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4-2265 FEDERAL WORKS .AGElJCY WORK PROJECTS ADMUiISTRA'.t!OU For Immediate Release Wednesday, llll@l.St 27, 1941 WPA AUUOUNCES RAIL :a.EMOV.AL PROGRAM TO SALVAGE S!'F.EL Howard o. Hunter, Com.missioner of Work :Projects, today announced a program for removal of abanQoned, publicly-owned streetcar rails by WPA to salvage the steel for defense production. He directod all State WP.A .Ad..':linistrators to expedite requests of local goverl;lJ!lents for assiztance ~nd to t:_r,ive the work first :priority in the WP.A. program. 11he :plan was prepa.rod at the r eq_uos t of Ralph Eudd, Transporta- tion Commissioner of the Office for Emergency Manngemont, who has estimated that more thn.n 200,000 tons of :pu.bl.icly-ow.nod rails alone lia abandoned in city streets. WP.A rail-removal operations u..~der this pr ogram are conditiona;l on the local government's submitting a statement that it will dizpose of the steel as directed by the Office of Production Management and a certificate that tho rails are public and not traction company property. To assure maximum returns in steel for defense , Mr. Hunter also urged cities where ruil removal operations aro currently being carried out under WPA projects to . dispose of the scrap metal as desired by tho Office of Production Management. 1 ~ Salvaged cnr r.'.l.ils arc considered an important t~,:pe of scrap steo~ because they crui. be f ormcd. into other articles with a minimum of processing. Under tho plan as outlined by Mr. Hunter, a local governnont which already h~s a WPA street project m-'.ly set up a unit of the project for .. rail removal n.nd restoration of the street to a serviceable condition. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Where 4-2265 thoro is no cu.rrcnt strcot project, prompt consider ~ticn will be given .:m n.pplicn.tion for a W.PA rail-romov-nl project . Under arrangements with OPM, the scrap ¼~11 be shipped by the local government• charges collect to a steel mill_or other assembly po int designated by the Office of Production Ha.nac;ement. The steel com1iaJ1y will send the city a check at the ma.xinnun mill pr ice established by the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply, after ded·..icting tho trans2)ortation cost. The city will apply _the receipts as a sponsor 's contribution toward the cost of the WPA :project. 11 In order to assis t in mooting the present omorgoncy, 11 M1·, Hunter advised tho Sta to Administrators, 11 i t is important that the contompl~1tod rail rcm9val and track area restoration work bo prose cut ed as expeditiously as possibla. 11 He stated that for tho present the program need not be extended to tho removal of rails which aro completely embedded in permanent p~vomonts where the condition of the pavement docs not warrant restoration in tho ne~r future. 000000000 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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