Evening star., 1934-02-11
FEDERAL RELIEF DISPUTE
MEETS TEMPORARY DRAW
Budget Director Douglas for Curb and
Representative Clyde Kelly for Jobs to
ALI, as President Eyes Middle Course.

600 900 unemployment assistance bill
in the Congress there is an effoffrt to
return to direct relief" In that
bill the President once more turns
his gaze back-reminiscently and
purpose of the bill, at the start. was
that civil works, anyway, should
cease by Midspring and that Mr..
Hopkins, as emergency relief admin
istrator, should thereafter-and all
the way to June, 1935-confine him
self to assisting unemployment
through direct relief" only.
Hits Direct Relief.
But the sentiment in the country
and in the Congress now again
obliges the President to hedge his
wager on Mr. Douglas. Listen to the
words uttered on the floor Of the
House of Representatives the other
day by that quite unradical and al
together solidly substantial character.
Representative James P. Buchanan
of Texas. Democratic chairman of
the House Committee on Approprla-
tions. Here is what he said:
Direct relief, or the dole, for the
able bodied. produces moral disinte-
| grafton and destroys industry and
self-reliance and initiative. 1t dims
ambition. 1t converts energy and
industry into Incidence and idleness."
Therefore, according to Mr.. Bu-
chanan, We must appropriate some
more money-some-fo more public
works. And so say also the PRO
/ gressive tentative spenders" among
| the Presidents administrative init
mates. And the chances are that
they will have their way-some
'Some?'" says Mr.. Douglas,
"'Some?'" says Mr.. Kelly. "Ridicu-
lous!" say both of them together.
ridiculous and ruinous. Listen to
reason"
WE'LL I wouldn't venture to put
Mr.. Douglas into quotation marks,
but here's, at any rate, what his
disciples reasoningly say:
We agree that starvation must be
prevented. We agree that the Fed
eral Government must help see to
| it that every unemployed person has
| shelter and clothing and food The
Federal Governments contribution to
that end, through direct relief" un-
der the current s95O.00O,000 bill
| would be approximately s50,000,0
a month during the next fiscal year.
That is necessary. And it would be
sufficient Or we are willing to en-
/ large it to make it sufficient.
| Public works, however. and that
subspecies of public works called
civil works, multiply the cost Of re-
lief by two or five or ten. Under
!
sures, they could make us spend a,
much as sl000,000,000 month
That would gut the public Treasury.
ruin the public credit, wreck the
public currency, and plunge us ali
into an abyss of common destitu
tion and despair.
Haf-Hearted Spending.
Wrong" says Mr.. Kelly. "Th
trouble is that this spending for pub
lie works has been half-hearted 1t
has also been, If I may say so, half
witted. The money has been devoted
largely to trivialities and utilities. L
earnestly admit that we can never re-
vive private industry by hiring people
to pick up empty bottles, as in my dis
trict, from the sides of streets.
also earnestly admit that we can never
revive private industry by what may
call fractional efforts to give wori,
to scattered segments of the unem-
ployed We should either do moth
ing at public employment or we
should do enough at it.
MY bill is right because 1t goes
all the way through. I establish a
national industrial adjustment cor
poratton to take over all of the un-
employment relief and public works
and civil works activities of the Gov
ernment I establish subsidiary cor
porations to initiate and prosecute
enterprises in slum clearance, in
home construction in general, in the
development of natural resources, in
the enlal cement or betterment of So
cial services. I can point out $40
00000O,000 of serviceable. profitable
work for these subsidiaries to do in
these directions. I contend that this
work can carry and repay the bonds
necessary for the financing of it.
contend that all this part of my pro-
posal will be self-supporting.
Il then establish a Federal emer-
gency employment corporation. 1t
shall have 'stabilization pay roll
All unemployed persons not secur-
ing work in my subsidiary corpora
tions for home construction, and so
on, and not securing work in private
industry shall be put upon that sta
biliZation pay roll The Government
will thus for the first time actually
see to it that there is purchasing
power in the hands of every individ-
ual in the whole country. 1t will
thus for the first time see to it that
private industry cannot but sell and
cannot but revive. am its true
reviver."
Such are the cuts and jabs Of the
fighters. And what's the decision?
Politically, Immediately, it's a draw.
The President is again contemplat-
ing the middle Of the ring. Ulti-
mately, logically though, there's GER
tainly a chance that he may nave to
60 to one of the corners and hold
up the victorious arm of either the
gentleman from Arizona or the gen.
tleman from Pennsylvania. One of
the other of them is the sole unan-
swerable survivor In the whole pub
lie works argumentative battle.