Evening star., 1940-04-18
Relief
Continued From First Page }

farm parity payment provision ap-
proved by the Senate but not yet
enacted In the House.
In response to the question, Mr..
Roosevelt said he saw no major
legislation on the program after
the relief appropriation.
Text Of Message.
The text of the Presidents mes
sage follows:
In submitting to the Congress my
budget for the fiscal year l941, I
included an item for relief and work
relief which provided the amount
Of approximately s975 100000 for
for administrative expenses and the
cost of project operation Of the
Work Projects Administration. This
| represented reduction of approxi-
mately one-third from the amount
which was made available for these
purposes In the current fiscal year,
an If used for the IL months of
the fiscal year 1941 will provide an
average employment of only about
1880 900.
In the message transmitting this
budget. I commented upon the item
for relief and work relief by say
ing: IF conditions fail to meet
our hopes. additional funds may be
necessary"
The preparation of the budget
was completed In December, 1889,
at which time industrial activity in
the United States was at a very
high level. I regret to inform you
that the hopes which I entertained
at that time and which were based
on the industrial outlook then pre-
vailing, have not been sufficiently
realized and that it is, therefore, in
my judgment now necessary to adopt
measures for dealing with the situa-
ton which exists today and which
may be quite confidently predicted
for the next few months.
Production Index Down.
The industrial production index of
the Federal Reserve Board for De-
cember stood at 128, an all-time
high. In January it declined to
119, and in February to 100. The
preliminary index for the month Of
March is 105. It is hoped that 1t
will not 60 lower than this.
It is extremely difficult to predict
at this time the volume Of employ
ment in private industry that will
be provided throughout the whole
fiscal year 1941. The present indi-
cations are that, leaving out any vio-
lent fluctuations which may occur
due to events abroad, private en-
ployment in the fiscal year 1941 will
be as high as in the fiscal year 1910.
There is certainly at the present
time no information available to
justify a reduction in the program
of the Work Projects Administra-
ton below that which has been
carried on in the current fiscal year
with an appropriation of approx
mately one and one-half billion dol
lars.
Discretionary Power Asked.
In my judgment the most logical
action that the Congress could take
at this time would be to appropriate
the budget item for the Work Prof.
ects Administration, but to lodge
discretionary authority in me or In
the commissioner of Work Projects to
expend this amount in the first
eight months of the fiscal year, on
condition that unemployment con-
ditions in the country are such as
to require such expenditure within
that period. I can assure you that
If this discretionary authority Is pro-
vided in the Appropriation Act, the
appropriation will not be expended
within the eight months unless 1t
is absolutely necessary to avoid suf-
fering and hardship.
If the appropriation is made with
the provision which have just de-
scribed, the incoming Congress will
have the period from January 3 to
March l, 1941, to deal with the ques-
ton of the need of providing funds
for the last four months Of the fiscal
year If such need is then apparent.
It may also be necessary, in con-
nection with the consideration of
this question, at that time to give
attention to the related question as