The Washington times., 1935-07-06
An Impartial
Report On
Relief
BY JAMES T. WILLIAMS. Jr.

Every OGdGe III LQe Union
ought to be interested in the
experience of Virginia with New
Deal relief, because Virginia is
an overwhelmingly Democratic
State politically and, in the
character of her population,
Internationally American.
The President and the Con.
greSs might we'll be interested
in hearing an impartial and
comprehensive report on Vir-
ginia's experience with New
Deal relief, because Virginia Is
"the Mother of Presidents" and
of John Marshall and Robert E.
Lee, and Carter Glass.
But with the appropriation of
between four and five thousand
million dollars by Congress to
be expended more or less at
the discretion of the President
for relief throughout the Union,
Congress appears to have lost
interest in the adventure. And
the President is largely depend
ent upon his own appointees in
the relief agencies for his re-
ports as to what becomes of
this vast sum of public money
after he approves specific allot-
mentS.
1t has remained for the State
of Virginia, speaking through
the University of Virginia at its
Institute Of Public Affairs, to
give to the American people a
new light on New Deal relief,
unShaded by political bias or
personal prejudice or the propa-
ganda of the chirping satellites"
that swarm around the seats of
the mighty, now as always.
INDICTs SPENDING
Speaking at the Round Table
on Economic Security, Arthur
James, State Commiss; ;oner of
Public Welfare of Virginia, drew
an indictment against the go
lossal extravaganza and waste"
of New Deal relief as admins
tered by the FERA and VERA
in his State that deeply i'm
pressed every auditor.
Mr. James was a member of
the Virginia State relief COM
mittee in 1881 and 1882, until it
was superseded by the elaborate
Federal organization now in
charge of the expenditure of the
greater part of the vast sum
which the present Congress has
appropriated for expenditure
within a year.
Here is what he reports
about the operEtions of the
FERA and VERA in Virginia:
In expenditures there has
been colossal extravaganza
and waste"
In organization a "pryamid-
ing of personnel" a conflict
and confusion of supervision,
and a lamentable Ignorance of
local traditions, experience and
resources"
In administrative costs an
overhead of two million dollars
on a fifteen million-dollar pro-
gram, with so per cent of the
time of the local and State
VERA offices taken up with the
preparation of reports to Fed
eral headquarters in Washing
ton.
Since August, 1898, when re-
lief work in Virginia, drawing
to, a close, was revived on a vast
scale under Federal direction
the three office rooms which
had been sufficient to admin
lister the RFC relief program
have been abandoned. The
new Federal organization first
moved into a suite of is offices,
which has since grown to so or
more with additional space still
in demand by the spenders sent
out from the Federal City.
EXTRAVAGANCE CHARGED
Mr.. James, in his calm and
modest and obviously sincere re-
view of this amazing adventure
in Federal spending said:
administrative costs sky.
r0cketed until they reached the
amazing figure of approximately
two million dollars year,
which is close to the present fig
ure.
"TO one whose entire expert.
ence in government, except as
an Army officers and a school
man, has been in a State which
makes religion of living within
its revenues, reducing its in
debtedneSs, conserving its pen.
nies, and which made great sac.
rifices to- do so during the de.
preston without seriously cur.
failing its essential functions,
the Federal methods seemed to
be colossal extravaganza and
waste, particularly in view of the
financial condition of the Fed
eral Government"
AS to causes, he added:
"After IA years of welfare
work throughout Virginia, I am
certain that I don't know the
conditions, needs and capacities
of any one political subdivision
in the State. I am equally Ger
tain that no one in Washington
knows very much about the 48
States and more than 5000
counties and hundreds of mu-
inequalities in America, not to
mention our possessions.
I'm other words there was too
much Capitalization"
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