Public Works Administration Water Projects in Illinois

Abstract

From 1926 to 1929 national expenditures on construction were $12,000,000,000 per year, three-fourths of this vast sum being provided by private interests. Three million Americans were employed directly on construction. By 1933 the construction had been reduced to a mere $3,000,000,000, only one-half of which was provided by private construction. This decrease added vastly to the unemployment of the country. The stagnation in public works was due in a large measure to the inability of municipalities and public bodies to sell their securities. This was brought about by poor collection of taxes and the need of expending moneys for direct relief. This stopping of public and private construction had its effect in the basic industries. Forests, mills, factories, quarries, were shut down. The effect of this stopping of the supply of these materials greatly decreased the volume of traffic carried by the railroads and other transportation facilities. As construction dwindled, the architects and engineers, superintendents, foremen, skilled and unskilled labor were thrown out of employment. The contraction of construction, and its resultant effects, began early in the depression and continued until President Roosevelt, recognizing the need of a public works program to revive the basic industries of the nation and to put men back to work, recommended to Congress the establishment of the Public Works Administration. The Federal Emergency Public Works Administration was established on June 16, 1933. Up to the first of this year the Public Works Administration has furnished 10,300,000 man-months of employment. More men are employed in indirect labor on construction than in direct labor; some economists give this ratio as 5:1. The secondary labor employed was 20,600,000 man-months. This was all provided at a high wage scale. 1022