become the last resort for various classes of unemployables,
the aged and infirm, and those with mental or physical handi-
caps. Generally speaking, the almshouse was a county institu-
tion, and the superintendent was appointed by the county board
or by the county agency administering outdoor relief. Large
cities were generally authorized to establish poorhouses, how-
ever, and under the usual practice in New England local alms-
houses were administered by towns. ¹²

The fact that this outmoded poor relief system was still
the basic governmental structure for the relief of destitution
in 1929 can only be ascribed to deeply entrenched tradition,
the inability or unwillingness of localities to provide adequate
funds, a general lag in social consciousness buttressed by the
feeling that the poor had only themelves to blame for their
destitution, and a general inertia which, more often than active
opposition, can be counted upon to prevent needed change. ¹³

Despite these factors, however, growing social responsibility
was able to secure differentiated treatment for various classes
of individuals in a number of states. Thus, even prior to 1929,
many state legislatures had come to recognize that certain
classes of destitute persons such as the blind, the aged, and
mothers with dependent children, were entitled to receive public
assistance in a more humane fashion than was provided under
the general poor laws described above. Special legislation, often
termed "categorical relief," was therefore passed in. a number
of states providing for assistance to these types of destitute
persons.

Categorical relief provisions are extremely significant in that
the philosophy behind them differs radically from that perme-

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