OCR Text |
Show Welfare Problems Discussed at Monday Night Kiwanis Meet "The Problem of Welfare" was the theme of an excellent talk given Monday evening at the regular weekly meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Pleasant Grove. Merrill N. .Warnick was in charge of the program and introduced the speaker, Floy Taylor Herewith are the highlights of Mr. Taylor's address. The problem of providing for those in need is indeed a vexing one. History reports that generations have always had to face this problem and have tried various solutions. If we go to the Scriptures we find reference to the poor, the alms giving and there is indication that those who shared with the poor would be blessed. Our own history of this country coun-try indicates a rather rugged individualist philosophy and the West provided an escape mechanism mech-anism so that as the Eastern sections became more populated, popul-ated, the rugged individualist who wished could move West and take up new country. However, How-ever, beginning with the great depression, which was heralded by the Stock Market Crash of October 29, some 40 years ago, we have found that the programs pro-grams which were, to a large extent privately financed, did not meet the situation; that in need were so numerous that it was imperative that the Federal Fed-eral Government do something. The problem was also complicated compli-cated by the fact that the United Uni-ted States was no longer a rural section. Technology changes came rapidly and if we look at the present structure of our society we find that we have little use for the worker who lacks training. More and more we are bringing a complex operation which requires a high degree of education and technology skills for the individual indivi-dual far beyond the individuals ability to produce. When the Welfare Department Depart-ment came into being as a result re-sult of the Social Security Act of 1935, the main provisions were to provide Old Age Assistance. Assist-ance. This was a program designed de-signed to provide some financial finan-cial security for those over 65 years of age of limited means. It was meant to give a person some security and dignity in their reclining years so they would not be in want or objects of charity... The Aid to the Blind Program came into being at this time and also the Aid to Dependant Children Program. The Dependant Children program pro-gram was designed so that a mother could remain in the home and care for her childen and have a reasonable standard of living. Some years later the Aid to the Disabled Program was added, and although there have been cases where the original orig-inal intent of the program was deviated, in the main the programs pro-grams have been operated fair-r fair-r ly well. In a recent report President Nixon has stated that the Welfare Wel-fare Program has been a colossal colos-sal failure. With this statment I cannot agree. It seems that in looking over some of the things that have been accomplished accom-plished from the history of our local department, some interesting inter-esting facts can be found. In 1955 in this county there were approximately 1983 cases of Old Age Assistance, Aid to Depend-net Depend-net Children, and Aid to the Blind. The average grant for one person wa s$55.60. The population pop-ulation of this county at this time was approximately 75,000 people. There was one nur-sing home in the county. In 1969 there we, on these same programs, pro-grams, 2366 cases. The grant for one person was $90.00 and the population of the county approximately ap-proximately 125,000. We also have some 24 nursing homes in the county. There are other facts that have influenced the number of cases being cared for by the Welfare Department. For example, in 1950 the population pop-ulation of the State Hospital was approximately 1200 patients. pat-ients. At the present time the population is in the neighborhood neighbor-hood of 600 patients. Some of these patients have been released releas-ed from the State Hospital and ar being cared for in rest homes where they can receive adequate nursing home care, thus freeing the Hospital to admit ad-mit more patients for therapy. In his recent message, the President indicated that some of the things that should be considered in general, in fact advocated, are: A complete change in the Welfare Program. Pro-gram. One requirement was that the program be standardizedthat standard-izedthat grants be equalized over the nation. For example, at the present time in Mississippi Mississ-ippi a grant for 4 persons is $39.00 per month, while the same size family in New Jersey Jer-sey receive $263.00 per month. With the recent Supreme Court ruling outlawing residency requirements there is some feeling that the poor will migrate mi-grate from the states with small grants to some of the higher paying states. Under the President's proposal pro-posal there would also be adequate ade-quate training for male heads of family. At the present time many states provide no assistance assist-ance for families where the father is in the home .This is not true in Utah. Utah does have a program to provide for assistance when the father is out of work. The third proposal of the President was that the working poor be considered for assistancethat assist-ancethat is, if a head of family fam-ily was working and his income was within a certian amount, he would be eligible to be subsidized sub-sidized so that every family would be brought up to a certain cer-tain level of income. Mr. Taylor is Social Service Director Region III, Divisicn of Familyy Services. |