EMERGENCY DROUGHT EMPLOYMENT

As the emergency drought situation became increasingly serious during the latter part of July, arrangements were completed for employment of needy persons-the victims of the drought-on regular Works Program projects operated by the W. P. A. and by several other Federal agencies. Needy cases were investigated and certified by local relief agencies and employment was provided as rapidly as possible on projects, most of which involved work on farm-to-market roads or on conservation activities such as reconstruction of dams and reservoirs, digging community wells, or combating insect pests. By the first of August, less than a month after the first emergency drought counties were officially designated, employment had been provided for about 30,000 certified drought relief persons.

Employment increased during August, September, and October, at the rate of over 20,000 persons per week, until a peak figure of slightly over 350,000 was reached during the last week of October. In November and December, many of the drought workers were transferred to the Rural Rehabilitation Program of the Resettlement Administration. By the end of the year, this transfer was almost completed. Throughout the period of the drought, the W. P. A. provided approximately 90 percent of all drought employment. When drought employment was at its peak, the Works Progress Administration was responsible for approximately 325,000 of the total drought employment of 350,000. Other agencies accounting for substantial shares are Soil Conservation Service with employment during the peak week of 10,000, Resettlement Administration 5,400, Bureau of Public Roads 4,000, Biological Survey 2,400, Forest Service 1,800, and National Park Service 1,200. Detailed data showing employment provided by each agency in each State is given in the attached tables.

(The material referred to appears below.)

TABLE 5.-Drought employment under W. P. A. and other agencies, July to December 1936

TABLE 6.-Drought employment under the Works Program, by States and by agencies, 1936 1

week ending Oct. 31,

I The peak in drought employment was reached during this week.

It is estimated that Works Program funds to the extent of $165,000,000 were used for emergency drought purposes.

Of this amount

approximately $100,000,000 was expended by the Works Progress Administration for employment of needy farmers on projects, approximately $55,000,000 by the Resettlement Administration for employment of farmers on land-development projects and for loans and grants to farmers in drought States. The remaining $10,000,000 of the Works Program funds have been used for various forms of drought relief by other Federal agencies.

I should say here that up to January 1, of the $1,425,000,000, about $165,000,000 was actually spent directly for the drought, and that it is my judgment that in the balance of the year, up to July 1, 1937, the total additional expenditures which can be chargeable to the drought, in both the Resettlement Administration and the W. P. A., assuming there will be no new drought of any kind next year, will be substantial.

Mr. TABER. A total of what?

Mr. HOPKINS. That is a total for drought expenses, in round figures, of $165,000,000 spent to date from the $1,425,000,000.

REVIEW OF NEEDS OF PERSONS EMPLOYED ON W. P. A.PROJECTS

A thorough-going investigation of the current needs of relief persons employed on projects of the Works Progress Administration was carried on during November and December. This review was undertaken on a Nation-wide basis primarily to identify persons who, al

ments.

though certified as in need of relief at the time of their assignment to the Program, could no longer qualify as eligible on the basis of their current condition. The economic status of some persons employed on W. P. A. projects has improved since the time of their original assignIn many cases other members of their families have received jobs in private industry. In other cases, income from unexpected sources has developed or certain types of aid have been provided by the community for which persons currently employed on W. P. A. are eligible. During the past year, several thousand W. P. A. employees have become eligible for old age assistance alone, simply because they have reached the age limit prescribed by law.

In conducting this review, the Works Progress Administration employed social workers trained to make thorough investigations of current needs, and eliminations have been made solely on the basis of need as indicated by the findings of these trained workers. In most instances, the social service staffs of local relief organizations have also assisted in this work. As a result of this review and of improvements in private employment, the number of persons employed on W. P. A. projects has been reduced, since the first week in November, by about 150,000 exclusive of reductions in the number of emergency drought cases. It cannot be too strongly emphasized, however, that even after completion of this review there are still well over 2,500,000 workers who have been certified as in urgent need of relief and are still dependent on Works Program employment for a livelihood.

DECLINE IN WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION EMPLOYMENT

Mr. HOPKINS. I think I should say this in connection with the preceding testimony. The decline in W. P. A. employment has amounted to nearly 900,000 persons in the W. P. A. since the peak, and some 400,000 persons in the last few months. Of the 400,000 in the last few months, 250,000 were transferred to the Resettlement Administration, and most of them are still getting benefits, but now through rehabilitation grants and loans.

In round figures, 95 percent of all the people working in the W. P. A., of all kinds, whether administrative or supervisory of any kind, come from the relief rolls.

REDUCTION IN NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES

We had several months ago about 160,000 persons in the whole program who were administrative employees, or nonrelief employees, because of their special qualifications to supervise jobs of that kind. Of the 160,000 we have dropped about 25,000.

Mr. TAYLOR. They have been dropped off the pay roll?

Mr. HOPKINS. They have been dropped entirely off the pay roll. They have not been transferred any place else.

Mr. TAYLOR. How did you get rid of them?

Mr. HOPKINS. We went over the lists and examined them, taking the least competent, on the basis of running our program of that work with 900,000 less people than a year ago. We have tightened up on that all along the line.

NUMBER, TYPE, AND ESTIMATED COST OF WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION PROJECTS PLACED IN OPERATION

What have the 2,500,000 W. P. A. workers been doing? That is the question I would like to discuss next.

In the first place, they have been working on 102,686 different projects in every State in the Union. I will file with the committee a statement of that work showing in detail the kinds of projects.

For instance, of the 102,686 projects, 32,852 were highway, road, and street projects; 15,881 were for work on public buildings; 6,600 were for work in connection with parks and other recreational facilities; 4,353 were for conservation work; 9,545 were projects in connection with sewer systems and other utilities.

I have here summaries of this, but I will also submit in this statement the estimated cost of all these various projects, classified by kind of work, not only on a national basis, but by States also in order to indicate the kinds of work being done.

I will file also with the committee a report on the physical accomplishment on certain kinds of projects which will show, for instance, that the W. P. A. has built 45,000 miles of new highways; that we have built 1,878 grade and secondary schools; that we have built 4,500 miles of storm and sanitary sewers, and that we have built 155 new airports. This will show the break-down as between new construction and repairs and improvements.

(Tables referred to are as follows:)

TABLE 7.-Number and estimated approved cost in Federal funds of W. P. A. projects placed in operation, by types of projects, through Sept. 30, 1936

TABLE 8.-Number and estimated approved cost in Federal funds of construction an other W. P. A. projects placed in operation through Sept. 30, 1936

TABLE 9.-Summary of physical accomplishment on selected types of W. P. A. projects, Continental United States, through Sept. 15, 1936 i

WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION PROJECTS PLACED IN OPERATION

In total, we have selected for operation and started work on almost 103,000 projects with an estimated approved cost in Federal funds of more than $2,587,000,000. This total includes projects of all types, ranging from highway and building construction to goods projects, which are largely sewing projects to provide jobs for a large part of the women employed under W. P. A. The number and estimated cost of projects placed in operation through the end of September 1936 is shown by detailed types in statements that follow.

Highway, road, and street projects predominate among the types of projects placed in operation under the W. P. A. program. These represent more than $910,000,000 or over a third (35.2 percent) of the total Federal funds involved. Farm-to-market roads are the most important type on which this work is being undertaken; work on streets and alleys is only slightly less extensive. These two types involved, respectively, 11 percent and 9 percent of the total W. P. A. funds. Relatively large projects combining more than one type of road work,