, relief for the blind, aid to mothers and care in a
state institution.
The population of Union County had increased from
18,100 persons in 1880 to 20,249 in 1920 and decreased to 19,883 in 1930. The
total cost of relief had increased from $1484.16 in 1880 to 9,000 in 1920 and to
$14,450 in 1930. The increase which took place between 1920 and 1930 was due to
the increase in the number of blind pensions allowed. The increase from 1880 to
1920 was either because there was more assistance needed or more needs were
cared for.
A County Commissioner who was in office in 1930 gave the
following information. "We always helped our paupers who came to us for help.
Most of the able bodied people could support themselves. A few had to have an
order or two during the winter. We always helped the old, the sick, the children
and widows. The average order was two dollars per week for a family because most
of them were able to get what they needed from friends or the farmers they
worked for. These grocery orders were issued for staple foods only. The poor did
not fool us any because we knew all of them. Clothing and books were provided
for poor children in school and medical care for the sick. Very little
assistance was given through the summer months because it was not needed. We
thought we met the needs adequately and there did not seem to be any complaint
about the assistance given."
The school teachers played an important role
in the care of the poor at that time. They reported children who needed clothing
and books and often food.
Aside from the above types of assistance given
by public agencies in 1930, there was a private agency known as the Associated
Charities which gave a small amount of assistance. The secretary of this
organization, Mr. Thomas Rixleben of Jonesboro, gives the following account of
it. "The Associated Charities was organized in 1910 by three churches in
Jonesboro, Illinois, the Baptist, Methodist and Lutheran churches. A
Thanksgiving service was held in each church in rotation. A voluntary offering
was taken amounting to about twenty dollars per year which was given to the
Associated Charities. The merchants of the town added about thirty dollars to
the collection and all the citizens who wished donated used clothing and shoes
which were given to the poor. The needs of the poor were few because neighbors
and relatives contributed to those in need without being asked to do so."
At this time it was customary for farmers and landlords who had tenants on
their farms to supply this tenant with a house, a pig or two, the use of a cow
and all the fresh vegetables and fruit he wished to can. If sickness or any
circumstance occurred which caused the tenants to need more money than their
usual thirty dollars a month salary, the landlord either provided care or
''stood behind" the credit of the person in need. In the summer, the poor who
did not live on farms were usually told through their grocers or friends that
certain farmers would allow them to pick the fruit and vegetables too ripe to be
shipped to market yet in excellent condition for canning or eating. It was only
unusually lazy people who did not avail themselves of these opportunities, and
these people were so criticized by their neighbors that many people accepted the
gifts to avoid having a reputation of being lazy. Thrifty housewives usually saw
that their poor neighbors, relatives and friends had enough cans for their fruit
and vegetables and enough second hand clothes to be presentable.
These
opinions of the people in charge of giving aid to the poor in 1930 have been
quoted in full in order to show that drastic contrast that has taken place
during the last ten years when our public assistance has increased from $14,450
in 1930 to $629,470.37 in 1938 in spite of the fact that a large factory
employing 500 people was opened up during that period. This $629,470.37 does not
include large amounts of money that have been loaned to the farmers and
home-builders, it represents only the amount of money that was give outright to
the people of the county who said they were unable to earn a livelihood for
themselves and would have to be supported by the government.
One drastic
change that has taken place since 1930 is the fact that the citizens who do not
need help have taken the attitude that the government should help the poor and
the individual citizen need no longer give the attention he formerly gave to his
tenant, his neighbor or his poor relative. A second drastic change that has
taken place is that the poor person no longer feels that he is being helped but
demands support as a civil right. Most recipients of W. P. A. jobs do not
consider this a form of relief and demand that their political friends use their
influence to obtain this type of job for them.
There is not room here to
enumerate instances where citizens who consider themselves honorable have abused
the privilege of being aided by the government by demanding help when they might
be able to devise ways to help themselves. This is not true alone of Union
County but of most of the counties in the whole United States. Since the
appropriation for this assistance comes from the federal and state governments
mainly, all needs are estimated at a maximum rather than minimum extent so that
by the time all estimates are totaled it makes a tremendous amount of money
necessary to meet the estimated needs and after the money is appropriated it
seems that few places make an effort to use as small an amount of money as
possible and let the surplus revert to the treasury of the county, state or
federal government. When one stops to consider that Union County has only 4500
taxpayers and over $600,000 was given away in the county and also considers that
this is happening all over the country, then one realizes that better programs
for administering public assistance must be used in the future.
By
the end of 1933, representatives of the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission,
which had been appointed by the governor to help with the growing relief problem
in the state, had made contacts with the chairman of the county board of
commissioners, Mr. Clem C. Baggott, and appointments were made of an Emergency
Relief Committee for Union County. Mr. R. Wilkins, Alto Pass; Mr. Ed Karraker,
Jonesboro; Mr. Claude Rich, Cobden; Dr. C. R. Walser, Anna; Harvey Hinkle,
Dongola, and Ed Hargrave, Anna, were appointed to serve with Mr. Clem Baggott as
chairman. Later Mr. Baggott and Dr. Walser resigned and the final committee
which nerved was made up of Ed. L. Karraker, Jonesboro; T. P. Sifford, Anna; R.
S. Diilow, Dongola; Claude W. Rich, Cobden; Dan R. Davie, Ware; Ed S. Hargrave,
Anna, and Roy Wilkins, Alto Pass.
Since there had been no unusual
requests for aid in the county at the time, the chairman of the committee and
the county clerk sent letters to the principals of city schools and to teachers
of country schools asking for a list of names of needy persons in the school
districts. From these lists the first allocations of money was computed. Later
as the availability of money became publicized requests became numerous.
In February, 1934 the representatives of the I. E. R. C. told the local members
that in order to continue to receive money in Union County an administrator of
certain qualifications should be appointed. Since the board knew of no one in
the county who could meet the requirements set up by the I. E. R. C. they
accepted the suggestion of the commission and appointed Mrs. Bertha Montgomery
who describes herself as the "bitter pill the committee had to swallow in order
to obtain funds from the commission."
Under Mrs. Montgomery's supervision
the office was organized which at one time employed 32 workers to investigate
cases and otherwise administer relief in Union County. Requests for relief
increased and eventually this office was taking care of most of the mother's aid
cases and blind pension cases. Work relief in the county was first organized in
this office which was later to be taken over by the Civil Works Administration
of the federal government and later by the Works Program Administration.
In 1936 the legislature took the power of administration of relief away from the
I. E. R. C. because there had been too much friction between the administrators
and many of the county boards. This was due mainly to the scarcity of available
administrators who had the requisite training and background and those who had
to be used were learning their jobs themselves instead of being able to teach
the boards and their employees what needed to be done.
As a result of
this act the relief was turned back to the county board and the I. E. R. C.
acted only as a certification agefit to approve of the applicants for the Works
Progress Administration, the Public Works Administration, the Rural Resettlement
Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Youth
Administration and other related services. The I. E. R. C. also provides the
funds for the counties to distribute and since 1938 has had the power to
supervise the administration of these funds. A third duty the I. E. R. C.
retains is the distribution of surplus foods in the counties. Surplus foods are
supposed to be foods and products bought in areas where there is a surplus
supply and distributed by the government, thus keeping the surplus off the
market.
All but one of the members of the local I. E. R. C. committee
expressed themselves as believing they should have used their own ideas of
limiting the amount of money spent in Union County rather than listening to the
representatives of the commission who continually pointed out that this county
might as well get all the money they could since the other counties were doing
the same thing
In contrast to their opinion in the opinion of economists
who study the problem at large and in measuring the standard of living Union
County find that it is lower than most counties in Illinois. Therefore it was
their constant advice to give more assistance to make the standard of living
comparable to other counties.
In
1936, in accordance with the amendment passed by the legislature, the
administration of relief passed from the hands of the I. E. R. C. to the County
Board of Commissioners. Mrs. Clyde Treece was appointed administrator and she
was given four assistants.
Under this administration only direct relief
was cared for in this office. All able bodied men or heads of families were
referred to the I. E. R. C. for certification for one of the federal programs,
W. P. A., N. Y. A. or C. C C. In spite of the fact that these programs and the
new Old Age Assistance Administration took care of approximately 70 per cent of
the cases given assistance in the county, this office spent $4,028.80 in June,
1938 in comparison to $6,612.75 which included all relief work and old age
assistance and other cases in June, 1936.
Due to the fact that the cost
of relief was increasing all over the state at a tremendous rate of speed, the
legislature again amended the law providing aid to the needy in 1937, giving the
I. E. R. C. the right to supervise the county offices beginning July, 1938 to
the extent that the county officers provide the state office with complete
records of each case and offices not complying with the standards set by the I.
E. R. C. were to have funds withdrawn from the county until such time as the
rules were carried out.
In 1939, Miss Edith Hess was made the
administrator and has carried on the work of the office since that time.
According to a law passed in 1935
providing for old age assistance to be given to all needy persons 65 years of
age or over, County Judge E. S. Alden appointed a board to supervise the
administration of pensions in Union County. This board made up of Mr. J. D. R.
Brown, Mrs. Kate Coffman and Mr. Nathan T. Lawrence appointed Mrs. Nettie
Glasscock administrator.
By April of 1939, 1217 applications had been
made for assistance. 743 of these had been accepted and 67 were pending
investigation. The others had been rejected, withdrawn or died.
The
office had two employees and a stenographer loaned by the National Youth
Administration until the State Administration began a review of cases. In July,
1938, the employees became civil service employees and the Old Age Assistance
Administration was changed for the supervision of the board to that of the State
Department of Public Welfare. When the review of cases was begun additional
helpers were employed in the office.
All persons who are over 65 years of
age not having an income of $40 per months (this was increased from $30 during
the extra session of the legislature in 1940) or not having children able to
support them are eligible for assistance. This assistance is given on the basis
of need, that is if the aged person has a place to live, rent is excluded from
his grant, etc. In April, 1940, there were 758 persons receiving old age
assistance in Union County.
The
National Youth Administration has two separate programs in Union County, the
student aid program and the projects under the supervision of the County N. Y.
A. Superintendent Cleatus Smith.
The former program is supervised by the
principals of the high schools in the county and provides aid to needy students.
In this county the need for aid is determined by an investigation made by the
local relief office at the request of the principal who has received the
application. One high school superintendent stated that more children from the
poorer areas of the county have been able to obtain a high school education
since this program has been in effect. The pupils receiving this aid do not have
to belong to relief families.
The latter program includes three projects,
a book-binding project sponsored by the County Superintendent, a picnic ground
project sponsored by the Home and Garden Club of Alto Pass; and a desk
reconditioning project sponsored by the public schools of Cobden, Illinois. In
earn project the sponsor furnishes the material for the work and provides the
space where the work is to be done and labor is furnished by the National Youth
Administration.
The N. Y. A. program probably has a larger turnover of
workers than any other in the county because the workers are unmarried persons
between 16 and 24 years of age. Many of these people are able to obtain private
employment because they have pained a little experience and because the N. Y. A.
is constantly on the outlook for jobs for its clients who come from relief
families.
The work of the C. C. C.
Camps has been discussed before under the National Forest Service Program.
The C. C. C. Camps employ youths between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not
in school nor gainfully employed. These boys do not have to come from relief
families.
The mentally ill
patients of Union County and twenty-two other southern Illinois counties are
cared for in the Anna State Hospital for the Insane.
This institution was
established by a vote of the legislature in 1869, the board of commissions
appointed consisting of Lieutenant Governor John Dougherty of Jonesboro;
Benjamin L. Wiley of Jackson County; Dr. G. L. Owens, of Marion; H. W. Hall of
McLeansboro, and D. R. Kingsbury of Centralis. These commissioners selected the
present site of the institution and a large building was erected. Since that
time the number of buildings has periodically increased until the hospital has
grown from a capacity of 150 to one of nearly 300 patients with all necessary
hospital facilities and farm equipment for the almost 500 acres of land.
Originally water was obtained from cisterns and a spring, but now a large dam
has been constructed below Jonesboro making a lake from which water is pumped to
a large reservoir north of Anna for the use of the hospital.
The
institution gives employment to over 300 people.
One of the recent
additions to the institution is a diagnostic center where patients are received
for observation and diagnosis which facilitates the patient's stay in the
hospital. Many are returned to their homes from this part of the institution
shortly after their admission. The custom is rapidly growing among county judges
to send patients is as guests for observation and commit them after it has been
recommended by the diagnostician. This cuts down the expense of inquisitions of
persons who would be discharged without psychosis.
The first managing
officer was Dr. Dewey of the Elgin State Hospital who stayed about two months
and was succeeded by Dr. Barnes who remained five years. Most superintendents
since have remained from 4 to 8 years.
The County sends its feeble-minded
to Lincoln State School and Colony and some few may get as far away as the Dixon
State Hospital; its blind, its deaf and dumb to the Jacksonville Schools for
those purposes and its tubercular patients to Springfield. There are inadequate
facilities in Illinois for the care of the tubercular patient.
One of the five trachoma clinics belonging to the
southern district of Illinois is located in Jonesboro. This is a cooperative
agency supervised by the Society for the Prevention of Blindness, staffed by the
Department of Public Welfare of the State of Illinois and all other help
furnished by the W. P. A.
The Society for the Prevention of Blindness
made a survey of the needs of the trachoma areas in the state in 1934. They were
aided by the Department of Public Health which gave the services of one nurse
and funds for the expense of the survey.
All eye cases needing treatment
in this area had been sent to the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary in Chicago
before this time. Railroad and bus fares were expensive so as a result of the
survey made in 1934, area clinics were established. The first year the clinics
were paid for by the Society for the Prevention of Blindness and the Illinois
State Department of Public Health. In 1935 the legislature made an appropriation
to the Department of Public Welfare to carry on the work for one year then the
present set-up was arranged.
At present, the Society for the Prevention
of Blindness furnishes a nurse who supervises the work of the clinic and the
area it serves. The Department of Public Welfare furnishes one nurse and a
doctor for each clinic. The W. P. A. furnishes all other help: nurses aids who
assist the nurse in the clinic and make home calls to follow up the cases
treated in the clinic or to urge new cases which have been reported to come to
the clinic for treatment; field workers, men who are trained to do the same as
the nurses aids in the homes; a clerk to arrange schedules and appointments and
give information on days when the regular clinic staff is not present; and
janitors and laundress.
The clinic cares for eye cases only and gives
treatment only to trachoma cases but in case an examination discloses another
type of eye defect, the case is referred to a local physician for care. If the
persons examined is dependent, the case is sent to the Eye and Ear Infirmary in
Chicago.
The clinic is open three times a week for examinations and
treatment. The doctor is present every Thursday and every other Saturday he
cares for surgical cases. Anesthetics for operations are paid for by the relief
agency for the individual patient.
From June, 1934 to April, 1939, 533
positive trachoma cases and 380 suspected cases had been treated in the clinic.
Many others have been examined. The average monthly case load is 200 cases. The
load is heavier in summer, sometimes reaching 300 cases because dust causes
flare ups in old cases.
Contributed 11 Sep 2017 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Union County, by Lulu Leonard, published in 1941.
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