USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1936 > Part 5
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ARTICLE 14. Mr. R. B. Woodsum moved: That a committee of three citizens be appointed by the Moderator, this committee to em- ploy competent investigators to investigate thoroughly all cases on welfare, and further to investigate the administration of the Welfare Department; this committee to report to a Special Town Meeting which the Selectmen are directed to call for October 26, 1936, said report also to contain recommendations for the future administration of welfare; and that the Finance Committee be directed to meet the expense of this investigation by transfers from the Reserve Fund.
Mr. Baker offered the following Amendment: That after the words "competent investigators" there be added "Not Citizens of the Town of Braintree". Not carreid.
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The original motion as offered by Mr. Woodsum-Carried 9:10.
Mr. R. B. Woodsum moved: That there be appropriated from the Excess and Deficiency Fund the sum of $20,000.00 for the use of the Welfare Department, the same to be applied to the ovrdraft and un- paid bills standing against the Temporary Aid Account. So voted 9:11.
ARTICLE 15. Mr. R. B. Woodsum moved: No action-So voted. ARTICLE 16. Mr. R. B. Woodsum moved: No action-So voted. Mr. Arnold moved to adjourn-Not carried 9:22.
ARTICLE 17. Mr. Fitzgerald moved: Indefinite postponement- So voted 9:30.
ARTICLE 18. Mr. R. B. Woodsum moved: No action-So voted. Mr. Lakin moved to adjourn-Not carried 9:32.
ARTICLE 19. Mr. Fitzgeral moved: That the questions involved in this Article be referred for investigation to the Committee already authorized by the Town. So voted 9:55.
Mr. Foley moved to adjourn-So voted 9:55 P. M.
A true copy. Attest :
ERNEST C. WOODSUM, Town Clerk.
WARRANT FOR STATE ELECTION November 3, 1936. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Norfolk, ss. To either of the Constables of the Town of Braintree. Greeting :
In the name of the Commonwealth you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Braintree, qualified to vote in elections therein, to meet at the polling places in their respective Precincts, to wit :-
Polling Place in Precinct 1, Town Hall
Polling Flace in Precinct 2, Legion Building, Hollis Avenue
Polling Place in Precinct 3, Hose House, Allen Street
On Tuesday, the third day of November, 1936, at five forty-five o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to bring in to the Wardens of their respective Precincts, their votes on the official ballot for Presi- dential Electors Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Secretary; Treasu- rer; Auditor; Attorney General; Senator in Congress; Representative in Congress; Councillor; Senator; Representative in General Court; Register of Probate and Insolvency; 2 County Commissioners; County Treasurer.
Also to vote on the following questions on the same ballot: Question No. 1
To obtain a full expression of opinion, voters should vote on all three of the following question :-
(a) If a voter desires to permit the sale in this city (or town) of any and all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on and off the prem- ises where sold, he will vote "yes" on all three questions.
52
(b) If he desires to permit the sale herein of wines and malt. beverages only to be drunk on and off the premises where sold, he will vote "no" on question one, "yes" on question two and "No" on question three.
(c) If he desires to permit the sale herein of all alcoholic bev- erages but only in packages, so called, not to be drunk on the prem- ises where sold, he will vote "No" on questions one and two and "Yes" on question three.
(d) If he desires to permit the sale herein of wines and malt beverages to be drunk on and off the premises where sold and in ad- dition other alcoholic beverages but only in packages, so called, not to be drunk on the premises where sold, he will vote "No" on ques- tion one and "Yes" on questions two and three.
(e) If he desires to prohibit the sale herein of any and all al- coholic beverages whether to be drunk on or off the premises where sold, he will vote "No" on all three questions.
1. Shall licenses be granted in this town for the sale herein of all alcoholic beverages (whisky, rum, gin, malt beverages, wines and all other al- coholic beverages) ?
2. Shall licenses be granted in this town for the sale therein of wines and malt beverages (wines and beer, ale and all other malt bev- erages) ?
YES
YES
1
-
1
3. Shall licenses be granted in this town for YES - - the sale therein of all alcoholic beverages in packages, so called, not to be drunk on the NO 1 premises ?
Question No. 2.
"Shall sections twenty-six to thirty-one H, inclusive, of chapter. thirty-two of the General Laws, inserted therein by section one of an act of the general court passed in the current year entitled 'An Act provdiing for Contributory Retirement Systems for Cities and. owns that may be Accepted by Them, and making Certain Other.
Changes in the Laws Relative to Retirement Sys- tems', enabling cities and towns which accept it to establish contributory retirement systems for. their employees, be accepted?"
YES 1
NO 1
And the polls will be closed at eight o'clock in the evening.
You are directed to serve this warrant by posting true and at -- tested copies thereof in three public places in each precinct in said Town of Braintree, ten days at least before said third day of No -. vember, 1936, and by publishing the same once each week for two, successive weeks in the Braintree News-Item, first pubiclation to be. at least eight days before said meeting.
Hereof fail not, and make due return of this warrant, with your- doings thereon, to the Town Clerk before said meeting.
1
NO 1 1.
I NO
53.
Given under our hands at Braintree this twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six.
ALBERT E. ROBERTS JOHN H. CAHILL HARRY H. BOUSQUET Selectmen of Braintree.
A true copy. Attest :
JOHN J. HEANEY
Constable of Braintree.
Braintree, Mass., October 23, 1936.
Pursuant to the foregoing warrant, I hereby notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Braintree, qualified as expressed therein, to meet at the time and places mentioned, for the purposes. therein mentioned.
JOHN J. HEANEY
Constable of Braintree.
STATE ELECTION
Braintree, Mass., November 3, 1936.
In accordance with the foregoing warrant, the voters of the Town of Braintree assembled in their several Precincts to cast their ballots for Presidential Electors; Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Secretary ; Treasurer; Auditor; Attorney General; Senator in Congress; Repre -. sentative in Congress; Councillor; Senator; 1 Representative in Gen- eral Court; Register of Probate and Insolvency; 2 County Commis -. sioners; County Treasurer; also to vote yes or no on each of the several questions.
The official ballots were delivered to the Wardens of the several precincts and receipted for.
The polls were opened in all Precincts at 5:45 o'clock A. M. and were closed at 8 o'clock P. M.
The following election officers served :
PRECINCT 1. J. Frank Lane, Warden; Charles H. Tobey, Clerk; Florence M. Dries; Patrick L. Dalton; Michael P. Novelline; Inez K. Monaghan; Joseph L. D'Arigo; Francis M. O'Rourke; George .. H. Cain; Paul C. Heron; Raymond W. Levangie; Fred A. Thayer; Edward J. Sullivan; Everett F. Russell; Charles H. Roberts and John B. Dyer, Constable.
PRECINCT 2. Herbert F. Stackhouse, Warden; Joseph W. Sul- livan, Cleik; Mabel C. Hastings; C. Arthur Powers; Ruth C. Tilden; Harry F. Vinton; Barbara J. Hixon; Michael Pantan /. Amy A. Got- che 1; Grace M. Blake; Francis J. Mahar; Harold T. Drinkwater; Frank J. Mischler; Avelyn . Wiggin; and George K. Moorhead, Constable.
PRECINCT 3. Charles D. Sheehy, Warden; William J. Quinlin, Clerk; William C. Brooks; James Fontoni; Lillian F. Lucid; George Davenport; Inez L. McIsaac; John J. Barrett, Jr .; Mary C. Johnson; Daniel J. Cregan : Ethel Rudolph; Ruth E. Chenette; Albert E. Jones; Ralph Nesbit; Elizabeth A. Silver; and William D. Levangie, Con- stable.
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The ballots were counted, record made of the votes for each office also the vote on each question submitted and the result de- clared in each precinct.
The ballots, records, check lists, etc., were sealed and labeled according to law and were then forwarded to the Town Clerk's office where the figures were tabulated and the result of the total vote announced.
The result of the vote was as follows:
Number of ballots cast in Precinct 1 2614
Number of ballots cast in Precinct 2 3079
Number of ballots cast in Precinct 3 2800
Total number in the entire Town
8493
FOR ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
Aiken and Tiechert (SL)
3
Browder and Ford (C) 5
Colvin and Watson (P)
5
Landon and Knox (R)
4889
Lemke and O'Brien (U)
486
Roosevelt and Garner (I)
2945
Thomas and Nelson
(S)
38
Blanks 122
Total 8493
GOVERNOR
Fred G. Bushold (U) (T)
85
Alfred H. Evans (P)
19
John W. Haigis (R)
5180
Horace I. Hillis (SL)
12
Otis Archer Hood (C)
8
Charles F. Hurley (D)
2639
Alfred Baker Lewis (S)
44
William H. McMasters
(U)
341
Blanks
Total 8493
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Henning A. Blomen (SL)
20
Freeman W. Follett (P)
26
Walter S. Hutchins (S)
57
Francis E. Kelley (D)
2676
Leverett Saltonstall (R) 5357
16
Blanks
341
Total
8493
SECRETARY
Frederic W. Cook (R)
5553
Ralph Dow (S)
94
George L. McGlynn (SL)
27
Mary E. Moore (C)
16
Joseph Santosuosso (D)
2363
Blanks
440
Total
8493
165
Paul C. Wicks (Ci)
55
TREASURER
Thomas Gilmartin (SL)
23
Mabelle M. Groves (P)
24
Harold J. Hatfield (IND)
42
Eva Hoffman (C)
20
James M. Hurley (D)
2342
William E. Hurley (R)
5559
Sylvester J. McBride (S)
58
Blanks
425
Total
8493
AUDITOR
Lyman M. Aldrich (P)
44
Thomas H. Buckley (D)
2620
Richrad Darby (IND) 60
Elizabeth Donovan (S)
65
Alfred Haase (C)
12
Walter J. Hogan (SL)
13
Russell A. Wood (R)
5174
Blanks
505
Total 8493
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Morris Berzon (S)
52
Paul A. Dever (D)
2795
Felix Forte (R)
5049
George F. Hogan (P)
35
Fred E. Oelcher (SL)
19
Michael Tuysuzian (C)
16
Blanks
527
Total 8493
SENATOR IN CONGRESS
Alonzo B. Cook (T) (F') (E)
79
Aibert Sprugue Coolidge (S)
36
James M. Curley (D)
2155
Ernest L. Dodge (SL)
22
Charles Flaherty (C)
7
Guy M. Gray (T) (SJ)
39
Moses H. Gulesian (T)
22
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (R)
5294
Wilbur D. Moon (P)
8
Thomas C. O'Brien (U)
607
Blanks
224
Total 8493
CONGRESSMAN (13th District)
Harry J. Dowd (D)
2788
Richard B. Wigglesworth (R) 5345
Blanks
360
Total 84.93
56
COUNCILLOR (2nd District)
Charles J. Fitzgerald (D) 2584
Joseph B. Grossman (R)
5106
Fred H. Lord (S) 245
Blanks 558
Total 8493
SENATOR (Norfolk District)
John D. Mackay (R) 5314
Paul N. Sullivan (D)
2598
Blanks
581
Total
8493
REPRESENTATIVE IN GENERAL COURT (6th Norfolk District)
Edward Avery (IND) 1042
Horace T. Cahill (R)
5149
Kenneth J. Kelley (D) 2094
Blanks
208
Total 8493
REGISTER OF PROBATE AND INSOLVENCY
(Norfolk County)
Joseph H. DeRoma (D)
1920
James F. Reynolds (R)
5723
Blanks
850
Total
8493
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Norfolk County)
Russell T. Bates (R) 4782
Edward W. Hunt (R)
5234
James H. Hurley (D)
2273
Albert J. Jordan (D)
1449
Blanks
3248
Total
16986
COUNTY TREASURER (Norfolk County)
Dorothea M. Flynn (D) 2318
Ralph D. Pettingell (R)
5381
Blanks
794
Total 8493
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QUESTION NO. 1
YES
4.151
NO
3160
Blanks
1182
Total
8493
QUESTION NO. 2
YES
4128
NO
2916
Blanks
1449
Total
8493
QUESTION NO. 3
YES
4535
NO
2592
Blanks
1366
Total
8493
QUESTION NO. 4
YES
3570
NO
1666
Blanks
3257
Total
8493
A true copy. Attest
ERNEST C. WOODSUM
Town Clerk.
WARRANT FOR SPECIAL TOWN MEETING COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
NORFOLK, ss. To either of the Constables of the Town of Brain- tree. Greeting:
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Braintree, qualified to vote in Town affairs, to meet at the Town Hall, in said Braintree.
On Tuesday, the twenty-fourth day of November, 1936, at seven forty-five o'clock in the evening, to act on the following articles, namely :-
ARTICLE 1. To hear and act upon the report of a committee of three citizens appointed under Article 14 of the Warrant for a Spe- cial Town Meeting held on September 30th, 1936.
ARTICLE 2. To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, to borrow for ordin- ary maintenance expenses and revenue loans under authority of and
58
in accordance with provisions of Chapter 49 of the Acts of 1933, as most recently amended by Chapter 281 of the Acts of 1936, or take any action relative thereto.
ARTICLE 3. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appro- priate a sum of money for the Public Welfare Department, determine whether the same shall be taken from Surplus Revenue, or take any action in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 4. To see if the Town will vote to accept as a Town Way, BREWSTER AVENUE, so-called, from Arbutus Avenue to Standish Avenue, as approved by the Board of Survey, and laid out by the Selectmen, and raise and appropriate a sum of money for the improvement of the said way, or take any action relative thereto.
ARTICLE 5. To see if the Town will vote to accept as a Town Way, A PORTION OF STANDISH AVENUE, westerly from the point already accepted by the Town, to Brewster Avenue, as approved by the Board of Survey, and laid out by the Selectmen, and raise and appropriate a sum of money for the improvement of the said way, or take any action relative thereto.
You are directed to serve this warrant by posting true and at- tested copies thereof in three public places in each voting precinct in said Town of Braintree, ten days at least before said twenty-fourth day of November, 1936, and by publishing the same once each week for two successive weeks in the Braintree News-Item, first publica- tion to be at least eight days before said meeting.
Hereof fail not, and make due return of this warrant, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk before said meeting.
Given under our hands at Braintree, this' twelfth day of Novem- her, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six.
ALBERT E. ROBERTS JOHN H. CAHILL HARRY H. BOUSQUET Selectmen of Braintree.
A true copy. Attest:
JOHN J. HEANEY Constable of Braintree.
Braintree, Mass., November 13th, 1936.
Pursuant to the foregoing warrant, I hereby notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Braintree, qualified as expressed therein, to meet at the time and place mentioned, for the purposes therein mentioned.
JOHN J. HEANEY Constable of Braintree.
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING
November 24, 1936.
A Special Town Meeting was called to order at 8:00 P. M. by Moderator William F. Rogers. Voters checked on entering building -190 present.
ARTICLE 1.
Mr. Ray S. Hubbard, chairman of the committee appointed under Article 14 of the Warrant for a Special Town Meeting held on Sep- tember 30, 1936, submitted the following report:
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PREFACE
We are expecting too much of our Selectmen. Their duties as Selectmen are sufficient in themselves to occupy the attention of the three men elected, especially when they are not expected to relinquish all their personal and business interests and give full time to the job. Nor are they paid to give full time. The conscientious select- man must and does make great personal sacrifices in the perform- ance of his duties.
Some years ago when the population of Braintree was much less, official duties less exacting, and the business of the Welfare De- partment was less than $10,000 a year, it was possible for the se- lectmen to combine with their duties, those of the Welfare Depart- ment. Today we are asking out selectmen to also conduct the Wel- fare Department which has grown to'a business of $75,000, or more a year, and for such services we are adding to their pay as selectmen about 60 cents a day apiece.
TOWN OF BRAINTREE REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON WELFARE November 24, 1936.
To the 'Moderator and Citizens of the Town of Braintree:
At the town meeting of September 30th when the Board of Public Welfare requested an additional appropriation, the Finance Committee recommended that a study of the Welfare Department be made by competent investigators. The Town voted at its meeting of September 30th to take such action and authorized the moderator to appoint a committee of three. The moderator appointed the under- signed committee who employed Mr. Richard K. Conant, formerly State Commissioner of Public Welfare, to make the study. His re- port and our recommendations are incorporated in the following statement.
It appeared from the very beginning of this study that both the Board of Public Welfare and the Finance Committee were in agree- ment about the principal trouble with the welfare department, namely, that it needed a director.
This is the main conclusion of our study. We give details and specifications. The Braintree welfare department is in a bad shape of disorganization, because there is no one in charge of it. The ac- counts are carelessly kept and are unreliable. The bookkeeping and record keeping systems are entirely inadequate. The investigations of the need for aid and the methods of dealing with and assisting appli- cants for aid are inefficient because there is no one to direct them properly. As a whole, the department is mismanaged and in need of immediate reorganization with the appointment of a director or agent, the usual officer in towns of this size.
THE LEDGER
The ledger is kept by the three investigators and by the clerks jointly. Any one of them is allowed to make an entry in it. Many erasures in it are explained by the practice of one person discovering another person's error and erasing it. This remarkable system of joint action (which is used in the work with families as well as in the bookkeeping) is operated in a very friendly way by employees who themselves state that a director is needed. No one of them can
60
be held responsible for anything. The result of their joint efforts is a ledger which is completely unreliable, just as the work with fami- lies is unreliable.
The ledger and its supporting card records should be kept by one person, under the supervision of a director. It should be checked and totalled monthly and a monthly analysis of expenditures should be drawn from it. It should check with the town accountant's books at the end of the year.
Because very little attempt is made to have the ledger do any of these things, the accounts which are kept in the welfare office are of little value and do not give the clear picture of the business that ac- counts should give. A business of $75,000 a year demands a clear monthly account in the form of an analysis of expenditures. The Board of Public Welfare gets no such monthly analysis to guide it. It does know how much of its appropriation has been spent, it can get that information from the town accountant's books; but it does not know how the money was spent. Its own books should be -kept in such a way that it could watch and compare with other months and other years the expenditures for such things as gas, rents, coal, elec- tricity, and food, if there were a competent director in charge of the onice, he would naturally insist upon such accounts so that he could watch for possible economies and see unusual increases in the amounts of aid in time to do something about them.
METHODS OF ASSISTING APPLICANTS
Just as undirected and unreliable as the bookkeeping methods are the methods of dealing with and assisting applicants for aid. We believe that the town must have realized this fact when it took the unusual action of directing the committee "to employ competent in- vestigatois to investigate thoroughly all cases on Welfare." We em- ployed tour trained and experienced investigators under the direc- tion of an experienced supervisor to make, during the three weeks from October 13 to November 3, visits upon all the families aided in September and October who had a legal settlement in Braintree.
Our investigations show the present system to be lax and ineffi- cient. 163 cases in September and 146 cases in October were given ordinary aid in the home, - not mother's aid and not old age assist- ance. These numbers include cases without legal settlement in Brain- tree, for which Braintree was reimbursed by the state or by some other town or city. Such unsettled cases we did not consider in this study. There were left for us to visit 125 cases aided in either Sep- tember or October which were settled in Braintree and for which Braintree was chargeable.
Out of the 125 cases visite'd, our investigators found welfare aid to be unjustifiable in 12 cases, in 19 other cases the information in the welfare record together with what we could obtain from our visits was not enough to establish clearly the need of welfare aid.
In the twelve cases where welfare aid was clearly unjustifiable the earnings, cash in banks and property holdings, while not enough to make the families well-off, were larger than those of many people who pay taxes and get along without aid and were large enough to make aid unnecessary. The resources in these cases were as follows: (1) bank deposits of over $2,000. (2) bank deposit of $450, with $20 a week earnings, (3) earnings in the home amounting to $75 a week, (4) $2,500 equity in real estate, (5) farm income sufficient and $175 in banks, (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10) earnings of $18 a week in small families, and (11) earnings in the home of $25 a week
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for three people. (12) In the twelfth case, a recipient thinks that he is carried as an employee at $18 a week. His property and resources do not justify his receiving this amount of money as aid.
Several persons are paid cash to the amount of $15 to $20 a week for supervisory work. Some of them are given by the Board a definite status of "non-relief cases". This status seems legally questionable. If such employment by the town is necessary, it seems to us that it should be legally authorized as employment and not paid for from the relief appropriation.
In cases which ended between June and September, our visitors found that aid had been given unjustifiably in the following in- stances: (1) $3,000 equity and $13 a week earnings. (2) $2,500 equity, $350 in banks and $25 earnings.
Questionable cases included the following: (1) $7,000 equity. (2) $1,500 equity, $10 earnings, sons able to support. (3) $3,700 equity, children earning $28. (4) $33 earnings, $800 equity. (5) $1,200 in banks, $18 earnings. (6) $2,000 equity, $13 earnings plus farm income. ('7) Average earnings $20. Without giving further details which might make some of these cases recognizable, we are satisfied that the director of the study has checked the trained in- vestigators' decisions on the facts of each case. We are further satisfied of the questionableless of these cases by the fact that so many of them failed to apply for aid during the weeks of our in- vestigation.
Forty-five persons who had received aid in September failed to apply for aid during October (the month of our' study). This number is twice as large as the number which closed in October 1935 or 1934 and much larger than the number which closed in August or Sep- tember 1936. In view of the large number of cases which had al- ready closed since June, forty-five was a very large number for the month of October. Nine of the nineteen cases aided in September and October in which our visitors questioned the need of aid and several others in which they felt that special study by the welfare department was desirable, stopped coming for aid in October. The total amount of aid which we find to have been given unjustifiably amounts to $99 a week or at the rate of $5,148 a year.
Most of the cases are allowed to close themselves without any action on the part of the welfare department. Such a course leaves it open to the recipients to return too easily, and leaves the future expense of welfare aid uncontrolled. A skilled person in charge of the work would definitely close cases, make clear the reason for closing and make the reopening of them as difficult as was proper in each case.
The number of persons aided and the cost of aid is now lower than it has been for thirteen months. 146 unemployment cases were aided in October at a cost of $4,363.74. This is a drop of 139 cases from the peak of 285 which occurred in March and a drop of $2,713 a month from the 1936 peak which occurred in May. (See Table 1, Appendix A).
The town at present has a reasonable relief load. It is essential that the office be reorganized now with a competent person in charge. Otherwise, if the business is left to run as uncontrolled and as un- managed as it has been, the cost is likelyto increase rapidly.
Everything about the work of the office indicates that the changes in numbers aided and monthly cost of aid are without con- trol and that the work is greatly in need of skilled direction.
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THE APPLICATION FOR AID
The lack of a competent person in charge is evident from the time that the applicant enters the office to apply for relief. At that very critical point in the life of the applicant there should be a pri- vate interview by a skilled person. In a town of this size, the direc- tor or agent should himself be able to deal with the applicant at the very outset of the case, should get a real understanding of it and of the necessity for the application. The facts which justify the need of aid and a. description of the applicant's individual predicament should be clearly set forth in the record. A statement should be secured of what the family expects to be able to do for itself and how soon. A suitable plan of efforts toward restoration of self-sup- port should be agreed upon.
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