The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
DOCUMENT S ROO M OCT 2 8 1936 ?-1orthW H'-'t'" r n Unlver!'!ltY No .. 4 - 1349 Llll r ,i:"'' T HE WO R K S PROGRAM ***** --Works Progress Administration-- For irmnediate release, October 21, 1936 •. Hopkins Replies to Arthur M. Curtis on Missouri Charges. Harry L, Hopkins, Works Progress Administrator, today issued a statement replying to allegations made by Arthur M. Curtis, Assistant to the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, that there is a $5,000,000 shortage in Missouri relief funds. The statement is as follows: I see that charges have been made by Arthur M. Curtis, Assistant to the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, to the effect that $5,000,000 or more of drought relief funds grented by the Feden:il Government to the State of Missouri prior to June 30, 1935, are unaccounted for, and that one Edwin E. Jones was unable to locate any record of the disposition of these funds in an audit made by him. Concerning this charge of a $5,000.000 shortage in Missouri, the records of the Missouri Relief Commission a re perfectly clear as to the status of any relief funds grPnted to the state by the Federal Government •. The audit made by Mr. Jones includ.ed only the records of the Rural Rehabilitation Corporation and Mr. Jones stated in the audit report over his signature that he did not audit the drought relief accounts. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4-1349 -2- The facts are that $6,398,181 was granted to the State of Mis~ouri for drought relief purposes, including both work and direct relief in ·1rought areas, as well as for the buying of feed for cattle. These drought relief accounts, which were not audited by Jones, were audited by competent accountants of both the Feieral Government and the State of Missouri and found to be correct and all funds satisfactorily accounted for. These charges are mP.1e by Arthur M. Curtis, Assistant Chairman of the National Republican Committee, who is the same Curtis who made charges about individuals of the WFA in Missouri, which charges in every single case were proven false by complete invAstigation. He is also the same Curtis who, with the use of funds of the Republican National Committee, employed a farmer and hired some cows to parade up and down a WJ-A sidewalk in Arcadia for the benefit of a Republican newsreel. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
@FedFRASER