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Form No. 131
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J
FEDER
BAOARDSERVE
Office Correspondence
j
Governor Jitecles
rrom
J . M. Daiger
Date March 8,1935
Subject:
Memorandum from Frank Watson
Op
frank. Watson had finished talking with Mr. Vest and was
waiting for me after I left you last evening. The attached memorandum,
which Frank finished before ¥«re went home to dinner, suggests an approach
that may be relatively simple if handled in the conference committee
by one or two Administration men who clearly understand our purpose.
I have sent the original of this memorandum to Mr. Vest.
March 7, 1955
lieaorandua to ?fr» D&iger
Res
£zaergency Relief Appropriation Act
It li not possible to s&y another the Senate bill as
finally reported will permit gr«nts in aid of private housing.
The question is not one of court construction but rather
one of construction "by &cCarl, the Comptroller General•
Under a strict construction, the words n to provide relief and work relief11 can only mean direct grants to needy pQT~
sons by the Fod ral Government and direct employa^nt of needy
persons by the Federal Government*
This construction is inconsistent with s&uy of the other provisions Of the act «ihich indicate that materials will be purchased and land bought and sold*
It aay therefore be treated that the words w to
relief and viork relief• oust 'be construed ei describing the result
to be accomplished by the expendi tures r&ther than what the noney
Li to be directly spent for.
Un'-or this construction, Bftt«rlftlJ could be
and the several projects listed on pare 3 of the bill undertaken.
I think, also, that it is possible that such a construction also
justifies grants in aid of private housing. If all projects
undertaken sust be owned and carried out by the Federal Government,
section 7 providing for use of tbfl facilities of private enterprise
can have no saeaning. If an individual is unwilling to undertake a
residential construction project at his own expanse bat will undertake it if the Federal Goveniaant will furnish part of the mark E S
aork relief, 'then I think it could be so furnished and eny grant
•which was less than the actual cost of the labor involved could be
considered as utilising the services of the home builder to provide
work relief•
But the question is by no M O W clear. Sinca there are
MMQf other ;uesti-'ns tqoalljr insolvable under the language of the
bill, liioiild it not 'be better to point thers all out to the conference
group in such a way as to force them back to much of the House bill
zn& then see that everything V M clear in the final compromise*
For instance the following difficulties might be raised:
! • The M i l | rovi. .\s specially for loans to fin I I •
(p*4* 11ns 5} sad by iaplie&tion this denies the right to
lota in tqf other CMMM since if the right to loan existed
anyway thxi ;rrovUio/i uoaid be *urplu6&g« £& juch locas
could b© Ntfi under " m i l rehabilitation &nd relief in
stricken agricultural areas, $-500,000,300•"
If tfeli Ls> so, t en Rp..«llic «rjject*i :>f State*
or political suldiYisic/ns thereof, fGOO,303,030* cannot
be don® on a loan basis &t e l l oar can *hlftaMgr*f roads,
s t r e e t s , and gr&d^ erossing ellsdn£;tion, fr-00,000, 300.
E« Can any sateriaXi or land be purchased except in
connection with fee /iriniinirftr* tion 3f the bill? This is
ly BO aoans d e a r , A s t r i c11t cons traction of the words
"relief and relief projects would exclude the -purchase
of lam! or •rttrlirift While the b i l l as & whole may argue
for & looser Fconstructloa, the point is sufficiently doubts
ful to jnstif^ i change*
5* Under the b i l l the President hag no pom&r to daisgate. He MNPt therefore sifc;a every contract aai Issue
himself even tam to hiring stenographers and c
4« I t i s not clear whether angr grants aey be aade
under "public
projects jf ^'t'-.tee or political suJ-d *v Is ions
thereof§ ,4'900§Q~JQ,OOQ*n I t l i quite possible that neither
loans MV grants say be NMtt§ but that the work sust t>© done
entirely by the fttteftl Oovertuaent* If this is so, i t will
not be a y-ablic project of the states or political subdivisions unless they get special state legislation to pt&»
salt the apt of state or municipal llMd for Hfet projects
sad! the riglst to accept ttem nhan WtttpXet&Am Tho tax p^yere
of a city n&y not be saddled witii the upkeep of a project,
BO a&tter ho« aeritoriotts, unlese ttuthorised in a proper
MMMMT*
5* May SBjy persons not alreac^ oa relief be hired i s
•H? of the projects author!zed^or would paynent of their
wages
be an expenditure for other fthfta "relief or work r e lief 11 ? If so, how long sust thqy h^ve been iincaployci, a.
a MMkf or a yes.rt
I* Hiae Federal laergencgr Relief Admiulfffaratttti expires tgr i t s osm IflM la a mrih or so. tfcl* b i l l does
not give the President power to continue tbtt organisation*
The power to continue relief iI authorised ta&fe the Federal
Iftaergemegr Relief Act of SUSS does not proeerv© the organ! cation* 9l4l WH is MM of tfee Public Works Ac*<aini&tr?>tioa»
It MB HWH be Mlfgtitoi that the conference groups
lay the aetre use of a §Mi pofft&Mi ef the House M i l , clariiy the
1-agal difficulties which the §*R*ti b i l l raises and a t i l l retein
the principle© desired by the Senate*
(a) Strike out t&e ( l ) , ( i ) , (o), (4) of section 1 of
the House b i l l and leave "relief and work relief* as in
fiWWfet bill* By later language only a foros4 construction
of theae ^osrds trill be -passible.
(b) Includ© the specific all«oe,tlaM an ;;>ag® 5 of the
e bill*
(c) LMCVS aut "Dlie spscilflc powers hartilatftiar - * as osltted in Scjnats b i l l (p. S| line £5 et al}«
peei&l f h m n i precision (p« 4# line i) M this
la present aqyv&y W^to* "rural rehabilita^on
sad relief .in
stricken ligricultaral ar^sa, *;SOO,r>DO,CXX)^ and inclu^in.* i t
denies loans in MV other case.
(d) Lcat Sanat,G aj^di HcEi^o fight over Philip ;ine3 {o.4§
lines U Hrf U)«
(e) fUmirti but do not Uwl^tg tliat taMM negative
at i s bettor ih&n StOftte positive statement (p. 5,
l'ines ^^ T and 8) sine© contracts over CSOO are nuto
subject to E.G.3703 anyway* iMM^M ttMgM^I HOT NMtt tlist
contracts of |9QQ and under Jire also subject to the
R*ft» S7O9*
(f} AcoeJe to Sena to dfMMri far appllttfttlaa of the
Cl^sificaticm Act of IBfS (p« 8, line S}«
(g) Xs*i*t on lit least ;:mrs^apli (d) of ^eetion 4 of
the BOOM b i l l i^ven If corporations:; have to ba excluded lo
y the S
(h) Insist feb-ovs i l l on section 5 of Eons© bill* l*»
.ain tliat -vlthout this the b i l l Is & confused &.p;:roprletion
- 4 vet giving the President a sua of sionqy to spend without
the mechanical tsetho&s bf which i t maj be spc?nt»
I n s i s t pftrt&mla?2jr on paragraph (b) of this
M sdthout i t i l l work relief, except thnt- in the
nature of C.W#iU cork, ta 'hrom into n the realm
of doubtful
1 gality* 1 wiUioat tbe posrop to sake gr?mts H , wloansR
^cantracta* n-^ne of the things apeclfieally msumsr&ted
the Samite Mali be cecaaplishod* tbmt the power to m
and eontr^HCta must N Ir;clud^cl goes fttWMt without
Point out kbftt "gp«atsw ig c ; r U y isportant
without i t aid to ^pal-Ilc pr jects of States
and o
si^livisiong thereof•* cannot be carried ;>ut« Also i t s
clusion prevents carryirig out ny of the other
author Issad under any ays tea of loc^l cooperation*
(i) Section 4 of Semite b i l l stay be omitted if section
S of Eou&© b i l l is ra
(j)
:;-ectiorjs 8 Mi 7 of SMVfct b i l l m$ hi
(^c) Seetio© 8 of Seaat^> b i l l shoiiM b' @ dropped Ml I t
can cause a l l kinds of limrtilt aaid .is not sufficiently clear
to be interpreted.
(l)
Rent of Senate b i l l smy bo retained*
F. '^
@FedFRASER