Evening star., 1936-03-29

Continued From First Page.)
to $500 by the end of June. This
number applies only to District
w. P. A. projects and will not affect
the 4,5oo employed on Federal projects
here. 1t is expected that Federal
work will be increased at the same rate
or possibly little faster than the re-
ductions ordered in District work,
Under his plan for using the
A., 81, 100000 from gasoline tax revenues,
all work would be done by contractors
under the supervision Of the District
Engineering Department. Unlike the
w P. A. or former c. w. A. projects,
none would be done directly by the
engineering force.
Contractors would be compelled 70
agree TO employ District unemployed.
Hazen pointed cut that some con-
tractors have contributed to the diff
culties of the existing relief problem.
They have been permitted to recruit
cheap labor in their own communities,
import the men to Washington, then
leave them here jobless when the con-
tract is fulfilled. Many of these
people. the Commissioner said. ended
as relief clients of the District.
=. Motorists Opposition Doubted.
Hazen expects no opposition to his
proposal from motorists now paying
the gasoline tax, so long as the ex-
penditure of the extra levy Is used
for highway purposes. He has here
tofore opposed such an increase, how
aever, when the neighbor States of Vir-
ginia and Maryland have made over
lures to have the local gas tax in
creased.
81 Capt. H. c. Whitehurst, director of
highways, said that roads built with
Federal funds in the District during
: the last two years have been construct
ed with relief labor, but in every case
the projects have been secondary
roads.
=. I'VE haven't constructed any Of our
. hightype roads with relief labor" he
said, because we haven't had the
proper materials for that type of con-
struction." He explained that the
contracts let with Federal funds have
required the use of men on relief.
-" Capt. Whitehurst explained that the
Z type of labor had not been the deter
mining factor in having relief clients
confined to the lower-type jobs, but
That the materials supplied under the
Federal tie-up necessitated that kind
OF construction. No District money
has been used to employ relief labor
ers on highway projects.
1--WE have found some of the relief
workers are not as efficient as they
might be-" he said, "but at the same
time we have had a good many men
experienced in road building who have
done an excellent job"
In other sections of the country
roads constructed with relief labor have
been criticized on the score that they
were too expensive and did not last
long enough to justify their COST
Rufus S. Lusk of the Washington
Taxpayers Association. issued a state
1nent yesterday in which he said "the
taxpayers of Washington should be
grateful to Congress" for its stand
TO reduce relief expenditures here.
s.4, "It would take the army who have
received relief in Washington almost
nine hours to pass given point
marching eight abreast" Lusk said.
"It would make a solid column Of
humanity extending from the Capitol
along Pennsylvania avenue across
Key Bridge and way past Arlington.
Ipe THAT Congress believes this vast
army should be mustered out is shown
by its recent action in drastically
s1ashing requests for additional funds
IN order to continue on the same grand
scale the handing out of relief checks
until July /. The taxpayers of Wash
ington should be grateful to Congress
for taking this stand"
Using 2.8 persons per relief case,
Lusk estimated that 163 5000 differ
eut individuals have received relief
here, or 37.6 per cent ofthe 1880 pop
-tiiation. This is divided between
1877. 500 colored and 45,500 white in
dividuals.
AAt present, he said, the combined
relief and w. P. A. rolls are the largest
since relief was begun as q public
policy.
sE-~1 L