Welfare System Seldom Abused

* I am fed up with the people who try to blame everything wrong with America on “the failure of 50 years of social engineering” (letter, Feb. 2). These last 50 years, for those of us who have been around that long, have raised this country to the highest level of prosperity and living standards in the world.

The overwhelming number of people who have used the welfare system in the last 50 years used it as designed; a safety net for people who fall on hard times. The majority of users were on the welfare program for less than two years, only on it once and went on with their lives. Because there is a problem with a relatively small number of people on the fringe of society who have made it a lifestyle, is no reason to “trash” a system which has kept us from the devastation of the Great Depression of the ‘30s. Give a helping hand, not a handout, but don’t destroy a program because of fringe abuse.

ROBERT E. AYRER