Evening star., 1934-09-23

the unemployment situation gener-
ally. At his side throughout this
conference sat Harry L. Hopkins, Fed
eral relief administrator.
Comment Is Lacking.
Following the conference there was
no comment forthcoming either from
the President or Administrator Hop
kinS. As for the mayors themselves,
they gave copies of their plan to the
press. but declined to discuss their
talk with the President. other than
to say they had a most satisfactory
conference and found the President
possessing a full realization and un-
derstanding of their problems.
While the President had nothing
to say about his conference with the
mayors. he did say before their call
that the administration has not yet
worked out new relief program.
Administrator Hopkins is known to
have discussed relief problems with
the President. They did not have
sufficient time yesterday to go into
the subject at great length. but it is
understood that the question of ad-
ditional funds for relief work in ad-
vance of the meeting of Congress was
brought to the Presidents attention
by Mr.. Hopkins.
The mayors stated that even though
there is an improvement in condi-
tions, the present number of unem-
ploved cannot possibly be entirely
taken care of by industry, agriculture
and business for some years to come.
Funds From Revenues.
Under the plan of the mayors. after
| the establishment of permanent re-
lief fund and the creation of nation
wide unemployment insurance, lnSur-
ance benefits would be administered
by the Federal Government and all
current financial requirements would
be secured from current revenues.
This permanent fund and program
should include:
|. 1t should include all workers Of
all types.
?. The governments. Federal, State
and municipal, should draw upon
those benefited from the fund for
work on public work relief projects.
8. Such benefited persons should
be paid prevailing wage rates up to
the amount of the determined benefits.
4. The United States should be di-
vided into regions for the purpose OF
fixing weekly benefits in accordance
with the regional costs and standards
of living.
5. General administration and
supervision of the plan and fund
should be the responsibility Of the
Federal Government.
At the same time the mayors went
into considerable detail during their
talk with the President regarding the
immediate relief program to meet the
situation this Fall, and the coming
Winter They pointed out that it Is
imperative that the work relief pro-
gram of the Federal Government be
continued and expended "if the well
fare and morale Of our people are to
be maintained" In this connection
it was recommended that work relief
must be given Immediately to all un-
employed persons now on relief.
The mayors stated that many per-
sons could profitably be placed at work
in the field of governmental social
services and pointed out that this
expanded work relief program should
be carried out until such time as the
Congress enacts into law permanent
long term program such as has been
proposed by mayors group. In
advocating an expanded work relief
program the mayors said that they
still hold steadfastly to the belief
that the best stimulus to recovery is
a Federal public works program.
The Presidents attention was called
by the mayors to what they described
as a shortage in housing. They
pointed out that building should be
stimulated, that there is a need of a
general demolition and rebuilding of
Slum areas. low-coSt houses should be
| provided, better cooperation on the
part of private capital.
The mayors then stated that pro-
vision for the financing of self-liqui-
dating public works is important, as
| we'll as a public building program.
The public works program. as ad-
| vanced by the mayors, could proceed,
they assured the President, without
straining the credit of the Federal
Government or of the cities by the
| initiation of a fiscal policy which will
allow cities to use their full available
credit resources in combination with
the financial agency of the United
States. They insisted that such a
! program would at the same time
lessen the interest burden now rest.
ing on local governments.