140 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



situation is in many ways typical of that in all our 

 industrial cities, there are over 200,000 unemployed 

 families. Without including the uncounted number 

 of destitute single men and women, this means that 

 over 1,000,000 human beings are now dependent 

 upon relief and charity for their food, clothing, and 

 shelter. With no prospects of business improvement, 

 plans are being made to support this number of fami- 

 lies for the whole of 1933. It is true that from time to 

 time some of these families secure work and so become 

 self-supporting, but others are laid off to take their 

 place. The same issue of the New York Times which 

 carried a story about a slight improvement in business 

 in the fall of 1932, carried another story about the 

 laying off of 2,800 men by a single corporation in 

 New York City. 



At the request of the Emergency Home Relief Bu- 

 reau, the New York City Welfare Agencies prepared 

 a budget covering the merest necessities for these 

 families. On the basis of that budget, the taxpayers, 

 the contributors to relief funds, and the relatives of 

 the unemployed, are faced with the appalling problem 

 of raising $161,370,000 for the support of these fami- 

 lies for the single year of 1933. 



Now what does this sort of relief mean to the indi- 

 vidual family? 



While the breadwinners of the family are supposed 

 to be out looking for work, each family of five is to 

 receive a bare subsistence ration of $6.85 in food each 

 week; a minimum clothing budget of $2.45 per week; 



