On The Dole (1935)
I'm on the dole, I'm on the dole.To save my body, they damn my soul.
I lose my manhood, my stay has gone--
A thing unwanted I linger on.
I linger on, though I curse my lot;
Forgetting not, by the world forgot.
A thing unwanted, an idle man.
No hope, no place, no help, no plan.
I'm on the dole, I'm on the dole.
Have you felt the weight of it on the soul ?
With willing hands for a manly task,
I get the dole when for work I ask. "TOILER." Howard, July 13/35. Notes From the Queensland Newspaper The Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 16 Jul 1935 p. 3.2. In 1935 thousands were on the dole, and a number of them wrote about the effect it had on them, an effect that contributed to their support of social welfare after the Great Depression was over.