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0OCU!VI EN Tti ROOM 4-1710 THE WO R K S PROGRAM ********* --Works Progress Administration-- For Release on Delivery, Sunday , June 19, 1938. Address delivered by Harry L. Hopkins, Works Progress Administrator , on the WOR Forum Hour, Sunday , June 19, 193~, 6:45 p . m., E.S.T.: I will speak toni ght not about the direct aims of the Works Pro gress Administration, but about its indirect effects . Impa rtia l nation-wide polls and studies have proved, first, that the American people favor jobs for the unemployed instead of a dole, and second, that the improvements created are useful and valuable to the local communities. Finally, I am sure no person will questi<;m t he importance of one of these jobs to a man whose family needs f ood and shelter . Where does a WPA dollar go, after the Federal government pays it t o an unemployed worker? ~ To hear some people talk , you might think it mysteriously vanishes somewhere , perhaps in that worker's pocket . I believe I can show you that at the same time it is taking care of him and his family, it is helping take care of the butcher, the baker, the doctor and the manufacturer . During the next ei ght months, the WPA will spend about 1 billion 425 million Federal dollars. This will cause city, county and state governments which want improvements to spend about 400 million more . _ That is a total of 1 billion 825 million to be spent because of the WPA program. Who will get this ·money? Where will it go? What will it do for American business? We know from our records that 3QO million dollars will go to buy materials , supplies and equipment, such as too millions for cement and brick, 70 millions for iron and st~el, trucks and other machinery, 35 millions for lumber, 25 millions for textiles . The added business through purchases of materials will give indirect, full-time private jobs to a quarter of a million workers, entirely ap~rt from 0 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1710 - 2 - those on the WPA rolls. They, also , will buy things and crea te other jobs . Se cond, t housands of trucks and other types of heavy equi pment must be rented from contracto rs. rented. Equipment, ware~ouses and othe r buildings must be Material must be shippe d to the job. This places another 200 mill ion •• dollars into the pockets of the owners of machi~ery , the owne rs of buildings , the railroads and a host of other business concerns • . Finally we arrive at the biggest single item in the WPA proe r am - 1 billion 325 million dollars which goes directly i n pay to the workers. What happens to it? The averaga WPA worker makes about $55 a month - some make a s low as $30 - and has three dependents to support on it. Every cent of his pay-check is .needed, immediately, for the basic necessities of livi ng. It is obl~gated for the purchase of food, clothing, rent, medical care and other nece ssiti e s. It swells the stream of American trade where it is needed most - among those wi t :.t the lowest income s - so that the turnover is r epeate d the maximum number of times . Whe r e do WPA workers ' dollars go - the 1 billion 325 million they will receive and spend - in the next eight months? About 515 million dolla rs will go for food to the grocer , the baker, the . ~ butcher. About 220 millions will go to the owner s of rooms, houses and apartments for r ent . Anothe r 150 millions will go for houso~old operation - for furnitur e , fuel, kitchen equipment, gas , water , e l ectricity. The rest of the wages will bo spent for a wide variety of things. Fifty millions, for example , will go to doctors and dentists, 60 millions for street car and bus faro. The s e figures are hard to grasp because of the ir size. food bill of 515 million dollars. Le t us take the That will be an average of about $1,000 in trade for every one of tho half a million food stores in the nation. I t means that WPA workers will spend 2½ million dollars a day, for food alone. We must remember that each of those purchases starts a serie s of transactions. From tho corner grocery store, this trade cause s no w orders , gives indirect private employment on farms, in canning factori es , i n transportation , Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1710 - 3 - The landlord ' s r ent money creat os_moro jobs as it goe s for paint , for repairs , oven for new hous e s and apartments. widening ci rcle . The WPA dolla r spreads in an ever - Tho doctor can buy a new car, _the publishor 1 s wife a now dr es s , the furnitur e man can t ake his f amily on a trip . These purchases i n turn create more p riv~te jobs . And s o tho WPA money flo ws , li~o the blood in the human body , giving life a nd strength to the economi c system. The story of the WPA is not half told if you stop with the millions to . whom it means the only chance for work. perhaps you are one of them - There are other hundreds of thousands who never have dreamed of facing the problem of relief , yet whose private jobs in many l~nes of business have been made s ounder and safer by the spending of WPA dollars . There are many proprietors of stores and factori e s to whom these dollars at this time mean the diffe r ence between profit and loss - profit that will stabilize the jobs of others . The re aro stockhol de rs i n thousands of bus i ness conce rns , in gas and el e ctric and transpo rtation co~panie s, who will have money to spend - money that will p rot e ct still other jobs . For our bi g problem is no longe r the ability to p roduce , but the ability to consume . It is how to increase and dis tri bute buyi ng power so that all our peopl e are co ns t a ntly helpi ng to move go ods off tho she lves of business , and keep them movi ng on and off , to crea te the maximum of private employment , and of national income . Our working population is gett i ng so big , and our machi nes s o effici en t , that there must be no slackers among con su.:~ers . The Federal gove rnment is de te rmi ned tha t the able- bodied unemployed shall have a chance to work , and that millions of potential consume rs shall be brought into the market as customers for America 1 s goods . 000 000000000000 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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