Evening star., 1938-04-15
The Good of Spending
Projects That Will Aid Capital Goods Production
Seen Key to Better Times

making a mistake. The addition of q
large number Of people to the W. P. A.
relief rolls will mean. first, that we
will pay nearly twice as much to give
man a Job as 1t would cost to give
him the same amount OF money as
straight relief during an emergency
and, secondly, that the work which he
does will be Of character which adds
nothing to the production OF wealth,
and does, therefore, contribute to pro-
duce an organic imitation.
Expenditures for p. w. A., that Is
to say, for genuine and necessary
public works, are another matter. But
the previous experience of Mr.. Ickes.
and the present opinion OF students
OF the situation. both indicate that 1t
would be impossible to spend l,5O0.-
OO0, 600 rs conscienciously and usefully
as previous P. w. A. expenditures have
been made. The purpose Of these ex-
penditures must b. to prime the pump
IN the heavy industries, and this is not
done by voting 500 900 to make a study
OF vital statistics in Flint. Mich. It
is doubtfV whether more than $780,
100000 could be spent methodically.
usefully. and for the purpose designed,
in the time allotted.
Temporary Expediency.
Whatever Government spending is
done, 1t Is absolutely necessary to
abandon once and for all the idea that
Government spending is a permanent
vehicle OF prosperity. 1t can only be
used as a measure of temporary ex-
pedency. and we must get it out of
our minds that highly organized
economy can keep healthy and pro-
ductive merely by spreading purchas-
ing power.
Spending ought to be concentrated
on projects of short-time execution
that will aid capital goods production
and Will enable the Government to
withdraw on short notice. We ought
not. for instance, TO start now as
recovery measure. building large dams
that take FIVE to 10 years TO be COM
pleted. We ought to do things which
can be done in laps In the spring CT
1887. the Government had too few
projects that they could taper out on
and therefore deflatonary measures
had to be applied suddenly to every-
thing. through monetary restriction.
Spending has TO be decentralized.
and withdrawn from the political
control OF Washington. And it seems
to me that it ought to be a legal OBJ
legation to publish at regular inter-
Vals lost Of the orders actually placed
and a description of actual projects
with the facts about the number en-
ployed. the amount OF money involved
and the purpose. There is at present
no control by the public on expendi-
lures, good or bad 1t is literally a
TACT that the people have no way of
knowing what the w P. A. Is or has
been doing in any detail whatever.
Running Serious Risk.
Then. Congress ought to insist on
a behavior of the administration and
its advisers which will not jeope rdize
the beneficial effects OF spending. I
think 1t would be a great benefit i
oiic Couiu Call ndIt on speeches. or
the character of Mr.. Jackson's and
Mr.. Ickes' until, let us say, the Fed
eral Reserve Board index of produc-
ton is at l20.
We are running a serious risk Of
a spending program which will be
nothing except a hodge podge of dis
carded past application for eXpendi-
lures. We must have plan publicly
presented and publicly worked out
that fulfills an economic and not 4
political function.
Congress ought also seriously to con-
slider the effect on financial confidence
OF distributing to the municipalities
and States funds for which the Fed
eral Government will alternately take
Misunderstanding bonds This in
PRODUCES a new and dangerous uncer-
tainty regarding Government credit
and currency. since II you have no
interest on the bonds the Government
takes thsrs Ia M rsa roy u,yv u shn,,Id