Demands from All Over

"NEED RELIEF LAID UP WITH BAD HAND"²

These words were in a telegram sent to Premier Smallwood just two weeks after Newfoundland joined Canada. We do not know much about the man who sent it. We know only that he had hurt his hand and could not work. Perhaps he hurt his hand at work. We do not know. What we can tell from the telegram is that the man must have been in need. There were no sick benefits or savings to depend on until his hand was better. So he needed public relief. This was the kind of social assistance people could get at that time.

Today, we may think it strange that the man wrote to the Premier. But it was a common thing in 1949. As soon as Newfoundland joined Canada, Smallwood's office was flooded with letters and telegrams. There were hundreds, from all over the province. Some asked for information. How could a person get the old age pension? How could a person get the family allowance from Canada? What forms did a person have to fill out?

Most of the people wrote asking for help. Some wanted to know when there would be jobs in their area. Others asked for relief. Relief at the time was $5.00 a month. People had to be destitute—very poor—to get it. Many requests to the Premier had the words "in starving condition" or "on verge of starvation" in them. People were used to having to show they were near starving before they got help. Sometimes, requests for help came from the Newfoundland Rangers, a police force. The Rangers did more than police work. Often they reported when people in an area were in need of government help. Sometimes, they acted as relief officers.

The great flood of letters and telegrams tells us two things. We can tell that people thought the Premier would do something. After all, he had promised that things would get better. We can also tell that the system in place to help people was a poor one. If the system worked, people would get help when and where they needed it. They would not have to wait until they were desperate, then send urgent messages to St. John's.