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4-1883 It t ~,/' ,r \.I .- ~~ 1 l~ '-:: f[ _~ ( _ O_R_K_S__P_R_O_G_R_E-'--S::__:S:__ ___:A~D::_.:;_M=-=-I_:_N~I:__:::S___:: __T_:_R~A:.. . . ::_T__:I~O:'..._::'._N ' W L. 1r::- ,J.. --- F or Release to Newspapers , Sunday, Febr uary 5 , 1939 u THE OUTLOOK FOR THE WPA 11 The following ad.dre ss we,s delivered by Colonel F . C. Ha rrington , Wor ks Progress Admini st r ator , over the Blue ne t work of the National Broadcasting Company , at 8 : 00 p . m., Eas te rn Standard Ti me , Saturday , Februa ry 4 , 1939 , from the stuclios of St a tion WMAL , Washington , D. C.: This i s my first radio talk sinc e becoming Works Progress Adm inistrato r, and I sim:9ly want to outline , for all i ntere st ed citiz ens , the a ttitude in which I am appro a chi ng the j ob . There is a great deal of diff e rence of opini on conce rning the WFA and the way it operates . a free democracy . This f eeling is exp ressed ve ry fr eely , as it should be in But I should like t o r ecall a little of the ~r ogram 1 s history . Ther e we r e no gui depo sts or p r ec edents in Ame rica, in 19 33 , to indic ate how t o meet tho p r oblem of 15 million unempl oyed wo rke rs . But the go ve rnment r ecooib:ed that what it f aced was a nat io nal and not a l ocal pr ob l em. r e cogniz ed th~t our economic sy s t em h~d g r own very complicat ed - It so complica t ed , for exo.mpl e , tha t vrhen peopl e in Flori d.a or Maine or Oregon did not have money t o buy nutoruobil eG , the r esulting unemployment occur r ed princi pally in Michigan . Mor oo vor , it r oo,liz ed. , when one out of ever y f our or fiv o work,3rs in the bulk of thorn with good pas t r ecords in industry- the count ry ha d no work - tha t t his was somet hing beyo nd tho cont r ol of t he i70rkers t hemscl ves . Indeed, t he po int became i nescapab l e thnt it was an eco nomic probl em, r athe r than a welfa r e pr obl em. So the gover nmen t deci ded to pro vide tcm9o r o..ry r,ublic wo rk for t hose abl e to work and in neod who could not fi nd :orivc,te job s . n scale , took com·agc o.nd ~ To do t his . on such fin e sense of the public resyons ibi lity inher ent in a democracy . To devis e such n pr ogrrun in n r eally democ ratic way is such a complex • t a s k that it deserves tho patient t ol erance of everJ sincere American . Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY I t must - 2 - 4-1883 avoid competition with ii-;idustry, yet the work must be useful. All workers must be encouraged to return t o private jobs at the first opporbmi ty, yet the WPA work must be efficient . It must give due regard to the plans and wishes of each locality, and obtain local cooperation. It must do this without projecting its operations more than one year ahead, and sometimes short er per i od. as now - for an even It must protect private wage levels, yet not compete with private enterprise in total earnings . It must em:ploy the joble ss in their home com- munities, at work as nearly r elated to their industrial experience as possible work which will be usable in private jobs later . These are only a few of lit erally scores of riperating probl ems faced by such a program. I do not mean t o imply that the WPA represents the government 1 s entire experience in attacking unemployment, or that in its present form it is above reproach . But it is the biggest part of that attack, and it consistently takes advantage 0f its o,m experience to improv e itself . The supplemental appropri~tion bill , for exampl e , which has just been completed to finance this program until July first, contains several provisions that will be extremely helpful . In t his measur e , Cringress heeded the emphatic r eq_uest of the President to enact l egal penali ties against po],i tical coercion of WPA workers. President Roosevelt 1 s message on January 5 included this paragraph (I q_uote): 11 It is my belief that improper political pract ic es can be eliminated only by the imposition of rigid statutory r egulations and penalties by the Congress, and that this should be done . Such penalties should be imposed not only upon pers0ns ,nthin the administrative organization of the Works Progress Administration , but also upon outsiders who have in fact in many instanc es been the principal offenders in this regard . My, only reservation in this matter is that no legislation should be enacted which will in any wa;y deprive woTkers on the Works Progress Administration program of the civil rights to which they are entitled in common with other citizens.» That is what the President said t~ Congress one month ago, and I am glad that Congr es s adopted provisions along that line, because up to this time th0re has been no law under which such offenders could be punished. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1883 These p r ovisi ons , simplif ied , make it a felony f or a;n:y one , i ns i de 0r outsi de the m'A, t o p r omise any j ob or benefit in this pr ogram., or t o deprive o r threaten to deprive any one of em9l oyment or benefit in this p r ogram, for political reasons, or t o solicit campaign contributi ons from any one paid from these funds . Any of these offenses is punishable by a fine of not more than $1000 or one y ear 1 s imp risonment, or both. The l egi~lati on also p r ovides i mmediat e dismissal of any administrative or supervisory employee who uses his off ici al authority or influence to interfere in an election. These conditions are par- ticularly wel come to me , f or I watched first - hand the r emarkab l e fight which Harry Hopki ns ma.de . for years to keep politics out of this pr ogram . I know he did everythi ng within his power , and I am happy t hat Congr ess has strengthened my own hand with this new law. Congr ess also has ordered , in the supplemental bill , an immedi ate investigati on'bf the WPA rolls , to eliminate any rel i ef workers who are not in ~ actual need . We are now perfecting our plans for this ve ry large undertaking , and it will be carri ed out with dispatch. I hope to have a definite ans we r to deliver to Congress when it begins cons i de rati on of the new appropriation for the next fiscal year . I am well aware tha t three milli on WPA workers and their frunili 8s perhaps twelve million pers ons in all -- are very anxious to learn just what the def i ci e ncy ap11ropriation means in t e rms of j obs f or the next five months . Congress has just pass ed a j oint r eso lution p r ovi di ng 725 milli on dollars f or use in the next five months , and it is now r eady for act i on by the President . In this connection Congress has adopted a p r ovi s i on which fol t he time being will p r event any severe reduction in the WPA r olls . Thi s provi sion s pe cifi es tha t during the months of February and March , administrative reductions of the WPA rolls shall not exceed five pe r cent of the t o t al now employed. After April fi r st , howeve r , tho runount of money r emaining , if not supplemented , will :req_uiro very dra stic curtailment of the pr ogram . Next to the qu0stion of immediate funds , I presume most of you would like to know what o.n army engineer thinks about when he is set down in a chair Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1883 and given the job of administering perha-ps the most complex labo r pr ob l em in the history of the world . On that score , I ask you, to remember that I am not a newcomer to t:he WPA ; I have been it s chi ef engineer and :1n assistant administrator since the aut-1.1.mn of 1935. For :more than three yr-:ars I have watched my prede ce ssor , Mr . Hopkins , handle the diverse and perpl exing po licy pr ob l ems of this or ganizn.ti on , 11nd. I have t he greatest r espe ct for his achievements . I am sure ho never believed at any ti me , any more than I did , tha t this p r ogrQill r epr esen ts the ideal or ul tima t o w0,y to pr ov i d.e public .jobs t o ab l e- bodi ed Ameri cans who need work . We have never f ol t thD.t it was a fix ed program with fixed me thods . has , i n fact , been changed and i mproved. from y ec.r to year . It It is still subject , in the cours e of its natural development , to furt he r change and i mp ro vement . But as i ts administrat or , I do not propose to upse t the app l e cart . Whatever improvements I can mn.lce must evolve l ogicnlly out of the progrrun 1 s actual operations . Our work pr ogr:1,m nec essa:.ci l y includes a gr eat many kinds of pr ojec ts . I would r athe r not singl 8 out any particul ::ir t ype of project i n these r emarks , which are int ended to covo r the whol e program . But pe r haps I should offe r special r oassur~nce t o any workers , s9onsors or i nt er ested citiz ens who may h~ve spe cial anxi e ti 0s aoout the nonconstructi on par t of our work. Le t mo say th~t , although the construction par t of the program has alwc.ys oe cn the large::i t :part of it , I a.-n well aware t hat t here a r e many capable people on the r eli ef rolls who are not const ructi on workers but whi t e- collar worko:rs . And for these white- collar ,;,'O r kers t ho r o ,1ill cont inue to oe due provision made, -r,ithin t he lir:dts of our fund.s . There is , in particular , no r eason to fear that workers in the field of th'3 arts will be neglected. These workers , though a ver,_v sr.m.11 proportion of our t otal employment , have as musicians , artists , actors und writers , r.1c1.de a large and si gnificant contriou.tion to puol i c noods , which is deeply appr e ciated . The Works Progress Admi nis- tration is proud of having had the opportu.~ity to pl ace their abilities and training o.t the servic e of the :public . And such workers, equally with all other Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1883 - 5 - needy uner:i:.loy ,,d norkerH , vill be given ::i,r; fo.r ~1,s poss ibl e a.n,opportunity to earn a. security Ho.gc L1 euployment on public proj,0cts . As tlco engineer in charge of the construction end of the WPA, which aggregates fr0m 7f:.i to 80 per cent of the total program , I have been glad to sec our wor;-~ gain rt ,oc1.dily in effic i ency every year . :But I am not blind to the fact that it ca..1 s tan,i furt iY r improvement • I s~ould liko, as administrator , to make a real contribution toward the maximum efficiency of which y,e A.re ca:;::iablee But I will need the help , net onl y of t h"' adJdnis t1·:i.ti v e st...--,ff , but of the rank and file of WPA workers out on the job . It seems t0 ~e t hat we are all 3€:reed on what we wa..7.t tnis program to be . We want t hese jobs to go without any partisan bias or political coercion t o the p eople who really need the~ , the people that Congress intend.ed to •· have such emergency employment . I believe I can help in that . We want the:' -projects upon which ,,e cooperate with local communities to be r.roll- pL:,ri...n.cd and of the utmost value . to those communities . we C E:U l insi£:t upon it, rmd mn.ke sure of it. I believe For we ar e under obligl'-tion to the American prio:Jl o not onl;y to prbvide joos for the uncmployodt but to make c ertain- _ that tha n[ction ~,; ds its full moncy 1 s rro rth out of the public work t hat the unemployed aro giv en to do . And th•,1·e is one i:rnporkmt pa.rt of our genern.l e fficiency , upon which ... the entire WPA must help me - I mo2.n the efficiency of tho \70rkcrs themselves in their d.-:1.ily work on the :projects . I know that the ef:iciency of W'PA workors is, in gen ::; r~i.l , '.- rorthy of gr o~.i.t p raise . of this protrat1. Horro·✓ t, r , This hn.s ·been said many times by friends I c<.o not intend. now to emp1:1.asize such examples of efficiency , excent +,o say that they prove \"rhn.t ,1e con do, and constitute o. stand.D.rd. t o Tihic~1 tho ,-,hole, p rogrn;n should DE:a.sure up . I k:novr, too , that thera ' are mruiy explanations and excuses for such inefficiency as docs exist among WPA workers - but I do not int end to offer those explanations or excuses . tnat tho dcy of a;.:,o l ogic.is for the WPA now has passed. I feel We can justify ourselves fully by our work, cmd ~e must do so. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1883 The ri ght of jobl e sR mon and. ,,omen to public empl oyment is n. right which is just being cstc.blishcd in Ame ric0,. For i ts :ri r esc rvati on as an el cr.wnt of f u tur e public pol icy , I wn.nt to urge th0,t it is now n.nd henceforth up to ev e ry W'PA TTorke r t o p~t inn. goo d day f s work for his day 1 s pay - just as good a day 1 s ,,ork o.s ho co.n, ril::n.t over his rn.te of pay may be . For my o,m po.rt , I will do everything I cnn t o give this p r ogr .<:.m added prestige in tho Binds of the American people by carrying out what I c onc eive t o be rrry ts10 :I) rir:1n.ry r osponsi bi li ti Gs : First , t o sec t hc.t the peopl e \7hom Cong r ess intond0d to ge t the se jobs - the people TI~o r eally n ee d thon -- n.ctu~lly go t then . And second , t o S8e that t ho country g0ts f r on this pr ogram the best and raost vaJ.uc,bl o work that CcUl be done . ******** Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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