Evening star., 1937-08-08
By Edmund G. Muuk.

Constitution avenue, the
'Woodyard"-for six years a mecca
for Washington's depression victims
Is fast becoming memory.
The woodward" which mush-
roomed into being on the site of the
once-projected George Washington
memorial between Sixth and Seventh,
B and c streets, will occupy human
interest-fraught chapter in the Dis
tricts sociological and other history.
From the gingerly -essayed origin as
an unemployment relief measure by
the Committee on Employment in
1881, the "Woodyard' Just "growed"
like that poor, overworked victim OF
newspaper writer's, Topsy.
From wood lot-where a few hun
dred men chopped firewood for their
daily bread-the "Woodyard" gradu-
ally was transformed into the hub of
multi-phase enterprise Of govern
mental work-relief which, during the
peak OF c. w. A. activity in 1884, en-
ployed more than $4,000 men and
women.
At one period during its six-year
life span the woodward" embraced
score of industrial activities within
Its own acre. Radiating its influence
over the entire District and even into
nearby Virginia and Maryland, the
"Woodyard" touched hundreds of
municipal and. Federal Government
activities.
Here took place the hiring, paw
on and firing episodes in the work.
relief experience of many thousands
OF Washington folk and additional
thousands of transients.
Throughout the "Woodyard's" ten
ure. however. its description as such
could never be challenged Myriads
OF felled trees passed continuously
through its spacious gates to be con-
Verted into firewood of all types from
sacks OF kindlin' to sturdy back logs.
Most of the logging operations to
supply the voracious appetite of the
"Woodyard' came from clearing oper-
stlons in Rock Creek Park, Arlington
National Cemetery and the National
Training School for Boys Clearing
OF rights of way for new District thor
ouehfares also contributed raw ma
terlal for the "Woodyard."
A REPORT submitted to Commits
sloner George A. Allen. who has
been administrator of all New Deal
vork-rellef activity in the District,
estimated more than $4,000 cords of
wood, ready for the empty stoves of
shiverlng and destitute Washington
families, were produced at the Wood
yard under the E. W. A. program
alone. This represented 362,4le man.
hours of breaking toll, the report
asserted.
AS the frewood processing aspect
OF Vork-relef eventually became rele-
gated almost entirely to transients
ineligible for regular c. w. A., E. w.
A. and w. P. A. jobs, the woodward"
hummed ajor tune of industry
among the numerous other busy
branches Of vork-relief administra-
tim.
A super modern print shop, with
hghly skilled Workmen; a mattress
factory in which spread-the-work
plan of hand manufacture went on:
sewing rooms in which untutored
nngers became nimble instruments
transforming surplus commodities into
useful garments and household ar
tlcles-these were some of the things
that marked the "Woodyard' as
place apart in the sociological
Chronicles of the District.
When the first employment agencies
outgrew quarters in the District Build
Ing, an unused portable school build
Ing was set up in the woodward" to
mouse the clerks who did the hectic
JOB OF assigning and reassgning the
constant flow of work relief applicants
Throughout c. w. A., E. w. A. and
INTO w. P. A. the small green building
was the drive shaft of work relief
Inc gears were shifted from the busy
ONCE of Administrator Allen and
FORMER Deputy Administrator William
=. Cleary, but at the assignment office
IN the woodward" was enacted the
real drama of the Districts unem-
ployment difficulties.
From the assignment Office thou
sands OF cards were mailed or sent bv
hand to relief rollers who wanted to
work. A few hours after the notices
had been dispatched the "Woodvardo
would take on the aspect of the pro-
verbal pay day at the nine"
In literal droves the reliefers would
swarm down Sixth street. At the
gates they were sorted into ORDERLY
lines OF various categories. Windows
would ny open in the green building
ana the lines would begin a steady
movement past the clerks in each Of
the windows.
As THE lines of men sweated in the
hot sun or shivered in icy winds
from the Potomac, an atmosphere
often approaching levity would de-
Velop. Good-natured jibes would vol
ley back and forth. squabbles over
places in line broke out, sometimes fol-
lowed by fist fights. Those episodes
generally were greeted with glee by
the waiting standees and often served
to break the taut feelings of the job
less throng.
The unquenchable Yankee instinct
Tor a business opportunity was not
missing in the jobless throngs. Often
man would be seen to leave the lines
As If in impatience. The next day he
H,o1I1d k.e