Evening star., 1936-08-16
ROOSEVELT ORDERS
BUREAU TO PROBE
W.P..A. AND ?. VA.
Investigation May Result in
Scrapping One of Rival
Agencies.
SURVEY Is REPORTED
NEARING COMPLETION
Report for Personal Use of Presi.
dent-0ficials Are In
terviewed.

BACKGROUND
For more than year bitter
difference OF opinion has eristed
beti0een Harry L. Hopkins, dd-
mtntStrGtor of w. p. A., and Secre-
tdry Ickes, administrator of p. w.
A., oUer which organization had
the proper ey-Spending theory.
Hopkins, tCho ADVOCATED spreading
small sums among great numbers
OF ldborers on projects capable OF
quick completion or unnecessary
of completion, Usually has been
the Utctor, Uith President RooSe.
relt as drbiter.
In May and June IckeS suffered
his most serious rebuff, at the
hands of Congress, tCith Hopkins
GtDen control oUer spending the
1887 relief appropriation OF ST.
425,000,000.
President Roosevelt has ordered a
private investigation by the Budget
Bureau of the relative merits of his
two rival agencies, the P. w. A. and
the w. P. A., it was disclosed yes
terday. The findings may influence
their future when the question of next
years budgetary plans comes up. along
with possible issue of scrapping one
or the other.
While the definite scope and purpose
of the inquiry was not made clear,
Budget Bureau officials acknowledged
that survey of the work of the two
agencies was nearing completion. In
the course of the study several en-.
gineers and State administrators have
been interviewed.
At the Budget Bureau it was stated
that the report was being made for
the personal use of the President and
would not be made public by the
bureau. Matters under survey are
understood to include costs and rela-
tive efficiency of works undertaken
by each agency.
Activities of Agencies.
Hitherto the activities of the two
agencies had been conducted on widely
different planes. The P. w. A. has
carried on heavy public works in which
costs of materials have figured high.
The projects have been carried on
by private contractors working either
for the Federal Government or for the
local governmental units which have
received grants and loans from the
P. w. A. Workers were not neces-
sarily drawn from relief rolls.
The w. P. A, on the other hand,
has been limited almost completely
in its employment to relief-roll mem.
bers and its public works has been
of light nature, with a very high
proportion of labor costs in compar.
ison with the money devoted to ma
terialS. The purpose of the w. P. A.
has been to make work for the needy
unemployed, while the P. w. A. has
sought to put up durable works with
the purpose of stimulating second.
degree employment in production in
dustries as well as giving first-hand
employment in actual construction.
1t admits that the latter employment
is less than that provided by the
w. P. A.
The survey comes as Secretary
Ickes, P. w. A. administrator, con.
tinues to voice irritation over the
White House brakes applied tc his
program. First he was given a back
seat to Harry Hopkins, w. P. A. ad-
ministrator. in the works program as
it reached a new development a year
ago, and now he is being shunted aside
even further.
Only S25,000,O0O Approved.
Although the last Congress provided
$500 100000 for the P. w. A., Presi-
dent Roosevelt has approved the usa
of only S25,0O0,0oO of this fund thus
far. This is largely because the White
House has instituted new regulations
which put the Ickes organization al
most on a par with the w. P. A. as
far as procedure is concerned.
Ickes must now get his P. w. A
workers from relief rolls. Where costs
of construction are judged to be too
high in proportion to workers ems
ployed, the President would make the
P. w. A. require the local governments
to put up more than the SIS per cent
of the entire cost of the project which
is at present their share under ths
loan and grant system. Absence OF
sufficient skilled labor on the relief
rolls hampers the proposals of P. W. A.
projects in many communities.
If Mr.. Roosevelt is reelected. he Is
expected to be under pressure from
his own Democratic ranks to cut down
the number of alphabetical agencies.
Senator Byrd of Virginia is chairman
of a special Senate committee on re-
organization of the Government. One
Of the proposals of the committee may
look to revamping the direction OF
governmental works by scrapping one
or other of the agencies.
Copyright. 1896. by the New York Herald.
Trinune.)