Relief Camps

• • Drifters: employers focused more on giving older, unemployed men jobs rather than young, single men. Families were expected to care for young and single men however it was difficult to support them. Single men started travelling from city to city in search of jobs – “Riding the Rods”
• • Relief Camps: authorities feared that dodgers might become angry and violent due to having to work. Government set up relief camps for single men. They were meant to keep drifters out of the city and out of trouble to avoid an uprising. Run by the Department of National Defence 
  • In relief camps, men worked 8hrs a day and 6 days a week building roads, digging ditches and planting trees. In return, receiving bed, food, clothing, plus $0.20 per day. Like a prison and army camp