1933 there were no figures on relief expenditures for recipients even ap proximately complete, though special studies had shown a slight but steady trend upward before 5929, and a sharp upward trend after that year. The Social Security board has collected figures on outdoor relief with relative completeness covering the period from 1933, though the general relief figures rely partially on estimates. These figures show an increase in expenditures for all forms of outdoor relief from $1,358,159,000 in 1933 to $3,485,757,000 in 1938. Monthly expenditures in the early months of 1939 amounted to more than $300,000,000. As of 1938, WPA accounted for about 50% of the expenditures, the special types of assistance about 15%, general relief about 14%, and miscel laneous programs about 21%. It was estimated that in December of 1938, 6,5oo,000 households representing 20,900,000 persons, or between one-sixth and one-seventh of the total population, received some sort of assistance during the month.
in the relief field is in a transitional stage. Beginning with the enactment of emergency un employment relief laws and later with the increase in laws covering special types of assistance, the past decade has been particularly marked by the diminishing importance of the old "poor laws" which now play a relatively small part in the total public welfare structure.
The status of relief legislation varies greatly from State to State. Some States have passed unified statutes covering all types of relief ; other States still operate under a combination of poor laws, laws covering special types of assistance, and emergency unemployment relief laws. The trend is toward unification, with the elimination of the poor laws and emergency laws and the enactment of comprehensive public wel fare laws covering all forms of public assistance. In States where this has occurred, the new laws show marked improvement both in sub stance and spirit over the old laws, even though they embody some of the characteristics of the poor laws, particularly the requirements of settlement and responsibility of legally liable relatives to support dependents. In general, there has been astonishing progress made in the decade since 1930, and the coming years should show further progress toward a sound public welfare structure.