Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-28
D. c. TO BEGIN Jobs.
AFTER LONG DELAY.
Allen Will Launch Work-Re-
lief Thursday, Unless More
Red Tape Develops.
BY DON S. WARREN.

Seven months after the plan was
presented to Congress and three and
half months after it became law,
the Governments new work relief
program, supposed to represent the
administration major attack on I'M
employment, will be set in actual
motion here Thursday unless some
new red tape entangles the District
administration.
Projects having total cost of
$4.477,862, designed to give steady
employment at security wages" to
3,O89 persons on the relief list. now
have been finally approved. Nearly
one-third of the men listed for these
programs will be working on Federal
projects, though under the nominal
control of District Administrator
Allen.
When the log jam of Federal
policies, engineering checks, rules and
regulations. was broken last week,
District forces started arrangements
for assigning men and women to jobs.
Commissioner Allen yesterday fixed
August 1 as the day to start making
the dirt fly.
Pay Roll System Unfinished.
Pay roll machinery, however, had
not been completed by the Treasury
Department bureaus. Allen hopes to
surmount the last hurdle by paying
the wages of the first battalion of
workers out of District relief allot-
ments if the pay roll system Is not
functioning in time.
FESTIVE under restraint and i'm
patient at delays while Federal
officials struggled to formulate syS-
tenn suitable to the plans of the ad-
ministration, District officials have
waited silently. Real action is prom
:sed from now on.
The budget" system of apportion-
ing relief according to the needs OF
the individual is to be discarded, so
far as the $4,000 or so "employables"
are concerned. They will work five
days week for a year at wages rang
ing from S45 to $79 month. Those
not able to work are to be cared for
out of District funds. They are to be
regarded as social" problem, as dis
tinguished from an employment prob
lem. Whether District revenues will
be available to take care of them is
yet to be shown.
Security Wage to Apply.
The security" wage under the new
program is designed to be more than
the average relief grants, but less
than a person would make in private
employment.
The new program for the District
will cost millions more than the old
system, according to present indica-
tions. Plans now in hand, those ap-
proved and those waiting Federal ap-
proval, call for disbursement Of So
287,144 for the employment for a year
of 7,715 persons, or about half the
total to be given steady work. This
sets up an expectation OF total cost
for the year of some $4,000, 900, I'M
less large percentage of those now
on relief find steady private employ
ment during the next IL months.
This compares with the grand total
costs for the various forms of emer-
gency relief administered here during
the year ended June 80 of 1868 ,581.
The number of open cases on relief
here has declined heavily in the past
two months, but 1928 cases are still
on the rolls. The peak of 1884 was
reached in July, when there were 49,
1913 cases.
While the security wages" are to
range from $45 to $79 a month the
average for direct relief in June was
$l6.21 per case and for work relief
S3l.22, making an average for the
month of $28.13.
Many Jobs Approved.
District officials were not ready yes
terday to announce Just where the
new program would be started It
might be one of the five highway job
projects. This will be decided to-
morrow or Tuesday. Meanwhile, re-
lief clients will continue on present
schedules until assigned to new jobs.
A new recapitulation of the program
plans was released yesterday. It
showed that final approval had been
given by Federal officials to projects
for the Navy. Department to employ
622 persons at cost for labor and
materials of $704,740; War Depart
ment, 1,084, $946,505: District high
way projects under the regular work
program, $500 men, $l,236,7l3, and
other road projects to be administered
(see WORKS, Page 40