CHAPTER TEN 

 INDEPENDENCE VERSUS DEPENDENCE 



IT is a simple dictate of the heart which says: If a man 

 is hungry, feed him; if he is naked, clothe him; if he 

 is homeless, shelter him. 



But it is a dictate neither of the heart nor of the 

 head, which says, if a man is unemployed, support 

 him. 



Yet in one way or another, most of what is being 

 done to relieve the distress and suffering of the mil- 

 lions who are unemployed as a result of the depres- 

 sion amounts to nothing more than that those who are 

 employed shall support those who are not. Most relief, 

 and most plans for relief, are merely measures for sup- 

 porting (or tiding over) the unemployed for that in- 

 definite period of time which they will have to spend 

 looking for work or waiting for work to turn up. 

 That home relief, and food tickets, and bread lines, 

 are measures for supporting the unemployed is ob- 

 vious. It is not so obvious but it is nevertheless the 

 same thing to "make work" for them; that is, to 

 invent such work as cleaning the parks of a city as a 

 mere excuse for doling out cash to them. And it is 

 still the same thing supporting the unemployed to 

 make those who are employed "share" their work 



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