Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-25
Accomplishments of WPA Live
To Aid in Prosecution of War

written, for hundreds of thousands of
workers had been building airports, con-
structing highways essential to domestic
transportation of troops and equipment,
erecting barracks and other military
necessities.
II statistics must be given, here are a
few: WPA workers constructed over 4,50O
buildings for the armed forces, recon-
structed or improved over 81 900 others,
built or enlarged $50 hospitals They
built pill boxes and gun emplacements,
sodded ammunition dumps, laid out firing
zones, set up target ranges, barbed-wire
fences, alarm systems, sandbag barri-
cades. They built 285 airports, improved
and enlarged almost twice that number.
$4,000 Miles of Highway.
BY June 80, 1912, the WPA had built
644 900 miles of highways roads and
streets, including many that gave access
to airports, military and naval reserva-
tons, and war production centers. Hun
dreds of thousands of persons were
trained by the WPA for war Jobs. War
projects accounted for tWo-ffths of all
WPA expenditures during the fiscal wear
that ended June 80, 1942-335 million dol
lars baVing been spent for such projects.
Through its school lunch program, the
WPA served almost a million hot meals
to school children in the eight years of
its operation. WPA sewing projects, pro-
viding jobs for needy unemployed women,
produced 400 million garments and 104
million other articles for distribution
among needy families and institutions.
The WPA ran 1900 child-care centers.
with special emphasis on the children Of
mothers employed in war industries.
WPA artists designed about $4,000 war
posters, from which three million repro
auctions were made for use by the armed
forces and the Office of Civilian Defense.
Since the beginning of the WPA pro-
gram in July, 1885, the Government has
spent $10,111 LOB 1886 for WPA work. OF
this sum, $500 ,568,214, or 1877 per cent,
was for wages. State and local sponsors,
who proposed the various projects to
meet the needs Of their communities and
to provide work for those whom they
certified, furnished s2,825, 496,114, or 2l8
per cent of the aggregate cost of the
program. Average wage of a WPA prof.
ect worker was only 1852 a year.
A postscript to the life of the agency,
attesting to its Watchfulness up to the
final curtain, is the announcement that
essential WPA records that would have
required $4,000 steel file cabinets to
store at an annual. rental of $3.50 900
have been microflmed Only 1875 cabi-
nets are needed to store the microfilm,
and they will contain film images of
more than 400 million records.
In those cabinets are the records Of
great experiment, the first of it's kind
in the Nation, and one that every one
ferVently hopes will never be necessary
again. In the eyes of the Chief Execu-
tive, the experiment has been a notable
success. Said he: Il am proud of the
Works Projects Administration organi-
cation. 1t has displayed courage and de-
termination in the face of uniformed
criticism.
The knowledge and experience OF
this organization will be of great assist
ance in the consideration of a WE'LL
rounded public works program for the
postwar period. With the satisfaction
Of a good Job we'll done, and with a high
sense of integrity, the WPA has asked
for and earned, an honorable discharge"
printed by special Arrangement with the st
Louis Post Dispatch