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Show RESEARCH GROUP 4 COMMENTS ON PUBLIC RELIEF Does a liberal welfare program kill the will to work? This question was asked Tuesday Tues-day by Utah Foundation, a nonprofit non-profit tax research group, which notes "expenditure by the state of Utah for public relief and welfare have since 1934 become one of the ernment. For the period 1934 to three major costs of state gov-was gov-was expended in Utah for welfare and relief, as compared to $96,100-000 $96,100-000 for public education and $80,-500,000 $80,-500,000 for highways." Utah's general assistance payments pay-ments are the most liberal in the nation, continues the foundation, pointing to individual payments in October as -high as $147 for old age assistance! $277 for a family receiving aid to dependent children chil-dren and $176 to a recipient of general assistance. Under new regulations issued by the state department de-partment of public welfare effec-fective effec-fective Oct. 1, 1946, a considerable number of families on welfare rolls will receive monthly payments in excess of $200. Commenting on this public policy, poli-cy, the foundation asks: "How attractive at-tractive can a welfare program be without causing progressive deterioration deter-ioration in the will of families to support themselves? It is logical to suppose larger and larger numbers num-bers of the population will weigh relative difficulties of self-support against state assistance. Already the average individual would find it difficult to provide by private insurance or retirement plan benefits ben-efits equal to those afforded by current Utah policies to "necessitous" "necessi-tous" persons on welfare rolls." |