Evening star., 1935-11-18

articles dnllyElng the economic
and political effects, the probable
Developments and early SndgS OF
President RooSeueltS 1000 ,O00,O0O
job program.
DETROIT, November IS (NAN.A).
Detroit the Dynamic" is boom
town once more and its soaring auto
mobile sales and rising recovery prom
ise to lift its share Of President
Roosevelt's 4,OOO,OOO,OOo job program
over early delays and confusion to
success.
Paw rolls are up and relief rolls
are going down. The drop between
the peak relief load of 1884 and the
peak of 1885 was nearly 80 per cent
a matter of some 10000 families. And
that was before w. P. A. started.
Based on the number of "employa-
bles" on welfare last May, Michigan's
quota of men to be put to work under
WP. A. is 10000, and that of Wayne
County, which includes Detroit,
$4,000.
But the industrial surge has cut
these quotas Harry Lynn Pierson,
Michigan works progress admin
istrator, now declares that, when he
puts 100000 men to worF in the State
and $4,000 in Wayne, he will have
scraped the bottom. The first phase
Of his job will be complete.
Takes All Skilled Men.
This task Pierson will accomplish
by the end of November, but not
without conquering obstacles and
complexities which are typical of the
early stages of w. P. A. everywhere,
with a few special troubles peculiar
to Michigan thrown in for good
measure.
The very recovery which has swept
20 many of Detroit'S welfare clients
back into the factories. thus making
Persons Job much easier, also has,
in some respects, made 1t more o1-
fcult. =.
1t has robbed him, for example. OF
almost the entire group OF sKli!eo
workers on the w. P. A. "elglole
list" and every engineering and con-
struction job, even those carrying
high percentage of common labor,
REQUIRE some "skills." 1t has made
It difficult to get good toremen-ln
recent requisition for 81 foremen 10
had gone back to private Jobs-ano
on the quality of foremanshlp de-
pends the efficiency of projects.
It also threatens to put Plerson very
much on the spot when the automo-
bile factories slow down some time in
1886. 1t is a seasonal industry, and
while the violent fluctuations IN It's
employment curve have been f1attened
somewhat by advancing that auto
shows. Detroit is unconvinced that its
perpetual curse of "up and down JOBS
has been completely crushed.
Fund Cut Feared.
That means that. after Detroit has
filed its w P. A. quota with the 1ac-
tories running full blast, washington
NAV reduce its funds on the assump-
ton they are not needed. National
Works Progress Administrator Hopkins
has ruled that no one going on rellet
after November l is eligible for w.
PA. Job, which is likely to put Wayne
County strictly up against 1t for RELIEF
funds few months from now.
John F. Ballenger, Wayne County
welfare superintendent, says that
enough city, county and State funds
are available to barely squeeze by in
caring for the county's $4,000 unem-
ployables, provided w. P. A. actually
goes through with its promise to give
a Job to every man who can hold one.
If the automobile plants slack sea-
son" releases thousands of men able to
hold w. P. A. jobs but ''ineligible"-
Ballenger throws up his hands!
General criticism of w. P. A. in De-
troit has been confined almost entirely
to the slow start, attributable to fail
ure of the controller generals office
to release funds, but there have been
various group troubles"
Perhaps the loudest roar arose from
laborers with large families, who have
been drawing more from relief than
the security wage of SIS month.
Earns More When Idle.
1t figures out that, if a laborer has
three or more children, his old relief
budget" is higher than the security
wage. In other words, he learns"
more by sitting at home doing nothing
than by working. Only If he has two
children or fewer does 1t pay to take
the w. P. A. job.
Partly as a result OF this situation,
until recently, only seven men out of
ten requisitioned we're showing up on
Jobs. Some had found Jobs of their
own. A few had not received notices.
But the majority just stayed home.
More than 4,500 prospective pay
rollers were nowhere to be found. This
led to some vigorous cooperative
cracking down by Ballenger and John
J. O'Brien, county W. P. A. admins
traitor. The "hiders" were sure to show
up on relief-check day. When they
appeared they got no relief check
unless they reported for w. P. A.
duties.
A principal complaint of Detroit
officials, who drafted a we'll planned
and balanced program of projects in
strict accordance with the directions
of Mr.. Roosevelt and Administrator
Hopkins, is that the Government is
forcing the city to go heavy on the
cheap projects"
In the city's program, a reservoir"
project, like improving unpaved streets,
with an extremely low man-year cost
and large proportion of direct COM
mon labor, was balanced by slightly
more expensive" project, such as
paving, carrying a higher material
cost The average was well within
the Presidents limit.
Fears For Other Projects.
The "cheap" projects provide the
Jobs and are particularly adapted to
crushing men to work" to make a
quick showing, such as became neces-
ERIENn S0IVFn