Evening star., 1936-06-25

their resources. and charitable Or
CARNATIONS we're unable to meet the
constantly growing demands upon
them.
Thousands Of Graduates
without Prospects.
Hundreds of thousands Of young
men, many of them college or high
school graduates, were entering life
without prospect. The professions
were overcrowded and the immediate
future held little promise for the
youth of America.
There was devised the Federal
Emergency Relief Administration, the
Civil Conservation Corps organization
and the Civil Works Administration.
When the Conservation Corps was
first established it was ridiculed as
a useless and costly experiment. In
spite Of the contempt of those who
had stood motionless and dumb while
the catastrophe was approaching, the
organization has demonstrated its
effectiveness for keeping deserving
young men from becoming hoboes,
and for giving them useful service in
the construction of highways, the
improvement of public parks. build
ings and grounds, the reforestation of
denuded areas and in other helpful
spheres of labor. Now the value Of
the Emergency Conservation Corps Is
generally, almost unanimously recog-
nized. Former President Hoover vainly
boasts that he was its originator.
The Civil Works Administration re-
quired comprehensive planning. It
was difficult to find useful employ
ment in the neighborhoods where the
unemployed were located. The con-
sensus of opinion IS that more than
rs per cent of the funds expended
through that agency was Of substan-
tial and permanent advantage to the
communities, in which the work was
carried on
When the Civil Works Administra-
tion had served its purpose it was
found that the ranks Of the unem-
ployed were constantly being aug
mented by those who in the begin
ming of the depression had been able
to live upon their savings but who
as time progressed were compelled to
spend their savings.
While many key industries had been
rocforal foI1ouipo rocovary oac,,roe
to an approximately normal state,
private agencies continued to pursue
economical methods and to substitute
machinery for hand labor with the
result that a comprehensive program
of public works became necessary and
was authorized under the act Of 1885,
contemplating a Nationwide system
of public works, some of them con-
sisting of permanent structures. In
order to take from the dole $500, 900
laborers, the Works Progress Admin
istration was organized and plans
were made for public works in thou
sands of communities in which the
unemployed resided. Manifestly the
number on the Federal emergency
relief rolls could not be concentrated
in the communities where public
buildings and similar works could be
located; 50 that it became necessary
to plan for the employment Of the
majority Of them in or near the COM
munities where they lived. To ac-
complish this, undertakings OF less
onnVt khov thncn
templated by the Public Works Ad-
ministration program became indis-
pensable. The opposition have de-
scribed these expenditures as wasteful
and foolish.
The theory of the Works Progress
Administration is that it Is better to
give those who are willing to labor
the opportunity to do SO than to make
them dependent on charity or on
Government dole.
Greater Portion Of Fund
Advantageously Used.
There is no more pathetic spectacle
than that of an honest man, accus-
to11Ca w .CdAhAl6 ANC1niOOu 4OI
himself and his dependents, forced to
face starvation or to accept private or
public charity. If his self-respect is
to be maintained he should be given
opportunity to help himself. That is
exactly what has been done through
the works progress program. The
greater part of the large fund has
been and Is being advantageously
used. The issue Is whether public
shall be abandoned for
the dole. No one dares advocate that
those who cannot get work shall be
permitted to starve.
Certainly where the States and
their subdivisions are able to do so
they should be expected to contribute
q fair share to the very laudable and
20 far only practicable plan that has
been offered for solving the one great