Work Relief Administration Press Conferences
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Press Conference
Harry Hopkins
July 6, 1939
3:00 P.M.

Query:	What do you want to say about the strike situation?
Col. Harrington:	What I have to say is already on the wire. As a matter of fact, we have a telegram that I sent out of here this morning that says in effect that any group of workers or their representative should be told that the requirement of working 130 hours a month is law; that no official of the WPA up or down the line can change it; that we offer employment under those conditions—working 130 hours a month for a security wage. The decision as to whether they accept the employment or not is in their own hands. Furthermore, in accordance with our regular practice, if anyone is off his job for five consecutive working days without any reason other than that he doesn't want to work, he will be dropped from the rolls. That is about the position, which is the only one that I can take.
Query:	What is your personal viewpoint, Colonel, on whether this 130 hour ruling is justified or not?
Col. Harrington:	It isn't a ruling, it is a law.
Query:	Are you in favor of it?
Col. Harrington:	Yes.
Query:	Then you are not in sympathy with the strikers?
Col. Harrington:	I am in favor of the 130 hour work month.
Query:	Didn't that idea originate with the WPA?
Col. Harrington:	Yes. I may say that it wasn't by any means a new subject. It has been discussed for three years.
Query:	Didn't the WPA originally oppose it when Congress put the prevailing wage into law?
Col. Harrington:	No, I can't say that they did. That was back in 1936. The prevailing wage clause suddenly appeared in the law when it was under consideration y Congress. There wasn't any discussion, as I remember it, at that time, in which the WPA participated. Of course, I wasn't Administrator then.
Query:	Have you any reports as to the extent of these walk-outs and how many people are involved?
Col. Harrington:	Mr. Rauch, Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Employment Division, can give you that.
Rauch:	Well, we have information that there are about 13,500 people out in protest of the 130 hour provision in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. About 800 persons in Milwaukee are out. There are some skilled persons out in New York City.
Query:	Any estimate on New York City?
Rauch:	No.
Query:	Do you know if it is large or small?
Rauch:	I think it is of little consequence.
Col. Harrington:	I talked to the Administrator this morning. The North Beach Airport job is considerably affected. The rest of the WPA program in New York is not greatly affected.
Rauch:	There were a few sporadic stoppages in Ohio.
Query:	What cities in Ohio?
Rauch:	I don't know—all small cities.
Query:	In Toledo?
Rauch:	There may be some in Toledo, but I haven't the exact figures.
Query:	How about Missouri—Saint Louis or Kansas City?
Rauch:	I haven't heard of any.
Query:	May I ask about the Pacific coast?
Rauch:	I have no late information on the Pacific coast.
Query:	Does that complete your statement?
Rauch:	There will be more reports later on.
Query:	These are all you have so far?
Rauch:	Yes.
Query:	Have you an over-all list?
Rauch:	No.
Query:	Any out in New England?
Rauch:	A few. In Massachusetts there are about 100.
Query:	Any in Connecticut?
Rauch:	I haven't heard of any in Connecticut.
Query:	Any in Pennsylvania?
Rauch:	I haven't heard of any.
Query:	Any in Maryland?
Rauch:	No.
Query:	Col. Harrington, how do you square the statement of yours, which is rather factual and based on the law, with the dictum that no one shall starve?
Col. Harrington:	I have nothing to say about that.
Query:	What is your feeling about the attitude of these people out on strike?
Col. Harrington:	I don't know what you mean.
Query:	Do you think it is the proper thing for people on relief to strike because they don't like the terms of it?
Col. Harrington:	I am not going to go beyond my telegram. We are offering employment under the only conditions under which we can offer it. I don't propose to philosophize about this thing. You gentlemen can philosophize as much as you please. I am giving you the facts. p It isn't a matter of philosophy entirely, Colonel.
Col. Harrington:	I have already told you that I favor the 130 hour month for the security wage.
Query:	Colonel, have any irregularities been found in Louisiana in the two weeks you have been investigating down there?
Col. Harrington:	I am not in a position to comment on our investigation as to the results, because we just don't know. That investigation has to cover a period of about three years in the past laborers on projects. That is all that I can say about it at this time. The indications are that if there was any diversion in WPA labor or materials that it was not relatively large, and there has been no indication that any of our people in important positions in Louisiana were involved in it.
Query:	Does that include the Governor?
Col. Harrington:	The Governor doesn't work for me. (Laughter)
Query:	Governor Stark was here ten days ago requesting the removal of Matthew Murray as WPA Administrator in Missouri. Can you tell us what has been done?
Col. Harrington:	No, I have nothing to say.
Query:	You have cut the rolls from 2,600,000 to 2,400,000 this month. Isn't it true that you will have your lowest level of employment in the summer?
Col. Harrington:	About October—September.
Query:	Isn't it likely that you will have to ask for a deficiency appropriation in the next session?
Col. Harrington:	I have nothing to say about a deficiency appropriation beyond the fact that I am administering the WPA under the law that says I am given an amount of money which is to last twelve months.
Query:	Do you expect it to last through twelve months?
Col. Harrington:	It obviously can last through twelve months.
Query:	At the present level of employment?
Col. Harrington:	No, it is a matter of arithmetic.
Query:	Do you expect it to be lower in the winter?
Col. Harrington:	I expect WPA employment to decrease from now until autumn of 1939, and increase through the winter months, and then decrease in the spring of 1940.
Query:	What effect has the provision of the law that requires a 25% contribution on the states that don't put up much money?
Col. Harrington:	It means they will have to put up more or get less money. That provision doesn't become operative until the first of January, and that joint resolution has a number of problems which have to be worked out between now and the first of September. My attention is concentrated more on those at the moment.
Query:	What are those problems? The largest is the revision of the security wage scale to abolish the differentials which exceed differences in costs of living. That is the biggest administrative problem we have before us, and those wage scales have to be revised before the first of September—in other words, a period of less than two months. I think it is important that it be clearly understood the law requires that the average wage scale which was being paid on June 30, 1939 shall be maintained—that is, about $52.50 a month. Therefore, the high wages have got to come down if that average is to be maintained and the low ones will have to come up. I can't give you any estimates or figures on that today. It is a terrible complicated problem. The statistics available on living costs in various areas are not comprehensive. They don't cover the whole country, and we just have to work out what we can on that and put it into effect as the law requires by September first, and possibly after that, we will have to change it some more. That is the biggest job immediately ahead.
Query:	Are you having much trouble with limitation and size of construction?
Col. Harrington:	Not yet.
Query:	What is the highest and lowest wage scale?
Col. Harrington:	The highest is $94.00 a month and $26.00 a month is the lowest. The $94.00 is the skilled [professional and technical] wage rate and the $26,00 is the un-skilled wage rate.
Query:	Whose cost of living figures do you use?
Col. Harrington:	Our principal reliance is on the Department of Labor. They have more than anyone else. Next to that Agriculture—Bureau of Home Economics.
Query:	Have you set up your state employment quotas?
Col. Harrington:	For the month of June, yes.
Query:	In that connection, there was some surprise expressed that no one was cut off in New York City, while they were cutting quotas in other parts of the country. What is the reason for that?
Rauch:	The need was greater there.
Query:	Nothing political?
Col. Harrington:	No.
Query:	Has any connection been found between your investigation and the Smith case in Louisiana?
Col. Harrington:	No.
Query:	Is any attention being given to Governor Stark's charges against Murray? Will that be investigated?
Col. Harrington:	I have nothing to say on that.
Query:	Are people out on strike from jobs in private industry eligible for WPA employment?
Col. Harrington:	The people who are eligible for WPA employment are people certified in need by certifying agencies. Whether they certify people on strike or not is a local matter.
Query:	Are people who do not return to those jobs within five days under any circumstances to be taken back?
Col. Harrington:	They can be taken back, but they have to go through the process of reassignment. They will have to go through the regular procedure of being certified.
Query:	Will strikers who remain out more than five days be recertified?
Col. Harrington:	That is a question for the local people. For instance, in New York City, the question of whether they go to home relief is not one which I decide. It is decided by the Department of Welfare in New York City.
Query:	Is the Workers Alliance relatively stronger in New York than anywhere else?
Rauch:	I think they have more membership there.
Query:	Colonel, isn't there a difference between striking against the Government and striking against private employers?
Col. Harrington:	Well, there is, so far as regular Government employees are concerned.
Query:	I mean WPA people.
Col. Harrington:	I find it difficult to regard this work stoppage as a strike. Strikes against private employers are normally for the purpose of opening up negotiations about working conditions. Nobody is in a position to negotiate in this matter as far as the Government is concerned.
Query:	Is it more of a protest?
Col. Harrington:	Yes.
Query:	Colonel, I know you have heard it said and it has been mentioned in one of the Washington papers recently that if relief is in any manner restricted, it would result in a revolution. Have you any comment to make as to what effect this 130 hour month law will have on that?
Col. Harrington:	I am sorry — I didn't follow you.
Query:	Well, it is something which has been said frequently—that if relief was either reduced or restricted in any way, that the reliefers wouldn't stand for it. Do you regard this restriction as something that might contribute toward that?
Col. Harrington:	I don't want to answer that.
Query:	Do you care to comment on a report in the papers that you might resign as WPA Administrator and return to the Army when you have completed the WPA reorganization?
Col. Harrington:	Yes, I will comment on it. It came out of the War Department and I knew nothing of it until I picked up the Washington Post this morning and read it, and being an Army officer doing a job by order of the President, I don't resign. I know nothing whatever about that story, and neither does the War Department Press Bureau. That is what they tell me.
Query:	From the WPA point of view, what is the advantage of the 130 hour month over the previous provision?
Col. Harrington:	There are several that have been discussed and were discussed in my testimony. The first one is from the operating standpoint. It is simpler to operate a job when everyone works the same length of time. I cited one instance in my testimony before one of the committees where people were working all the way from 50 hours a month to 130 with all the graduations in between. I ask you to put yourself in the position of the foreman and supervisor on that job trying to run it. The second point is that certain places where people were earning a security wage for a fifty hour month, there was unquestionably a great deal of going out and getting outside employment under assumed names which we couldn't find out anything about, and people were holding WPA jobs that might not really need them. Those are the high lights of the thing.
Query:	What will be the effect of the 130 hour month as far as the Government is concerned?
Col. Harrington:	The effect will be a considerable simplification in the operation of the WPA program with an incentive to some people to get off the WPA rolls who don't want to work 130 hours a month to earn the security wage. There is another provision in this new legislation. It is the matter of furloughing for 30 days people who have been employed for 18 months, which has to be done not later than the first of September. That is going to have a very far reaching effect on our program, because we estimate that 600,000 people or more will be effected by that provision, and it is an extremely rigid one. I have no discretion whatever in its application. It will produce a lot of problems for us in the first periods of those furloughs. On a lot of our projects essential people will have to go off for 30 days. It is going to be difficult to keep those projects working on an efficient basis. That and the wage scale provision are the two immediate problems.
Query:	On this business as to whether there is any difference between striking against a private employer and the Government, in your answer you said that strikes were called for the purpose of negotiations and it is impossible to negotiate with the Government. Will you amplify on that?
Col. Harrington:	Yes, I would like to if there is any misconception about it. Any executive official of the Government is bound by the law. In this case, the law exists. Therefore, you can't negotiate on the number of hours that are to be worked because the law says it should be 130.
Query:	Doesn't that put the Government in somewhat of a privileged position?
Col. Harrington:	I am not going to discuss that.
Query:	Are you considering the use of contracts in your work during this fiscal year: Are you placing any jobs under contract?
Col. Harrington:	We do use the contract system to rather a considerable extent now, but they are contracts between sponsor and not the WPA. We intend to continue that.
Query:	There will be no change in that set-up?
Col. Harrington:	No.
Query:	What steps do you intend to take regarding the Federal projects other than the theatre projects?
Col. Harrington:	I am going to carry them on as far as I can. It involves shifting them to local sponsorship by September first.
Query:	Of course, they don't have to contribute that 25% until January first, but in each case the city has to come forward and say, "We are sponsoring those writers projects or those art projects"?
Col. Harrington:	That is right, and the change must be made by September first.
Query:	Are you going to initiate that?
Col. Harrington:	We already have. We started it before this law was passed. I tried to shift those art projects back to local sponsorship in March.
Query:	Are you appointing a director of the Federal Music Project before them?
Col. Harrington:	Well, there will be a person on the staff of the Washington office charged with the technical supervision of the Music Project, but there won't be a director in the sense that we had directors previously, because those won't be Federal projects.
Query:	Have you had any strikes of the WPA workers since you have been Administrator?
Col. Harrington:	Yes, I have had some people stop work.
Query:	What has been your attitude in those cases?
Col. Harrington:	I told them that they could either go to work or not as they saw fit.
Query:	You didn't negotiate with them?
Col. Harrington:	No.
Query:	When do you expect the Pennsylvania Administrator to be appointed?
Col. Harrington:	When is Congress going to adjourn? (Laughter)
Query:	Do you expect an Administrator to be appointed in the next month?
Col. Harrington:	I don't want to say anything about that.
Query:	Would you care to give your reaction to this new law in general—whether you think it is an improvement or not?
Col. Harrington:	I would prefer not to discuss it in detail. It contains innovations I think are desirable and it contains some provisions that are difficult to administrate—the most difficult one being the cost of living differential on our wage scale.
Query:	Have you anything to say about the curtailment of the Theatre Project?
Col. Harrington:	I testified in favor of its continuance in both House of Congress. I am sorry it was abolished.
Query:	Have you any reason to feel the communities will have a hard time raising 25% of the cost? Will it slow up the program?
Col. Harrington:	Some communities are going to have a great deal of difficulty. However, the provision requires that it shall be an average by states which will mitigate that requirement somewhat and make it less severe, but it is going to introduce some very difficult problems in certain localities.
Query:	Won't the greatest difficulty be in the states where the wages will go up?
Col. Harrington:	I can't generalize on that because the types of work vary so much.
Query:	In this work stoppage, the most important points seem to be Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Have you any explanation why it should be that section?
Rauch:	No, unless there is more organizational activity out there.
Query:	That ties up with Workers Alliance?
Rauch:	Not necessarily. I can't name the unions.
Query:	But there are other organizations besides the Workers Alliance with WPA employees holding membership?
Rauch:	Yes.
Query:	As I understand it, you have not requested these reports. There may be more out in other places that you have not heard of?
Rauch:	That is right.
Col. Harrington:	However, if any serious situation exists, we would have heard of it.
Query:	Colonel, there were a lot of charges made in Congressional investigations about Red activities. Have you found it necessary to halt that kind of activity?
Col. Harrington:	Do you mean that seriously? Press: Sure, there is talk about it all over the country.
Col. Harrington:	No, I have not found it necessary to halt Red Activities in the WPA.
Query:	You don't think they are serious?
Col. Harrington:	I do not. There is a great safeguard now you know. They have to take an oath that they do not advocate the overthrow of the Government by force or violence.
Query:	Do you approve of that? (Laughter) Do you think that provision is necessary?
Col. Harrington:	No.
Query:	Returning to wage differentials, in months past haven't you heard of criticism in the south because of wages being so high as to make it difficult for planters to get workers in the fields?
Col. Harrington:	Yes, I have heard that.
Query:	Do you want to comment on the fact that the same Senators who made the criticism are very strong supporters of this cost of living differential?
Col. Harrington:	No, I do not.
Query:	Do you want to discuss what you think the activities of the Workers Alliance have been in connection with the work stoppage?
Col. Harrington:	No, because I don't know.
Query:	Do you see any connection in the fact that the Workers Alliance is stronger in New York City and the relief rolls were not cut there?
Col. Harrington:	No, not the slightest. At this point the conference adjourned. Reported by: Mrs. Bonaventura Mrs. Bishop