@mrcloseDon't know how old you are, but I have lived long enough to see a transition from the late 1930s to now regarding "poor" people. Back then, people didn't defecate on the streets.
Back then, there were "hobos", homeless people roaming around the country. A hobo would come by our house and mother would give them food, then they moved on.
There were "poor farms". There was one about ten miles from where we lived. The poor could live there and help grow the food in the gardens these places had. This was in east Texas. I remember when there would be people who joked about the poor farm, such as, "Watch out you don't end up at the poor farm", and people would laugh. Also, churches would give food to the poor.
When government started programs for the poor, the poor farms went away and there were no more hobos coming by the house. Social Security started in 1935. I was too young to know about that then, but by the late 1930s, I remember my parents talking about this new Social Security program.
Few women worked at a job then. They married and took care of the house and the kids. It took time then to keep things going. A black woman would come to our house on Mondays and help mother wash clothes in the back yard. There was a large black pot with wood under it, making the hot water to wash the clothes and another black pot for rinsing the clothes, then they were hung on a clothes line to dry. I remember when she got a "washing machine", and the black pots went away. This new washing machine would have clothes in it, washing them, then clear water was put in it and the clothes were rinsed, then put through a wringer attached to the top of this unit.
Mothers canned the food from the garden. Their lives were consumed with keeping the family going with food and clean clothes and ironing those clothes. Tuesdays were ironing days. Mothers could not work at regular jobs, there was no time.
In the 40s, a widowed woman who lived next door, had a daughter, and this widow had a regular job - she worked in the school cafeteria and the bread and cakes she made was the best I ever remember having. Every food was made from "scratch". She had to keep up with their clothes and food at home, plus work at the school to keep them going. Both she and her daughter could eat at the school cafeteria and I expect she took food from that kitchen to her house as she could not have a garden by herself. My father also gave her food from our garden.
People were responsible for their own lives - government programs were not there. Once the government stepped in, people depended on them instead of themselves.
