Evening star., 1933-08-17
The D. C. Public Works Program.

Congress specifically included the
District of Columbia with the States
as being eligible to receive. its portion
of the employment-giving Federal
grants made available for public works
in the recovery act. but wisely left ap-
portionment of the money to the Pub
lie Works Administration. The hearing
accorded the Commissioners yesterday
by a subgroup of the Public Works
Administration was to obtain from
competent local authorities their views
as to the merits of the various prof.
'ects, in the completion of which the
District of Columbia may expect this
extraordinary Federal assistance.
The recovery act is itself so broad
In defining the nature of projects for
which the Federal Government may
grant funds under the public works
section that absolute authority in de-
Gliding how the money may be spent
rests with the Public Works Admins
tration. This accounts for the wide va
riety of projects suggested by the Com
nlissioners. They range from additions
to school buildings to major improve
ments in the sewer system. But they
all come within the scope of necessary
projects. All of them have for some
time been on the program of con-
struction work that must eventually
be undertaken in the District. None
of them has been thought up" for the
occasion, and there is an absence OF
the folderolS that one might associate
with an effort merely to get money from
the Federal Government to spend on
something.
Some of the projects naturally group
themselves into the class for which the
Federal Government is willing to grant
thirty per cent Of the cost, the munich
pality supplying the balance. But for
the District, these are limited to those
projects which the exclusively-le
ting Congress has already, authorized,
but not wholly appropriated for. The
District Commissioners cannct borrow
money. The District authorities can
not propose to the Federal Government,
as can the States and other munich
palities, that if Uncle Sam will supply
thirty per cent of the funds the District
will supply the balance. They can only
request grant of thirty per cent from
the Federal Government toward COM
pleting work that Congress has already
authorized. After the lean years, the
projects in this class have been Whitfield
to a minimum. There are only four
of them.
There are more in the second group,
for which the District is asking an
outright grant of one hundred per cent
from the Federal Government. But, as
matter of fact, the Federal aid for these
projects would be in the nature of as
sistance in carrying out component parts
of broad programs which in effect have
alreadye been decided upon and ap-
proved-but for which no money Is
available. Included in this group are
the first unit of the Municipal Center;
the small mammal house at the Ma
tional Geological Park; the Georgetown
Branch Library; new District morgue,
and additions to school buildings and
improvements in the water system. All
of these projects, it might be SAID,
would have been under way now but
for the depression, and all of them are
representative of that class Of public
improvements which, it has been
understood, are to be financed through
the public works program.
The third group includes other con-
struction and improvement projects
that could be undertaken within SIX
months, while the first two groups are
of those already under construction or
those for which working plans are al
ready available. In this third group
are. those projects which confront the
District as necessary in the immediate
future. They have been sought from
time to time by the responsible munic-
ipal officials, and their eventual neces-
sity is already justified by present con-
ditions.
Secretary Ickes, the public works
administrator, has demonstrated the
thoroughness and care with which his
organization intends to go about the
apportionment of the public works
fund. In the District of Columbia
there will be no question of the pork
barrel extravaganza which the Public
Works Administration is on the alert
to prevent. Money spent on the prof.
ects itemized by the Commissioners
Wiz. while giving men work in con-
struction and the fabrication of ma
terials, bring about the realization OF
well-laid and much-needed plans for
benefiting the community and the Fed
eral City.