The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-06-12
MIR. HOPKINS ON RELIEF

great many people disagree with Harry L. Hop- kins. Relief Administrator as to his theory of con tinued relief under Federal supervision MT Hopkins is of the opinion that the Federal government can get rid of the relief and it might well accept the fact cheerfuly and attempt to adminstrate it in the best possible Perhaps he is right but ! right wrong his views expressed in recent inter- view interesting and in many respects enghtening to most people who realize there still is definite relief problem which must be handled
 Discussing the subject the Administrator said: | Some people will tell you that the Federal Government doesn't the citizen anything, and that is true, far as am concerned. But it doesn't follow that the Federal Gov ernment may not protect the nation against the results of widespread desututlon among it's citizens that it should adopt hands-off policy regarding factors making for the ma terial well-beng of all the citizens and the country whole. Nor does it follow that in the absence Of governmental obligation to the individual unemployed citizen, no one owes him anything. The vast majority of the rolls of the WPA today are only products of the capitalstic sys- tenn of highly ndustralized State that re- quires labor reserve to man the machines in periods of peak production. The reserve has always been there, but industry paid little of the cost of maintaining this reserve Until recently the bill was paid by the workers them selves, in degradation and misery.
 But the workers not content in their likeness during the period between the high and low points of industrial production Under the Works program those who otherwise would have been idle have received work. They have liked it. And unless l am very much mistaken they will their political power in the future to see to it that the pro- gram is continued just as industry once, used it's political power to perpetuate its labor reserve at little cost to itself.
 According to MT Hopkins, people who are out of work through fault of their own must be placed by government in useful employment in order to prevent the living standards of the entire community from being dragged down. He continues:
 To preserve the very life of business the mass of people must be able to buy, for mass production is the heart of our system With all this talk about the unemployed what IS going take care of the unemployed em- ployer? Nothing except the consumers dol lar. It to to be proper function of government to to it that the wheels of industry keep turning. And since this can be assured only by keeping men in employ ment, what natural than that the gov ernment do the job?
 That is why government will entirely get out of the relief business. There is nobody else who Go the job Industry can't do it, because industry can't be expected to pro- vide employment when there is market for all the goods produced. Business in business to make profit, and they wouldn't show profit for very ovg if they attempted to displace government in the business of re- lief.
 There can be two ways about it. The Federal Government is in the relief business to stay. And the government that tries to get out of it altogether probably won't remain in office very long. Of course, that does not