Evening star., 1937-03-14
Ten and Half Billion Dollars
Spent for Recovery and Relief
Sum Expended for Everything From
Lifting of Statue of Liberty's Face
to Golden Gate BRIDGE.

and predatory animals-all got aten-
ton.
This spending-for-recovery crusade
enlarged the Nations recreational
facilities to the extent Of about $4oo,-
| 100000, taking in public parks, bath
| ing beaches, golf courses, athletic fields
| and fairgrounds
Since the Roosevelt administration
went in, 20l .057 acres have been added
TO the national parks; 2,482, $50 acres
to the territory covered by national
monuments.
The Mammoth Cave National Park
In Kentucky, with 24,537 acres, and
the Shenandoah National Park In Vir-
glnla, 1858 acres, are the largest Of
the new ones. Into the biggest ma
tional monument, Death Valley, went
1901 800 acres.
Along with these parks, the Govern
ment Is building highways, chief
among them the Going-to-t the-Sun
Highway in Glacier National Park and
the Skyline Drive, which ultimately
will connect the Shenandoah Park in
Virginia with the Great Smoky Noun
tains Park in Tennessee and North
Carolina.
Hard to Check Up.
congressman who would like to
| check up on the billions OF dollars that
went to less visible projects admit
tedly will not get very far.
These include projects enthusiasts
credited with saving the Nations
morale. Critics talked of them as
'boondoggling" and patronage"
The biggest chunk OF this money
was about 100000 in outright grants
to States for direct and work relief
Another $1,500, ,00o,O 900 found its way
into the Civilian Conservation Corps,
one OF the least criticized. The rest
went into miscellaneous endeavors
most Of whose permanent value can
not be reckoned easily.
These enterprises included, for
example, 5000, 0,000, 900 worth Of sewing
canning and gardening projects that
supplied relief workers with food and
clothing. Another 100000 was
paid out in Agricultural Adjustment
Administration checks Arts, music,
library, theater and writer's projects
took another s50000,000.
For some time after the droughts,
Uncle Sam took on the habiliments of
q cattleman.
In this guise, he bought up starv-
ing cattle in the drought areas and
distributed the resulting beef through
relief agencies. The Agriculture De-
partment reported none of these
supplies left on hand now, except a
small quantity of canned beef. There
are today no Federal cattle on the
hoof.
Buys Surplus Crops.
The Government still goes into
commodity markets, buying surplus
crops to stabilize prices and provide
food for reliefs. For example, when
Ohio Valley flood victims found their
water supplies contaminated, some Of
them drank Government grapefruit
juice instead The Federal Surplus
Commodities Corp. had bought up the
surplus of a record crop Of grape
fruit.
Looking over these various ex-
penditures, miscellaneous items and
administrative costs still leaves a task
for the fact-hungry Congressman.
He can delve into the why's and
| wherefores Of the s4,0O0,00o, 900 ad-
| ditional money Congress has au-
| thorized as loans. This money Is on
the books as recoverable" and has
been used to capitalize such agencies
as the Reconstruction Finance Corp,
which in turn capitalized a half
dozen others
These are the items most in the
Capital believe will figure largely in
the spending program of the future:
l. President Roosevelt's proposal to
form two new departments of cabinet
rank, public works and social well
fare.
2. Harry Hopkins expressed belief
that relief is permanent and can be
handled only through the tax route"