Circles under Circles

For more than two months Congress tried in vain to find out who was going to distribute the $4,000,000,000 that Franklin Roosevelt wanted for work relief. Finally Congress gave up and handed the President his money with the stipulation that he personally was to be responsible for spending. Last week Franklin Roosevelt finally revealed his spending machinery. So elaborate was it that he did not try to explain it to the Press at one sitting: He gave them four lectures on the different parts of the machine's anatomy. At conclusion of the lecture course, newshawks asked how the parts all fitted together. For answer he drew them a verbal chart:

Across the bottom of an imaginary sheet of paper he advised them to picture 50 or so small circles, each a Government agency handling some particular type of work--all except three of the circles representing existing agencies, the three new ones being Rural Resettlement (headed by Rexford Guy Tugwell), Grade-Crossing Elimination. Rural Electrification. Over the row of circles should be three big circles representing three big top committees: the Division of Applications & Information. the Works Allotment Board, the Works Progress Division. Over the three big circles should be a still bigger one, himself.

The Division of Applications would receive appeals for money, have them studied by the appropriate little circles below, then analyze them to see how much work they would provide, how soon, how valuable. Head of this first top committee would be Franklin Roosevelt's old friend Frank C. Walker, Montana lawyer and Roosevelt backer who at one time and another served as Chairman of the National Emergency Council, head of the National Bureau of Information, chief coordinator of the New Deal and other more or less nebulous jobs. To the public Mr. Walker's achievements in the New Deal remain unknown but Franklin Roosevelt has ever valued him as go-between. So he was called back to Washington to act as Receptionist for Works Relief.

The Works Allotment Board would take the reports of the Applications Division, sort them out, say yes and no, pass them on to the President who would have the final say. The Allotment Board would have 23 members (later perhaps more) but its chief would be Harold Ickes.

The Works Progress Division would keep its finger on the pulse of all projects started. The fifty-odd little circles would have charge of the work but the Progress Division would buy their materials, coordinate their work, see that work was provided where unemployment was greatest, most important, keep work moving. For big chief of this division, Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins was the choice. Astute was this division of duties: For public contact man, Frank Walker, able, diplomatic, maker of few enemies. For yes-&-no man, stern Harold Ickes who is very honest, has little tact, moves slowly. For superintendent on the job, Harry Hopkins who has proven abler than any other New Dealer to make dirt fly and get results.

But these three alone were not the cornerstone of the works relief business: Secretary Wallace and Madam Secretary Perkins, Frank Walker and Harry Hopkins, Rear Admiral Christian J. Peoples (director of procurement) all had places in Mr. Ickes' Allotment Board. Thus the circles interlocked. Titles and assignments obviously did not show which of the New Dealers would turn the works relief wheels.

Best hint of that was given by the group which the President called in for his big final conference (see cut). Present were: Secretary Morgenthau; Joseph P.Kennedy of the Securities Exchange Commission; Charles West, the President's Congressional contact man; Rexford Guy Tugwell, though he has nominally only a little circle to ru!e over; Admiral Peoples, the Government's best purchasing agent; Director of the Budget Daniel W. Bell--and along with them Mr. Ickes and Mr. Hopkins. For works relief was not a departmental effort. When Franklin Roosevelt took personal charge, the whole Administration was in--the whole New Deal was going over the top in its big push to be out of the breadlines before Election Day in 1936.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.