The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-18
MONDAY. FEBRUARY 10. 1895.
THE PRESIDENTS PROGRAM

L y welt stood before Congress. The Federal
government" ne said must and shall quit
this business Of relief"
He asked Congress 10 cooperate in the
task Of putting people to work"
He outlined bread and vigorous program
for unemployment.
His message rang through the land, and
stirred anew the hopes and confidence OF the
people who in November had given the Ad-
ministration a mandate to go forward.
A few days later, the President asked Con-
gress TO appropriate nearly five billion dollars
and empower him to carry out his Ielief-em-
ployment program.
A month later this bill-after being rushed
through the House and pondered over and
rewritten by the Senate Appropriations Com
mittee-is now out on the Senate floor.
A bitter senatorial debate has started. 1t
may stretch into an interminable flibuster.
with Senator after Senator offering amend
ments to appease special groups.
MEANWHILE. millions of jobless. still re-
WI Numbering the Presidents promise,
shuttle through the streets and wait for action
that VII place the tools Of labor in their
hands.
Organized labor has marshalled its awe
inspiring lobby. For what? To secure an
amendment providing that those hired out OF
the government fund are paid prevailing
wages" And what is the prevailing wage?
To the man out of work it is only hypothet-
ical standard. To give work to as many job
less on the basis of this largely non-eXstent
wage scale would require an additional two
billion dollars. and defeat the Presidents plan
to transfer the jobess as rapidly as possible
from the government pay roll to permanent
private employment. To wreck this plan for
the sake of a paper wage scale would inJure
the real interests of American workers.
Certain private contracting interests also
poise their ladies to skim of the cream They
want to tie the governments hands and take
profits from the money which the President
intends to use for work wages.
The purpose Of the Presidents program IS
to re-employ the jobless. bolster up purchasing
power and thereby balance consumption with
production. The law he proposes would give
him a dipper to use in printing the pump OF
private industry. Yet. there are those who
would refuse the President a dipper and use
instead their own little eye-droppers. 1t would
be better to save the water than let it dribble
away and leave the pump imprinted.
THE Presidents program is extensive he
4 describes it as follows:
This work will cover a wide field including
clearance of slun1s. which for adequate reasons
can not be undertaken by private capital; In
rural housing of several kinds. where, again,
private capital is unable TO fl 'ction; in rural
Identification; in the refore, ON OF the
great watersheds of the nation an lnten-
SIZED program to prevent soil er N and TO
reclaim blighted areas; in improv- existing
road systems and in constructing ational
highways designed to handle modern ,rafiic;
in the elimination of grade crossings; u the
extension and enlargement Of the successful
work OF the civilian conservation corps; in
ron-Federal work mostly self-hquidating and
highly useful to local divisions OF government;
and on many others which the nation NEEDS
and can not afford TO neglect"
Speedy action is vital to the Presidents pro-
gram. if it is to achieve the mass effect at
which it is aimed. We can not afford delay
and red tape.
It is time for our Senators to recall the
Presidents warning:
Let him who for speculative profit or
partisan purpose. take heed before he as
sunes responsibility for any act which slows
our onward steps"