Evening star., 1934-08-05
US. TRADITION NURTURED
In WORK-RELIEF POLICY
justification of High Taxes Is Seen in
Provision of Preferred Aid
for Idle Millions.

are AullCtcu WITH SlllCOoibs Nu1lAA
cannot be cured. Along with hum
dreds Of other colored workers, they
acquired this disease while work ng In /
the construction Of n tunnel fv the
diversion OF a river into the { oduc-
ton Of electricity. The tunnelf was
done through deposits OF silicon hich.
being left dry, became a dust iying
into the lungs OF the workmefs The
result is a lung irritation VIII I dee
velops into a scar-tissue which turn
spreads till breathing Is imr sible
and the victim chokes to deaV
Breathing Is Effort.
In between contracting the 'seass
and the inevitable death from 1t. the
patient, soon to be the victim. breathes
only by deliberate desperate effort and
often can sleep only by leaning hts
head backward over the end of bed.
Such is the life OF 80 of the 43 adult
male survivors Of the Vanetta safety
last methods Of tunnel digging.
Yet l3 Of those 80 are working on
road building. They walk 0 miles in
the morning to the spot where the
road building Is under way. They
walk 9 miles back In the evening.
They can barely breathe. They can
barely stand. Yet they walk and they
swing sledges and picks. No comment
on them could be adequately written,
and so write none, except to say that
| II their spirit of wanting to work in
| return for relief" should die out in
America and II we should be reduced
| to European discouraged willingness
to receive dole" without work, we
would, indeed, have declined from
the full best American tradition.
The Federal Emergency Relief Ad-
ministration Is, accordingly. tradi-
tional rather than revolutionary in its
work relief" policy. 1t now has some
10000 persons on work relief"
projects. Their earnings vary from
| s4.12 a week in Kentucky to $17.68
| in New York. The average for the
country Is $l052. It can hardly be
said to be an excessively luxurious
average.
This work relief" Is, nevertheless,
relatively expensive because 1t re-
quires not only the paying Of wages,
but also the buying Of materials.
Many economic arguments can be
made against 1t. Yet I calculate that
the psychological argument win pre-
vail. It will be said that the working
spirit Of the unemployed must be
maintained, and thereupon the num-
Der Of unemployed put on work re-
lief" will not contract. but will ex-
pand.
Put 10 Work for Selves.
Moreover, there Is q development
which breaks even newer ground in
the same direction. This is the de-
yelopment, still small but rapidly
spreading, toward putting the unem-
ployed at work in the production OF
commodities for the use of unem-
ployed.
We have large numbers Of public
Sewing rooms" now in which unem-
ployed women are employed at the
public expense In sewing clothes for
free distribution among the unem-
ployed. We also are beginning TO
have quite few public mattress fac
tories" in which unemployed persons
are given work relief" for the pur-
| pose of providing free mattresses to
the unemployed. For this latter pur-
| RO1S SAA~ AGACA&A LAAAACA BCAAII 1hEAAG1
Administration-or the Federal Sur
plus Relief Corporation, which is the
same thing-has started out to buy
250,000 bales OF cotton and 5000 900
! yards Of ticking.
Here we can glimpse dawningly, an
economic working society Of the un-
employed. side by side with the eco
nomic working society Of those who
have ordinary private jobs. This
prospect shows itself now In q quite
startling manner in connection with
the governmental purchases Of cattle
from farms in the drought areas.
Meat VIII Be Canned.
Some 100000 Of those cattle will
be canned for food in canning plants
operated not by private enterprise.
but by our Federal and local relief
authorities. There may be several
hundred such plants. They will be
brought into existence in 80 States.
| They viii employ both men and wom-
en-. Ninety per cent or so OF those
men and women will be recruited
| from the relief rolls Of their localities.
Their output of canned beef will be
distributed among the men and wom-
en- on the relief rolls Of their localities.
The unemployed win labor, for public
pay, on behalf Of the unemployed.
From present indications calculate
that there viii be more and more Of
this sort Of thing. And 1t is likely to
last, I think, for a long time. II Is
part Of the present variety OF 'plan-
ming" which Prof. Tugwell advocates
for agriculture and which he truly
says Is practiced by industrialists for
themselves.
II Is a "planning"-both public and
private-of restrictions. The cotton
farmers get Prof. Tugwell to help
them restrict the output Of cotton.
The cotton textile manufacturers get
Gen. johnson to help them restrict
the output of cotton cloth. But it is
obvious that restricted outputs must
in the end mean restricted STATS Of
workers.
I think 1t fair to say, therefore, that
we are deliberately planning" a GER
tain amount OF unemployment. As long
as that is so, think we can hardly
complain II we flEd ourselves also
planning" an orderly and self-re-
specting economic life for the unem-
ployed.