The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-05-04
On Capitol Hill
BY GEORGE L. KNAPP

Washington, D. C. QLNS).-The
Railroad Retirement Board, here in
Washington, is doing some investi-
eating work that within its narrower
field rivals the WPA. Most people will
be greatly surprised to be told that
1,720,6SS persons actually worked on
the railroads of the United States in
1887. Most folks thought the number
of railroad workers had dropped to
not much more than million. But
wait:
The largest number working on our
railroads in any one month that year
was 1,174,43 or 6S.3 per cent of the
grand total.
The average number was 1,115,O77,
or 64.7 per cent of the total.
The number who worked in each of
the twelve months was 904 ,636, or 52.5
per cent of the total
The number who worked less than
6 months that year was 534, 1884, or
81 per cent of all railroaders employ
ed that year, and,
There were 436,637 railroad work
ers, or 25.3 per cent of them all, who
put in less than four months in the
year.
If you will find any other set of
figures that give more appalling
picture of the uncertainty of employ
ment in big business, let me know.
have been looking for them long
time without finding them.
X X X
DR.. H. H. Bennett, chief of soil con-
servation in the Department of Agri-
culture, gave an enlightening lecture
on that subject to the House Labor
Committee.
He told Congressman that more
than 100,000,O00 acres of crop land,
some among our best, was completely
finished with crop rising now, because
of erosion. He told them that this rep
resented about the same area as New
England, New York, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. We are losing every day,
as the result of erosion, 200 forty
acre farms; and the direct loss to
farmers alone, not counting other loss
es, is nearly $400,000,O00.
But he gave them the cure-or at
least the thing that will stop or great
ly check erosion. Make the CCC a
permanent thing, and a big enough
thing to use all over the country to
check the waste of soil. Uncle Sam
now has 355 soil conservation camps,
with about 10000 CCC lads in them,
and they are doing uncommonly good
work.
Amen from this pew. The CCC
would be worth while of itself. But
with erosion-stopping, reforestation
and forest fire-fighting, it is stand
ing army against the less friendly
moods of nature-and a laundering
fine training as well.
X X X
One of the best things about the
Presidents first reorganization order
is that it practically eliminates the
relief bill of Senator Byrnes. That
bill, which also unified relief, had some
bad features. 1t would require job
less man or woman to exhaust his or
her unemployment insurance before
getting a relief job; and unemploy-
ment insurance is frequently as low as
$5 week, sometimes lower.
The Byrnes bill, too, would require
the states to put up one-third of the
cost Of the Works Progress Admins
tration. That would kill all white
collar projects; for the Federal gov
ernment bears this expense now-and
it is one of the most valuable produc-
ing expenses. Not to mention other
things, the white collar projects in
clude all the splendid research which
the WPA has done on health as well
as on social matters; and its series
of guide-books, far from complete, is
admittedly the greatest collection of
facts on American history and per-
!sonality ever brought together.
And in the last few years, more
than million grown folks have learn
Jed to read through the WPA.
-DANCE TO ACE BRlGODE--