ABSTRACT
The Relief programs of the 1930's were greatly influenced by the widespread conviction that the unemployed were glad to give up the struggle and were quick to accept help. Since the Department of Welfare, prior to accepting a family for Relief, undertakes a careful investigation of the circumstances influencing a man's loss of employment, the information about job severance is highly reliable. Income from odd jobs and reductions in living standards helped prolong the independence of these families, but their savings accounts and insurance policies were more important in delaying their applications for Relief. During the unprecedented expansion of the United States in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, a man, if willing to work, had little reason to be unemployed. People were willing to admit that the unemployed were the innocent victims of industrial decline, but they suspected that many victims, especially those on Relief, found their new state to their liking.
