Evening star., 1936-12-08
PERMANENT 7. WA.
IS URGED BY |CKES
Interior Head Favors Act
for Continuation in Radio
Forum.

Forum.
Confessional action making public
works a permanent policy Of the Gov
ernment, adequately safeguarded from
pork barrel" raids, and passage OF
the wagner-Ellenbogen bill. which
recognizes housing as q municipal re-
sponsibility, were urged last night by
Secretary of the Interior Ickes, Public
Works Administration head.
His plea for continuance of the
p w. A., which expires otherwise by
limitation of law on June 30, next.
was made before the country in the
National Radio Forum, sponsored by
The Star and broadcast over a network
Of the National Broadcasting Co.,
through WRC.
Ickes had made similar proposal
before the recent conference of mayors
In Washington and last night he
stressed the importance of public works
expenditures, whether on a large or
small scale, as stabilizer of industry
and a recovery measure in the event
of some future depression.
Discretionary Powers Urged.
He reminded. however, that wide dis
cretionary powers should be lodged in
the Administrator of Public Works, so
the funds should be spent where most
needed.
1T would be a major misfortune if
public works should ever degenerate
into pork barrel,'" he declared.
Better no public works program at all
than such result. To prevent this, all
of US must be alert to protect the
Federal funds from those who would
grab them, regardless of the needs of
their community"
Ickes urged that public works gen.
eral staff should be retained, at least,
as an '1rreducible" minimum. In
lieu Of a permanent policy, he sug-
gested that necessarily law should
be passed giving P. w. A. time to
finish the hundreds of projects it
already has undertaken.
Job Ratio Put at 21a to 1.
The factual study bearing on the
ratio Of indirect to direct employment
on P. w. A. projects, he explained.
shows that for every man-hour of labor
created on the site, two and half
hours are created in producing the ma
terial used. That is the general
yard stick, he pointed out, but with
respect to p. w. A. municipal power
projects the ratio is As to l.
The Federal Government has
''blazed the way" for low-cost housing,
municipal governments must realize
that the chief responsibility is their
own, a responsibility, however, that
should be shared by the States and
even by private citizens. Yet the Fed
eral Government, he suggested, should
continue to aid in low-cost housing.
Text Of Address.
The text of Secretary Ickes' address
follows:
Tonight I shall discuss with you
o topic in which I, as Federal OFF,
cial and as a citizen, am vitality in
terested and one with which I be-
lieve every progressive community in
the United States is deeply concerned.
I propose to appraise the three-and-
one-half-year record of the Public
Works Administration and then give
you my own personal views with re-
spect to the future of public works.
At the outset shall sketch in bit
Of the historical background. Let
your memories go back to the months
Sx,r.ad;of a11, y,rocadjoo NIorct, of 1o22
There was no Public Works Admin
istration then. There had been spo-
radio talk of public works and even
some wishful thinking about 1t. A
few economists had written books and
pamphlets about it. A handful of
forward looking men in the United
States Senate wanted to give public
works a trial as a means Of beating
back the depression which was about
to engulf all Of us, but the admins
tration then in power had stubbornly
clung to a different view, with the
result that public works as a pro-
gram to relieve unemployment had
remained as it had for years, sub
1ect for academic discussion.
Not many weeks had passed, how
ever, before President Roosevelt. with
q full realization Of the tremendous
task that he faced and realistic
knowledge Of the overwhelming odds
that confronted him, decided to do
something about public works. Fol-
lowing his leadership, which inspired
the whole country and gave to the
people a renewed will to fight, the
Congress pushed through in mid
June Of 1888 the national industrial
recovery act-an act which, among
other things, created the Federal
Emergency Administration of Public
Works
Responsibilities Crushing.
The responsibilities that devolved
upon me as administrator were almost
crushing in their magnitude. No one
in peace times ever before had been
directed to spend $780, 100000 with
expedition but without waste or ex-
tlavagance. Almost overnight we were
required to set up an emergency or
ganization which would function eff
GENTLY throughout the country. We
were expected to start in high from
scratch.
It Is not necessary to tell you that
we were beset by many and varied d;f-
flculties. To begin with, there were
legal complications. In many COM
munities we found that constitutional
limitations, State laws and municipal
ordinances presented almost insuper-
able barriers to the speedy and sue
cessful prosecution of a Federally aid
ed public works program. Almost
everywhere we found lack Of plans.