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The article focuses on the treatment of the dependent unemployed in Saint Louis, Missouri in the Winter of 1931-32. The discussion deals with the structure of social work in St. Louis, so far as it is concerned with the relief of the unemployed. Saint Louis has no public outdoor relief. The only exception is the administration of a generous state provision for blind relief and a very niggardly mothers' allowance. Neither has any appreciable effect upon the problem of unemployment. Of all the large cities in the United States, St. Louis is unique in having but one relief-giving agency serving the entire community-the Provident Association. It is one of the oldest organizations of its sort in the country, undertaking what is now called family welfare work. It is a private agency, managed by a self- perpetuating board of directors, and has been supported, up to the present time, practically without any aid from tax funds in the more than 70 years of its existence.