Another $500,000, ooo

RELIEF

Another $500,000, 000

Reconstruction Finance Corp. had only $3,318,778 left in the bottom of its $300,000,000 jobless relief fund last week when President Roosevelt signed a bill amply replenishing Federal resources to help the nation's destitute millions. Authorized was the expenditure of another $500,000,000, to be raised by R. F. C. through sale of its obligations to the Treasury and turned over to an Administrator of Relief.

The new law marked an important shift in relief policy. The R. F. C.'s $300,000,000 was distributed as loans to strapped states. Half of the new $500,000,000 will be handed to them as out-&-out gifts on the basis of need. They will likewise be given the other half, provided they match each U. S. relief dollar with three of their own.

President Roosevelt did not want the country to get the idea that this new Federal unemployment fund relieved communities and citizens from doing their loyal duty toward their local jobless. Said he: "The bill, in effect, is a challenge to governors, legislatures and local officials to stimulate their own efforts. . . . The first obligation is on the localities . . . then the State must do its utmost. . . . Only then can the Federal Government add its contribution."

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