Montana labor news., 1936-01-02
RELIEF STILL NEEDED
DESPITE WPA WORK
By LEN DE CAUX

over tne grim Dalance-Sneel OF uncln-
ployment, as one year ends and an
other begins, one finds it still weighted
down on the debit side by millions OF
human lives and seemingly endless hui
man misery.
WPA Administrator Hopkins an
nounced as a Christmas present that a
total OF 3,4767S2 persons were employed
under the works program, as OF Dec.
9-almost the 31z million total that
was promised. He also took steps to
see that these people were paid the
wages coming to them, in time for
Christmas. Many Of theme in the
Pittsburgh area, for instance, had been
living on faith in the administration and
without benefit OF wages for work done,
for periods Of eight and nine weeks.
Leaving out of account for the mo-
ment the security wage" that dis
graceful pittance which reduces wage
labor to pauper-relief status, we may
say, $50 far so good" Even security
wage employment may well seem bet
ter than nothing to the starving. Hoo
yer, the present critic OF relief policies,
will be best remembered for the Hoo
vervilles and let-em-s -starve-everything-
will-be-all-right philosophy.
But what has happened to the bally
hoo with which 1885 started, that the
work-relief program was virtually 60
ing to end the present unemployment ?
Three-and-a-half million were to get
WPA jobs. Another 3H million would
be placed in private employment as a
result Of increased demand for goods
and increased purchasing power Incl
dental to the WPA program. Then
some millions of unemployables in ad
dition were to be provided for by state
and local authorities. And all that
would be left would be the million or
two jobless that are normal" and
necessary to the operation Of the capi
talist system
Meanwhile recovery would get we'll
under way, and everyone would live
happily ever after-or at any rate until
the next crash.
But only the first part Of the pro-
gram seems 10 have worked out that
way. No 3H million have found private
jobs as a result of the WPA program
not by long shot, nor does there seem
much prospect of such result.
The latest estimate OF the American
Federation of Labor shows 11,650000
jobless in October U. S. Department
Of Labor monthly figures have shown
some increases of a hundred thousand
or two in private employment, but its
latest report shows an actual decrease
in employment between October and
| November.
As to the unemployables, Hopkins
now claims they are no worse off than
they were under FERA But the
studies Of his own department in
Georgia told a very different tale.
They gave actual case studies showing
aged, crippled and other unfortunates
left almost completely without aid-re-
duced to one meal day, to searching
garbage cans for food, to begging and
other forms Of the more abundant life
And talking OF Hoovervilles, reports
from Baltimore and other cities tell of
Rooseveltvilles OF hundreds of huts
springing up in the jungles to furnish
shelter for the transients now cut off
federal relief
Production has increased under the
stimulus OF government buying. Profits
are shooting up. But employment and
wages lag far behind. Having been
placed on its feet with government aid,
business is now getting more work done
with fewer workers. 1t has an abun-
dant supply OF live workers for its re-
duced needs, SO it is telling the govern
ment to cut down on the relief and let
the rest shift for themselves.
AS to the 3H million on work-relief
only 2,678,629 are directly on the WPA
payroll. Half a million are in CCC
camps, and the rest are divided up be-
tween other government departments.
The Navy Department has l7047 and
the War Department 5570l directly
employed on their projects with work
relief money.
A little arithmetic with official figures
shows that now appropriations will be
needed before long to keep even the
3H million employed at even the Sc
curity wage. Big business pressure will
be exerted to cut down the 31z million
mere drop in the bucket of unem-
ployment though it be.
4
Meanwhile the rigors OF winter and
the depletion of individual resources"
have increased relief needs, the FEsRA
admits, SO that the 1,770OO0 on federal
direct relief in 145 cities in October
could be reduced by only 94 per cent
in November, despite the WPA pro-
gram. In the District of Columbia
and some other districts where federal
relief has been cut off, the authorities
report nearly as many new applicants
for relief as there are persons being
put on WPA projects.
Unemployment loomed as a huge and
ugly problem before the Congress that
met in January 1885 1t looms almost
as huge and just as ugly before the
Congress that convenes in January,
I1936