Evening star., 1939-04-27

Six years ago this Nation wa.
confronted with situation calling
for rapid and decisive action. Mil
lions of workers were already JOB.
less; their number was increasing
and the economic structure Was
threatened with collapse. In thi.
crisis the vast reserves of the Fed.
eral Government we're promptly
made available and emergency as.
sistance was provided for all classes
of the population who were In dis
treSs.
Since that time we have moved
along broad front to make per-
manent provision to meet various
phases of the problem Of unemploy-
ment and need. The Social Secur-
ity act provides aid for the aged, the
blind and for dependent children.
Unemployment compensation, in
tended to tide workers over from
one job to another, furnishes pro-
lection against short-term unem-
ployment of the intermittent va
riety. Public works have employed
many persons.
But there has been and still is, a
vast number of unemployed workers
for whom some other protection
must be provided.
1t is very important to remember
that the fundamental decision which
was made in connection with the
problem of providing for the needy
able bodied unemployed was wheth-
er provision should be made through
the medium of work or a dole. ]
have on numerous occasions ex-
pressed my conviction that the
proper solution was work, but I de-
sire to take this opportunity to re-
affirm my conviction in that regard
In fact. for six years it has been
the definite national policy to give
work to the needy unemployed who
are able to work instead of handing
out charity to them In the form of
food
1t is admitted that the cost per
individual of a work program is
higher than that of a dole How
ever, I firmly believe that the ad-
vantages which accrue from the
of the morale and self
respect of the worker and the crea-
ton of permanent public assets fully
justify this increased cost, and that
the adoption Of the dole as the So
luton of this problem would be dis
astrous
When those who talk glibly and
without much information about
cutting the cost of relief are pinned
down to facts, they are obliged to
admit that they can offer only two
plans-to cut down the
number Of needy persons receiving
relief or to cut the per capita work
or, in other words, make
a definite beginning toward the sub
stitution of dole for work.
Challenge to Critics.
1t is these same individuals who,
picking out a handful of instances III
the administration of huge under
taking. seek to delude the people Vt
this country into the belief that the
minor exception is the rule. Let any
one of these critics undertake the
job of administration himself. That
is challenge which will be avoided
but not answered.
There is wide discussion at the
present time of various proposals
for handling unemployment relief
through system of grants of Fed
eral funds to States with various
requirements. I believe
that such system has as many dis
as there are local politi-
cal units in the Nation. If grants to
States are used for direct relief, we
have all the Instantaneous fea-
lures of the dole which have pre-
viously described. If, on the other
hand, such grants are to be used to
finance locally conducted work pro.
grams, inefficiency and confusion
through lack of coordination anei
are bound to result. Un-
der either the dole or local work
the administrative cos;
will inevitably be much larger than
under a Federally operated work
Furthermore, I am of the opinion
that the adoption of a system of
direct grants of Federal funds to
States would result in the creation
of pressure groups striving to in
crease the amount of such grants,
which would bring about demand
for increased appropriations which
both the present Congress and fu-
ture Congresses would find it ex-
tremely difficult to resist.
Production Has Increased.
In my message of April II, 1888,
I recommended to the Congress a
series of measures designed to check
the def1ationary processes and the
failure of consumers demand which
were occurring at that time. Since
the adoption by the Congress of the
recovery program outlined in that
the index of industrial pro-
duction has increased more than
The national income
which amounted to $62 600, ,OO0, 900
in 1898, is now running at a rate
which should increase 1t to SGT ,O0O,-
000,00C in 1899. This I regard as
all-important, because as stated in
my message of last April, I believe
that if the national income can be
to 10000 900 900 our whole
economic picture will greatly i'm
prove and the problem of unemploy-
ment will become much less acute.
However. wish to repeat what
said at that time: I do not believe
that this increase in national in
come can be brought about solely
by the expenditure of public funds
for relief and recovery purposes.
From the standpoint of private
the economic situation
has greatly improved. Employment
declined steadily and drastically from
1929 to 1882. improvement began in
1888, and by the early fall of 1897
almost 100000 more persons had
jobs than were employed during the
month when this administration took