Professional Service and Salaries in Public Welfare Departments

• DOI: 10.1177/000271622411300131
• Published date: 01 May 1924
• Author: Philip Klein
• Date: 01 May 1924
• Subject Matter: Articles

226
THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
filling the higher positions; the develop-
Commission, which initiated the under-
ment of a system for the more careful
taking.
review of selections for increased com-
No agency entirely independent of
pensation ; and the formulation of
the departments and establishments in
plans regarding hours of service, leaves
which employes serve can successfully
of absence, privileges under the retire-
impose personnel policies and practices
ment act, and other matters designed
upon the entire service.
It is believed
to increase the effectiveness of the pub-
that a coordinating board, such as that
lic service.
established by the executive order of
The several departments and estab-
December 23, 1921, if vitalized and
lishments, with one exception, desig-
permitted to function, can bring about
nated representatives to serve as
the adoption of well-defined and work-
members of the Federal Personnel
able policies which will result in greatly
Board, but up to this time there has
increasing the efficiency of the Govern-
been no meeting of the board. The
ment service and in correspondingly
failure of the board to function cannot
reducing the expense of government to
be laid at the door of the Civil Service
the taxpayers.
Professional Service and Salaries in Public Welfare
Departments
By PHILIP KLEIN
Executive Secretary, American Association of Social Workers
THERE is a natural tendency to status of patients in the public hospitals
regard with suspicion such state
in order to determine whether the cost
expenditures as do not bring a direct
of treatment should be collected from
financial return. However, we are be-
patients or from those upon whom they
coming so educated in ideas of efficiency
are dependent.
that we do not necessarily look to im-
The experience in the probation sys-
mediate returns but do expect returns
tem, a comparatively new departure in
in some tangible form in the future.
modern social work, is even more strik-
The expenditure of large sums not only
ing. For a long time the plea for the
by the Federal Government but by
establishment and extension of the
individual states upon laboratory and
probation system was based on an at-
other experimental work within the
tempt to persuade the &dquo;hard-headed&dquo;
fields of agriculture, chemistry and en-
taxpayer that he was really saving by
tomology, has become possible because
employing the probation officer rather
of the public appreciation of the very
than sending the offender to prison.
real economic gain into which the
There was the cost of the prisoner’s
results of such experiments can be
maintenance in the institution, the
translated.
loss of his potential earnings, and
Large amounts are being expended
the possible burden of supporting
also in the field of public welfare by
his family. But soon a more effective
cities and states for such ultimate tan-
argument presented itself in the fact
gible returns. Investigators are em-
that probationers were paying, on the
ployed to examine into the economic
installment plan, fines and restitution

---

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE IN PUBLIC WELFARE DEPARTMENTS
227
amounting, in some cases, to more than
keep off such as would come to them. I
the total cost of administering the
must tell you that our dear mother finds
whole probation system, let alone the
her family so overcharged as she hath been
indirect
forced
savings. While in the general
to deny harbor to her own children;
witness the statutes against cottages and
run of state expenditures, the thought-
inmates. And thus it is come to
ful
pass that
taxpayer has ever been keen on
children, servants and neighbors, especially
making every dollar count, it is clear
if they be poor, are counted the greatest
that, in dealing with the offender, the
of burthens,-which, if things were right,
fundamental interests of society and
would be the chiefest earthy blessings.
humane consideration for the individual
were more
powerful factors in persuad-
ACTIVITIES OF WELFARE DEPARTMENTS
ing him than the immediate appeal of
There are now public welfare
financial
depart-
saving.
ments in all but perhaps a half-dozen
Likewise, public welfare departments
states.2
2
These departments do not
which represent the most articulate
necessarily involve the direct disburse-
expression of governmental interest in
ment of relief.
Generally speaking
social work, have been established on
they are understood to have as their
principles other than the quest of
special concern the interests of depend-
money economy. Saving, not of dol-
ent children, or of those who by old
lars but of human suffering, has been at
age,
illness, misfortune or other causes have
the bottom of the public interest that
been bereft of the
brought about the establishment of
power of decent self-
support and have fallen a burden upon
state public welfare departments. An
their fellow men.
early example and proof of this fact is
Such
adduced
persons have in the past been
by F. B. Sanborn,~ the illus-
usually cared for by the municipality,
trious chairman of the Board of State
the
Charities in
county, the town and even the
Massachusetts, in a report
township, and by private philanthropy.
made to the Massachusetts Centennial
The state then assumed the obligation,
Commission on Public Charities in
through its public welfare department,
1876, who quotes John Winthrop, the
to see whether these wards of local
first governor of Massachusetts, on
bodies, public or private, were properly
some of his reasons &dquo;for leading the
cared for. In brief, supervision has
emigrants out of overburdened Eng-
been the primary function of...