Evening star., 1935-12-08
People Now Look
to Washington
BY O,oen L. Scott.

btIdIluCu thIuk ldLIluy.
This farmer and his wife wanted to be
accepted by the Government as resi-
dents in one of the model farm COM
munities that Federal taxpayers are Gre
ating for few among the millions who
have been buffeted by nature and by
the depression.
When the agent had completed his
investigation of the qualifications of the
family, he took pen in hand and wrote
to Washington:
Mrs. F. has dark auburn hair, brown
eyes and milk-white skin. In spite of
such coveted features she is not a very
attractive looking woman, due to a pc
culiar expression about the eyes (the
left one is crossed and a small growth
high on the right cheek"
So the wheels of Government began
to grind and Mrs. F. was sorry to learn
that crossed eyes can be bar to the
better things of life as they are being
provided by Uncle Sam.
This is but one of thousands of reports
that flow to Washington as the National
Government seeks to choose those IA
vored few among its 125 O00,0 900 citi-
zens who will find places in the sub
sistence homesteads, the satellite cities,
the slum clearance projects and other
Federal ventures designed to improve
living standards.
Or again: Almost. every community
in the land today has the story Of a
street that needs paving, school build
ing that needs repairs or park that
could be improved.
In the past, If demand became great
enough among the citizens and If the
local treasury would permit, the village
board or City Council or county commits
sion would take steps to provide the
improvement.
Now there is a different technique.
The village or the city or the county
turns not to Its citizens and officials for
approval of spending plans, but instead
writes to Washington, where the Presi-
dent of the United States technically
decides whether or not the project is
worthy. If Mr.. Roosevelt approves, then
the controller general of the United
States makes another investigation and
either approves or disapproveS.
After that, with White House orders
attached, the wheels of the Works Prog
ress Administration start to run. Dollars
flow out from the Treasury Of the United
States in the form of checks to individual
citizens who perform work on Federal
project involving pavement of that
street, or the digging Of ditch or repair
of a school house.
A task that once involved the essence
of local self-government now becomes a
national task paid for and directed by
the Nation rather than the locality.
In another case: High wind hits the
Florida coast, tearing the shingles from
a mans house. Or an earthquake hits
Montana, causing farmers well to go
dry.
There was time when the affected
citizen took money from his own pocket
or borrowed from relatives, neighbors
or the local bank to make repairs.
Today he turns to Uncle Sam. The
Federal Government, through corpora
ton it organizes, makes him $50 or S25
or 500 loan, passed on by Washington
officials, and policed by officers Of the
Nation.
One more: The New Deal interests
itself in slum clearance.
Like many other problems, this one is
distinctly local in character, but local
financial support is lacking. Uncle Sam
decides to put in his money, and, with
money invested, the National Govern
ment takes control.
But with apartment houses on its
hands, the Government in Washington
must have janitors and cleaning women
and other workers to service those
projects.
So the central government now plans
80, ItNtTrry IAN
More courses are under consideration TO
train citizens who will live in Federal
slum clearance projects in the art Of
using bathtubs and sinks and other ap-
purtenances Of modern civilization.
Is all this significant?
Highly so, in the opinion OF those Spe-
cialists on government who have been
viewing the scene here.
To them it symbolizes the practical
breakdown of local and county and State
governments in many Of their elemental
functions. Instead of trying to repair
and remedy those local breakdowns, the
New Deal has allowed Capitalization OF
functions in the Federal Government to
run wild.
Instead of encouraging localities to
supply the genius and the organization
anu Tile p1dIIS 1OI uIcCbAIS VIC PAOHACAAo
of individual citizens, Washington has
taken over the job itself.
x X
Some of the results are strange. There
are projects for housing citizens, planned
in Washington, that stand deserted to-
day because those citizens refuse to
accept the plans. There are others in
which stranded families moved from one
area of destitution become stranded
families in their new homes supplied by
the Government.
Mayors of cities come to Washington,
rather than to their State capitals, with
local problems Governors flock to Wash
ington from their supposedly sovereign
States to ask, hat in hand, for hand
out from the Federal Treasury. State
governments maintain Ambassador" on
the job here to see that they get all that
is coming to them when the money is
passed around.
officials sitting in Washington Offices
decide which individual citizens, among
the millions willing to accept help, are
to be favored by the National Govern
ment. The reports of investigators show
that decisions often are made on the
basis of whether the individual has
crossed eyes, or is homely, or reads the
wrong kind of magazines, or works on
Sunday or fails in some other regard to
meet personal standards.
Today, as a result of Capitalization Of
functions in Washington, there are about