In reference to the Aug. 23 letter from Helen Thompson. If "we kicked all those people off welfare," there would be some unintended consequences. If we eliminated subsidized housing landlords would be left with unpaid rent or empty units, and they would be unable to pay their mortgages and other expenses. If we eliminated food assistance, the whole food industry from the farm to the supermarket would suffer.

An important aspect of the Great Depression was that the economy was "stuck;" money wasn't circulating. A man told me that during the Depression, his family couldn't afford coal because they couldn't sell their wheat, so they were shoveling their wheat into the furnace for heat. The man joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a welfare program.

To assume that all people on welfare are able-bodied, skilled workers is folly. We have an unemployment rate of at least 9 percent (probably higher). Jobs that were sent to other countries where the wages are very low are not coming back. Jobs that were eliminated by automation are not coming back.

I remember life before our present welfare systems. Life is better now for all of us.

Mildred Walton, Richland