The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
4-1831 WORKS P R OGR E S S A D MI N I S T R A T I ON * * * For Release on ~e+ivory , Thursday , November 17, 1 938 . Tho following addres s VP.:l.S deliver ed by Corrington Gill , Assistant Administra t or of the Works Progr ess Admini stration , at the dedi cat ion of t he Univorsity of Minnesota Hydraulics Lo,borc.to ry, Minneapo lis, iviinn., on Thursdc1y , No vembe r 17, 1 938 ; President Ford, Dr. Snyder, Dean Lind, Dr. Straub, ladi es 1:.nd gentlemen . I am 1:iost gr a t eful for the :ri riv-il ege of takin6 part in the dedication of this fine contribution t o the res ear ch equi pment of t he University of Minnesota. At t he risk of do ing violence to the cord.ial spirit in which I have be en :oade welcome , I fed that I should , in all frankness , to confess my status as an alumnus of t he Uni vers ity of Wisconsin. Perhaps it is fortunate for me that this ~r o~rru.n prec ede s the gri diron event of day after t omorrow, but I can only hope thd even the inevitable outcome of Saturday I s game will not put me in the awkward pos iti on of being :pe rs ona non gr ata in Minneso t a . It is lmrclly necessary for me to say t hn,t the WPA is justly proud of its part in the construction of t his structur e ..- not onl y becaus e it r epresents the fin es t of its kind but becaus e it is t angi bl e evidenc e of t ho r ealization of an i deal. Coope r a tion with institutions like tho University of Minnesota in the prac tice.l dovoloyment of pl ans for such outstanding imp r ov ements to their f aciliti es is tho ver y co rner stone on which tho WPA progr ~~ is built . I hope tho.tall of you will toke advantage of t he oppo rt--.mity to i nspect t his l abo ratory. I have bo ,Jn extremely i nterested in Dr. Straub 1 s account of the unique probl ems encount er ed in :Lts construction and I h2.ve boon tremendously impr essed with t he skill and det erminati on which has brought ubout t he ir solution. Sinco I am not an hydraulic engi:-rn er , I am sure it would be most pr esump tuous for me to undert o,ke a technical discussion of t his new oq_uipmont which Doan Lind, Dr. Straub and their associates can explain so much more effectively. So, if I mey, I should like inst oa.d to talk with you about a part of the WPA progrrun which is symboliz ed by this fine f.l,dd.i tion to tho oquipoent Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1831 and faciliti es of tho Univer s ity. Aft er more than five ycnrs of participation in tho r eli ef a ctiviti es of the Fodern.l gove rnment ...- first vii th tho FERA, then tho CWA and now tho WPA, I am mor e t hn.r. ever firmly co;.winc od thc.t , given a si tn,"-tion in which ther e is serious unemployment and destitution , any r emedial measures can and should be in the for1i1 of useful work projocts . This buildi"1g which wo are dedicating tonight is pr etty substantial ovi donco i n favor of that position. And t his now laboratory is symbo lic , not only of tho thousands of public improvements realized but it represents one wey in which this progrmn has contribut ed to tho progress of lmo,.-,l odge . The fact that more than 1500 new school buildings have be en constructed and over 16, 000 modernized is fairly gener ally known . So too , the reduc t ion of our illiterate population by nearly a milli on individuals, and the employment of a hund~ed thousand jobless instructors to conduct adult education classes attended by more thrui four milli on persons a r e matters of record . Eut s ome t hing that is not so well known is t he f a ct tha t out of t his program have grown several thousand sci ent ific and scho l a rly articl es and books based on work proj ects involving some form of r esearch activiti es . It is this part of our progrl'\.Ill thn,t I should like to discuss with you n little more in de tail . As far back as 1933, investigations of the dependent unemployed re- veal ed the p r es ence of subst[Ultial numb ers of so- called white- colla r worke rs on t he r eli ef rolls . Many of them wer e fil e- cle: rks , typists , book- keepe rs , salesmen and othors for whom it was f a irly simpl e to devis e highly useful cl erical ~roj ects . Among other t hings, noarly throe hundr ed million it ems i n var ious t y-pc s of impo rtant r ecord. sy st ems have be en i:adcxed, cntnlo god or otherwise mad.o moro accessible and. us e ful . unempl oyed workers - Eut n. r el a ti v oly small gr oup of those t wo or three percent of t he tot al - had some kind of t echnical or professional t r aining which fitted.th.om for r cson.rch. True , those poopl e could hc.ve bee n s et to work copying r eco rds but , with countl ess 1.moxplorcd fi el ds of reseo.rch awaiting a tt ention , it se emed imperative to utilize t he ir t a l ents and training more eff ectively in this direction. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1831 This job was not a sim~le one . a.s quickly a s poss ibl e . Research It was ne ces sary t o put peopl e t o work more so t han the building of a road or small school house - cannot be based on ready- made or quickly drawn p l ans . i nve sti gat ion on a mas s basis was a new adventu r e - Scientific almost an unchart ed cou1·se . Many of the first r esearc:1 p r o j ects with r eli ef workers we r e undertaken unde r t he guidance of other Fede r al o.genci e s . For ins t a~c e , t he first large- sc,'.'1,le syst e,:'latic study of housing , und.er the direction of the Department of Commerc e , r esulted in t he coll ection of long- neecled data for 64 large cities . This survey was the for e runne r of mo1·e than 250 loco.lly s~Jonsored r eo..l prope rty survey s which a re indis:ponso.blo to plan s for improver:1e nt in housing condi t i ons . The National Health SurYey , a WPA proje ct unde r the direction of t he United Stat es Public Eenlth Servic e , has furnished the most comprehensive data on disco.so .::1,nd medic.:11 care over comp il ed in this c ountry . quarters of a million far.iilios were c oll ect ed . Records on t hroe- Tho wi de pub lic i nter es t in t h is study ho..s made it s conclusions woll- kno\m, but t he s c ope of its contribution to public heal t h uill probti.bly n ovor be e stima t ed . I b eli eve it is also important t hat the 5 , 000 indivi duals \7ho worked on t h i s survey wer e not l oft in idleness , or assigned to some manual job . On t ho contra ry , they collaborated in a tr emendously us ef ul task and they worked at jobs which made use of and, in mn.ny cases , furt her dov olo pod the ir spG ci o.l skills and tra i ning . Por rops one of t ho mos t i m-oo rto,nt of t nr;se nation- wi de res earch pr oje cts is tho study of technological changes and unemploymeat . De tailed and car efully orgonized studi os of t ho displ nc emeat of ,-,orkors by machines n.re currently b e ing mo.de in coope r a tion y;i th other Foderr:,l and pri va t c !'esoarch organizatio::.1s . More than 25 r eports have t hus fo..r boon issued nna. thoy fo rm the most exhausti ve ano.lysis of t :1is ::;irobL1m ov e r u nde rtrucon. Ther o are many ot he r such na ti on- nide pro j e cts , but I should like now to mention another impo rtant t ;YJ?o of a ctivity . ~~d Literally hundreds of municipal other public officials , hrunporod for y ears by the lack of es s ent ial datn of one sort or another , have devised rr.any sp l e:id.id r c s ec,rch pro j e cts to fill t h is need for informo.tion. More thnn 250 citi es and counties have o.nalyzed their tr[:.ffic probl o!:1s and, on tho bns is of t h8 s tuclies , hn.ve speed ed up traffic and Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1831 - 4 - r educed o..cci dont s . A lo ne; s ori os of studi os of juvon:.lc de2. i nq_uo~1cy , its co..uso s c.nd typ e s , ho..v e o,ssist od in crino p r evention pr ogr ~m se I nv ent ori e s of t he Rchool fr,cili ti c s of ma ny ci t i os m:i.cl coun ti es h:w o r osul t od in os son ti c..l chc,ngo s .'.1Ild r cC1.rr:u16 0E,o:1ts . Cou.ntl oss loca l studi os of uncmoloyt1cnt nr,d dep end ency hc..vo pro v i de d a Eoro ado quat o f .'.1-Ct"U.[l.,l b a sis for tho ::i.dr.inistr.::.tio n of r elief ['.lld ro 011p loymont o..ctiviti c s . Analys e s of i nd~s trinl a cciden ts a nd dis eas e s hcv o r osul t od in n orc off octi v o prov on ti v o n oas u r os cm d in Doro oq_u i t[',,bl o con.... u0n s ntio:1 p olicL, s c:.n d. proc oclur os . HJr o ng::lin , t ho s ,J jo-bs hc..v o b oc:1 c."cono by wort:e rs v,;_10 woulc1. oth,:i n--:is o b e un cn p loyccl. Ann., since raan;-,r of then lw,d. b oo n trn,i nod. f or suc~1 jobs they hrwo d one t hou well -- so uoll , in fo,ct , t ha t t :1oy h..w e fr oq_uon tly boon hi r od. o;-,r tho city or cou.:1t y to k oop on do i ng thor.1 - not o.s wor~: p roj octs but a.s r or,ul a r budgo t c..r;y o..ctivi ti c s . Thon t ho r o is a not he r g r oup of p r o j e ct s uhich , to y ou rrho a r e clos e ly n.ss ocio..t od vrith tho Universi ty ,Jill , po r :1.'.'.ps , b e ov oi1 r,orc si gnifico,n t . Jus t c~s tho Uni v orsity n:.1d t ho 'WPA h a v e coopo r t,,t od i n t ho conotrr_ction of t h is "buildi ng , ,10 hgv o nlso joi n ed forc e s i n u ~1clo1·t a~::in6 souo of t h o r,,ctuo.l r os 0~wch ')? r obl ons t hons olvos . Sor;1e of you ar e no d oubt now making use of t l18 assistance of WPA worke rs in connection with y our OVil1 r e search . The fi eld of WPA activiti e s in pure res earch is natura.lly somerhat morA restricted. It is only natural that the 1· eli e f rolls do not co ntain many i1i gl1ly tra ined s:9ecialists . But I am sure you Y.'ill all a g r e e t hat one of the mo st difficult :or oblems c onfrontini:; the res earch worke r in a university is the b.cl: of assistan ts to do the more routine jobs . Fre q_uently he lacks funds to hire t he,n r.md his t eac h inc,s; sch edul e d oe sn I t p ermit him t o d o t hem. 'hirr.self. The r esearch ch emist , for oxaapl o , who has to pre"9D.ro his own. stc-mdard solutions o.nd wash his own apparatus is h J.rdly making the most p roductiv e u s e of his own training i::md tal ents . Un 0mploy0 d wor!w rs, wi t :'l V"l.rying omoun t s of technical or p rofcssionc..l training havo t1ms provi ded a sup ply of l o:bo r wh ich ha s b oon us ed to do vrha t \"le mi gh t call tho "l eg- work" for many r osonrch sp ocio,li s ts . At Now York Unive rsitJ t hey h nv o assist ed in a study of tho theory of the multinl o diffraction gra ting. Proj e ct wor ke rs at t ho Univ0rsity of Californio, h nv o assist e d in tho stud;;,- of th e chemistry of endocrine secre tions Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1831 - 5 - n.nd. in many eJ<.-:poriment,?,l stuclios in tho f i elds of o.n::ttomy n.nd. animc'.l physiology . Outstc.~nc.L--it; studi l1S of tho physi co.l and mento.l d ovolonmont of c hild.nm have boon carried on n i th the assisto.nco of p r o j ect wo rke rs and c,n imuo rto.nt analysis of bloo8. coci-r:;"Ulfl,tion wc..s compl eted as a project . I d.o no t hcwe time here to recall to your minds the ent ir e list of proj e cts on \7hich tho Univsrsity of Minn<Jrrnta and the WPA hnve coll o,bor.'.1tea. • .Ar:ion6 thorn r:iost of ;:rou vri ll doubtl •J ss r ecall t ho series of agricul turo,l studios on farm L1co11e , vocc.tior..al educati on in farm management , crop producti o:i. and pr ic es , need control methods , and agri.cul tural om:plo;yn~mt . The University has also si:ionsorod useful surveys on tub erculosis dAn.th rc'..tes , r.i.nd surveys of l ocal govorm.10nt finance , p orsonnol n.nd adm i nistrat i on . This li st c ould bo cont i nued , but it is perhnp s sufficient to say t~1at there a r ·:1 for, fi ol d.s of r ,:) so2,rch to v1hich projec t r,orkors h1wo not n~:,,do sono contribution. Th o WPA doos not prot onc1 to c.ssune I should like to riD.ke one point vor;-/ elem· . cr edit for t his research . T:!:10 crodi t But i n t h is connection goes uhoro it rightl;y b el ong s to tho uni versi t;/ fg,cul ty mernoers , the pu·olic officials and others whose training, ingenuity and l abo r have made t he ir conception possib l e and their comnletion a fact . We , as employe e s of the WPA are proud to have been of assistance . We are p r oud , too , of the 47, 000 workers who have been employed at tasks which hav e ena,oled them to mai ntain and. develo:p their skill at the same time illPJdng substantial contributions to human knowledge . We f ound , earlier in the p rogra:~, that research pro j e cts were sometimes operated. without making the data available to oth2r r esearci:J. wo;rke rs . To correct this si tu,.,_ tion the WPA now r equires e,11 sponsors of r esearch proje c ts t o puol ish their r c su.lts . It is , of cours e , unnecesr.mry for me to :po int out here t hr:,t the VQlue of research to soc i e ty is in l a r ge part dependent upon its availability for p r ac ticrcl ap:•?liccltion r:md worke rs . Cl.S 0, bas is for t ho investigations of other r esearch In order to fulfil more ado qu,..'1.t oly t h i s ossent i n.l research cl oo,ring- houso function , the WPA has r ec ently is sued an index ruid digGst of more than 2600 r os o~rch pro j e cts already com~lotod . I am confident that we shall solve othe r problems as I boliove we have f ound a solution for t h is one . I know· that we mo.y count on your assistn.ncc in the endeav or. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1831 - 6 - Mny I s~y once more that I am ver y happy to have had t h is opportunity to mee t with you toni ght . The WPA is 6 r atefJJ.. fo r the opportunity to participate in the realization of the pl an s and i deals which t his bui lding and eq_uipment .And fo r the WP.A a s well as on my own behalf I want t o expr es s the represent . sincere wish that t hese r esearch f aci liti es will result in a full realization of the aios and ob jectives of all of you who have so effectively coope r ated in their compl e ti on. - - - - 0 - - - - Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
@FedFRASER