Evening star., 1938-05-01

This young lady, DaDing the
w. P. A. 1Oork relief is one of those
must go into the relief business on
basis. Her group 1Dants to see relic
the entrenchment OF political mach
eral in approving projects located in States
where it desires to build up political
strength That this charge may not be
entirely justified is indicated by the fact
that in the list OF approved projects an
nounced recently by P. w. A., Vermont was
given % and Maine II. Considering the
population and area of those States, the
ALLEGATIONS compare favorably with those
to States having stronger claims on the
Democratic party
w. p. A. Procedure Differs.
The procedure followed by w. P. A. in
allocating its funds is not at all analogous
That agency has director In each State
When community in particular State
makes an applications~for relief funds it
must first be approved by the director
there, and is then sent to Washington. II
approved here, the application is sent back
to the State director and the funds are
made available to the community when and
if he thinks it desirable. not automatically
as in the case Of P. w. A.
The objections to such procedure are
obvious. In the first place, the director is
apt to be much more amenable to pressure
from State political machines than would
P. w. A. regional man, whose territory
might include half a dozen States. In
some cases the final disbursement of
w. P. A. or work relief money is directly
controlled by the State machine. In Mis-
souri,, for example, the State director for
w. P. A. is also director of public parks,
appointed by the Prendergast machine.
Non-political relief administration can
hardly be expected under such a set-up.
Secondly, the authority of the State d.
rector to grant or withhold relief money,
even though the application has been ap-
proved in Washington, enables him to use
the money when and where it will do
the most good politically if he is so in
clined. The argument in support of that
policy is that relief needs may change
quickly in a given locality and that
measure of flexibility is necessary If they
are to be used to the best advantage There
is no reason, however. why fexibility could
not be retained while setting up adequate
safeguards against, misuse of the money.
Coercion Evidence Submitted.
The charges against w P. A. are of
several kinds. During the 1886 campaign,
particularly in Pennsylvania, the Repub-
licans came forward with well-documented
allegations that relief applicants could not
get w. P. A. jobs unless they had first been
indorsed by the local Democratic organiza-
ton. In other cases af11davits were pre-
sented from w. P. A. workers who said they
had been fired because they refused to
promise that they would vote the Demo-
cratic ticket Others said they had been
compelled to change their registrations
from Republican to Democratic under
threat of finding themselves out of a Job
should they refuse.
Even more reprehensible, if true was
the charge that the Democrats virtually
extorted campaign contributions from re-
lief workers. A Harrisburg Pa) man
made an affidavit that he had changed his
registration to secure relief job at $3.50
week, the sole means of support for him.
self and his family. He was approached
by party worker who asked him to buy
IS ticket for q Jackson Day dinner
Afraid to refuse, he took the ticket and
paid 81 on account. He was fired for
failing to pay the balance. One can well
imagine the ottcry that would go up from
the New Dealers If private employer op-
posed to the administration were caught
using such tactics.
It may be that the Republican charges
were untrue, but it is worthy of noting
that no effort was made to find out,
Hopkins Applies Gag.
During the 1896 campaign q committee
of the Pennsylvania Senate CRepublican
undertook an investigation Of w. P. A. ad-
ministration in that State and the charges
Of political coercion with relief money The
committee heard from some w. p. A. work.
ers. who testified they had been COM
PEELED to Join the Democratic camp or lose
their Jobs. Then came an order from
Mr. Hopkins instructins all w. p. A.
workers In the State not 10 answer any
questions propounded by the committee.
That order and Q court injunction killed
The investigation. quito probably Mr.
HOPKINS correctly spprshsndsd that sn