From all parts of the country came rumors of political interference with selection of men for CWA jobs and allegations of impropriety in the choice of projects and fraud in their execution. Since they were received from members of both political parties in the same area it was perfectly obvious that many of these charges were imaginary and rooted in the disappointment felt by unsuccessful applicants. Some of these various charges were substantiated by sufficient evidence to warrant thoroughgoing investigations, and special agents were sent into a number of communities a week or more before the cut in the CWA program was ordered. Later the Public Works Administration was instructed to make a sweeping check-up of the whole operation and a number of changes in personnel occurred. The PWA envisages its task as a slow, plodding program leading toward adequately safeguarded large-scale public employment provided through contracts carefully drawn.
Every step is taken cautiously.
The engineering, financial, legal, social and accounting aspects of each project are thoroughly checked. The CWA, on the other hand, was devised to create jobs which were critically needed during the period required by PWA to bring its slower processes to fruition. Speed, therefore, was essential in the latter plan. From the point of view of national government, the PWA method is vastly superior to the other except in an acute emergency. The logic of swinging from CWA to PWA at the right time is clear.