The Bismarck tribune., 1935-04-16
Dehind the Scenes
~ in Washington
Ickes Refuses 10 Take Back ssst In Work Drive
-. Tugwell.Hopkins Clash Il Settled How Wag(
Provision Slipped In II Revealed.
WITH RODNEY DUTCHHR

Washington April le.-The executive order creating
the dollar board and gene!:hs.
ing 70 its duties al set to be flown TO President
Roosevelt down south.
Harry Hopkins ana Budget Director Dan Beli had
They hadn't consulted Secretary Honest Harold"
Ickes about 1t and that turned out to be mistake Ickes
found out exactly what contained and he raised the
Thereupon. 1t decided to hold the order in Wash.
ington until Roosevelt returned when could be hashed
over by all Understanding Mr.. Ickes.
The order named to the board Hopkins, UndersecTe-
tary Tugwel 1ckes Admiral Christian JOY Peoples and
Robert Wood Of Sears Roebuck and Company:
between direct relief needs and the slofed cwA aspect
of the program going to be Number One Man In 20
far expenditures were concerned
But Ickes thought the wording Of the order and the
board setup indicated too big stress on rush expendi.
lures and likely sighting Of his beloved PwA TO the
greater glory of Hopkins and 1ugwell Hs expressed
himself to Tugwell tooD
lCKEs READY TO GO FAST
1ckes, whose able fight against grsfters who eyed
avidy the PWA $500 100000 he had to spend stands
has had slow goingbeleves he has an organi
sation which spend money rapidly and at the same
time leave behind social improvements Of lasting
tlre
He has almost been left out in the cold during foe-
uation Of work relief plans and people who ought 70
know best haven't known whether he would Be handling
very few hundred millions or . billion and half.
Nevertheless when senate conferees hostile to the
work-relief bill itself wrote in amendments tending
~ OOtn C0OlCe OF WoJ6CtS
and personnel 1ckes took the lead in the attempt to
fight back Everyone else concerned had either gous
fishing or didn't know what could Be done about IT,
prestige Some of hts best friends hope hs doesn't ct
much Of the four billions to spend.
They fear bad reaction after the show 4 over-in
which Ickes will stand out relatively unseered II he
doesn't now get into it up to his neck - he wants TO-
CLOSE FRIENDS CLASH
Another thing Roosevelt had to decide was the dis
pute between Hopkins and Tugwell-two close friends
to who should take rural rehabilitation which
about $500 900 will be spent.
This u . matter Of buying COW here, seed there
home somewhere else, Whatever to b needed
to keep belaeuered farm family self-sufctent rather
than q candidate for the relief rolls.
Tugwell. who Will handle the land program phase
felt rural rehabilitation should be his Hopkins who hss
and has made 1000 relief farm families eelf.
sufficient, insisted on hanging on to 1t.
ONE MYSTERY CLEARED
insiders have cleared UP the big mystery O. to who
sneaked In the onethrd for direct wages" provision
during the secret after various coneses had
denied responsibility and tried to pin It on each other
the culprit-as the may BE- Originally he tried
to fix it 50 per cent would have to be paid for direct
wages.
He was inspired by power interests who don't want
any OF the money used BY Ickss for rural electcaton
o. erection of municipal power plants.
Ockss had huge pile Of applications for municipal
power plant loans. The power boys knew it,
WINS WAGE POINT
! 1U1O Pb6uVy VI Olod61cCucut III uA8u PI2CSU - 70
how much lckes won by his fight against the senate
conierees. But he won compromise which cut the
direct wages from 50 l/3 to Is per cent.
Between those figures, according to testimony BY
Peoples after an ANALYSIS by the treasury procurement
division direct labor percentages Of 20 for sum
clearance 20 for rural electrcaton 80 for rade
ings and = per cent for the projects Of the
character now financed by PWA.
The question how much can be lent for municipal
power plants under the rs per cent restriction to
be up In the air. (And far Is the Work-relief pro-
grams concerned there's nothing unique about thatD
Copyright. 1885, NEA Service, IncD