Evening star., 1934-02-18
Dropping the C. W. A.

OIoppIuS tHe Y. w. n.
If the creation of The Civil Works
Administration last Fall was a bold
departure along what some of the
New Dealers like to call untrod paths
and it was, then the sudden determi-
nation to turn about face and re-
trace these steps by the process of
rehabilitation, which will begin next
Friday, is even more dramatic. 1t
amounts to much more than march
ing up the hill and marching down
again.
1t may be recalled that when the
c. w. A. was brought into existence
the expression taking men off relief
rolls and putting them on pay rolls was
used freely to indicate the particular
sort of social philosophy behind the
plan. Something more than giving
men relief from the hardship of sea-
sonal unemployment was in mind.
There was the desire to get away from
the dole represented in handouts, and
give men the opportunity to work in
exchange for what they received.
Pay was based on prevailing wages in
industry and agriculture. Complaints
that this pay was even higher than
the prevailing rates brought protests
not only from private employers, but
from Gen Johnson. Some of these
were characterized by Harry Hopkins,
relief administrator, as 'yaps." And
while the c. w. A. was called tenn
porary organization, it rapidly took on
characteristics of permanence.
But all that is water over the dam.
The c. w. A. will be demobilized at
a rate expected to take about 100000
men off the c. w. A. pay rolls within
the next sixty days or so. The ques-
ton of the moment is what sort of
shock abSorber the administration will
establish to lessen the effects of such
a sudden jar For if the establish
ment Of the c. w. A. and the expen-
diture of around sixty-five to seventy
five millions a week brought an i'm
mediate upturn in business in the
communities affected, it is equally
true that everything that goes up has
got to come down.
What will be the substitute for the
c. w. A? There must be, of course,
substitute. The President is hopeful
that reviving business and industry
will provide the substitute. 1t is sin
cerely to be hoped that it will. But
the Government hazarded more than
mere millions of dollars when it estab-
Hshed the C. w. A, for it voluntarily
took away from local communities
burden of responsibility that most of
them, at least, were struggling to bear.
The Federal Government stepped in
and fixed quotas of employment and
moved heaven and earth to have them
filled by idle men and women, regard
less of the cost. Once relieved of re-
sponsibility of caring for their own,
the local communities are not willingly
going to assume it again. If it is
assumed, it will not be as rapidly as
the demobilization of the C. w. A.
The substitute for the C. w. A, out
side hoped-for pickup of business,
remains to be determined or an
nounced. But in dropping the c. w.
A. now the President has chosen the
most courageous and certainly the
most difficult course. Demands for
continuing the C. W. A. have been
pouring into Washington. A congress
sional election comes this Fall, and
every c. w. A. worker is somebody's
voting constituent, whose friends are
also voting constituents. Men who
have had the refreshing taste of work
at relatively good Government pay,
do not forget 1t quickly, The G. W.
A has naturally been one of the most
popular recovery expedients created,
and Its dissolution will be one Of the
most unpopular acts of the New Deal.
But the c. w. A was not only prov
ing an even more expensive luxury
than was contemplated in the begin
hing, it was rapidly assuming some of
the characteristics of Frankenstein
creation that might soon get out of
hand. Dropping it is wise. Dropping
it with a minimum amount of dislo-
cations and hardship is the newly
intended task of the administration.