Highway Program Reducing Unemployment

Highway Program Reducing

By T. S. O'CONNELL Arizona State Highway Engineer UNDER the guidance of the fed eral administration, two major forces today are moving rapid ly to relieve unemployment in the state of Arizona. They are the National Recovery Admin istration and the Public Works program. The Arizona State Highway Depart ment, while concerned only indirectly with the first of these, is vitally inter ested in and active with the latter, the public works. The extent of the high way participation is not wholly appre ciated by Arizonians who are interested only in the fundamental question, "When do I get a job?" Lest my reference to "indirect parti cipation in NRA" be misunderstood, let me make this point clear first. Divi sions of state government are specific ally exempt from provisions of the Presi dent's recovery agreement, sometimes called the blanket code. Increasing ad ministrative personnel in a division such as the highway department would only mean increasing costs, in the end, to taxpayers, who already are sufficiently burdened with the upkeep of govern ment. But the Arizona highway department is helping those who are given the priv ilege of joining the NRA. Specific in structions have been issued to the pur chasing agent of the department to buy only from those firms entitled to display the Blue Eagle by virtue of their ful fillment of conditions contained in the code for their business, or the Presi dent's blanket code. It goes further than this. In every contract let by the department there is specific guarantee of NRA participation. I quote from the standard contract form as follows: "The contractor hereby warrants that all unmanufactured articles, materials, and supplies offered herein have been mined or produced in the United States, and that all manufactured articles, ma terials and supplies offered have been manufactured in the United States sub stantially all from articles, materials or supplies mined, produced, or manufac tured, as the case may be, in the United States, unless articles, materials or sup plies from which they are manufactured are not mined, produced or manufac tured, as the case may be, in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality. It has been de termined with respect to asphaltic ma terials for highway purposes that it is impracticable to apply the above re quirements. Materials purchased and used under these specifications for which codes of fair competition as authorized under the National Industrial Recovery Act have been approved prior to the receipt of bids, shall be produced under such codes." Still further to conform to NRA code provisions, insofar as possible, hours of work have been changed or reduced, as necessary, to conform to the limits ap proved by the President. So much for that, except to remind that insisting upon purchases from NRA firms and producers means assist ing to increase the business of those firms and producers, in turn permitting

OCTOBER, 1933 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 5 Unemployment State Engineer Outlines Part Played by Department in Recovery Plan.

them to pay higher wages to more employes, the first step in general re-employment.

But after all, as originally set forth here, that is a minor rather than a major phase of the Arizona Highway Department's participation. Its most important activity will be in the direct creation of jobs under the public works program.

That means simply this: that during the next year jobs will be created on the Arizona highway system for 3,500 men. That is a substantial percentage of Arizona's unemployed. But under the same program, 2,500 more jobs will be provided on exclusively federal projects, while there will be additional jobs for about 1,000 Indians.

The real part in which the highway department is interested is Section 4 of the federal act, the construction program for roads under which an aggregate of $400,000,000 will be expended.

Under the terms of the bill as originally written, this fund was to be apportioned to the states on a basis of three-fourths under the old federal aid act, and one-fourth on the basis of population. The old federal-aid act apportioned money on a three-way basis, one-third according to population, onethird post road mileage, and one-third area.

Arizona's Senator Hayden succeeded in having this changed to seven-eights under the provisions of the old federal aid act, and one-eighth according to population. This apparently insignificant fractional change meant an increase to Arizona of one-half a million dollars.

The aggregate then available for expenditure under this program is $5, 211,000.

This money is to be expended on closing the gaps on the main highway, or so-called Seven Per Cent System; on secondary roads, and into and through municipalities on the Seven Per Cent System. For the purposes of the act, municipalities are defined as any towns having a form of self-government.

We have been asked frequently why, with all this money available, jobs have been forthcoming seemingly slowly.

Let me explain. All states, under the act, were required to submit preliminary programs to be approved by the administrator of public works, showing percentages to be spent under the several classifications I have mentioned.

Arizona's preliminary program, which was approved, was divided in these amounts: Seven per cent system $3,811,000 Secondary roads Municipalities 600,000 800,000 In addition to that, a detailed statement of projects, together with a map of the state of Arizona showing the location of such projects, had to be approved by the public works administrator together with several additional special provisions providing for the maximum amount of hand labor, before permission to start work could be obtained.

This at first caused an unprecedented and unpredictable delay.

Then there had to be co-ordinated with the program, Arizona's share of the $50,000,000 provided in an amendment by Senator Hayden to the public works act, which was to be applied to national forest highways, national park (Continued on Page 20'