Work Relief Administration Press Conferences
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Press Conference
Harry Hopkins
February 21, 1935
4:00 P.M.

Query:	What is to become of the transients under this new program?
Mr. Hopkins:	I think they will be taken care of.
Query:	By the states or the Federal Government?
Mr. Hopkins:	You mean out of state money or Federal money? Well, I think primarily the employable ones out of Federal money. The unemployables will need relief.
Query:	Won't there be a lot who cannot get unemployment insurance.
Mr. Hopkins:	Unemployment insurance won't be any good unless they have a job. They can be cared for and will be under this program.
Query:	Were you able to give the Georgia legislators any satisfaction?
Mr. Hopkins:	I do not know whether they liked the interview. I enjoyed it.
Query:	What did they want particularly?
Mr. Hopkins:	They wanted to talk over the question of security legislation to see what kind of legislation is required in Georgia to team up with this legislation.
Query:	Are you interested enough in the local situation to know whether or not someone in the Administration is framing a model bill for social security?
Mr. Hopkins:	No, not there. I know they are in the Committee of Economic Security. I do not know about the District of Columbia bill, but I assume it is being framed by the same people.
Query:	Have you anything to say on your conference with the Minnesota legislators?
Mr. Hopkins:	No, we discussed the drouth relief at some length; that is all we discussed.
Query:	Have you disclosed any of your plans for taking care of drouth relief?
Mr. Hopkins:	No, we discussed matters of policy and also the actual situation and need in Minnesota.
Query:	How about your general drouth relief program?
Mr. Hopkins:	We did not discuss that with the Minnesota people.
Query:	Are you going to relax your limitation on the amount of live-stock feed money?
Mr. Hopkins:	We have not as yet. It is under consideration.
Query:	You will lift that?
Mr. Hopkins:	We may change some of that. We are considering the question of whether our whole policy on drouth relief is affective to meet the situation in these drouth states and that is under discussion now.
Query:	In other words, you might change the whole policy.
Mr. Hopkins:	We might change the whole policy and that certainly would be one of the things.
Query:	Will you say anything about the program you might substitute?
Mr. Hopkins:	It will not be a program that will vary a great deal. You should not assume there is going to be any drastic change in our policy, but that and one or two other things are under discussion, and I think that by Monday, these changes, if any will be made.
Query:	In Arkansas, the State legislature prepared a resolution asking if they could transfer all FERA activities to a special Public Welfare Board to be set up by the state.
Mr. Hopkins:	There is nothing illegal about it. We have some states where that is done.
Query:	As far as the personnel is concerned down there, is it working out all right?
Mr. Hopkins:	Oh, yes.
Query:	Do you know anything about this report that Mr. Tugwell made?
Mr. Hopkins:	No, I do not.
Query:	Have you looked over Governor Graves' bill?
Mr. Hopkins:	I am sorry, I have not read it carefully. I have heard several people in the office say it is a very good bill.
Query:	Is it what you expected?
Mr. Hopkins:	You are talking about school stuff now? Well, our relationship with Governor Graves is all right as far as I know. Everything that was agreed on has been done.
Query:	How about this dust storm?
Mr. Hopkins:	I did not know there was one.
Query:	Mr. Ickes gave a very complete report. It is covering all the territory from the Texas panhandle to Missouri and Nebraska. They cannot see 100 feet and it is supposed to be ripping up all the wheat land.
Mr. Hopkins:	I have not heard anything about it. It is news to me.
Query:	Have you and Governor Olsen reached any understanding on the State Relief Administrator yet?
Mr. Hopkins:	No.
Query:	Do you expect to within a few days?
Mr. Hopkins:	I would not say that. I do not know whether it will be a few days from now.
Query:	You are considering it?
Mr. Hopkins:	Yes.
Query:	What can be done with women under this new work relief set-up?
Mr. Hopkins:	Put them to work.
Query:	At what?
Mr. Hopkins:	What they are doing now. It could be done if they wanted to.
Query:	What is that?
Mr. Hopkins:	Well, work in sewing rooms, school teachers, recreation teachers, clerical, research work, but whether that will be done I do not know.
Query:	What is the number of independent women?
Mr. Hopkins:	Two hundred and twenty-five thousand on work relief.
Query:	Is it right to assume that following out this work relief program, the projects would have to follow the pattern of the unemployed as you have developed it? You have a cross section, as I understand, showing the kind of work your relief people can do.
Mr. Hopkins:	What we know are the skills of the relief people and their past experience—how many were factory workers, how many household servants, how many were in the building trades, how many ministers and newspaper men.
Query:	Isn't it true that work relief will have to give to the mechanics mechanical work, and to the newspaper men, newspaper work—and that they cannot frame up a work project from the top?
Mr. Hopkins:	That is right in theory. The work projects will be adjusted to the skills and abilities of those employable people on relief rolls. Now, obviously, a newspaper man can do things other than newspaper work, but within limits. He cannot lay brick, and the amount of work to be done in terms of brick-laying will be limited by the number of brick-layers on relief rolls.
Query:	That has to be an element in framing up the big job?
Mr. Hopkins:	That is a primary element.
Query:	What would you do with artists, for instance?
Mr. Hopkins:	Put them to work as artists.
Query:	You do not thing that you can find enough work projects on a skilled basis to put 3,500,000 people to work?
Mr. Hopkins:	Within reasonable limitations, I have no doubt about it.
Query:	Is that the theory behind the present PWA program?
Mr. Hopkins:	You cannot ask me about the theory behind the PWA program—I cannot answer that.
Query:	The job of coordinating these five or six billion dollars worth of Public Works projects would be an endless job. In other words, a guy who runs a typewriter is going to swing a pick.
Mr. Hopkins:	The world does not come to an end if he does. We have a great many clerical people who swing a pick. In some cases, it is the best thing that could happen to them. There are limits to that sort of thing.
Query:	Do you expect to have all these people to work by the first of July?
Mr. Hopkins:	I cannot answer that. I know nothing about the work program.
Query:	The relief money runs out the first of July?
Mr. Hopkins:	No.
Query:	What are you going to do for money next month?
Mr. Hopkins:	Oh, that is a long way off. The bill will pass by that time.
Query:	Not the way they are going now.
Mr. Hopkins:	Well...
Query:	Have you anything you would like to say, Mr. Hopkins?
Mr. Hopkins:	Not to newspaper men, no...... There is that story that I had done something about cement for Mr. Stewart in New York. That is not news, I guess.
Query:	Have you been appealed to from Georgia for 2 1/2 million for school purposes?
Mr. Hopkins:	Not that I know of. I would not be surprised, though.
Query:	How much did you get out of that Stewart contract?
Mr. Hopkins:	I did not get anything.
Query:	Will you give us a more complete fill in on the Georgia legislative delegation.
Mr. Hopkins:	There was not much more than that. We discussed the kind of legislation Georgia would have to pass if the Security Bill passes—the Old Age pension—dependent children and things of that sort.
Query:	I understood they were coming up with a chip on their shoulder?
Mr. Hopkins:	I did not see any.
Query:	Did they have any complaint to make on the administration of relief?
Mr. Hopkins:	Nothing serious.
Query:	Do you have much kick-back on your failure to supply political jobs in the relief set-up?
Mr. Hopkins:	It depends on what you mean by 'much'. I guess we have had the usual amount over here. Nothing serious.
Query:	What percentage is the usual amount in the 48 state set-ups?
Mr. Hopkins:	We have some from each state in the Union.
Query:	You knew this Georgia committee was created by the legislature with power to investigate the Federal Relief organization down there, didn't you?
Mr. Hopkins:	Well, it is not important.
Query:	What is that story about New York?
Mr. Hopkins:	Anybody from Scripps-Howard here? That story carried in New York about that cement. You probably did not read it. Well, it was about a story that said I ordered the TERA in New York not to take a contract and then later the cement contract was given to other firms, and under the President's Executive Order the NRA was given exclusive and final power to determine whether or not any company is in compliance with NRA; NRA simply told us this company was not in compliance and therefore no Federal agency could make a contract with them. I passed that information on through our office to the New York Office, who in turn cancelled the contract.
Query:	Which company got the contract eventually?
Mr. Hopkins:	Five or six, and amongst others was this company.
Query:	Do you know whether you ever awarded any contracts to a company in which Farley himself was previously connected?
Mr. Hopkins:	No. These are contracts awarded by the State of New York, not the city of New York.
Query:	You pay 50% of the amount?
Mr. Hopkins:	We pay more than that.
Query:	What was the company the NRA said you could not do business with?
Mr. Hopkins:	"City Builders" or something like that. They were not in compliance.—The discretion lies entirely with the NRA.
Query:	Was the "City" outfit low?
Mr. Hopkins:	They were low, but not in compliance.
Query:	Did you allow $200,000 to Oklahoma school teachers as indicated that you would?
Mr. Hopkins:	We have made no commitment. That is just a figure that somebody thought of. We will, when the time comes, give them whatever we think is necessary. At this point the Conference Adjourned.