Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-05-10

(Continued From Page Fourteen.)
addresses Of these people are on the
records of the relief offices of the
towns, cities and counties all over the
country.
It is based on careful fact-gathering
and study.
We know how many people are on
relief, who they are. what kind of
work they can do, as we'll as how
many can't do any kind of work.
80 Per Cent Can Work.
We know that so per cent of the
families on relief have at least one
member who is able to earn living
for that family.
We know that Is per cent of all
these workers on relief in the cities
used to be employed in the building
and construction industries: 20 per
cent of them used to be employed in
personal and domestic service, and
80 on.
All this information is in our
hands. We know, not only what in
dustry or business they used to be in,
but the kind of a job they had.
whether they kept books or operated
machines or cleaned up the place at
night.
When we talk about taking three
and q half million people on the
relief rolls, We are talking about the
peak of this program. The number
of people on relief has varied from
More have been on relief in the
Winter and fewer in the Summer.
But it averages out so that when we
have three and half million people
at work under the new program, the
Federal Government will. in fact, be
out of the relief business, because
virtually every family with an en-
playable person will be supported by
their earnings. !.
the families, those who have no en-
Movable member? It is clear that
they are not unemployment cases.
In some Of these families all the
members are too old to work. In
others, all the adults are so physically
handicapped by injuries or disease
that work is out of the question. In
many families the only potential work
ers are women with children that
need them at home.
The various methods under the
program of social security that is
rapidly taking shape will care Tor
them.
The States and communities are
now putting up a great deal of public
- YpndS
the Federal Works Relief Program
takes the workers off the relief rolls, it
will, at the same time shift its spend
ing to work and away from relief
for the unemployable.
Kinds of Projects.
Now. I want to say something about
the nature of the projects. We have
three and a half million people Ca
pable of doing nearly every kind OF
work there is. They are not evenly
distributed all over the country. OBJ
viously, the kinds of projects that will
be done in a given locality will be the
kinds that match the work capacities
Of the local people.
We have found out that there Is
plenty of public work that can and
should be done, and we are setting out,
not only to provide work for the needy
unemployed, but to do good. sub
stantial, useful projects. They will add
to the useful structures and facilities
of the Nation everywhere. They will
stand as lasting monuments to the
earnest labor of the workers.
Their utility and their quality will
be high, and these stipulations neces-
sarily govern the merit of the projects.
The allotment of projects will be
an operation of planning, co-ordin-
ating and balancing them each with
the other. The program will get into
sction-not at slap-dash, headlong
pace-but rather with dispatch and
fortnight celebrity.
And I want to evaporate several
ghosts. None of these works relief
Jobs will displace any workers who are
now employed in business and in
dustry. They will be doing things
that otherwise would not be done.
This program is for the direct bene-
fit of those who have lost their jobs
and their personal resources. But
everybody else will feel the stimulus.
The money that goes out in this
program will be active and alive
money to spend in the hands of those
whose needs call for immediate spend
ing. 1t will go directly into the hands
Of those who work on the projects and