Replies

When I worked for Social Services, I cleaned out the vault of a 100+ year old court house in rustic Cripple Creek Colorado, that was located in the Social services office.

I found newspapers back to 1900 that pertained to Social Services. That was back when it was called the County poor farm. People who received help from the County had to perform work on the farm or anywhere else that they needed help. There weren't janitors in goverment building, that service was provided by people who were on the government dole. Once a month they published the names of those who received welfare money and the amount they received and what it was to be used for. Tax payers could file a protest with the County and that was published the next month.

Example - John Doe received 40 dollars to buy his children shoes and to help pay the rent. The next month I saw that Jane Smith filed a protest about the money received by John Doe for shoes. She saw John coming out of the bar 4 times last week and when she saw his children at the grocery store none of them were wearing new shoes. The county asked John Doe to repay the money for the shoes by cleaning the railroad station three times a week for the next month. He was ordered not to enter any bar or liquor store in the County for one year.

Now that is the way the welfare program should be run.