Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-12-03
An Other States and Canada.
Paradox in Work Creation.

d1dOOA III w YIN S-SoS3Sh'
Some order is gradually being brought
out Of the confusion naturally existing
at the District Building for several days
after receipt OF notice from the newly
created Civil Works Administration to
put every able-bodied man and woman
on the relief rolls to work-regardless
of the cost. Men and women have been
put to work by the thousands, provided
with spades and shovels and tools and
material for scores of projects. Other
plans are being drawn up as fast as
overworked clerks can function. Yes
teday's pay roll for the week amounted
to s137,725. The week before the pay
roll was SCI 900. The two sums lndl-
cate better than anything else the
progress so quickly made in disposing
of a problem that to the municipal
officials represented something really
new under the sun.
The transition of hundreds of thou
sands from relief rolls to the Civil
Works Administration pay rolls
throughout the country has been re-
markable. No less remarkable is the
transition in the point of view of mu-
nicipal officials. A few weeks ago every
bit of municipal work to be undertaken
was carefully weighed, in its mpor-
lance, against the cost. The ieSCa OF
saving money was the predominant
one. The man who could demonstrate
his ability to eliminate a proposed item
Of expenditure. and thereby save few
dollars. knew that by such heroic feats
lay the way to fame. Within twenty
four hours this attitude received a blow
that has left some of the municipal
officials still groggy. The new demand
has been for suggestions Of work that
might be done. The cost was not to
be considered The Civil Works Ad-
ministration measures its task in Jobs
to be found, not in dollars to be spent.
Notice has been given that some 5000
men and women on the new local pay
rolls may be increased to 10000. All
the local authorities have to do is to
find the work.
The nature of the work to be done
Is at present limited. The work must
represent socially desirable capital i'm
provements, but cannot be substituted
for the regular services of the munich
pality. such as street cleaning, trash re-
moval, garbage removal, etc. Construc-
ton work is limited by the ability or
skill of available personnel, and no ma
jor construction, such as school or ex-
tensive road improvement, can be I'M
dertaken. In general, the work is the
sort that ordinarily would not be done
because of lack of funds. 1t will result
in furnishing the city with what might
be called luxuries in the sense that the
Improvements represented are not es-
sential.
This produces an interesting paradox.
While the city is obtaining luxuries--
which are, of course, desirable-it IS
encountering a famine in the matter of
certain essentials. While one budget is
expressed in terms of the work that
may be provided, the other represents
the result Of carefully eliminating all
work except that which is absolutely
necessary At the same time that the
municipal officials were hard at work
thinking up things that might be done
under the Civil Works Administration,
the Commissioners were deciding that
work could not be begun on the much
needed Anacostia Junior High School
because the Budget Bureau would not
approve an item to continue the con-
stTuction next year.
The Civil Works Administration eX-
pertinent was adopted to get away from
the idea Of the dole, and to create i'm
mediate work for large numbers of the
unemployed, Having once undertaken
such an experiment, the national Gov
eminent will have to continue with it
for some time 1t is still an emergency
measure. but its permanence for the
next few years, at least, is a distinct
possibility. 1t has been represented, in
some quarters as an alternative to un-
employment insurance which, to be eff
fective, would require large Federal sub.
sides. If this is the case greater de-
gree of pernanence is assured Gov
ernment-supported municipal work may
come to occupy a definite place in TAX
ing up the slack in employment-a
ready refuge at all times for the man
who loses his job.
Thought should be given to the posi-
bility of broadening the type of work
that may be done under the Civil
Works Administration to include the es-
sentials OF municipal development. such
as school and other construction. along
with the relatively non-essential work
now being provided as an emergency
recourse.