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4- 1815 W O R K S PRO G R :E ---------- S S For Release Sunday, October 30 , 1938 WILLIAMS A.NSt'T.E3S CF..A...'iGES Ts.AT WPA ROLLS .ARB PADDED HT :ELECTION YEARS Employment on projects of the Works Progre ss Actninistrati on , y e~r by year , follows the tr end of industrial employment a nd agricultural distress , without regard to political demands , Aubrey Williams , Acting WPA Administrat or , sai cl today in making public the r e sults of a WPA employment analysis . "The p er ennial partisan propaganda att Gmpting t o f: st ablish that r eli ef rolls have b een padded during el ecti on years, 11 i11r . Williams stat ed, "is bas ed on de lib arat a f ~lsifica ti on of r e li ef st a ti s ti cs and with no a ppreci2.tion of the un.d.e rly ing economic conditi ons wh ich have actually de t e rmined the trond of r eli ef p r ograr.is . 11 His stat ement wa s based on an ana l y sis of employme nt and r eli ef demands from the establishment of the ~?A in t ho summer of 1935 up to mid-Octob er of this y ear , pr epared by Eme rson Ross , Dir octor of the Division of Statistics and Economic Res earch. "The most fl o.gra nt omission in th0. analys es of pn.rtisan oppononts , 11 Mr . Willin,ms said. , "ho,s bo on the fo.il1...r e to meLtion t ha t t he two l a :::gcst Fodoral r elief programs-- tho Civil Works Administration o.nd the Works Progress Ad..11inistration--wo r o both sk,.rt ,)d in non- el ection y e.s.rs . More than 4 , 000 , 000 pors ons wor e put to work on the Civil Wor·ks Program be tTie en Novemb or 1933 and J anuary 1934 , nnd ovor 3, 000 , 000 pe r so ns wo r e put to work by the Works Progross Admini s trC'. ti on bot ,.,ocn July, 19 35 , a nd February, 1936. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1815 "Those c..nalysos of tho r eli ef st:'.tistics fail t o state:: t lmt t ho Civil Works p rogram was liquicla t od in early 1934-- :1n ele cti on yonr . 11 Thoy fail to state thn,t a r eduction of over 800 , 000 occurr ed in WPA employmont from the end of February to tho r.iiddl o of July • 1936- an ol oction y ear . 11 Thoy f [l,il to stat e that the increase in the autumn of 1936 was entirely tho r esult of tho severe drought of that yoe,r . What the opponents of the WA progr cll!l now pr et end to forgot is the disnstrous drought of 1936 which convert ed vo,s t areas of tho no.tion 1 s most productive grain l nnds into a vorit .:.1.b l o desert , not only des troyi ng crops and lives t ock but o.lso l eaving hundreds of thousands of f a rm fanili es without :my moans of dc>,y to day subsist onc e and without any immedio,t o prospe ct of successfully r eturning to ~r ofi tabl e productive endeavor. 11 The si tun.tio:i of t ho drought stricken farr.i famili es is not r eflect ed in tho indexe s of industrial -production busine ss activity . or industrial unomploynent , but no political oro,to r, r ogo.rdl oss of party , will deny thoir n eed for Federal nssistr',nco . Oo op0 r atin g with the Faro Sec'J.ri ty Adminis tr!ltion .",nd other Fedor o.1 agencies oobilizod to aid in tho enorgoncy , tho WPA in 1936 provided jobs for ::. bout 325 , 000 workers fron these faro f[).Oili es . "' This onorgonc~r accounts for the ·,.; entire incr oD,SO in WPA enploynent in the sunnor and o.utunn of 1936, which, non that the c□ergcmcy is a nnttor of oenory only , is be ing hold up as the prine cxanple of poli tico.,l pndding of WPA rolls . 11 They po i nt out the large incr oo.se in i7PA onploy::rnnt in 1938 but f nil to sto.t e th;',,t ,,her en.s WPA enpl oynGnt hn.s incr eased by ;.,1,bout l , 700 , 000 since the lo,1 po int in tho o.utur:m of 1937 , approxirutcly 3 , 300 , 000 pe rs ons lost their jobs i n p riv~t e industry a.nit th~tt the Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4 -- 1815 - 3 - ituation of cotton tenants and laborers in the South became desperate ecause of the large reduction in income from this year 1 s cotton crop . "They point out the moderate increase in the WPA during the last hree months along with an estimated increase of 1,000,000 in industria.l nployment durine this same period.• But they fail to indicate that ore than half of the recent incr ease in the WP.A has be en in the South "ith no el e ction contests) and is caus ed by the situation of t enant :i.rmers and laborers dependent on the cotton crop-a condition quite c1dependent of the tr end of industrial employment. They f a il to po int 1t the effect of unemployment compens ~ti on which causes a lag b etween 1anges in private employment and WPA empl oyment . 11 Thoy fail to po int out that although 1 , 000 , 000 workers have obto.ined )bs in private industry since July, there are still 10,000,000 to 3,000,000 workers unemployed . And many of these unemployed who h:we not ~eviously b een on WPA l\re continuously exhau sting their privat e r e sourc es ~ the ir unemployment compensation benefits and arc coming in need of ?A jobs . They fail to stat e that from June through Sept ember, 1938 , 50 ,000 WPA workers l eft the program volu_~tarily , the groat majority )aving to take jobs in private industry. "They fail to point out that in Michigan , where automobile employmt has been rising rapidly, tho WPA has be en r educed by 31,000, or mor e :ian 15 per cont, during tho le.st seven weeks . In Detroit the r eduction is more than 20 por cent . "In short , thi s whole a rgument is a superficial one in tho extreme , ith no foundati on in fact, and with no recognition of tho unde rlying rnse of destitution. The r ecord shows that employme nt on th e UP.A has Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4 -- 1815 - 4 - >llowed the trend of industrial employment and agricultural dist r ess . 11 t Just as the WP.A. was r educed with the upturn of priva te employment the latt e r part of 1936 and thr ough the summer of 1937 , and just as Le VlPA was incre ased when private employment turned downward in the (tter part of 1937 and 1938 , WPA employment will turn downwar d as the ·esent u pturn in privat e i ndu s try gains momentu m and r eli eves the ·essure caused by t he extr emely seri ous unemployment problem of r ecent i"a rs . 11 - - - 0 - - - I Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY i7P A EMPLOYMENT 'fiPA Er:iploynont oxclusivo of drought ,to Drough t Toto,l ;5 August 31 Soptor.ilJO r 28 October 26 Novor:bor 30 Docor.,bo r 28 252 , 739 456 , 013 777 , 294 2 , 445 , 954 2 , 740 , 070 252 , 739 456 , 013 777 , 294 2 , 445 , 954 2 , 740 , 070 2 , 925 , 605 3 , 035 , 852 2 , 871 , 637 2 , 570 , 315 2, 339 , 740 2 , 255 , 898 2 , 225 , 157 2,247 , 264 2 , 247 , 595 2 , 256 , 873 2 , 244 , 245 2,153 , 699 2 , 925 , 60 5 3 , 035 , 852 2 , 871 , 637 2 , 570 , 315 2,339 , 740 2, 255 , 898 2, 249 , 357 2 , 376, 565 2, 481 , 516 2 , 581 , 208 2, 482 , 681 2 , 192, 409 16 J o,nuo..ry 25 Fobruo.ry 29 l\fr'.rch 28 Ap ril 25 Mny 30 Juno 27 July 25 August 29 So:ptonbc r 26 October 31 Nov0r.1bcr 28 Doc onb or 26 24 , 200 129 ~ 301 233 , 921 324 , 335 238 ~436 38 , 710 ;7 J[mur1.r;y 30 Fobruo.ry 27 Mnrch 27 Ap ril 24 Mr.,y 29 Ju.no 26 July 31 Augus t 27 Septonbo r 25 October 30 Novonber 27 Doc oribo r 25 2 , 1 38 , 059 2 , 145 , 562 2 , 114 , 800 2, 070 , 151 1 , 999,269 J. , 821 ,151 1 , 558 , 817 1 , 479 , 836 1 , 451 , 112 1 , 475 , 300 1 , 519 , 740 1 , 629 , 271 2, 138 ,059 2, 145 , 562 2 , 114, 800 2, 070 , 151 1 , 999 , 269 1 , 821 , 151 1 , 568, 817 1,479, 836 1 , 451 , 112 1,475, 800 1 , 519 , 740 1 , 629 , 271 1 , 900 , 625 29075,492 2 , 394 , 8<~3 2,531 , 89 7 2, 67G , 2-1-6 2 , 767 , 125 2 , 966 , 832 3 , 066 , 895 3 , 1 20 , 361 3 , 1 66 , 801 1 , 900 , 625 2,075 , 492 2 , 39L1..: , 843 2 , 581,897 2,678 , 246 2 , 767,125 2 , 966 , 832 3,066 , 895 3 , 120 ,361 3 , 1 66 , 801 ;g J 1:,nuary 29 February 26 lvb.rch 26 ~·~p ril 30 Ivby 28 Ju.no 25 July 30 Augus t 27 Sop t c;-1bo r 24 October 15 Digitized by NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Divisi on o f St ~t istics nnd Econonic Rosonrch OctcBi-Rifn afW 1 938 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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