The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-14
SEWERS, SIDEWALKS DOOMED

WVAAlSHs
 SEWERS, SIDEWALKS DOOMED In making reductions, preference
 will be given to defense projects. If, in any given county, there are projects to build an airport and 6 school, the chances are that the air- port will be built and the school will wait. on-military sewers, roads and
 sidewalks which are halfway done, will be completed where possible
 but don't be surprised If some of the mare stopped right at the next corner and left for the communities to finish.
 Efforts will be made to cut out WPA projects in areas where em- ployment is rising, due to the de- fenSe effort. Tn Connecticut, for Instance, unemployment has gone down 76 per cent in the past year, because defense industries have been putting men back to work at such a tremendous rate. Tn Arkan- sag, on the other hand, unemploy- ment is down only IS per cent. Everything else being equal, the tendency will be to drop many pro- jects in Connecticut and take care of the still relatively high unem- ployment in Arkansas.
 These methods of cutting have to be balanced against the number of defense projects WPA has on its docket. Tn Florlda and Maine, 30 per cent of WPA projects are in the defense categories. That gives them priority, and the 20 per cent of non- defense projects will see the ax, or at least the razor, In western states, the percentage of defense projects is lower.
 There will be some transferring of workers from Iion-defense proj- ects to defense projects, naturally. Tn this connection, WPA will do considerable expanding in It's voca- tional training program. Regula- tions now permit WPA to put It's men in industrial plants to get the training for specific jobs. WPA pays and the effort will be made to push their wages while they're learning, WPA eligibies through these courses and get them onto private payrolls. KEEPS CULTURE FLOWING
 The So.called cultural WpA pro. gram will be kept to the extent possible. About 27 per cent Of the possible. About 27 per cent of the people on WPA have been on com lnunity service work and on art, writing and music projects. At least a fourth of these will have to go, but WPA headquarters, fiuring that it's often harder for white collar workers to get job than 1t Is for pick and shovel men, will cling to what 1t considers the more worth while artistic endeavors,
 Any discussion of WPA brings up consideration of how many unem- ployed there actually are, and how many of them need relief. Unem- ployment estimates now vary from the National Industrial Conference Boards six million to the c. I. O. guess of nine million Bureau of Labor Statistics, which thinks 1t knows everything else, refuses even to reach in the hat for figure.
 Whatever the unemployment score, none of the statistical seers believes that employment for 1941 or 1942 will reach the 50 million peak of September, 1929. Remember?
 There are seven million more workers now than there were in 1929 and increasing industrial effi- ciency, though it has raised the Fed eral Reserve Boards index clear up to 143, hasn't been able to find jobs for seven million more workers. AS of May 1, there were 4l3,OO0 unem- ployed workers certified for WPA jobs for which there was no money to pay them, and total of 1,264,- 900 eligible for WPA relief of any kind which they also couldn't get. WASHINGTON POP FLIES
 Stones from the bombed St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, in London, are to be shipped to Washington and built into the walls of the National Cathedral. Brit ish army officials have decided that after four months' service. soldiers go stale and park their brains" To overcome this. one officer in each company is assigned to en- courage hobbies and attendance at paTt-time trade schools and lectures. l. A force of 5000 lecturers has been recruited to make the rounds Of the British army camps. U. S. soldiers may be subjected to horror films, with stuka dive bombing sound effects, to see if they can take IL .. The average WPA worker is