Relief Administration Research Articles

Machinery for Rebuilding the European Economy

By the end of the war in Europe in 1945, it was evident that one of the major problems to be faced during the post-war period would be the rebuilding of the shattered European economy. Certain steps toward rehabilitation had already been taken by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and several temporary organizations dealing with specific aspects of reconstruction were created in 1945 to attempt an international solution of the problems involved. When the United Nations was inaugurated early in 1946, one of its first actions was to create a group to study both long- and short-range factors in the European economic situation. This Temporary Subcommission on the Reconstruction of Devastated Areas, reporting in the summer of 1946 to the Economic and Social Council, proposed the establishment of a regional commission to concentrate on European recovery.

Experimental and clinical studies of neohetramine, a new antihistaminic agent.

Abstract Neohetramine, [2-(N-dimethylaminoethyl-N-p-methoxybenzyl)-aminopyrimidine monohydrochloride], prevented fatal shock from intravenous histamine in the intact guinea pig. A similar protective action was demonstrated in guinea pig anaphylaxis. Oral administration of the drug afforded symptomatic relief to many patients with seasonal and nonseasonal allergic rhinitis, allergic dermatoses, asthma, urticaria and angioneurotic edema. A relatively, low incidence of side effects occurred with the use of Neohetramine. It was found particularly useful in patients unable to tolerate other antihistaminic drugs.

Sampling Rural Rehabilitation Records for Transfer to the National Archives

December 194S the Farm Security Administration offered for transfer to the National Archives all the paid-in-full rural habilitation loan folders accumulated in its county offices from the time of the inauguration of the rehabilitation program until the end of 1943. This involved 315,000 loan cases, upward of 500,000 loan folders, and approximately 20,000 cubic feet of records. From this volume the National Archives has selected for transfer to its custody about 600 cubic feet. The method used in selecting, or sampling, the records, and the general character of the loan folders and the program which they document, have attracted the attention of archivists and records officers, and elicited some requests for additional information. The purpose of this paper is therefore to give a brief account of the rural rehabilitation program, describe the records involved, and explain the sampling process employed in the transfer transaction. One of the major aims of the Federal Emergency Relief Appropriation Acts of 1933 and 1934 was to bring relief to needy farmers and their families. In 1933 approximately one million rural families were dependent on public aid for their survival. By 1935 the number was nearly doubled. The relief burden was at first carried by local agencies, but the economic resources of these agencies were soon exhausted, and the Federal Government had to come to their aid. In 1934 a Rural Rehabilitation Division was established within the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The Division was authorized to grant money for rural rehabilitation to the several States, to be administered locally by the State Emergency Relief Corporations. The corporations made loans to farmers unable to borrow from private agencies because they could not offer adequate security for the loans, and grants to families who had become destitute through the operation of natural catastrophes, such as floods, droughts, and hurricanes. Grants were sometimes made to rural families who had been

International Refugee Organization

The second part of the first session of the IRO Preparatory Commission convened on May 1, 1947, at Lausanne, Switzerland, to continue work started in February, 1947, concerning the problem of refugees and displaced persons in relation to the setting up of the International Refugee Organization. Due to cessation on June 30, 1947, of relief activities by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the Commission faced the immediate problem of taking over resettlement work and care of displaced persons which formerly had been handled by UNRRA and the IGC.

An Appeal from the Director of Health European Regional Office United Nations Relief and Rehabilition Administration

Reports and requests from U.N.R.R.A. Missions in Europe make it abundantly clear that the greatest expressed need of doctors in the liberated countries is for medical literature covering the war years, so that they may bring themselves up to date with advances in unoccupied countries.

Medical and Hospital Insurance Problems

Doctors who discuss subjects like the one assigned to me must be careful not to use the words “socialism” or “socialistic” as epithets. If by the philosophy of socialism we mean that the strong should help to bear the burdens of the weak, doctors are the oldest and almost the only real socialists. Since the dawn of civilization, long before Karl Marx expounded his doctrines, they have adjusted their fees to the ability of their patients to pay in an effort to see that the rich shall meet the expense of supplying medical service to the poor. As a class, they believe in the general principles of insurance, that thrift is a virtue, and that the wise will budget against heavy unforeseen expenditures. I have asked many of my own colleagues how they would like to have their county medical society practice as a guild, receiving two dollars per month for each man, woman, and child in the county, this money being distributed according to the ability, energy, and popularity of the members. The great majority of those questioned appeared to believe that under an ideal administration of such a plan, with overhead expense cut to a minimum, with no duplication of equipment or labor, and with the time-consuming amenities incidental to competitive private practice abolished, they would find their incomes greater, their work easier, their responsibilities lighter, and their leisure time longer. Doctors do not object to having their fees paid. They support workmen's compensation laws in the various states in spite of the fact that these laws provide professional services under a compulsory insurance plan. Why, then, do doctors invariably view with suspicion any proposal to supply medical services through such agencies as the Blue Cross, voluntary medical insurance plans, or compulsory insurance plansas proposed in the Wagner-Murray-Dingell bill. I think the answer is simple. It is not because these proposals are socialistic. What is feared is not socialization but regimentation. We fear, and we have good reason to fear, the introduction of a third party between ourselves and our patients. This third party would have the power, because he would hold the purse-strings, to say what patients should be treated, how long, and in what manner, though his only qualification for his job might be that he is a good, faithful wheel horse of his party. We have reason to fear regimentation because of our experience with the care of the indigent sick during the depression. When social workers or overseers of the poor had to contend not only with social problems, but also those which could be solved only by professionals, the whole administration of medical relief was unsatisfactory to everyone concerned. Some progress in efficiency, economy, and the promotion of the welfare of the patients began to be made only when social and medical problems were completely divorced, the former being solved by trained social workers, the latter by medical men.

Organization to Liberate World Trade

T HERE are times when the task of rebuilding a stable world order appears to be impossibly difficult. But the obstacles before us, serious as they may be, should not be permitted to obscure the progress that has already been made. And that progress has been great. The United Nations has been established; the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council have already met. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is caring for millions of the needy victims of warfare. The Food and Agriculture Organization, dedicated to the improvement of standards of nutrition throughout the world, has held its first meeting. The International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be in operation within the next few months. Steps have been taken to set up a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and an International Civil Aviation Organization. Our Congress has increased the foreign lending power of the Export-Import Bank. It has increased the authority of the President to reduce tariffs under the provisions of the Trade Agreements Act. We are developing the programs and organizing the institutions through which the nations can work together, side by side, to reconstruct a shattered, world. For so much in the way of concrete achievement, in so short a time, there is no precedent in history. Much has been done; much remains to be done.

European Health Problems : U.N.R.R.A.'s Part in Controlling Them, by Andrew Topping, T.D., M.A., M.D., M.R.C.P., F.R.S.E., D.P.H. (Fellow), Assistant Deputy Director-General Health and Welfare, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

European Health Problems : U.N.R.R.A.'s Part in Controlling Them, by Andrew Topping, T.D., M.A., M.D., M.R.C.P., F.R.S.E., D.P.H. (Fellow), Assistant Deputy Director-General Health and Welfare, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

The Financial Experience of UNRRA

As the first working agency of the United Nations, already almost two years old, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is of special interest to students of international organization. Despite its unique features it has already grappled with many of the problems that will confront all future international organizations. Its financial experience is particularly interesting because all such organizations, whether dealing with political, judicial, or economic subject matter, have very early in their history to go through the difficult process of collecting funds from resolutely sovereign-minded member governments. The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, in view of its coordinating authority over all international specialized agencies, cannot fail to be guided by the results of the financial experience of UNRRA. The International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development can be expected to be especially attentive to UNRRA's experience because, like it, they require the collection of vast funds for more than administrative purposes.

Russian Medicine

Journal Article Russian Medicine Get access Russian Medicine. By IF. Horsley Gantt, M.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; formerly Chief of Medical Division, American Relief Administration, Leningrad Unit (1922-23), Collaborator in Pavlov’s Laboratories (1925-29). Cloth. Price, $2.50. Pp. 214, with 12 illustrations. New York: Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., 1937. Physical Therapy, Volume 25, Issue 5, September 1945, Page 260, https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/25.5.260 Published: 01 September 1945

Emergency Welfare Services. Report of the Studies Subcommittee of the Standing Technical Committee on Welfare, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Washington, D. C. December 1944

Emergency Welfare Services. Report of the Studies Subcommittee of the Standing Technical Committee on Welfare, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Washington, D. C. December 1944

Relocation of Europeans

At its first session, held at Atlantic City in November 1943, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) estimated that there were between 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 Europeans who had been uprooted from their homes by the war pending their repatriation or settlement; at its second session, held at Ottawa in September 1944, the number was estimated to be around 20,000,000.2 It was assumed that of this number, 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 are aliens from Allied countries who have been recruited or forced to

The Concept of Role in Social Work

T HE INFLUENCE of psychiatry upon social work during the past quarter of a century has been extraordinarily stimulating and fruitful. No one who has read case records, starting at the end of the first World War and coming down to the present, can fail to be struck by the great gains made in the understanding of human nature as a result of that stimulus. There is, however, ground for questioning whether psychiatry has not already made its maximum contribution to social work at the stage now reached by both arts. An affirmative answer would not mean that further experimentation on the border between case and group work on the one hand and the deeper psychiatric therapies on the other will not continue to yield significant insights. It would merely imply that social work has absorbed as many of the psychiatric concepts as can be used generally in its professional services today. The recently awakened interest in administration in many lines of activity is reflected in the discussions of the administration of public relief and has brought new life into the consideration of policy making and professional-client relationships, especially in the public welfare field. It is for the types of social work that lie between the therapeutic care of markedly disturbed individuals and the administration of assistance as defined by law, that there seems to be need for the development of new theoretical analyses. It is in that middle ground where most social work takes place that sociology might be expected to make whatever contribution it can to the practical art with which it is so closely allied in popular thinking. This particular study has resulted from attempt to evaluate the possibilities of inter-stimulation between the two fields. A concept, of which both sociology and social work are making increased use and which they might well explore together, is that of role. It has been defined by Cottrell as an internally consistent series of conditioned responses by one member of a social situation which represents the stimulus pattern for a similarly consistent series of conditioned responses of the other(s) in that situation.' This might be called a unit or specific role, and it is with such roles limited to specific situations that this paper is primarily concerned. Cottrell's definition implies that the role is cultural in nature and that it is always related to the learned roles of other actors in a given situation. A comparison of Cottrell's definition with that of Kingsley Davis, derived from the earlier study of status and role by Linton, indicates that the concept of cultural role needs further clarification.2 In addition, there is growing recognition of the fact that there are societal as well as cultural roles but there is to be found in sociological literature little systematic knowledge in regard to their nature. Cottrell's definition also raises the question as to how the role patterns of the various members in a given situation are fused in a consistent interrelation of responses. The point of this brief discussion of concepts is merely to suggest the desirability of a further study of roles, role systems and the processes of role inculcation. Turning to the practice of social work, the sociologist might well begin with the examination of some well defined role patterns. Much light is thrown upon various theoretical problems by the consideration, for exam-

The National Resources Planning Board; A Chapter in American Planning Experience

In its 1933 report, President Hoover's Committee on Recent Social Trends suggested that there might in time emerge a “National Advisory Council” to consider fundamental questions of the social, economic, and governmental order, in their interrelation and in the light of the trends and possibilities of modern science. This would involve neither “economic planning” nor “governmental planning” primarily, but a comprehensive consideration of all the social factors involved in the formation of national policy.In July, 1933, the National Planning Board was set up by Administrator Ickes as a part of the Public Works Administration of that time. The membership consisted of Frederic A. Delano, chairman; Wesley C. Mitchell (chairman of President Hoover's Committee above mentioned); and Charles E. Merriam (vice-chairman of the same committee).In 1934, this agency was made a presidential board by executive order and was composed of the Secretary of the Interior as chairman, the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator, and the three members of the old Board. An Advisory Committee consisting of Messrs. Delano, Mitchell, and Merriam were placed in active charge of the work.

Case-Work Services in the Aid to Dependent Children Program: A Study in Cook County

the determination of eligibility, while the conditions that create dependency and delinquency tend to be overlooked. There seems to be a professional reluctance to depart from the familiar ways of traditional relief administration, though this may only be natural before undertaking another program that will require comparatively new and untried services. The mothers' pension system in Cook County added to the welfare of assisted families by introducing the standard budget, a modified means test, and the concept of a right to relief resid ing in eligibility. The standard of assist ance has continued to improve under the A.D.C. program, but it is not enough to give children only material benefits. Services that will protect the right of children to normal and secure childhood

Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

The Blockade of Germany after the Armistice, 1918–1919: Selected Documents of the Supreme Economic Council, Superior Blockade Council, American Relief Administration, and other Wartime Organizations. Selected and edited by Suda Lorena Bane and Ralph Haswell Lutz. [The Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace, Publication No. 16.] (Stanford University: Stanford University Press. 1942. Pp. viii, 874. $6.00.)

The Blockade of Germany after the Armistice, 1918–1919: Selected Documents of the Supreme Economic Council, Superior Blockade Council, American Relief Administration, and other Wartime Organizations. Selected and edited by Suda Lorena Bane and Ralph Haswell Lutz. [The Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace, Publication No. 16.] (Stanford University: Stanford University Press. 1942. Pp. viii, 874. $6.00.)

The Blockade of Germany After the Armistice, 1918-1919: Selected Documents of the Supreme Economic Council, Superior Blockade Council, American Relief Administration, and Other Wartime Organizations

The Blockade of Germany After the Armistice, 1918-1919: Selected Documents of the Supreme Economic Council, Superior Blockade Council, American Relief Administration, and Other Wartime Organizations

To Enable the United States to Participate in the Work of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Hearings before the Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Representatives, Seventy-eighth Congress, First and Second Sessions, on H. J. Res. 192, December 7-10, 15-17, 1943, and January 11, 1944.

<i>To Enable the United States to Participate in the Work of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Hearings before the Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Representatives, Seventy-eighth Congress, First and Second Sessions, on H. J. Res. 192, December 7-10, 15-17, 1943, and January 11, 1944</i>.

Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration