Winter Relief, 1933–1934

Report Outline
Federal Government and Unemployment Relief
Unemployment Relief Problem at End of 1933
Civil Works Program of Direct Employment
Federal Relief Aid and Unemployment Insurance
Special Focus

Federal Government and Unemployment Relief

Formulation and prompt execution of the plan to employ 4,000,000 persons on civil works projects before December 15 has given the nation assurance that the needs of distressed members of the population are to be more adequately met during the coming months than at any time since the volume of unemployment reached major proportions. The United States is now entering the fifth winter of depression, but it is the first in which the federal government will directly share the responsibility of providing relief to the needy. Although the Reconstruction Finance Corporation loaned $300,000,000 to the states for relief purposes under the Emergency Relief and Construction Act of July 21, 1932, it was not until passage of the Federal Emergency Relief Act on May 12, 1933, that authority was given to use federal funds for outright relief grants, That law not only made available an appropriation of $500,000,000 but, by setting up the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, provided a national agency under whose leadership relief standards and practices throughout the country have been raised and unified.

Assumption of a part of the relief burden by the federal government—a policy which had been resisted by the Hoover administration—became one of the first objectives of President Roosevelt. Passage of legislation providing for unemployment relief grants was recommended in a message transmitted to Congress 011 March 21, At the same time the President urged immediate creation of “a civilian conservation corps to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control, and similar projects.” The latter proposal had been foreshadowed on March 4 when the President, declaring in his inaugural address that “our greatest primary task is to put. people to work,” had asserted that “it can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time through this employment accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great national resources.”

Civil Works Plan as a Supplement to Recovery Measures

Attacking fundamental economic ills in its effort to “put people to work,” the administration proceeded to develop the far-reaching industrial program which was embodied in the National Recovery Act, approved June 16, Aside from the provisions designed to bring about shorter hours and higher wages, that statute contained authorization for a huge public works program to increase jobs and stimulate the heavy industries. Influenced by the administration's activity, business improved and unemployment declined during the spring and early summer. In spite of the setback in business that then followed, the total volume of unemployment continued to decline through September, mostly as a result of the application of N. R. A. codes. As the autumn advanced, however, it became evident that neither the industrial recovery nor public works programs, at their current rate of progress, could be depended upon to make deep inroads in the ranks of the unemployed before winter. While the number of jobless had fallen to the lowest figure since the end of 1931, there were still some 10,000,000 persons out of work.