Billion Pumped

Harold LeClair Ickes, master of PWA, proudly radioed seafaring President Roosevelt last week that the gauge on his Public Works pump had ticked past the billion-dollar mark in 30 working days since the President signed the Lend-Spend Bill. It was still pumping at the rate of $5,532,510 worth of work per hour. To produce a billion's worth of work, PWA had earmarked nearly two-thirds of its new $965,000,000 (States & municipalities supplying the balance), and still projects were pouring in for approval.

Next Mr. Ickes told the country that he had made a deal with Jesse Jones whereby RFC, to which Congress voted $1,500,000,000 for loans to business and to States & municipalities, would bulwark PWA's lending program with $250,000,000 for such big, revenue-producing projects as Chicago's subway, New York City's Battery-to-Brooklyn vehicular tunnel and Pennsylvania's "all-weather" highway from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (162 miles over the old, incompleted Southern Pennsylvania Railroad route). This Banker Jones was glad to do because his loans have not been moving as fast as he could wish.

Mr. Jones's loans will release an equal amount of Mr. Ickes' money for outright granting instead of loaning. And borrowers prefer RFC loans to PWA loans because, whereas the latter cost 4%, Mr. Jones has an interest policy called "Come up'n see me." With its $965,000,000, PWA's original work-producing potential was $1,667,000,000. Mr. Jones's loans would up that to $1,917.000,000.

Mr. Ickes was hustling out PWA's money for two good reasons: 1) In 1935, PWA's slowness of motion led to the creation of WPA, which soon overshadowed PWTA as the main Recovery pump. 2) He wanted to get away last week with his bride for an inspection tour of Alaska.

This time, relatively slow though PWA's motion still is (an average of eight weeks between approval and actual beginning of work), its exciting publicity handouts about "$5,532,510 work per hour" are not entirely fanciful. When projects are approved, States and cities have learned how to translate the money on Mr. Ickes' books quickly into business orders and action. They do not have to get Mr. Ickes' checks to place orders; material and building contractors have learned to go ahead, with their banks' aid if necessary. They understand why PWA prefers to retain its debtor position as long as possible: that is its only control over the quality of work done.

The first two PWA projects begun in the present Lend-Spend drive, early in July, were $225,000 women's gymnasium for Bowling Green, Ohio, and a $600.000 new Statehouse at Concord, N. H. By last week all wall footings and the foundation were in at Bowling Green. At Concord, workmen last week were beginning to demolish a law-office building, the public library* and the American Legion Building, on whose sites the new Statehouse will rise.

Not all was smooth-running in Mr. Ickes' pump house, however. With two mayors at opposite ends of the land he was having trouble. Mayor Angelo Rossi of San Francisco had only with difficulty been persuaded to move up from November to September a bond issue referendum to enable San Francisco, with PWA help, to buy the Hetch Hetchy power lines. And Mayor Maurice J. Tobin of Boston was, to Mr. Ickes' way of thinking, being extremely annoying in the matter of Boston's new city hall. Granted $1,125,000 toward this edifice, Mayor Tobin turned it down, instead sought a WPA grant to renovate the old city hall. Mr. Ickes accused Mr. Tobin, "well wired for sound," of a grandstand "economy" play. Hotly, Mr. Tobin retorted that not he, but his predecessor, had asked for the new hall. From PWA he had accepted three Boston school additions vitally needed. "The President," said Mayor Tobin, "has a task difficult enough, and should not be burdened with a Cabinet officer who uses his tongue rather than his head."

To keep other municipal officials from "shopping"' back & forth for Federal funds, Mr. Ickes, with Harry Hopkins' approval, planted three PWA engineers in the WPA offices.

* A new $190,000 library will be built under PWA.

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