A 25 per cent decrease in the rate to be paid workmen from the
funds of the Reconstruction Finance Corp. was announced by the state relief
administration. The decrease, which brings the amount to be paid per hour down
to 22½ cents from 30 cents, was made in order that more work may be obtained
from the financial outlay.
Administration officials said the reduction would not mean any
curtailment in the income of the workmen, as they would be given additional
day’s work each week to bring the amount paid to the present figure.
There has been no let-up in the demand for relief, but an
improvement in conditions is expected in mid-spring.
This winter has been a rugged one,
as was predicted by at least one famous almanac. One
expert noted that sunspots indicated a return of
bitter winters. It was pointed out that weather runs
in 40-year cycles. The cycle toward warmer winters
has just concluded, according to this theory, and we
are now entering a 40-year cycle of colder and
colder winters.
It seems that this winter’s weather has backed up the theory
admirably--to the extent that most of Florida’s produce crops citrus crops, have
been ruined by several severe freezes. The sustained freezing weather in the
southeastern part of the country, and in the southwestern regions to some
extent, has been unusual and abnormally harsh.
If the expert who predicted a 40-year trend toward colder and
colder winters is correct, by the 1960’s we will be feeling the trend even more
severely. By then, we will be experiencing weather which comes nearer the bitter
winters of the 1880’s than any seen in many years.
A doctoral thesis is not usually
“fun” reading, but people interested in the library
habits of Calhouners may find some interesting
material in a volume received by Calhoun Public
Library. It is “Patterns of Rural Public Library
Use,” by M. Lisa deGruyter, who submitted it in
August, 1982, as a dissertation to the University of
Chicago Library School in candidacy for a Doctor of
Philosophy Degree.
A native of Spencer, deGruyter spent a few months in Calhoun
starting in May, 1981, gathering information for her study, which compares
charac-teristics of library use in Calhoun with those of library users in a 1973
study of Onondaga County, N.Y.
She recruited five local interviewers, Pam Bartlett, Georgan
Gregg, Rachel Kerns, Jeanette Simons and Janice Westfall, to help gather
statistics.
Using the Grantsville-Arnoldsburg telephone directory,
researchers selected 496 telephone numbers at random. After eliminating some of
the names, they ended up with 372 cases, of which 126 were found to be library
users.
The telephone survey began on May 9, 1981, and continued until
May 30. Each person contacted was asked 53 questions, most of which pertained to
their use of the county library.
The study found that local library users were more active in
social and cultural activities than those in Onondaga. They read more, owned
more books, had more schooling, and used more professional sources of help than
non-users.
The reasons given by those interviewed for using and borrowing
books from the library were divided equally between reading for entertainment
and trying to obtain useful knowledge. Helping children was also a frequent
motivation.
The study found that library users in Calhoun do not differ
significantly from library users in other areas, but there are fewer of them in
proportion to the population. This is probably because the characteristics that
influence library use in general are not prevalent in rural populations.