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/ l\iorthweste rn Un iv ers ity _n r i ry .;G .. J ..... ::.,~ i :> RvvM No. 4 - 1095 THE W ORK S PROGRAM -- Works Progress Administration For immediate release March 5, 1936 Hopkins Ans we rs Senator Vandenberg Works Progress Administrator, Harry L. Hopkins, making ans we r to Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg's request for an investigation of charges that the Indiana County (Pa.) Democratic Committee had sought to coerce Works Progr ess employes to contribute to party funds, took occasion to da.y to disclaim responsibility f or acts of 11 dumb politicians", and t o reiterate that beneficiaries of President Rooseve lt's relief program a r e under no obli gati on to contribute t o po litical organizations. 11 ! am sure you know n he wrote t he Michigan Senator, n that I cannot be held respons ibl e fo r the acts of dumb po liticians. I am r espons ible for pro- t ect ing our staff from any 'raiding' on the part of any political party or their representatives. "This I have done and in this particular case our po licy was carried out to the letter. 11 I am, 11 he concluded t his letter summarizing the r e sults of the inquiry, which, among other things noted that the widely advertised letter of the local comm ittee grossed bu t $1.25 in collections, nindebted to you for giving me the opportunity of again making it clear to the employes of the Works Progress Administrati on and the Emer gency Relief .Administration, that they are under no obligation whatevetligt ?zet?ig-y tribute to any political parb'¥ig ffif i fl?oY!f son. 11 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY / 4 - 1095 - 2 - With the letter, Mr . Hopkins sent the Michigan Senator copies of orders and notices dating back to 1934 issued by Emergency Relief Administration and Wor!rn Progress Administration officials warning attaches and workers alike that there must be no such solicitation as complained of by Mr. Vandenberg. The latest of the series bore date of December 3, or twenty-four hours before the letter Senator Vandenberg based his protest on, was issued. The correspondence, statements and exhibits follow: Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C 0 p y ~:\arc:1 5, 1 936 Honorable A.H. Vande nbe r g , Unite d States Senate, Washingt on , D. C. My dear Senator: On February 28 t h you sent me a letter enclcsing ccpy of an excerpt signed by Harry W. Fee, Chair!l'an, Countv Democr a ti c Committee of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in whi ch you s t ate , 11 it would appear a reas onao le deduc ti on t hat thi s pillage is a gene r a l practice. 11 Th is assumpti on on your par t cbvi ous l y v1as not based on any knowledge r,f t he facts; fo r in the case in point our office not only advi sed our employees that they need not contri bu t e, but our aQministrator who is r espons ibl e f or t his County t old t he employees verbally and in writing that t he ir failur e t o contribu te would i n no wise affect their jobs. I am sure you know thet I cannot be he l d responsible f or the ac t s of t he dumb pcliticians who take it upon themse lves to write letters t o our empl oyees . I am r espon sible f::,r p r otecti ng our s taff and the worke rs fr or'.1 any 11 rai ding11 on t he part of any po liti cc1 l part y or t he ir r epresentat ives . This I have done , and in thi s particul a r case 01.1r poli cv was carri ed out to t he lett er, The po liti cian who asked for t r.e contrioutions we,s t ol d in wo rds of one syllabl e tha,t our staff was und.er no o'bligation t o contri but e and t hat the ir ,jol•s would be fully protected i n case they did not ccntri bute, and no t one single per son on t his s t aff was r emoved fr om off ice because rf his f ai lure t o con tribu t e , nor will he be. Followi ng is the summary of the facts deve l cped in the investigation: 1. The lett er was sent over the p rotes t of Wcrks Progress Admir, istra t ion and Ste.t e Emergency Reli e f Acim i nis tra ti on officials; 2 . Local Republican l ,::,ade rs offered substa.ntial sums of money to re c i pients of such l et ter s with the deQlsred pur po se of using t he same fer partisan po litic &l pur pose s; 3. As far back as Oct ober 6 , 1934, off i c ials of the Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY March 5, 1936 Honorable A.H. Vandenberg Page 2 State Emergency Relief Administration, following the policy of this office, warned employees that while they were 11 as free as any other citizen to contribute to any political party or candidate, the State Emergency Relief .Administration will not, directly or indirectly, in any way be a part to the solicitation of political contributions from employees; 11 4. This notice was reissued on October 28, 1935, by the State Emergency Relief .Administrator in advance of the election and nearly two months before the issuance of the letter on which your complaint is based; 5. Again, on ~ecember 3, having in mind that such letters as you quote might be issued, the State Emergency Relief Administrator issued an order as follows: 11 1 It has come to my attention that some of our administrative employees have receiv ed letters from local political committees soliciting a percentQge of their salaries as a contribution to the local political campaign fund. 11 I wish to have it expressly understood by every employee of the Emergency Relief .Administration that I do not sanction solicitation on our premises of our employees for political campaign purposes, 11 This does not prohibit the right of any person in our employ who, as a private citizen, desires to make a vo;iuntary contribution of money to any political party or campaign, but their action in so doing is voluntary on their part and has no bearing upon employment under the present Emergency Relief .A.dmini~tration. 11 6. It is further shown that Mr. Fee and his associates of the Indiana County Democratic Committee had been notified by both the Works Progress Administration and relief directors that the employees and beneficiaries of the Works Progress Administration and the State Emergency Relief Administration program could not ruid should not be assessed for political purposes; Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C ') p y March 5, 1931'3 Honorable A.H. Vandenberg Page 3 7. Both by posted notices and verbally from the County Relief Director, employees had repeatedly been advised that they need pay no attention to such letters, that their positions would in no way be jeopardized by failure to contribute, and that they were free to make such contributions as they desired to any political party. 8. Voluntary statements have been obtained from err~loyees of the Relief Office indicating that they thoroughly understood at the time that no pressure would be brought to bear on them from their superiors; 9. The effectiveness of our efforts to protect relief workers is shown by the fact that only one employee made any contribution, and that was in the amount of $1.25; 10. The implied threat in Mr. Fee 1 s letters was entirely without foundation, since recipients of the letters who made no contribution were subsequently employed in similar positions in the Works Progress Administration. I am enclosing bulletins and letters illustrating the position taken by the Works Progress A&~inistration and relief officials. In conclusion, my dear Senator, let me say that I am indebted to you for giving me the opportunity of again making it clear to employees of the Works Progress Administration and the IDnergency Relief Administration that they are under no obligation whatever to pay tribute to any political party or person. Very sincerely yours, Administrator. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C 0 p y United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations February 28, 1936 Hon. Harry Hopkins, Federal Emergency Relief Administrator, Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. Hopkins: My attention is directed to a full-page reproduction in the Butler (Pennsylvania) Eagle of a letter purporting to show Democratic solicitation of campaign funds from Relief Workers on penalty of black-list in the event of refusal. The letter is dated December 4, 1935, at 'Indiana, Pennsylv11.nia, on. the letterhead of the Indiana County Democr~tic Committee. It is signed by Harry W. Fee, Chairman of the Indiana County Democratic Commi ttee. It is ad.dressed to Mary C. Shearer of the "Emergency Relief .Area11 at the Community Center Building of Indiana, Pennsylvania. It reads as fo:.lows: I am very much s .1rprised that you have not responded to our previous letter requesting ;your contribution in the a;nount of $27.0C to Indiana County Democratic Campaign Cornmi ttee, as I was sure that you appreciated your position to such an extent that you would make this contrib1.1tion willingly and promr;tly. I must, ho'!vever, now advise you that unless your contribution in the above amount is received promptly, it will be necessary to place your name on the list of those who will not be given consider:l.ti?n for any other appointment after the termination of the Emergency Relief work, which, as you know, will terminate in the nec.:.r future. Please mruce your check payable to A. Lucille Baun, Treasurer, ?..nd mail the same to her nt 402 Indiana The::i.tre Building, Indiana, Pennsylvania11 • 11 1 Inasmuch as the runount of contribution is filled in to whr>.t otherwise is obviously a form letter, it would appear a reasonable deduction that this pillage is a general prnctice. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY - C 0 p y - 2 - It occurs to me that j·ou will wish, in the name of politic-al decency and in behalf of an un-partisan administration of relief for human misBry, to investigate this matter; and, in any event, to ma.lee it clear, s9 far as you can, to all relief workers and relie f clients that they need not surrender to this sort of sordid exploitation. Cordially and faithfully, (Signed) A.H. Vandenberg A..."-17-L Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C 0 p y Febru ary 29 , 19 36 Hono raole A. H. Vand enoer g Uni ted Stat es Sena te Wash ingto n, D. C, Dear Sena tor; I have your l e tt er of Feor uary 28 and wish to assur e you that I am havin g an inve stiga tion start ed imme diate ly r egard ing the charg es you make. Since rely yours , Adm inistr a tor HOPKINS: GODWIN:EMS Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C 0 p y COMMO:T'wVEALTH OF PENr:SYLVb.NIA STATE EMERGENC'! FELIEF BOJ.RD Harrisburg December 3, 1935 MEMORANDUM TO: EXECTJTIVE DIFECTORS -R-373 LOCAL COMPTROLLERS -F-338 SUBJECT: POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY AIMINISTFATIVE EMPLOYEES It has corr.e to my attention that some of our administrative employees have received letters from local committees solici tint; a percenta5e of their salaries as a contribution to the lncal Cflmpaign fund. I wish to have it expressly understood by every employee cf the Emergency Relief Administration that I do not sanction solicitation on our premises of our employees for political campaign purposes. This does not prohibit the right ~f any rerson ,in our employ who, as a private citizen, desires to make a v:,luntary contribution of money to any politicel party nr campaign, but their action in so doing is voluntary on their part and has no bearing upon employment under the present Emergency Relief Administration. Robert L. Johnson Relief Administrator. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Q Q. EI Strand Theatre Building Greensburg, Pennsylvania December 16, 1935 Mr. Harry W. Fee, Chairman Indiana County Democratic Committee rndiana, Pennsylvania Dear Mr. Fee: I have before me several 1~tters which you ha.ve sent to our employees in Indiana and Armstrong Counties, requesting contributions to the Indiana County Democratic Campaign Committee. I am still further surprised that these letters contain a threat that if payment is not made, no further consideration for appointments will be made to that individual. I must ask you to refrain from sending letters of this nature to employees of my organization. What you do individually with any member of our personnel is strictly your own business and the business of that individual, but to trade upon the position which that individual holds with the WPA is out of all rea.son and I will not tolerate it, I am as strong a Democrat as you are, and it is my earnest desire to serve our party by functioning efficiently and honestly. Cooercive measures such as you are employing will do our party and its President more harm than good. I am sorry that this matter has occurred. Very truly yours R. G. Allen, Dist, #13 Director Works Progress Administration RGA:DL Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY QQfI Strand Theatre Building Greensburg~. Pennsylvania December 16 , 1935 Mr. Paul A. Frresman, Ass 1 t. Director Works Progress Administration Indiana County C~mmunity Center Building Indiana, Pennsylvania Dear Mr. Foresman: It has recently come to my attention that letters are being received bv some of our 'iiFA Administrative Personnel, demanding contributions to the Indiana County Democratic Campaign Cammi t tee. ~lease post this letter in your office as my auth~rity t o disregard any such letters. Such matters as these have no place within our nrganization. Any individual voluntarily wishing to support his or her own party may naturally do so but coercion will not be tolerated. Please refer to me all such letters that have been received ry your personnel. Very truly yours R. G. Allen, Dist. #13 Director Wcrks Frogress Administration RGA:DL Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY I C 0 p y March 3, 193 6 The followin g f a cts are set forth for the informati on and at the request of Thomas E. Stakem, Speciel Agent cf the Division of Inveotiga ti on of the Wo rks Progress Administrati on . On J u ly 20, 1935, I was appointed Wo r ks Progress Administration Direct or of Distrtct #13 in Pennsvlvania. This district emb odies the three counties Jf Indicina, Armstrong and Westmoreland. Shortlv after receiving my appointment, I was visited. by Mr. Harrv Fee, Democratic Chairman of Indiana County. Mr. Fee had several appointments which he wished me to make. Because of the lack of qualifications in his cand idates, I r ef us ed t o approve them. Mr. Fee t ook some offense at my attitude and complained of my attit·c1de to my superiors, who in turn sustained my decisions. In my r elationship with him, Mr. Fee has b ::::en quite arbitrary and has no t demonstra.ted the good judgmen t which one might expect of a man in his position, On or about December 10, 1935, I received a report from one of cur employees, who is a native of I nc ia na Borough, Indiana County, that Mr. Fee had sent manc1atcry lett8rs to our employees for contributions to the Indiana County Democratic Campait,"!1 Fund. Wot only did these letters make fixe d demarids which were exorbi tar.t, but they t h reatened the employee with black-listinp; in case he did not meet their demands. These letters clearly stated the.t the emp lo ~rees woul d. not re ceive furthe r conside rati on f or publi c positi ons unles s the demands were met. I immediately dispatched a man to In d iana County to gather up these letters anct f,.irther:nore, I sent in::.tructions to Mr. rau l Foresman, who was in char ge of our Indiana office, to post my notice on the bulletin board t r..at all I:1diana Co'.lnty emp loyees of the Works Progress Admini stra.tion should disregard Fee's letter entirely. A copy of this letter is attached herewith. Concurrently, I addres:3ed a letter t'.'l Harry Fee criticizing him f or h is action and forbidding him from taking f u rt he r steps of a similar nature with the Wo r ks Progress Admir.istration employees, This lett e r was mailed on December 1 6 and a ccpy is attached herewith. To my best knowledge, our employees w,2re not coerced i nto making contributions .other then voluntary cnes which were their own personal affairs. In closin;::; I wo11ld like to sa7 that pol itics of this nature have been f orbidden in the administration of my district affairs. Uone of our employees have been t hreatened or coerced into ma.king contributions to any political ' or 6 anization. In order to have this fact clearly understood, during our staff meetings, I have stressed the fact that such politics as thic; w13re not to ce in,iected into our organization and our department heads have carrieo out tl.Les e instructions scrupulously. To clarify t his matter furt he r, we assembled our employees this afternoon Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY - 2 .... and told them d.efini tely that if they were approa.ched in the matter of assessment for any political fund, that they were to disregard the demand entirely during working hours or while in the "N. P. A. office. I informed our employees that tho activities before 8:30 in the morning and after 5:00 in tho afternoon, were their own affairs, as long as those activiti ::; s wer0 not subversive to the best interests of the W. L A. organization. I explained this statement further by stating that any political contributions which they might make were purely their own affairs and should be as voluntary as though they were employed b7 a private agency, and I further stated that I did not care to know anything about these political contributions or the individual's political affiliations. Respectfully submitted, /s/ R. G. Alle_n_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ R. G. Allen, District #13 Director Works P!'ogress Administration / s / THOS, E. STAKE~;! , Witness Thomas E. Stakem, Special Agent of the Division of Investigation Harrisburg, PennsylvaniB. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C 0 p y .Area 11, Indiana, Pa. November 13, 1935. SPECIAL BULLETIN TO: FROM: SUPERVISORS (INDIANA COUNTY) DAVID HALL BLAIR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Several employees of .Area No. 11 in Ind.iana County have voluntarily .brought to my attention letters received by them from the Indiana County Democratic Campaign Committee soli citing a percentage of their salaries a'i a contribution to the Democratic Campaign Fund in Indiana County. I wish to have it expressly understood by every '-mployee of the Emergency Relief Administration in Indiana County that I do not sanction solicitation of our employees for political campaign purpo s es. This does not prohibit the right of any person in our employ who as a private citizen desires to make a voluntary contribution of money to any politica~ party or campaign, but their action in so doing is voluntary on their part and has no bearing upon employment under the present Emergency Relief Administration. The matter of the letters recently received from the nemocratic Campaign Committee in Indiana County has been r eferred to the State Relief Administrator at Harrisburg. Pending further instructions from Mr. Johnson's office it has been r e quested that we take no action on these solicitations. ravid Hall Blair Executive Director Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C 0 p y COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA STATE EMERGENCY RELIEF BO.ARD Harrisburg BULLETIN NO. 85 SUBJECT: October 28, 1935 SERA POLICY ON ELECTIONS AND CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS. Please refer to Bulletin No. 38 issued October 6, 1934 the policy of the State Emergency Relief Administration in regard to political elections and campaign contributions. This policy is still in effect. 0 1.1tlining Your particular attention is called to the following portion of Bulletin No. 38: 11 No employee shall take part in the solicitation of funds to further the candidacy of any person or µi,rty. While employees are as free as any other citizen to contribute to any political party or candidate, the State Relief .A.d.m:i:nist:::.ation will not directly or indirectly in any way be a part to the solicitation of political contributions from employees of State and Local Relief Administrations or from relief recipients. llThe State Relief Administration has no interest in the manner in which employees vote. Employees will, of course, vote as they deem best. They sr,all refrain from any discussion with relief recipients which may 'ce inferred as direct or indirect pressure on that recipient to vote for any candidate or party. 11 Robert L. Johnson Relief Administrator Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY C OP Y COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA STATE EMERGENCY .RELIEF BOARD Are,a No. 11 -- Indiana, Pennsylvania October 29, 1935 Mr. Vernon S. Pitner, Manager, Indiana Democratic Campaign Headquarters, Indiana, Pennsylvania My dear Mr. Pitner: Regarding your inquiry of October 23rd concerning the proposed solicitation of funds to be contributed by the employees of the Indiana offices of the State Emergency Relief Administration my attention has been called to tho following order issued by the State Administrator, which I quote for your information: "No employee of the State Emergency Relief Arl:nini strat ion shall take part in the solicitation of funds to further the candidacy of any person or party. While employees are as free as any other citizens to contribute to any political party or candidate, the Relief Administration will not directly or indirectly in any way be ·a part to t he solicitation of political contributions from employees of State and local Relief Administrati ons or relief recipients. n I am advised by Mr. Johnson's office that this ~rder remains in effect concerning the present political campaign and that we will receive orders within the next few days requiring that we reemphasi z.e this ">rder to the attention of every employee. This applies to any a'1.d all political parties, Sincerelv yours, David Hall Blair Executive Director Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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