Evening star., 1933-10-11
Public Works and the District.

1uUllC WOIkS anu luc OlStllCt.
Secretary Ickes, as public works
administrator. has taken reasonable
point of view regarding the suggested
ALLEGATION of public works funds for
the first unit CT the Municipal Center
the first unit being building to house
the disgracefully crowded Police Courts,
Municipal Court, Juvenile Court and
kindred activities. That point of view,
expressed in recent letter to the
Civic Committee of the Washington
Federation of Churches, is that the
project must be studied in conjunc-
ton with the Nation wide employment
program and that he is not persuaded
that an ALLEGATION of the money should
be made at this time. He has not
definitely refused the grant of funds.
Those in the District who have urged
this ALLEGATION as peculiarly appropriate,
both in its relation to employment and
In filling municipal needs, do not con-
ceive the Public Works Administration
as grab bag nor themselves as grab
bers. They are willing to join Secre-
tary Ickes in his view that the matter
can rest pending further study Of the
national program as a whole.
But in the meantime, it would be
unfortunate if the impression were per-
mitted to exist that the District OF
Columbia has already received more
than its rightful share Of the financial
aid extended by the Public Works Ad-
ministration.
The Public Works Administration
was given $3,3oO,OOO,OoO for distribu-
ton among the States and the Dis
J trict of Columbia in the form of loans
and grants for employment-creating
undertakings. The first sum so divided
was a statutory s4O0, 900, 900 allotment
for roads. The District received ST.
9l8,469 as its share of this money, the
balance being distributed among the
States.
The Public Works Administration, ac-
cording to recent estimates (Which
change daily, has allotted total OF
s1,O73,5e1,410 for Federal projects 1t
is impossible to pro-rate~this vast ex-
penditure, some of which was provided
for by statute, as to local BENEFITS
among the States. OF direct benefit
to the local community, however, is the
allotment of S1,759,500 for improve
ments and extensions to the sewer sys-
tenn. But of the additional $685., ,29I
allotted for Federal projects in the
District of Columbia so far, none of the
money has been made available for
distinctly municipal purposes. The
nearest approach to an allotment for a
municipal institution is grant OF
$85, 900 for improvements at the Freed
mans Hospital-which comes under
jurisdiction Of the Interior Department
and maintenance of which is divided,
fifty-ifty, between the municipal and
Federal governments. The grants Tor
the Library of Congress annex, the
Mall, Howard University, Navy Yard,
National Training School for Boys, Ma
tional Arboretum. Columbia Institution
for the Deaf and ST. Elizabeth's Hos
pital are for Federal institutions.
The Public Works Administration
has allotted among the States
total of s1sO,o3s,2o4 for loans and
grants for non-Federal projects. the
grants representing 80 per cent OF
the cost of labor and material for the
projects, the loans representing ad-
yances at low interest rates for the
balance of the undertakings. In the
ALLEGATION of this $3.50 ,038,204 the Dis
trict of Columbia has not shared, as 1t
is unable legally to borrow money.
Thus, IN ALLEGATIONS totaling $685.
629,e14 the municipality has benefited
directly to the extent of $3,677,9 1863, or
about two-tenths of one per cent (by
sewer and road fund allotments) and
has indirectly benefited from Federal
projects here as the States indirectly
benefit from Federal projects located
within their boundaries.
The Municipal Center project has
been repeatedly brought to the atten-
tion of the Public Works Administra-
ton because it represents sem1-na-
tional undertaking by the District, the
cost and scale of which were deter
mined by the Federal Government to
conform to its own building program.
Thus far the District has bought the
land, representing an investment of
more than $6,0OO000. which is lying
idle at a financial loss to the municipal
government. The total cost of the
project is estimated to exceed $22,000,-
900. While the scale of eventual Fed
eral financial participation has not been
determined specifically, a thirty per
cent contribution toward the cost lin
line with the public works grants to
municipal, county and State undertak-
ings) would amount to about $6,600,000.
That is more than the amount sug
rested as an ALLEGATION for the first unit
Of the group-s4, 100000.
The plans are drawn, the project has
been authorized, the land bought. All
that is needed to put men to work here
and In other communities which furnish
material is the money which rightfully
should be forthcoming from the Federal
Government. Secretary Ickes has indi-
Gated his impatience with the delay in
some States to perfect their plans for
work, to which the Public Works Ad-
ministration is willing and anxious ts
contribute. In the case Of some of the
cities and States the money IS available.
but thf plans are lacking. In I, y Dis
trict te plans are available, Edt the