ABSTRACT
A good system of Relief is really a contradiction in terms. Every Work Relief program has to rely primarily on construetion projects, and a good assignment system must pay close attention to the health of the workers. An appraisal of Relief during the 1930's can be approached from several angles. One can study the relative money cost of supporting a man on WPA or on Home Relief. The facts and figures throw light primarily on the influence of different systems of Relief on the unemployed. They illuminate many facets of planning and administrating Home Relief and WPA. A primary objective of this investigation into What Unemployment Does to People was to discover the relative efficiency of caring for the unemployed on Home Relief or on WPA. The superiority of WPA over Home Relief was rooted in the fact that families on WPA suffered less of a break with their past.
