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PSF
Post-War Planning - Subject File
Box 175
NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
WASHINGTON
ITEMS FOR CONFERENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT
December 4, 1941
1. Content of Report in preparation.
2. Post-Defense Agenda.
3. Budget Estimates 1943.
4. Post-Defense Progress:
After Defense - What?
After Defense - Full Employment.
Hearing on S. 1617.
5. Bill of Rights Speech.
6. Other Reports:
Relief
Quarterly Trends
Industrial Location
Progress Report
PSF: PostWar Planning
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
WASHINGTON. D. C.
December 4, 1941.
the
MEMORANDUM for The President:
We have the following items for your consideration:
1. Content of Planning Program Report for transmittal to Congress:
Your Message transmitting our last major report states that "This
is the first of a series of such reports which each year I shall
transmit to the Congress shortly after submission of the Budget
of the United States". For the next report in this series, we
are preparing materials in accordance with the attached outline.
If the framework and content are in general accordance with your
wishes, we propose to put the report in your hands in two weeks
and shall arrange for printing so that copies will be available
for transmittal to Congress early in January.
2. Post-Defense Agenda: A major item in the proposed report is the
"Post-Defense Agenda" on which we have been working for the last
year with a view to correlating proposals of various public and
private agencies for your consideration. The attached "tabular
view" of the Post-Defense Agenda indicates the coverage and many
agencies now engaged in this planning work.
3. Budget Estimates 1943: In accordance with your suggestion, we have
strongly emphasized this Post-Defense planning activity this year
and propose to use the Post-Defense Agenda as a major element in
-2-
justification of a further appropriation for 1943 at the House
Hearings later this month. We have prepared our estimates on
the basis of a request for $700,000 regular and $700,000 defense
funds, repeating the amount you recommended last year. This
total of $1,400,000 compares with $1,482,590 available for the
current fiscal year.
4. Post Defense - Progress in Planning: We have issued over 100,000
copies of the pamphlet "After Defense - What", and are now ready
to issue a second statement, "After Defense - Full Employment",
which has been prepared by Dr. Alvin H. Hansen. A pre-print
edition has been circulated to members of the Federal Reserve
Banks and other selected individuals for criticism, and we are
revising the text to take their comments into account. Unless
you have some objection, we propose to issue the pamphlet in the
next few weeks. For your information, we are also enclosing here-
with the hearing "Post-Defense Planning" held by the Senate Com-
mittee on Education and Labor on the bill which you asked Senator
Wagner to introduce on our behalf. We anticipate that the bill
will be reported out of both the House and Senate committees
within the next few days.
5. Bill of Rights: In connection with your address on the 15th of Decem-
ber, we are submitting another copy of the materials which you read
with us at Hyde Park on June 29th, because it contains a statement
of a "New Bill of Rights" (pp.4-5), in the hope that some of the
ideas contained in it may be useful to you.
-3-
6. Other Materials and Reports: We wish to inform you of:
a. The availability of our report on "Long-Range Work and Relief
Policies" in case that document is relevant to your proposed
actions on Social Security;
b. The completion of our "Quarterly Statement on Trends of Income
and Employment", which we submit herewith;
C. The progress on location of over $5,300,000,000 worth of new
industrial defense plants as recorded on the maps and
tables, submitted herewith; and
d. The record of our work during the last two years as contained
in our "Progress Report".
Respectfully submitted,
For the NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
By: Frederic A. Delano
Chairman
encls.
PSF Post War 12-4-41 Plann
OUTLINE OF REPORT
BOX175
DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES AND STABILIZATION OF EMPLOYMENT
Part I
Introduction - Long-Range Planning in Time of Crisis.
A. Where We Are: Trends of National Income, Employment and Consumption.
B. Where We Are Going:
1. Planning for Defense: Industrial Location, Defense Area Community
Planning, Priorities, Allocations, etc.
2. After Defense-What? - (See separate Post-Defense Agenda)
Full Employment, Security, Up-building America
"Shelf of Projects" - Federal, non-Federal, and private.
C. How We Get There: Recommendations for implementation.
Part II
The Public Works Planning Problem in 1941
A. Criteria for Defense Public Works.
B. Criteria for "Shelf" of Post-Defense Projects.
C. Federal Six-Year Program of Public Works:
1. Recommended Projects for Construction.
2. Recommended for Plans and Specifications.
3. Recommended for Survey and Investigation.
4. Advances in Planning Methods 1941.
D. Plans for Federal-Aid Construction.
E. The Public Work Reserve and Programming by Cities and States.
Part III
Functional Policies and Programs
Statements from Committees and research units on progress in formulation
of Post-Defense Plans for
A. Relief - Work Relief - Security.
B. Industrial Location and Conversion.
C. Transportation Possibilities.
D. Land-- Principles of Project Evaluation.
E. Water-- Drainage Basin Development.
F. Energy.
G. Special Skills -- Roster.
H. Urban Conservation and Development.
The Board is also printing a separate volume on
Regional Development Plans and Programs
comprising statements of planning objectives of State and Regional Planning agencies.
PSF: Post was Planning
To the Congress of the United States:
There can be no peace in this world, no progress toward freedom
in any land, no serene private life in any home, no dignity for the
human spirit anywhere, no opportunity to think, to speak, to act,
to learn, or to worship according to the dictates of one's own
heart and mind while there is still at large in the world any armed
and aggressive people or government which is determined to enslave
other peoples, seize their lands or goods by force or trickery,
mock their beliefs, and destroy their freedoms.
When such a power arms and strikes at one nation, it strikes at
the same time at every nation because it attacks the foundations of
all human life, morality, progress, and peace.
In this day no sea is deep enough, no mountain rugged enough,
no desert wide enough to end the march of a wild nation or give
protection from its bombs, shells or torpedoes. The only possible
protection now for any people anywhere is to combine forces, destroy
the aggressor, sterilize his poisonous ideology, reestablish the
rights of peaceful nations to be let alone, and through international
and economic adjustments build a new world in which no such power
can ever again threaten the peace, life, and liberty of other peoples.
Their Way or Ours
Already we have been told by the dictators that they and their
scheme of force cannot exist side by side in the same world with our
-2-
system of individual human dignity, personal rights, organized self
government, and international law and order. The Italian mouthpiece
of the Axis has said that it is their way or ours that will triumph
and that they intend to make it theirs. And Hitler has said that
there are two ideologies at war in the world, and that one must go
down in war.
But even more eloquent and trustworthy than these words are the
cruel, enslaving, treaty-breaking, double-dealing, onward-marching
actions of these ruthless military cliques which call themselves the
leaders of their own enslaved peoples. They hate everything which
free men have dared to build, to dream, or to pray for; they have
sworn to go on until the remaining free peoples are all in chains.
How can they stop their war machine if there is still in the world
even one strong, free and upstanding people? They have no desire to
stop; they glory in the business of war; they have no horror of
cruelty, even to their own people.
We made no war on the dictators. It is they who armed to attack
us and struck when they knew the free peoples were unprepared ---
unprepared because we believed in peace and treaties.
And what have they to offer Europe or the world of enduring value?
There is nothing new in Nazi tyranny, except new fashions in human
chains. Can they build an order of freedom while they do not believe
in freedom? Can they establish peace by agreement, while they mock
all treaties? No, the new order they promise cannot be established
-3-
except by panzer divisions and dive bombers or be maintained without
the secret police and the concentration camp and all the arts of
propaganda manipulated by a gangster group of self-annointed elite.
The Needs of Man
Men everywhere, even within Germany, are hungry for something
else. What mankind wants now above everything, and has always reached
for, is freedom and that self-fulfillment and dignity of the human
spirit which come with the free pursuit of ideals. Men want and should
have the all-embracing security of law and order and peace. But beyond
this wide range of liberty for the human personality there must be
for each man a noble cause to serve, the opportunity for growth, and
full and just recognition in a new and growing world. Despotism
degrades the dignity of man, while freedom beckons man on to partici-
pate in the great adventure of existence in our new day.
This is the spirit of America and it is the spirit of millions
of men all over the world.
This freedom men seek in all lands is directly related to their
different civilizations. It shows itself in their great desire to
live freely in accordance with the finer traditions of their own race.
No foreign nation has the right to change these purely internal tradi-
tions by force, however superior it may think its culture to be. In
the long run of history there are no master peoples destined to lord
it over the rest of the world. Those who chose themselves for this
role must not be surprised to find themselves overwhelmed. The demand
for freedom in mankind is too strong to be defeated even by the most
+
powerful military machine.
Within any nation changes in underlying conditions call for new
formulas of freedom. Ideas must keep pace with the growth of civiliza-
tion. And the right to pursue the ideal must be won again and again
through sacrifice by each successive generation.
This is just as true in the United States as anywhere else. This
nation was born in the struggle for freedom and has been dedicated to
its realization ever since.
We do not assert, however, that we have achieved perfection of
freedom in this land of ours far from it. Wₑ are our own severest
critics and strive to improve and develop our system as we press forward.
New Aspects of Freedom
Great changes have come in our century with the industrial revolution,
the rapid settlement of the continent, the development of technology,
the acceleration of transportation and communication, the growth of modern
capitalism, and the rise of the national state with its economic programs.
Too few corresponding adjustments have been made in our system of freedom.
In spite of all these changes, that great manifesto, the Bill of Rights,
has stood unshaken a hundred and fifty years. And now to the old free-
doms we must add new freedoms and restate our objectives in modern terms.
Freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship, freedom from
want, and freedom from fear, these are the universals of human life.
Any new declaration of personal rights, any translation of freedom
into modern terms applicable to the people of the United States here and
-5-
now must include:
1. The right to work, usefully and creatively through the
productive years;
2. The right to fair pay, adequate to command the necessities
and amenities of life in exchange for work, ideas, thrift, and
other socially valuable service;
3. The right to adequate food, clothing, shelter, and
medical care;
4. The right to security, with freedom from fear of old age,
want, dependency, sickness, unemployment, and accident;
5. The right to live in a system of free enterprise, free
from compulsory labor, irresponsible private power, arbitrary
public authority, and unregulated monopolies;
6. The right to come and go, to speak or to be silent, free
from the spyings of secret political police;
7. The right to equality before the law, with equal access
to justice in fact;
8. The right to education, for work, for citizenship, and
for personal growth and happiness; and
9. The right to rest, recreation, and adventure; the oppor-
tunity to enjoy life and take part in an advancing civilization.
These rights and opportunities we in the United States want for
ourselves and for our children now and when this war is over. They go
-6-
beyond the political forms and freedoms for which our ancestors fought
and which they handed on to us, because we live in a new world in which
the central problems arise from new pressures of power, production,
and population, which our forefathers did not face.
Their problem was freedom and the production of wealth, the build-
ing of this continent with its farms, industries, transportation, and
power; ours is freedom and the distribution of abundance, so that there
may be no unemployment while there are adequate resources and men ready
to work and in need of food, clothing, and shelter. It is to meet this
new turn of events, that the new declaration of rights is demanded.
But in formulating these new rights, we are not blind to the obligations
which go with every right, obligations of the individual to use well his
rights and to insist on the same rights for others, and obligations of
the community to support and protect the institutions which make these
rights actual. We are ready to assume these obligations and to take
the private and the public action they impose upon us.
Freedom Is for All Men
Such freedom must be within the grasp of all men everywhere to make
it long endure anywhere. This world cannot live in peace, part slave
and part free. Personal slavery, military slavery, economic slavery,
political slavery have a common poison which degrades the masters no
less than the slaves, and makes them incapable of peaceful life in con-
tact with freedom-loving men.
-7-
The old freedoms and the new freedoms are therefore not for
citizens of the United States alone. They are for men everywhere
to achieve for themselves progressively. Principles are the same
everywhere, though programs, procedures, practices differ in free
states. But equal rights, equal justice, equal opportunity, equal
recognition, equal responsibilities, are possible everywhere.
These principles are not dependent upon geography or race or religion.
The realization of freedom for all peoples will require the end
of predatory nationalism and of economic exploitation by governments,
by individuals, by corporations, or by combinations to dominate
trade. Though this may look like a sacrifice at first, it will bring
rich gains to all. After all, free labor is more productive than
slave labor, free enterprise than regimentation. The rise of living
standards all over the world under real freedom will usher in a
golden era of international trade and prosperity, as well as peace.
Lessons of the Defense Effort
These freedoms, rights, and opportunities are something more
than great dreams for the future. We are beginning to realize these
gains now, and know that they can be made more real to all peoples
in increasing measure, when this war is over.
When the resources of all lands are fully developed for peace
as they are now in many lands for war, there will arise an era of
abundance everywhere. Goods and services in incredible plenty are
possible in every land. All this can be spelled out in terms every
-8-
man can understand --- in terms of food, employment, health, recreation,
security, a fair share of the gains of civilization, justice, and
freedom.
Here on this continent, after years of partial employment, our
defense effort proves this and much more. It shows that we can have
full employment, increasing prosperity for everyone, increase of national
wealth, higher national production and income, and better standards of
living, even when the work of five million men is going into war equip-
ment and military training. What could we not do if all this work
were directed to building our national estate and making the things we
need for peace-time life!
What we need when this war ends is the will, the wit and gumption
to make full use of the bounties of nature, the powers of science, and
the good will of man.
We cannot now make detailed blueprints of tomorrow, but we can
trace the outlines of an emerging future of peace and prosperity based
upon justice and freedom for all men. Under no system of government
have there been higher standards of living for men than in free
democratic states. We propose to raise these standards far higher
yet, and to aid in the development of world resources and the attain-
ment of their full enjoyment by free men everywhere.
The Role of Planning
To do this means, first, to strike down the aggressors and confine
them within their rightful boundaries; second, to establish for all
time the freedom of the seas and the pacification of the air; third, to
-9-
establish by the consent of free peoples a new international order
of freedom from aggression; fourth, to make this permanent by end-
ing economic imperialism and opening up to all peoples of the world
definite and progressive access to the raw materials and food and
to the markets which they need for work and happiness; and, finally,
to encourage, within each nation, the development of an economy of
plenty and a regime of personal dignity and freedom.
We know that these plans will call on us for new policies and
for the adjustment of present vested interests to a larger public
interest. World peace is now so vital for every people that no
nation can longer pursue those restrictive and exploitive international
economic policies which inevitably require military enforcement.
These new policies cannot be adopted internationally or domestic-
ally suddenly or without advance plans. For us in the United States
first come defense and aid to those who are protecting themselves
against the aggressors; next comes readiness for war, if we shall
be drawn in by aggressions against us and our rights, which God
forbid; and then come planning and organizing for the world of peace.
Planning of this sort for peace is no more difficult than planning
for defense. If peace is to be a continuing triumph for mankind, it
requires within each nation the same clarity and unity of purpose as
does war -- a purpose which must include, on the economic side, full
employment; for the individual his bill of rights; and for the world,
law and order.
-10-
Post-Defense Planning in the United States
This is the situation in the United States: The demands of
defense production mean that many of our needs can be filled only
partially at present. On the other hand, each of these needs is
vitally involved in our defense program and we must do all that is
possible to meet them. Certainly we cannot wait to begin to remedy the
physical deficiencies of our manpower which have been revealed by the
draft. Moreover, we must not lose sight of the goal of satisfying
human needs in preparing for defense lest we aggravate the problems
of readjustments when the defense period comes to an end. Certainly
from the experience of our present productive activity we can learn
much to guide our future efforts in time of peace.
Today the Federal Government is the Nation's biggest employer
and biggest customer. When world peace returns and the time comes
to curtail much of the defense outlay, there will be a drop in
defense employment. It will take as much foresight, effort, and
time to swing this nation back to peace-time work as it is now taking
to swing over to all-out defense.
While some of the measures now necessary for the defense program
will be dropped when the present emergency ends, others may be useful
when our economy returns to peace-time pursuits. Perhaps different
devices may be necessary and appropriate at that time. In any event,
there must be plans in advance of action, and these plans must be
carefully correlated and made consistent with the central purpose
of the nation, by the Executive, the Congress, and the leaders of
our economic and civic life.
-11-
Federal agencies must make plans now for things that can be
undertaken as soon as manpower is set free from the defense effort.
These projects must be thought through and worked out to the blue-
print stage. They will constitute a well-planned "shelf" of useful
activities ready to be undertaken just as soon as a large portion
of our national effort is no longer required for defense purposes
and can be turned instead to the satisfaction of individual needs
and to improving our public estate.
In the development of the necessary improvement plans, our State
governments, cities, and other public bodies have their part to per-
form. Many Governors, mayors, planning boards, and State and local
defense councils are already giving attention to the problem of
physical improvements. They should proceed now to canvass, tabulate,
and assign order of importance to their improvement and other needs
so that they too may be ready for action.
Private enterprise must be prepared to play its part in a
high-income national economy and to make its plans for the expansion
or adaptation of plants to produce peace-time needs in sufficient
volume once the demand for defense supplies is no longer pressing.
Some managers and creative engineers are already at work planning
to meet these future demands. They can expect to manufacture and
sell their regular products in greater volume once an even larger
part of our national income than now can go into consumer purchasing.
Compared with the post-defense plans of industry and of
government, the role of individuals and femilies may seem unimportant.
But in reality it is fundamental. More than we realize, the American
-12-
economy depends upon buying by housewives, farmers, and homeowners.
We know from past experience how American consumers spend their
money. We know that many have wants which limitations of buying
power have prevented them from satisfying. When increased purchas-
ing power is in the hands of the masses of American consumers, we
can anticipate their spending.
The impetus of national defense is providing new purchasing
power, but the necessity of devoting a considerable part of our
production to defense purposes now means that much consumer purchas-
ing must be deferred. When the immediate fear of external aggression
is allayed, and we are satisfied with our preparations for defense,
this accumulated consumer demand will provide new opportunities for
American industry. After the war our national economic objective
will be to channel our productive capacity to peace-time ends, to
maintain full employment, and to prevent inflation. The plans of
government, industry, and the individual will be set toward solving
these problems.
Development of Plans and Programs
With these considerations in mind, I have taken steps to
discover what arrangements will be practical and what activities,
foreign and domestic, public and private, will be necessary when
the present war of aggression is ended. Major agencies of the
National Government are now at work, or will soon be engaged in
thinking through the practical problems which we shall face in the
-13-
post-war world. In my own immediate staff, the National Resources
Planning Board is gathering, analyzing and collating these post-
defense plans for my use. From time to time, I shall bring these
matters before you for your consideration and appropriate action.
Defense efforts in this country should not and will not be
hampered or delayed by the discussion of post-war reconstruction.
I bring these matters to your attention now because men everywhere
need to know not only what they stand to gain from the victory of
the freedom-loving nations, but also that practical plans are being
formulated looking toward the fuller realization of the freedom
and the peace which all men seek.
AFTER THE WAR-
TOWARD SECURITY
NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
FREEDOM
FROM
WANT
"The right to security, with
freedom from fear of old
age, want, dependency,
sickness, unemployment and
accident"
September 1942
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
After the war we shall face the question of how to handle the
responsibility for all those individuals and families who must go
TOWARD SECURITY
through a period of readjustment following the return to peacetime
order. The National Resources Planning Board in the fall of 1939
appointed a Committee on Long-Range Work and Relief Policies to
INTRODUCTION
examine the many problems raised by the greatly expanded public
activity designed to meet the challenge to our national security
For many centuries and in many lands, the problem
caused by lack or inadquacy of jobs or income; it was also responsible
of social security has challenged the best efforts of
for development of recommendations for long-range policy in this
field. The membership of the Committee includes recognized
man. In our occidental world the profound changes
authorities and experts in both governmental and private welfare
of the industrial revolution loosed technological and
and security agencies, with a wide variety of background, knowledge,
social forces which made it impossible for either the
and experience. The work of the Committee was carried out by a
family or the churches to do the necessary job of
special technical staff and the accumulation and analysis of a great
caring for the needy, even when aided by other vol-
amount of data was made possible by the continuous cooperation
of Federal, State, and local administrators, and of private welfare
untary associations. Our own governments, which
agencies. The Committee has completed its study and presented
had been called upon to guarantee constitutional
a unanimous report, which the Board has issued under the title
rights and privileges and to defend our borders, have
"Security, Work, and Relief Policies."
now also been called upon to guarantee to every citizen
As a guide to the solution of the problems that lie ahead, the
the right to his place as a worker and the right to
following pages reproduce from the larger report the Introduction
by the National Resources Planning Board, the Committee's rec-
income received under conditions compatible with self-
ommendations on general policy, and Chapter XIX which sum-
respect when he is unable to work.
marizes its specific proposals. The complete table of contents for
It is not by accident that public aid policies are
the full report of the Committee will be found at the end of this
adopted by our governments, for without social and
pamphlet.
economic security there can be no true guarantee of
freedom. Our efforts to establish life, liberty, and
NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
the pursuit of happiness are not effective unless and
MEMBERS
until they rest on a firm foundation of social and
Chairman, FREDERIC A. DELANO; Vice Chairmen, CHARLES E. MERRIAM; GEORGE
economic security.
F. YANTIS.
As the National Resources Planning Board has re-
Advisors, HENRY S. DENNISON and BEARDSLEY RUML.
viewed the report and recommendations of its Technical
Director, CHARLES W. ELIOT; Assistant Director, THOMAS C. BLAISDELL, JR.
Committee on Long Range Work and Relief Policies, it
COMMITTEE ON LONG-RANGE WORK AND RELIEF POLICIES
has been impressed with the continuing struggle to keep
WILLIAM HABER, Chairman, Department of Economics, University of Michigan
our actions, both personal and governmental, in line
WILLIAM ALEXANDER
FRED HOEHLER, Executive Director
with our ideals.
Specialist in Minority Groups
American Public Welfare Association
National Defense Commission
This report is concerned particularly with making
KATHARINE F. LENROOT
adequate provision for those who have no means of
C. M. BOOKMAN
Chief, Children's Bureau
Executive Vice Chairman
U. S. Department of Labor
livelihood or only inadequate means. Some of the
Community Chest of Cincinnati
MARY SWITZER
causes of suffering are personal in character. These
CORRINGTON GILL
Assistant to the Administrator
Former Assistant Commissioner
Federal Security Agency
must be dealt with as personal problems. The physi-
Work Projects Administration
THOMAS J. WOOFTER, JR.
cian, the social worker, the teacher, and the churchman
RT. REV. MSGR. FRANCIS J. HAAS
Director of Research
Dean, School of Social Science
Federal Security Agency
have important roles in meeting the needs of people
Catholic University of America
who suffer from personal maladjustment. But the suf-
EVELINE M. BURNS
fering which comes from economic- maladjustment is
Director of Research
just as real as that which comes from personal. We
1
shall not be satisfied until we have grappled with and
Third, that where the insurances or work policies
succeeded in changing those phases of our life which
fail to take care of an interruption in income, adequate
must be adjusted if our need of minimum security for
guarantees of minimum aid and assistance must be
all is to be met.
given both to individuals and families through a gen-
It is sometimes alleged that a complete system of
eral public assistance system.
social security would ultimately have the effect of dis-
Fourth, that where adequate services essential to the
couraging self-reliance and even fostering unemploy-
health, education, and welfare of the population are
ment by destroying the incentives to industry, by re-
not available, public provision should be made for the
moving the rough but salutary influence of discipline.
development of such services.
There are doubtless some marginal persons who would
But no one of this series of proposals should be
deliberately choose to avoid work even if guaranteed
expected to solve the problem of insecurity. Taken
a minimum subsistence. But these must be balanced
together they constitute a rounded and integrated pro-
against the millions of cases where deep anxiety, haunt-
gram. Any one of them standing alone can be criti-
ing fear of want, acute suffering and distress blight and
cized as inadequate, and properly so. Unfortunately,
sear the lives of men and women, and children, too.
complete and well-rounded programs seldom can be
Most of the drifting souls are those on whom the door
adopted at one time. Living is SO complicated and our
of hope has been closed either by nature's equipment
system SO intricate that to change it except step by step
or by the unfortunate circumstances of unkind social
may create stresses more serious than the evils the
experience. The cure for this lies in the cause. We
program is designed to correct. The program sug-
must and do assume that the bulk of mankind who are
gested here is not of that kind. It is all within the
able to work are willing to work, and that they will
realm of practical realization.
strive for something more than a doghouse subsistence
Looking at these main points more closely:
on a dole. Discipline that is enforced by deprivation
I. There must be work for all who are able and
of the elementary necessities of life, the discipline of
willing to work. We all accept this principle. In,our
cold, hunger, illness, should not be permitted to oper-
industrial society the limits to what one individual can
ate below the level of a minimum standard of security,
do by himself are circumscribed. The day when in-
certainly not in a land of plenty where there is enough
dividuals and small businesses completely dominated
to go around. Above that level, it is not fear but hope
the economic scene is gone. The great centers of ini-
that moves men to greater expenditures of effort, to
tiative and work creation are found in corporate or
ingenuity and emulation, to sharp struggle for the
governmental enterprises. Such enterprises are pri-
values they seek in life-hope set in a framework of
vate, quasi public, and public. The governments
justice, liberty, fair play, and a fair share of the gains
(cities, counties, States and Federal bureaus and
of civilization.
courts), in addition to their job as suppliers of serv-
Four main points seem to need emphasis:
ices, perform integrating and regulating functions in
First, that our economy must provide work for all
the field of employment.
who are able and willing to work. Included in this
We can have work for all, and we can have much
is a special responsibility for an adequate youth pro-
higher levels of income, particularly for the lowest
gram which should be an integral part of any gov-
income groups. Full employment makes possible these
ernmental undertaking to establish security. This
higher income levels, and without full employment
will be peculiarly true in the post-war period.
such levels are impossible. The National Resources
Second, that for great numbers whose work is inter-
Planning Board has repeatedly stated its conclusion,
rupted. the social insurances must carry much of the
based on careful study of American resources, that full
load of providing adequate income.
3
2
employment and high national income are indispensable
parts of the American goals for which we strive.¹
The same issue has been at stake in our years of
But full employment and high national income can
struggle over antitrust policy. When does monopolis-
be achieved only if national and international policies
tic power restrict employment, opportunity, and the
are followed which will make for these objectives.
expansion of national income? When does competi-
For example, it is sometimes stated that our interna-
tion become destructive of labor standards and produce
tional trade creates such a small percentage of our
poverty and wage slavery instead of full employment
national income that we could forego it without seri-
and high incomes?
ous damage. But a "small percentage" of our national
Examination of other fields of policy would quickly
income is of the magnitude of several billions of dol-
indicate their relationships to full employment.
lars. And roughly speaking it takes a million workers
When the Board endorses the recommendations for a
to produce a billion and a quarter or a billion and
Federal work program made by its Technical Committee,
a half dollars of national income. So a reduction
it is more concerned with the result than the details of
of a "small percentage" of the national income as a
organization. A work program was part of the early
result of our international trade policy may cut the
FERA relief undertaking which was administered by
national income by several billions and result in re-
the non-Federal governments. WPA itself, adminis-
lated reductions in the volume of employment. Read-
tered by the Federal government, was part of a larger
justments affecting employment and income for mil-
work program. It has been demonstrated that when
lions of people are not easy to achieve.
imagination is used a work program can be modified to
As a further example, it should be noted that fiscal
fit the changing demands of growing employment and
policies are of major significance in achieving and
the requirements of a nation moving into an all-out
maintaining full employment. A shift of a billion
effort to arm itself for protection. Programs were
dollars in the Federal budget can mean employment
adjusted to provide services where local government
or unemployment for a million workers whose jobs
was weak and where individuals could not help them-
are dependent on government initiative. A shift in
selves. A work program can be carried out by finan-
the burden of taxes from low-income groups to high-
cial grants to local governments or by a Federal work
income groups can mean the difference between contin-
agency administering a multitude of projects. At
uous activity and interruption of activity; it can mean
times competition may arise between agencies engaged
employment or unemployment.
in the same kinds of projects. Such competition may
As still another example of the many-sided problem
well be encouraged just as we encourage competition
of establishing full employment and high levels of
in private industry, and should be limited only when
income, we might refer to some of the issues in labor
duplication becomes wasteful. At different times and
relations policy. What can be done to encourage the
at different places varied methods must be used. But
types of policies which will stimulate employment?
we are convinced of the necessity for government in-
Statesmanlike union leaders and managers have studied
itiative both in stimulating sound general policies and
their joint problems from this standpoint. But too
in carrying out a work program if the broad objectives
often the struggle for power between management and
of security are to be achieved.
labor or between rival labor organizations has pushed
II. While full employment is necessary to high
these major problems of income and employment into
levels of national income, even full employment does
the background.
not establish that continuity of income which indi-
1 See National Resources Development Report for 1942 After the War-
viduals and families must have. A considerable num-
Full Employment (1942) : Development of Resources and Stabilization
ber of our people reach advanced years unable to
of Employment in the United States (1941) : Economic Effects of Federal
Public Works Expenditures (1940) : Structure of the American Economy
work and in need of income. Nearly all have time
(1939), etc., etc.
"between jobs" for which they are unable to provide.
4
5
Sickness or disability from various causes interrupts
the steady flow of income of others.
and rehabilitation which only an adequate system of
Military service has long been recognized as estab-
individualized public aid can provide.
lishing a claim against the Government, and pensions
In the present state of affairs it would seem that
and special insurance rights have been a part of our
such a system can be made available only if a Federal
system for many years. More recently we have come
grant-in-aid for general public assistance is made to
to recognize that any person who makes his contri-
local governments. But it cannot too strongly be
bution to our national life is entitled to protection
stated that individualized aid need not be allowed to
against, the necessary interruptions of income. Thus,
degenerate into a form of dole. Neither is it a sub-
the establishment of the social insurances through the
stitute for work or insurance. It is a necessary com-
Social Security Act provides an orderly system by
plement to provide for those gaps which occur in any
which workers will receive income in their old age.
system. Furthermore, it protects the special programs
It provides for income during involuntary unemploy-
from abuse. It must be administered as a complement
ment. The great blank in the present system which
to and not as a substitute for other parts of a compre-
remains to be filled has to do with invalidity or health
hensive program.
insurance. Some scheme for taking care of this need
The incapacity of local jurisdictions to finance their
is necessary to maintain high levels of working
own services is no reflection on their competence. It
efficiency.
reflects the inability of local government to tap the
In all the provisions for insurance it should be
streams of wealth created by an economy which oper-
remembered that "insurance" refers to income and not
ates on a national and international basis. Large-scale
to some form of mathematical or actuarial relation-
corporate activity is rarely subject to local control ex-
ship between money collected from and money dis-
cept in a technical sense. And the community with
bursed to any individual. Social insurance agencies
the power to tax could usually meet its own needs with
are not and cannot be regarded as something wholly
a small portion of the funds thus available. Thus,
independent of other governmental activity or other
Federal aid is essential if "local" burdens are to be
economic activity. Contributions or pay roll taxes are
borne or certain needy parts of the population are not
indeed taxes. Earmarking by requiring a separate
to be penalized.
accounting does not change the influence which they
IV. The three principles which have briefly been
have on the general movement of the national econ-
mentioned all bear directly on the problems of acute
omy. Likewise, the payments of the system influence
personal need arising from the instabilities of our
the economy as does any other measure which redis-
economic system. Full economic activity and full em-
tributes income, both individual and national. The
ployment are our first need. Stabilizing of the income
amounts involved in the insurance system are so
flow through a social insurance system is a second. The
large that they cannot be disregarded in the deter-
third requirement is that an adequate general public
mination of national fiscal policies or in budgetary
assistance system provide for those accidental and in-
procedure. In the final analysis the guarantees pro-
cidental needs which neither a work program nor an
vided by the insurance system are the guarantees of
insurance system can supply. But a fourth element
a people's government to the people.
is closely related. We have become aware of the need
III. The machinery of the social insurances, how-
of low-income persons for higher levels of services:
ever, is not suited to all situations and persons. For
access to education, to medical care, to recreational and
some the income from the insurance system will always
cultural facilities, to adequate housing and other com-
be inadequate by any standard. Others will fail
munity facilities. While the insistent needs of some
through no fault of their own to establish eligibility
of our poorest citizens have made the provision of these
for insurance. Still others will require personal care
services part of a public aid program, they are of great
importance to all members of our society. The truth
6
42
7
is that the levels of national income which we seek can
apparently not be achieved unless these untapped serv-
remainder but to stress the broader perspective. Per-
ices can be unlocked and made available to all. High
haps the program and policies which the Technical
national productive efficiency can be achieved only by
Committee was asked to review and reformulate were
wide diffusion of these services. They are no longer
misnamed. It might have been more accurate to ask
relief. They are the necessities of a people mobilizing
for a review of certain phases of a program for the
their strength for a struggle which calls for their ut-
development of our national income and the stabiliza-
most in capacity; or for a people which need no longer
tion of employment. Certainly the program and
divert its energies to destruction.
policies suggested are an inherent part of a program
The Board has indicated its full concurrence with
for the maintenance of these high objectives.
its Committee in regard to the necessity for a public
With respect to the implementation of the broad
aid system geared to a program for high national in-
policies and objectives presented by the Technical
come and full employment. We have passed the stage
Committee, the Board commends in general the ways
when "financing the program" need be more than a
and means suggested, without, however, endorsing all
technical problem. If we measure the physical and
of them in every detail. In particular the Board
intellectual stature of our people and our vast national
wishes to emphasize the importance of strong Federal
resources, financial problems need be no hindrance.
leadership in the movement for freedom from want,
Their complexity need not stand in our way. We re-
for minimum access to security, for all our people. It
quire only the will and the courage to make full use
of our national resources.
is essential that the forms of national aid should pay
If we take these objectives as seriously as we take
due regard to the genuine interests of local self-gov-
national defense-and they are indeed a fundamental
ernment and of unofficial associations, and should avoid
part of national defense-the ways and means of ob-
excessive entanglement in jurisdictional problems. The
taining the objectives are ready at hand. On the basis
full employment of our national resources of men and
of full employment and of a national income at say
materials is a problem in which the cooperation of
one hundred billion dollars, all the proposed services
Federal and non-Federal agencies, of the home, the
can be provided. It is not the provision of these basic
neighborhood, the church, the social agencies, and the
services that would threaten the security and prosperity
associations of innumerable types, of industry and
of the nation, but it is, on the contrary, the failure to
agriculture, of labor and management, is indispensable,
develop the purchasing power implied in these services
and will continue to be; but the Federal government
that drags down our national income from time to time
cannot escape national responsibility for its share
and everything with it to a lower level. But operat-
of broad and effective leadership, in truly national
ing at half capacity or, as we once did, at a level of
aspects of the problem.
$43,000,000,000 of national income, we cannot provide
Further the Board wishes to emphasize the impor-
these services, nor can the national economy be oper-
tance of maintaining on all levels the highest possible
ated effectively. On a high-level income these serv-
standards of administrative management of public
ices are not only possible but are indicated as indis-
work, of social insurance, and of public assistance-in
pensable, even from a narrow economic point of view.
the management of personnel, of finances, of planning.
From a broader human democratic point of view
There is no place in this program for partisanship
these guarantees of minimum security are equally
and spoils, for reckless, careless or imprudent expendi-
indispensable.
tures, for muddling and unplanned operations, nor
In commending this report as a whole, the Board has
for any outmoded schemes of organization.
chosen to select and emphasize some parts which seem
Some may urge that such a program must be set
of highest significance. This is not to minimize the
aside until the war emergency is ended. But to post-
8
9
PUBLIC-AID POLICY:
pone until the war is over will be too late. We should
move now on the major changes needed to set our house
THE SELECTION OF ENDS
in order.
AND MEANS2
It is easier to make these changes when employ-
ment is high, and it is easier to keep employment high
Successful long-range planning in the field of public
than to lift it once it has declined. Furthermore, we
aid requires a full appreciation of the character of the
cannot be blind to the fact that national morale is
problem to be faced and agreement as to the objectives
mightily influenced by consideration of what will come
of national policy. Given these prerequisites, we be-
when a warring world will be replaced with one more
lieve that the American people will discover the ways
devoted to the arts of peace. Shall that period be a
and means to implement their decisions. It is the ob-
return to the inequities of the past, or a forward
ject of this pamphlet to suggest the broad principles
movement toward the promise of the future?
which should govern national public-aid policy in the
future and the major financial and administrative prin-
ciples whose application would facilitate the attainment
of the proposed objectives. The application of these
policies and principles to existing programs and situa-
tions will then be discussed.
Our major purpose has been to develop a compre-
hensive, consistent, and well-rounded system of public-
aid measures. It follows that a high degree of inter-
dependence characterizes our various proposals. Fail-
ure to implement some of our major recommendations,
such as the creation of a comprehensive general public-
assistance underpinning system or the development of
an adequate work program, would render meaningless
many of our other proposals.
In making the following recommendations we wish
to make it clear, too, that we do so only on the basis
of experience and of trial and error up to the present.
We set up before us certain goals, such as the mainte-
nance of national unity, and our proposals to achieve
these goals are based not on our individual judgments
but solely on what the present state of evidence compels
us to conclude will achieve these goals.
THE CHARACTER OF THE
PROBLEM
The American public must base public-aid policy
upon the acceptance of the following facts:
1. The need for socially provided income, in what-
ever form, is in large measure a consequence of the
This Is Chapter XVII of the full report.
11
10
imperfections in the operation of our economy and by
may be delayed, but the country must be prepared to
personal, physical, or psychological defects, many of
face them again, once the war is terminated. Even if
which may be remedied.
spending for war should raise the level of national
The influence of economic forces is evident in regard
income to its practical maximum, it is problematical
to loss of income attributable to unemployment. In a
whether private demand for investment will be suffi-
still more fundamental sense the low incomes from pri-
cient, upon the termination of the war, to absorb all the
vate employment that, as this report has shown, are
savings made at such a high-income level.
received by a substantial proportion of our people, espe-
There may be developments in the investment sphere
cially in certain areas, create a public-aid problem. For
which cannot be foreseen at present. If the war should
not only is it impossible for persons receiving low in-
be of long duration, a backlog of delayed demand might
comes to accumulate savings against periods of unem-
accumulate, as it did in the first World War, so that a
ployment, disability, or old age, but, even during the
height of their earning power, such persons are denied
post-war spurt of private demand would offset part or
access to many of the necessities and conveniences which
all of the decline in war spending, at least for a while.
Nor do we know what "termination of the war" will
Americans have come to regard as the basic essentials of
decent living. It is obvious, too, that, even in periods of
really signify. It may mean drastic disarmament in
so-called prosperity, sickness and disability account for a
a world of good neighbors, or it may mean maintain-
large part of the need for public aid. The greater part
ing a large navy and army in a precarious truce between
of the public-aid problem is thus in the last resort
potential enemies. Much will depend upon the extent
merely an extreme manifestation of the general problem
to which America will be called upon to aid in the recon-
of our failure to exploit to the full our productive
struction of Europe. It is possible that the second
resources, to achieve a more satisfactory distribution of
World War will destroy Western civilization to such a
incomes and to make a more effective attack upon sick-
degree that all long-range problems of oversaving or
ness and ill health. It follows that every constructive
underinvestment will be "solved" for an indefinite
measure aiming to secure fuller and more efficient utili-
period.
zation of our productive resources, to rectify the present
Nor must it be forgotten that the war program
maldistribution of our national income, and to improve
itself will cause economic dislocations with resultant
the health of our people, will reduce the need for public
repercussions upon the security of some sections of our
aid as such.
people. While it is in progress, the war mobilization
2. The public-aid problem is likely to be both large
inevitably disrupts the peace-time economy and re-
and persistent for some time to come.
sults in some measure of unemployment. Even if
Although we may hope that intelligently applied
fiscal policy manages to facilitate full production while
national economic policies will be developed in increas-
avoiding inflationary general price rises, there will be
ing measure, it is idle to expect that the defects in our
specific disruptions of costs, wage rates, and prices due
economic order will be remedied overnight. Common
to localized scarcities. The war industries are ab-
sense requires acceptance of the harsh reality that for
sorbing millions of workers, not only those who have
many years to come there will be a widespread need
been unemployed but also millions who were working
for socially provided income. Analysis of the available
on farms or in shops or were engaged in "submarginal"
data suggests that, even under conditions approximating
work. Once the war is terminated, these millions will
full employment, the need for public aid is unlikely to
be released. Will there be other industries ready to
fall below about one-half of its magnitude in 1940.
employ them? Certainly some program of readjust-
Whatever the causes of the great depression of the
ment will have to be prepared, with emphasis on the
thirties, it is unreasonable to expect their permanent
nonmonetary problems of productive facilities and
solution by the defense effort. Their reappearance
employment.
12
13
In these circumstances, prudence demands that public-
has been faced by our War and Navy Departments.
aid policy be postulated upon the probability of re-
Both of these agencies are charged with responsibilities
currence of need attributable to unemployment. It
requiring the establishment of a permanent nucleus for
follows that planning for its occurrence must be viewed
planning and operating a minimum program, and in
as a continuing and regular function of Government
periods of war or emergency both departments undergo
to be performed by agencies with permanent status.
great expansion. But when the emergency has passed
The country has increasingly recognized the continu-
they again contract. We see no reason why a similar
ing nature of need attributable to old age and depend-
flexibility should not characterize an agency responsible
ency and to short-period unemployment; and it has
for dealing with the peace-time emergency of unemploy-
implemented this view by the creation of permanent
ment.
agencies to administer programs dealing with these
3. The social problem created by economic insecurity
groups. There has been, however, an unwillingness to
is many-sided and requires for its solution a series of
accord the same degree of permanence to the agencies
diversified programs.
concerned with long-term unemployment because of a
Our examination of the characteristics of the de-
belief that the problem is itself temporary. For the
pendent population and of the operation of existing
reasons we have given, we believe that this attitude
reflects a failure to accept current realities.
programs convinces us that loss or inadequacy of
private income gives rise to three types of needs which,
We recognize that the attribution of permanence to
though.closely related, are none the less distinguishable.
an agency concerned with the problems of long-period
These needs exist over and above the general need for
unemployment involves a risk which has, no doubt,
influenced Congress in its continued refusal to grant
preventive action to which we have already drawn
attention.
permanence to the agencies at present performing this
The individual suffering loss of private income re-
function. It would be unrealistic not to recognize that
quires in the first place the wherewithal to purchase
the will to survive is strong in all agencies. But it is
the minimum requirements of physical existence, This
equally unrealistic not to admit that a large part of
need for maintenance can, and we believe in general
this tenacity is attributable to the understanding which
should, be met by the assurance of the necessary cash
the agency has gained of the vast magnitude of the
income. In the second place, however, certain types
problem and the necessity for continuing appropriate
of health, welfare, and advisory services which are
measures.
essential for well-being are not enjoyed by all persons
Hitherto the Nation has met the issue by refusing
receiving low incomes, including recipients of public
to recognize the essentially persistent character of the
aid, because they are unable to purchase them or
problem. In the long run, this is not a satisfactory
because there is no machinery for supplying them. This
solution. Our analysis of the character of the social
problem of unemployment convinces us that the ques-
type of need cannot be met merely by the assurance of
cash incomes. Moreover, such services can be most
tion is not one of whether or not there should be
effectively supplied by large-scale provision. They call
permanent agencies, but rather how the necessary flexi-
for the expansion and development of community re-
bility can be combined with permanence. For it is
sources and social services. In the third place, unem-
evident that flexibility involving periodic expansions
ployment as such creates problems both for the individual
and contractions of functions and staff must be the
and for society as a whole which require for their solu-
outstanding characteristic of any agency charged with
tion positive policies and constructive measures that aim
continuously planning for and, if necessary, operating
to do more than provide merely for physical mainte-
such programs as may be required. We would draw
nance. The needs created by the loss of work can be
attention to the fact that precisely the same problem
satisfied only by the provision of work.
14
42
15
In a well-organized and wealthy society, it would be
THE BROAD OBJECTIVES OF
difficult to attach predominant importance to any one
PUBLIC-AID POLICY
of these three aspects of the problem of individual
economic insecurity. The solution of all three is essen-
We have no hesitation in saying that if the country
tial to the well-being and stability of the Nation. On
is prepared to sanction only limited appropriations for
the other hand, it cannot be denied that a poverty-
public-aid purposes, these funds should be utilized first
stricken community possessing limited resources would
of all to ensure adequate physical maintenance for all
undoubtedly concentrate on the assurance of physical
our people wherever they reside. But the issue has
maintenance before tackling the other problems. And
never been clearly submitted to the country in this
it is a difficult issue of policy, involving the weighing
form, and we doubt whether it would be seriously con-
of important social values, whether a rich society such
tended that this country is 80 poverty-stricken that it
must face this drastic choice. On the contrary, we
as ours should, if willing to expend only limited funds
believe that the vast productive potentialities of our
on public-aid programs, devote any part of them to the
country offer ample leeway not merely for the as-
solution of the second and third problems until the first
surance of decent maintenance for our people, but also
is satisfactorily solved.
for an expansion of our social services and for the pro-
During the last 10 years, maintenance has been pro-
vision of more nearly adequate opportunity for work.
vided for millions of our people, but there are still seri-
All of our policy recommendations which follow are
ous gaps and inadequacies in this basic provision. On
based upon this premise. It is indeed important to
the other hand, we have begun to recognize that even
observe that much of this expenditure yields a direct
the assurance of physical maintenance is an inade-
economic return to the Nation as a whole. Consumers
quate response to the broad problem of loss or in-
with more purchasing power can absorb the surpluses
adequacy of private income. We have increasingly
of our agricultural economy. Healthier and better-
and simultaneously adopted measures for meeting
adjusted citizens make better and more effective work-
needs other than for physical maintenance, many of
ers; and, given appropriate planning and careful selec-
which, it should be pointed out, were of long stand-
tion of projects, workers employed on public projects
ing. But, because inadequate funds have been avail-
can add as much to the material and nonmaterial
able both to meet the increased need for physical
wealth of the Nation as those employed by private
maintenance and to grapple with the wider problems
enterprise or on what the public still regards as the
now recognized as created by loss or inadequacy of
"normal" functions of Government.
private income, our achievement has been very uneven.
Full appreciation of the character of the problem of
The provision made for the other-than-maintenance
public aid would materially contribute to the clarifica-
needs of the economically insecure population has in
tion in the public mind of the objectives of public pol-
some respects vastly improved. The level of living of
icy. For we are convinced that the American people
many groups dependent on socially provided income
as a whole desire the eradication of the distressing and
has been raised, and they have secured public aid under
disturbing conditions to which this report has called
less restrictive and offensive conditions than in an
attention. In enumerating the broad policies which
earlier period. But, because of the absence of an ade-
should govern national policy in the future, we recog-
quate underpinning system, for certain groups and in
nize that there are many difficulties in the way of their
certain areas bare physical needs are still met not at
attainment and that not all of them can be achieved
all, or at best inadequately. Indeed, as the report
overnight. But we believe that progress toward the
makes clear, in some cases improvement of the position
goal of a better life for the people of our
of certain groups of public-aid recipients has been
country will be more sure and that the appropriateness
purchased at the expense of others.
or inappropriateness of specific measures will be more
16
17
speedily apparent if we have at all times clearly in
must secure adequate and appropriate provision for the
mind the nature of our ultimate objectives.
millions of people directly dependent for their
Our findings concerning the character of the public-
livelihood upon socially provided income. In these
aid problem and our analysis of established programs
times this objective of democracy assumes a new signifi-
lead us to conclude that the major objective of public-
cance. It cannot be dismissed as a mere matter of
aid policy is and should be to assure minimum security
sentimental humanitarianism; it is at once in the eco-
for all our people wherever they may reside, and to
nomic interest of society and the first line of national
maintain the social stability and values threatened when
defense.
people lack jobs or income.
Individual and national well-being is, however, de-
We believe that the assurance of a decent minimum
pendent upon much more than the mere assurance of
of economic security for all our citizens, regardless of
basic economic security. Most of our people desire
place of residence, has become an essential prerequi-
independence and a sense of participation in productive
site for the maintenance of a sense of national unity.
work. The division of our Nation into two groups-
The present emergency, by stressing the strategic sig-
one independent and actively engaged in industry,
nificance of civilian morale and loyalty, reinforces all
agriculture, or commerce, and the other dependent and,
other considerations in support of this conclusion.
although willing and able to work, unable to secure
So long as the recipients of governmental aid consti-
employment or to have any confidence that steps are
tuted an insignificant proportion of the total popula-
being taken to facilitate their absorption into industry
tion, the adequacy or inadequacy of the provision made
within a reasonable period of time-is not a healthy
for them was unlikely to react upon the stability of the
state of affairs.
social system of which they were a part. Suffering
The great security that the vast majority of our
or demoralization of a few individuals here and there
people look for is the opportunity to work at decent
might have offended the susceptibilities of the more
wages. If this opportunity were available for all,
humane and stimulated the more active to agitate for
much of the need for socially provided income would
reform. During severe depressions, marches of the un-
be removed and many of the personal and social mal-
employed and occasional riots served as a warning that
adjustments attributable to idleness and a sense of
inadequate public provision for incomeless persons
difference from the rest of the community would dis-
might have serious social repercussions. But it led to
appear. Furthermore, the extension of the objectives
no serious challenge or widespread loss of faith in the
of public-aid policy to embrace the assurance of work
established order.
opportunity has evident economic advantages. It pre-
We live today in a different world. The tragic de-
vents the wastage and lack of utilization of our greatest
velopments in Europe, the rise of dictatorships, and
productive resource, namely, our labor power.
the collapse there of democratic forms of government
have challenged old assumptions as to the permanence
THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF
of existing institutions. It has become increasingly
PUBLIC-AID POLICY
evident that systems of government inspire loyalty and
faith only if they justify themselves by their works.
Having stated what we believe to be the broad ob-
Political democracy has little appeal unless translated
jectives of public-aid policy, we think it desirable to
into economic realities. To be worth dying for, a
make clear our concept of specific objectives.
political system must make possible a society that is
1. Every measure aiming at the prevention of eco-
worth living in. To those who have nothing to lose,
nomic insecurity must be prosecuted to the full.
any proposed change in the form of government offers
This recommendation follows from the fact that so
at least the illusion of greater economic liberty and
large a proportion of the need for public aid is attribu-
opportunity. Thus, our democracy, if it is to survive,
table to the imperfections in the operation of our eco-
18
19
cated, the record shows that a high degree of success
nomic order (in the form of both incomplete utilization
has characterized this venture.
of all our resources and a high degree of inequality
Acceptance of the policy of public provision of work
in the distribution of incomes), or to remediable per-
undoubtedly involves certain economic and social risks,
sonal physical or psychological defects. The experi-
but much has already been learned from experience.
ence of our own and other countries has shown that
It is now recognized that effective utilization of the
the need for public aid can be materially reduced by
idle manpower of the Nation calls for advance planning
judiciously applied social and economic policies. We
of projects by all levels of government. The great im-
do not believe that the American people will remain
provement in the quality of projects which has char-
satisfied with palliatives when farther-reaching pre-
acterized the Work Projects Administration in recent
ventive measures are available.
years is largely attributable to the accumulation of a
We fully recognize that our recommendation en-
backlog of projects. This in turn has come into ex-
visages the attribution to government of a more active
istence because State and local authorities have to some
role in the economic life of the country. But the
degree begun to regard public provision of employment
nature of the measures to be applied, in view of the
when private enterprise fails to provide it as a normal
size and national character of the problem, leaves no
function of government and to plan for it accordingly.
It is evident, however, that public projects must be
alternative. As a democratic society, we must utilize
subject to expansion and contraction with changes in
every instrument available for grappling with a seri-
the volume of unemployment, and it will be no easy
ous threat to our welfare and our national solidarity.
task to ensure that in periods of relative prosperity
It is a strange and melancholy fact that the people
there is no cessation of the planning activity essential
are prepared to accept the leadership and judgment of
to the scheduling of worth-while projects for adoption
their freely elected government in regard to the needs
as and when they are needed.
and strategy of war and military defense but are dis-
The devising of a variety of projects with sufficient
trustful of it in regard to the needs and strategy of
flexibility to adjust to the changing numbers, character-
peace and economic defense. We believe that the de-
istics, and experience of the unemployed presents real
gree of personal insecurity that now characterizes our
practical difficulties. The imagination and ingenuity
Nation and the admitted failure, hitherto, fully to
which our people have shown during recent years in
utilize our vast productive resources constitute a real
economic and social menace. We are confident that
developing and organizing socially significant and
useful projects encourage us to believe that these
when the American people fully appreciate both the
difficulties will not prove insuperable. Some of these
severity of the situation and the potentialities of the
tools now available to them, they will rise to the chal-
projects may well involve government in certain fields
lenge and prove that their willingness to run the risks
traditionally regarded as the preserve of private enter-
of social engineering is no less than their willingness to
prise. If government is to be forbidden to operate
defend their country from attack from without.
projects which yield products of the type produced by
2. Government should provide work for adults who
private industry, it is difficult to see how one of the
are willing and able to work, if private industry is
major advantages of a work program can be secured:
the maintenance and the creation of skills and work
unable to do 80.
habits which will be in demand when private industry
We see no other way in which one of the most urgent
recovers. Nor, if the scope of public projects is to be
social and individual needs arising from the instability
thus severely prescribed, can it be expected that work
of operation of our economy can be satisfied. During
recent years this country has experimented more ex-
programs will attain another of their major objectives:
the maintenance of the respect of the worker both for
tensively and constructively than any other with the
himself and for the job on which he is employed. The
public provision of work. As we have already indi-
21
20
public must therefore be willing to countenance a di-
3. Appropriate measures should be provided to
versification of the types of projects undertaken by
equip young persons beyond the compulsory school-
government if the full social and economic advantages
attendance age to assume the full responsibilities of
of the public provision of work for the unemployed
citizenship.
are to be secured.
Because the period between-school-leaving and adult-
Admittedly, continuous work for those claiming to
hood is decisive for the formation of both social atti-
be involuntarily unemployed and capable of work can-
tudes and economic potentialities, society has a duty
not, in the economic interests of society, be assured to
and an interest in making the most constructive use
workers regardless of their previous patterns of em-
of these strategic years. We do not, however, believe
ployment or the duration of their employment. But
that it is in the public interest that all young people
here, too, it should be possible to utilize the lessons of
under 21 claiming to be capable of and available for
the past decade, and in our discussion of specific pro-
work should be entitled to expect government to supply
grams we make certain specific suggestions for a more
them with jobs similar to those made available to ex-
effective allocation of the unemployed between work
perienced adults. On the one hand, the great majority
programs and other measures.
of them will have had little work experience and are
Finally, we recognize that the provision of work is,
not "capable of work" in the same degree as experienced
in the short run, a more costly form of providing eco-
adults. On the other hand, it is not in the interests of
nomic security. But we believe that reluctance to
society as a whole that all of them should be "available
countenance large expenditures of this type will be
for work" during these years. Undoubtedly, there
reduced as the public increasingly appreciates the real
are some who would become better-adjusted adults
values of a work program, as compared with other
through being engaged in productive paid work under
methods of providing for the unemployed, and recog-
realistic conditions immediately or almost immediately
nizes the material and nonmaterial gains reaped by
on leaving school. But the greater proportion of them
the community as a whole from the productive utiliza-
would profit by further education and training.
tion of otherwise idle labor. Opposition to such
Whether this may best be accomplished through full-
expenditures will also be lessened by a wider under-
time attendance at an educational institution after the
standing of the contribution toward the achievement
compulsory school-attendance age or through produc-
and maintenance of a high level of national income
tive work with related training will depend on the
that can be made by a well-timed and sufficiently large
characteristics and capacities of the individual youth.
public spending program. In this connection the ex-
In any case, during these formative years all young
perience of the war program should be instructive.
people should be assured of an opportunity to acquire
Hereafter it will be difficult to argue either that a
that degree of formal and cultural education which is
relatively small deficit of $3 to $4 billion will weaken
essential for the exercise of the responsibilities of citi-
the financial standing of the country, or that public
zenship in a democratic society. It is equally desirable
spending does not influence the tempo of economic life.
that, by the time they reach the age of about 21, young
In the last resort we do not face a choice between a
people should have secured through experience the
painful and a painless social policy. The risks and
necessary work habits, discipline, and familiarity with
costs of the policy of public provision of work must
the use of tools and equipment which will place them
be set against the risks and costs of doing nothing.
in a position to compete effectively for employment
We believe that the social costs of prolonged idleness
with other adults. If they have been thus prepared for
and denial of participation in the normal productive
participation in adult economic life, we believe that no
life of the community are 80 great as to overshadow
special measures will be necessary for the age group
the social and economic costs incidental to the provision
21-25, but that they should receive the same treatment
of work by government.
as all other adults.
22
42
23
4. So far as possible, basic minimum security should
security into personal and family life. This is especially
be assured through social insurance.
true when the family has been reduced to complete des-
The case in favor of extending the social-insurance
titution before receiving public aid. Change of eco-
type of security can be briefly stated. First, there is
nomic status in itself also creates problems of social
growing evidence that our people highly prize the
and economic adjustment regarding which professional
privilege of receiving a form of socially provided in-
advice may be desired.
come whose amount is specified in the law and not
It is also obvious that a society operating under con-
related to need, thus avoiding the necessity of under-
ditions of private enterprise would run great economic
going a minute examination of resources or coming
risks in making universally available for an indefinite
in contact with a relief system which still has ob-
period stated security payments unaccompanied by any
noxious associations. Second, the fact that the right
test of need. The danger is particularly acute in regard
to income in certain contingencies has been introduced
to workers in the productive years, especially if the
through contributory insurance systems offers the finan-
differential between the minimum security payment and
cial advantage of securing at least part of the cost of
their normal level of earnings from private employ-
these benefits from prior contributions from the bene-
ment is relatively small. Financially also, the risks of
ficiaries themselves. Third, it seems likely that, once
making any specific sum of money generally available
routines are established, the administration of a system
as a right, with no test of need, are considerable. For,
of benefits provided as a right will prove less expensive
if the sum is to be large enough to provide basic se-
than one in which each individual payment involves
curity for those with no private resources, it will be
minute investigation of each separate case and the exer-
more than is necessary for those with resources of some
cise of considerable official discretion.
kind. Total expenditures will inevitably be much
Great importance must be attached to the social ad-
greater than if payments were graduated according to
vantages of a system which minimizes the degree of
need.
official discretion in matters which closely affect the
These considerations, however, do not in themselves
private life of the citizen. These advantages assume
imply that the social-insurance type of security is
even greater importance as the numbers of persons
undesirable. They point rather to the need for careful
affected increase, and as technical and economic con-
delimitation of the groups to whom social-insurance
siderations appear to point to a continuous exten-
benefits are made available; namely, those who can rea-
sion of the activities of government. We believe
sonably be expected to require little more than alterna-
that the vast majority of our people, including those
tive income when earning power is temporarily or
at any time on relief, can be trusted to make the
permanently lost through reasons beyond their control
best use of whatever funds are given them and to
and who are also unlikely to be deterred from seeking
manage their own lives in an intelligent and orderly
an independent livelihood because of the assurance of
manner.
fixed payments in certain contingencies.
It is evident, however, that in a certain proportion
Furthermore, to the extent that economic uncertainty
of cases there is need for more individualized treatment,
and the fact of destitution tend in themselves to create
calling not merely for greater flexibility and adapta-
a need for advice and even therapeutic treatment over
bility in the sums granted to applicants but also for
and above assurance of income, these considerations
guidance and an opportunity on the part of the appli-
point to as wide an extension as possible of social-
cant to discuss his problems with a trained official.
insurance measures. Social insurance, with its speci-
For many persons, the need for public aid and the con-
fied payments which can be definitely counted upon, is
ditions giving rise to this need, whether death or illness
valuable not only because it provides income but be-
of the breadwinner, unemployment or other catastrophe,
cause it prevents the discouragement and lack of
tend to introduce serious tensions and emotional in-
initiative which uncertainty begets.
24
25
5. A comprehensive underpinning general public-
assistance system, providing aid on the basis of need,
eral public-assistance system is a necessary underpin-
must be established to complete the frame-work of
ning to all the specialized programs and a vital element
protection against economic insecurity.
in any comprehensive social-security system.
The adoption of the policy of publicly provided work
6. Social services which are essential for the health,
for employable adults who cannot find private jobs, the
welfare, and efficiency of the whole population should
development of adequate specialized programs for
be extended as widely and rapidly as possible.
youth, and the extension of the social insurances do
The years 1930-40 have witnessed a notable increase
not remove the necessity for a noncategorical program
in the provision by governmental agencies of certain
capable of providing public aid to all needy applicants
community services, sometimes designed to assist
regardless of the causes of their need. The values of
mainly the public-aid population but often available
the special programs will be realized only if access to
to, and certainly needed by, all low-income groups or
them is restricted to those, and only those, for whom
even by the entire population. Outstanding among
each measure is peculiarly appropriate. In view of
these are health services, both preventive and remedial,
the diverse causes of economic insecurity and the many-
educational and recreational facilities, better housing,
dimensional- character of the needs to which loss of
meals for school children, and technical advice and
income gives rise, it is doubtful whether it will ever
guidance on a wide range of problems occasioned by
be possible to group applicants for public aid and re-
the complexities of modern economic and community
lated services into a manageable number of neatly
life.
arranged and logical categories which neither overlap
We believe that this type of social provision should
nor exclude any needy person, whatever the cause of
be expanded for several reasons. All of the services
his insecurity.
which we have listed make an important contribution
Quite apart from the difficulty of providing for all
to the well-being, not only of the individual but also
types of need through the special programs without
of the community of which he forms a part. Their
detriment to the attainment of the proper objectives
efficient rendering often calls for large-scale organiza-
of each, there are other reasons for believing that the
tion and for the ability to tap the resources of costly
goal of assurance of access to minimum security will
specialists and research organizations. This is notably
not be attained unless there is a comprehensive residual
true of health services. It is obviously impossible for
system of general relief or, as we prefer to call it,
the public-aid population to purchase these services.
general public assistance. The special programs do
But it is equally obvious that, if the much larger num-
not always provide even for those clearly eligible for
bers of the population who possess cash incomes of as
them. The establishment of eligibility frequently
low as $1,000 or less a year are required to purchase
takes time, but the needs of the applicant for mainte-
these services, they can enjoy them to a vastly smaller
nance may be urgent and immediate. Unless there is
degree than is socially desirable.
a residual public-assistance system in which the only
It follows, therefore, that where the national inter-
essential condition of eligibility is need, many appli-
est requires that certain types of service or facility
cants will undergo serious privation. Because pay-
be utilized to the full by the population at large, these
ments on many of the special programs are not adjusted
services should be made freely available and regarded
to need, they cannot be expected to provide for all types
in the same way as elementary- and high-school educa-
of situations. Recipients with unusually large fam-
tion or access to the public employment service. The
ilies, those with special problems, or those incurring
development of the social services in this way has the
occasional and unavoidable expenses will require some
further advantage that it would permit a substantial
supplementary aid.
increase in living standards with a minimum of both
It follows that a stable, effective, and adequate gen-
cost and interference with the wage and price struc-
ture. For since, in the case of medical facilities, the
26
27
need for costly types of service is experienced only by
cating financial responsibilities for this function be-
certain unfortunate individuals, it would be uneco-
tween different levels of government without taking
nomie to aim to provide all individuals with the mini-
into account the other responsibilities of the various
mum cash income necessary to purchase them. In any
governmental units.
case, the attempt to provide through public aid or other
We wish, however, to state our conviction that
measures cash income to each individual which would
orderly and continuous provision of adequate funds
suffice to pay for these services would involve making
for public aid, even when treated as one of several
payments greatly in excess of the incomes normally
normal governmental functions, will ultimately call
yielded by employment in private industry.
for radical revisions of our present intergovernmental
fiscal relationships. Many of the problems that have
FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRA-
arisen in recent years in connection with the financing
of public aid are but an acute manifestation of a more
TIVE PRINCIPLES
general problem with which the country has yet been
We have already stated our conviction that, given a
unable or unwilling to grapple; namely, the lack of
clear understanding of the character of the problem
adaptation and adjustment of the financial arrange-
and the objectives of national policy, the American
ments of government to the new functions (of which
people will discover ways and means to implement
public aid is only one) which government has been
their decisions. The attainment of the objectives we
forced to assume. This lack of adaptation is evident in
have suggested calls for appropriate developments
regard to both the time periods over which budgets are
in the fields of finance and administration. In this
expected to balance and the distribution of fiscal re-
section we indicate some of the major principles which
sources as between the different levels of government.
we believe would be essential to more orderly financing
Many of the new functions call for a period of account-
and administration as well as to a more certain attain-
ing considerably longer than a year, if the best eco-
ment of our goals. The application of these principles
nomic results are to be achieved. And additional
to existing programs and situations will be treated in
functions have been accepted by, or imposed upon, the
the following chapter.
States and localities with little or no consideration
1. The financing of public aid should be provided for
of their fiscal and economic capacity to sustain the
as a normal and continuing function of Government in
expenditures necessary for efficient performance. Any
a revised and reorganized fiscal system.
such basic reconsideration of the appropriateness of
This conclusion follows from our finding that the
fiscal resources to the responsibilities of the various
need for public-aid measures is persistent and will
levels of government is obviously beyond the scope
probably be of considerable dimensions for some time
of this study. We strongly urge, however, that con-
to come. Permanent provision for adequate and or-
sideration be given to the feasibility of such an. investi-
derly support must be as assured as the provision now
gation at the earliest possible moment. For we would
made for education, roads, and other normal responsi-
repeat that the unsatisfactory character of existing
bilities of government. The compartmentalized financ-
intergovernmental fiscal arrangements is not evident
ing of public aid tends to place this function in the
in the field of public aid alone, although, as one of the
position of a financial residuary legatee-an unfor-
newer functions to be supported by government, public
tunate consequence in view of the fact that the need
aid has experienced these difficulties to a peculiar
for expenditures is usually greatest when the fiscal
degree.
resources of government are most strained. The treat-
2. Public-aid financing, even if treated on a com-
ment of public aid as but one of several normal fune-
partmentalized basis, should be coordinated with the
tions of government is also suggested by the facts
broader economic and monetary policies of govern-
given in this report concerning the difficulties of allo-
ment.
28
29
The revitalization of the economy which has accom-
by a reduction in other types of tax or by deliberately
panied the vast national expenditures for defense and
planned compensatory increases in expenditures.
war purposes has again demonstrated that public spend-
The second aspect of the coordination of public-aid
ing directly affects the tempo of economic life. This
financing with broader economic and fiscal policies re-
report has also shown that public-aid disbursements
quires that increasing attention must be paid to the
are now of such a magnitude that changes in their
utilization of public-aid measures as vehicles for the
volume and the methods by which they are financed
implementation of national monetary and economic pol-
play a major role in influencing the character and
icies. If an expansionist program is decided upon,
extent of fiscal measures designed to stimulate the
public-aid measures offer a variety of devices for effec-
economy. These facts must be duly reflected in future
tuating the desired end. Thus, if a rapid increase in
policy, for it is clearly absurd for public policy in one
consumer expenditures is desired, the unemployment
field to defeat the objectives of policy in another. Co-
compensation systems, suitably amended, offer a speedy
ordination of policy would obviously be easier if it
and almost automatically operating mechanism for
were decided to provide for public aid as a normal and
distributing funds to those who will spend them; they
continuing function of government in a revised fiscal
also provide certain safeguards to insure the termina-
system. But, even if public-aid financing continues
tion of expenditures when their objective, the revitali-
for some time to be treated in a compartmentalized
zation of the economy, has been attained. For, unlike
manner, it should be possible to achieve greater coor-
an increase in spending attained through the grant of
dination with the broader economic policies of
more generous assistance to the aged, an increase of
government.
public payments through the unemployment compen-
Coordination of the financing of public-aid measures
sation system will automatically decline as employment
with these broader fiscal and economic policies of gov-
rises, i. e., as the conditions justifying an increase in
ernment has two aspects. In the first place, the specific
expenditures disappear.
financial provisions of public-aid programs must not be
The use of unemployment compensation in this way
allowed to imperil the objectives of public fiscal
will, however, necessitate at least temporary changes
policy. A situation such as occurred in 1937-38, when
in the principles on which the program is now financed,
the imposition of pay-roll taxes undermined the effec-
for it is evident that no increase in consumer purchas-
tiveness of a spending program, must not recur. It.
ing power will occur if the increased disbursements are
does not follow that the integral requirements of social-
financed out of increased wage and pay-roll tax levies.
insurance programs must be sacrificed to the larger ob-
A direct subsidy from the general revenues financed
jective. Social considerations may well dictate the im-
by borrowing will be essential.
position or the increase of such taxes if the integrity
In the same way, if national economic policy should
and the special values of social-insurance measures as
be based upon the assumption that continuous growth
such are to be retained. But in such cases there should
cannot be assured by the automatic functioning of pri-
be full realization of the economic effects of this policy,
vately controlled economic factors, certain types of
and efforts should be made to offset these influences by
public aid-notably work programs and improved
health and welfare services-offer themselves as more
appropriate changes in the other financial activities of
government. Thus, for example, if realization of the
suitable vehicles for implementing a spending policy
objectives of social-insurance measures demands the
than the payment of cash allowances, which call forth
no immediate economic return.
imposition or raising of wage and pay-roll taxes despite
the fact that the Nation has at the same time embarked
3. Rebiance on consumption and earmarked taxes
should in general be avoided.
upon a program of monetary expansion, it would be
The heavy use in financing public aid of sales and
necessary to offset the deflationary effect of these taxes
other consumption taxes, wage taxes, and even pay-
30
31
roll taxes, all of which fall more or less heavily on
low-income groups, is of doubtful wisdom. As we
from State to State. The resultant location of finan-
show in discussing specific programs, in certain circum-
cial responsibility when all public-aid programs are
stances a case can be made for recourse to wage and
considered together frequently fails to correspond to
pay-roll taxes, at least to a limited extent, in the
need or to economic or fiscal capacity. This situation
financing of the social insurances. But no such justi-
must be remedied in any satisfactory long-range
fication applies to the use of sales and other consump-
program.
tion taxes.
In the following pages some specific proposals are
It is obviously contradictory in a series of programs
made toward this end. At this stage it is only neces-
whose major objective is the enhancement of the eco-
sary to observe that any such readjustment of financial
nomic welfare of the lower-income groups to collect
responsibilities for public-aid expenditures will neces-
any substantial proportion of the funds necessary to
sarily result in heavy financial participation by the
finance these measures from the very group whose in-
Federal Government. Both its taxing and borrowing
comes the programs are striving to raise. The greatest
powers are much greater than those of the States and
expenditures will occur in periods of depression because
localities, and, as we have already indicated, the finan-
they will be occasioned by unemployment. At such
cial burden of public aid for many years to come is
times it is particularly important that consumption be
likely to be both large and characterized by sharp fluc-
stimulated rather than curtailed. An increase in con-
tuations from year to year. The practical question in
sumption taxes in such a period would clearly be con-
carrying through any redistribution of financial re-
trary to the economic interests of the Nation.
sponsibilities between levels of government on the basis
Reliance on earmarked taxes to a large degree, with
of the principle we recommend will not be whether the
the possible exception of the social insurances, is also
Federal Government should continue to participate, but
rather where that financial contribution can be made
unsatisfactory. There are few specific taxes whose
yield is not directly affected by the level of economic
most effectively.
activity. Yet the most fluctuating and at times the
5. The objectives of the various special programs
should be clearly stated and distinguishable, and the
most substantial part of public-aid expenditures arises
beneficiaries of each should be only those for whom the,
in periods of economic depression. It is obviously un-
specific type of provision is peculiarly appropriate.
desirable that expenditures should be curtailed at the
Our examination of the characteristics of public-aid
very time when the need for them is greatest, because
recipients and our analysis of the potentialities and
of a decline in the yield of an earmarked tax.
costs of the different measures now operating convince
4. A distribution of financial responsibility for total
us that any satisfactory and comprehensive public-aid
public-aid costs between the various levels of govern-
program must be highly diversified. Programs that
ment is advisable and should reflect differences in need
are obviously suitable for certain types of persons are
and in economic and fiscal capacity.
equally obviously inappropriate for others. Many of
There are wide differences between States, both in
the administrative difficulties of the past few years and
regard to the extent of need for public aid and in regard
much of the inconvenience and uncertainty experienced
to economic and fiscal resources. In many cases the
by applicants, as well as the confusion in the public
inadequacy of access to basic security experienced by
mind, have been due to the lack of clearly marked dif-
some sections of the population is directly attribut-
ferences between the various programs and to the in-
able to the fiscal incapacity of the jurisdictions in
adequate attention given to devising eligibility
which they reside. At the present time the financial
provisions which will admit to each program only
responsibilities of the various governmental units vary
those persons for whom it is appropriate.
from program to program and, for certain programs,
The importance of the kind of clarification of ob-
jectives we have in mind may be illustrated by a single
32
33
example. During recent years the people have been
amount or payable for an unduly and uneconomically
asked to approve measures directed toward satisfying
brief period. Similarly, at various times and places,
the need of the unemployed for work, primarily on the
persons who would not normally be members of the
ground that these measures were needed to provide for
work-seeking population or who are of less than normal
bare physical need. In these circumstances it is not
efficiency have been admitted to the work program, a
surprising that those who are convinced of the im-
situation which tends to discredit the program itself
portance of constructive programs for the unemployed
in the public eye.
have on occasion opposed proposals for a more nearly
More widespread recognition of the character of the
adequate general-relief system on the ground that,
total problem of public aid, of the peculiar values of
because the peculiar and unique values of a work pro-
each special program, and the appropriateness of each
gram are not generally appreciated, public support for
to meet the needs of certain types of the insecure popu-
a work program would be withdrawn if physical needs
lation would promote more intelligent policy forma-
were met. It may well be that in the present con-
tion. Adoption of the principle we recommend would
fused state of public thinking, this danger is real.
mean that it would no longer be possible to contemplate
However, we believe that the remedy is not a perpetua-
extensions or contractions of any given program with-
tion of the confusion, but a more strenuous effort on
out taking into account the existence of related meas-
the part of those responsible for policy determination
ures and the relative desirability of expanding one
to clarify the issues. For in the long run it seems
rather than another. More specifically, it would mean
unlikely that progress can be made by indirection.
that the size of the appropriation for WPA would
Programs whose major aim is to provide work for the
not be determined, as now, mainly by reference to the
unemployed but for which public support has been
fluctuations in the total number of needy unemployed
sought on the ground that they are necessary for the
persons. The relevant additional factors to be taken
assurance of physical maintenance, will be in a pre-
into consideration would be the characteristics of the
carious position when the urgency of the need for
total group of the unemployed, the nature and scope of
maintenance alone becomes less evident. Regardless
the unemployment compensation program (both actual
of whatever may have been the situation during the
and potential), the character and availability of general
last 10 years, we believe that in the future a more de-
relief, and the relative desirability of utilizing these
termined effort should be made to enlist popular sup-
programs to a greater or lesser extent as compared with
port for welfare and work programs by disseminating
work programs for groups with specific characteristics.
a wider understanding both of the specific objectives
Similarly, proposals to extend or liberalize legislation
of these measures and the social and economic gains
for unemployment compensation or old-age and sur-
and costs of putting them into effect. Only if public
vivors insurance would no longer be supported merely
policies are based upon a broad measure of popular
by reference to the illiberality of prevailing benefit rates
understanding and approval of the basic objectives,
or the restrictive character of eligibility requirements.
can there be any hope for stability of policy.
It would be equally relevant, if the implications of the
We attach equal importance to the second part of the
principle we recommend were fully appreciated, to take
principle we have enunciated, namely, that the bene-
into account the availability of work programs, the spe-
ficiaries of each special program should be only those for
cial assistances and general relief and their relative
whom that measure is appropriate. Inadequate atten-
appropriateness for the groups concerned.
tion to this principle in the past has led, for example,
This method of approach to public-aid policy has an
to the inclusion in unemployment compensation pro-
important corollary. It points to the necessity for
grams (where benefits are affected by wage levels and
more adequate and comprehensive data concerning the
stability of employment) of workers whose past earn-
social and economic characteristics of the public-aid
ings would entitle them to benefits of an insignificant
population. Only when this information is available
34
35
can intelligent decisions be made as to the desirability,
First, any constructive attack upon the factors making
from the point of view of both the individual and
for poverty and economic insecurity calls for many
society as a whole, of providing for specific groups on
measures which can only be operated effectively on a
one program rather than another.
national basis. The presence of depressed areas and
6. Although Federal-State cooperation is preferable
stranded populations, calling for revitalization of in-
as a general principle, the allocation of administrative
dustry or transferences of manpower or equipment, the
responsibility for the various programs between Fed-
training of a labor supply and its direction to the places
eral, State, and local governments should be deter-
and occupations where it is in demand, the carrying
mined by reference both to the capacities of the
through of monetary and fiscal policies contributing
different governmental units for the exercise of specific
to recovery, all call for action on a national scale.
financial, policy-forming, technical, and routine admin-
Second, certain important public-aid programs can
istrative functions, and to the national importance
for technical reasons be operated only on a national
attached to the attainment of the objectives of the given
basis. This is the case, for example, with the old-age
program.
and survivors insurance program, which involves a
The many-sided character of the public-aid pro-
semicontractual obligation between government and the
grams, together with the close relationship that neces-
individual, running over a generation. With a mobile
sarily exists between all of them in view of their com-
population, the rights of the insured population can be
mon concern with the problem of economic insecurity,
assured only if the responsible governmental unit is a
precludes the adoption of any simple formula for de-
national one. Economy of operation is also promoted
termining whether administrative responsibility for
if the record-keeping essential to a program of this
public-aid functions is "naturally" or "inevitably" a
type is the responsibility of a single governmental unit.
State or local or Federal concern. The issue is no
Similarly, it is evident that for technical reasons the
longer the simple antithesis of Federal versus local
problems of the transient population cannot be handled
administration.
solely by the smallest political units.
The importance of continuing State and local par-
Third, purely financial considerations also point to
ticipation in the administration of a service so vital
administrative participation of the larger units of
as public aid to the welfare of each community is ob-
government. We have already indicated our reasons
vious. Even had not historical developments and
for believing that heavy Federal financial participation
established traditions suggested the wisdom of this
is inevitable. But all experience demonstrates that it
course, practical considerations would lead to the same
is unwise to divorce administrative from financial re-
conclusion. In a country as large and varied as the
sponsibility. The Federal Government which will, as
United States, policies and programs must necessarily
we believe, be heavily committed financially must exer-
be flexible and adaptable to the peculiar needs of dif-
cise some control over the spending of the funds, not
ferent sections of the country. These objectives are
only in its own financial interest but also because it
necessarily more difficult of attainment in a highly cen-
has a responsibility for assuring the attainment of the
tralized administration. Local interest and initiative,
broad objectives of social security for which the
so important in the maintenance of the democratic
Federal appropriations were made.
tradition, are most likely to be fostered if accompanied
The national importance of the broad objectives of
by a real responsibility for, and participation in, policy
certain public-aid programs will also condition the ex-
formation and administration.
tent to which the Federal Government must accept
On the other hand, it is equally evident that the
responsibility for securing certain minimum standards
Federal Government, as the only available authority
of performance. While there is everything to be said
capable of operating across State lines, must play an
in favor of State experimentation with varying policies
important role in many aspects of administration.
and procedures, our national unity also requires that
36
37
freedom to experiment, including the freedom to take
effective method of speedily attaining the national
no action at all or to continue with policies that have
objective.
proved unsatisfactory or inadequate, must be limited
7. In jointly administered programs, special atten-
by the overriding national interest.
tion should be paid to defining as logically and clearly
The importance attached to minimum adequacy of
as possible the respective responsibilities of the partici-
performance of public-aid measures will vary from
pating governments and to developing techniques for
program to program. Obviously there are many pro-
cooperative action.
grams in which wide differences in performance or
Although the application of the principles we have
even the absence of any program at all constitute no
enumerated in point 6 above may suggest the desira-
threat to the integral unity and welfare of the Nation.
bility of operating certain programs on a wholly Fed-
But there are others (among which we would place
eral, State, or local basis, there will be many which
those assuring that needy Americans can secure ade-
can most effectively be operated on a joint basis. It
quate maintenance, regardless of place of residence,
is indeed to be hoped that some for which Federal oper-
and those implementing the work objective) which we
ation may now seem appropriate may ultimately prove
amenable to joint administration. To an increasing
believe are charged with vital significance for the wel-
degree therefore the distribution of specific adminis-
fare of the whole Nation. Whether the attainment of
trative functions and responsibilities between partners
these objectives, which have a national importance,
in a jointly administered program and the improvement
can be secured by cooperative administration by the
of techniques of cooperation will constitute a major ad-
States and the Federal Government or will require the
ministrative problem in the years ahead.
direct operation by the Federal Government of the
Our analysis of the problems which have confronted
program in certain parts of the country will depend
administrators in recent years suggests that some of
upon the efficacy of the cooperative techniques adopted.
them have been attributable to a lack of clarity as to
Our preference is in general for jointly administered
the precise responsibilities of each partner. The Fed-
programs. The cooperative relationships that have
eral Government has been given a general responsibility
been worked out between the Federal Government and
for certain programs, but the legislation has left to the
the States in connection with various health, welfare,
States a degree of freedom to determine certain char-
and assistance programs under the Social Security Act
acteristics of the programs which is inconsistent with
give much ground for encouragement. It has been
the general responsibilities given to the Federal partner.
demonstrated that a vast improvement in these services
This has occasionally resulted in action by the Federal
has resulted from the joint planning and action of
agency which was undoubtedly consistent with its broad
Federal and State officials.
responsibilities but which could properly be regarded
But we have also to recognize that there may be
by the States as an overstepping of legal authority.
limits to this cooperation, and that the tempo of prog-
Although no hard and fast rules can be laid down
ress by this route may be unduly slow. In such cir-
which would be equally applicable to all programs, we
cumstances the role of the Federal Government in
believe that administrative relationships would be
specifying and ensuring the maintenance of minimum
smoother and that administrative functions would be
standards of performance may involve a supervisory
more efficiently performed if the following principles
relationship that is tantamount to direct operation and
were given greater weight in assigning functions to
more productive of friction than Federal operation
the Federal agencies:
would be. The standards to be satisfied may even be
(a) The Federal partner should be given authority
so extensive that individual States may refuse to par-
to secure conformity with the standards prescribed in
ticipate in the program. In such circumstances direct
the Federal legislation and to promote the coordination
Federal operation may be the only practical and
of the several State policies.
38
39
The number and character of the standards for which
minimum conformity is essential will vary from pro-
the national point of view. The country needs to be
gram to program and from time to time. Some pro-
informed of the extent to which the program as prac-
grams may operate effectively despite wide differences
tically operating is appropriate for the situations it
between the cooperating States in the character of the
was designed to meet, and of the differences in per-
program. Others may require substantial uniformity
formance as between States in regard to some of the
in respect to a large number of legislative provisions.
more readily definable characteristics of the program,
We conceive it to be an important part of the re-
such as the levels of benefits or payments, conditions
sponsibility of the Federal agency to direct attention
of eligibility, coverage, and efficiency of administration.
to areas where the need for coordination of State
On the other hand, the Federal agency should make
policies or for the securing of minimum standards of
available the results of experimentation by the States.
performance is essential. But, to minimize adminis-
The assertion that State operation provides 48 labora-
trative friction between the two participating govern-
tories fostering experiments in policy and methods of
mental units, we believe that the Federal agency should
administration is one of the most powerful arguments
resist the temptation to stretch its present legal powers
in favor of State, rather than national, operation of
over standards or administrative procedures in an ef-
public-aid programs. Yet the advantages of experi-
fort to secure the enforcement of these desired policies
mentation can be secured only if the results of experi-
by indirection. It should rather rely on the possibly
ment are made known and if the experiments are di-
slower but ultimately more satisfactory method of
rected to a common purpose. It is a corollary of this
openly seeking these additional powers from Congress.
function that the Federal agency must have power to
(b) In administering legislation, the Federal agency
ensure the accumulation of basic data on a comparable
should devote increasing attention to the formulation
basis for the country as a whole.
of standards of performance in broad but definitive
Greater clarity as to the respective responsibilities of
terms and abstain from the prescription of detailed
the Federal and State partners and a more logical and
regulations.
appropriate allocation of functions is an essential pre-
If adequate general guides in respect to administra-
requisite for smooth and harmonious administration.
tive activity and to standards to be incorporated in the
But in itself it is not sufficient. We, therefore, attach
State plans could be established, the necessity for con-
great importance to the second part of the principle we
stant Federal interference in the details of administra-
have enunciated, that increasing attention must be
tion would either be eliminated or reduced to a
paid by Federal, State, and local administrators to
minimum. This principle should be applied in cases
perfecting the devices and techniques for cooperative
where the Federal Government has a responsibility for
action.
standards relative to the nature and levels of payments
In particular, methods of consultation between the
made to public-aid recipients, the quality and efficiency
Federal and State administrators should be exploited
of administrative performance, accountability for
to the full. Sound development of policy and effec-
expenditures, and the like. The Federal agency should
tive administration will be fostered if policy decisions
devote increasing attention to the perfection of tech-
concerning both the content of the program (in so
niques of general control which would obviate the neces-
far as this is not defined by legislation) and ad-
sity of case-by-case inspection and direct interference
ministrative policies and requirements are arrived at
with administrative processes at the State level.
after consultation between Federal and State officials.
(c) The Federal agency should be charged with re-
One type of organization through which such coopera-
sponsibility for making continuous evaluative surveys
tive decisions and administrative contacts could be
of the operation of the State programs.
promoted is the semiofficial body representative of
On the one hand, the programs must be studied from
State administrations. We have been impressed by
the success which has attended the annual conferences
40
41
which the Surgeon General is required to hold with
aries for agencies operating closely related programs.
State health officials, and we believe that such institu-
This is especially important in the case of such agen-
tions could with advantage be developed in connection
cies as the Social Security Board, the Work Projects
with other Federal-State programs. The presence of
Administration, and those dealing with unemployed
such an institution would not remove the necessity for
youth. In the third place, in many public-aid pro-
frequent consultations between Federal and State per-
grams, increased authority and responsibility must be
sonnel concerned with the more specialized aspects of
given to the regional officers. Determination of the
administration where more technical problems of com-
precise sphere of their responsibilities will call for
mon interest would be dealt with. Nor would it remove
careful consideration, but experience suggests that for
the necessity for another development to which we at-
many programs, in addition to a high degree of re-
tach some importance, a mutual familiarization of the
sponsibility for approving administrative operations
officials of the two governmental levels with the methods
which otherwise would be referred to the Federal
of approach and with the problems faced by each. This
agency, many policy matters (especially those involving
objective would be fostered by more frequent field visits
the adaptation of broad national policies to the needs
on the part of Federal employees, the object of which
of their respective regions) could with advantage be
would not be inspection or enforcement, but rather the
vested in the regional officers. This would relieve the
acquisition of an understanding of the situations faced
central office of many questions of detail and free it
by State administrators. We should also like to see
for the more appropriate function of over-all coordina-
an exploration of the possibilities of attaching State em-
tion, the development of standards and techniques of
ployees to the Federal administration for limited periods
administrative and budgetary control, and the like.
in order that they may fully appreciate the problems
9. The personnel administering public-aid programs
with which Federal administrators are faced.
should be, fully qualified by training and experience for
8. The advantages of administrative decentralization
the performance of tasks which call for a high degree of
should be explored to the full, especially through a more
skill and professional competence.
constructive development of the regional basis of organ-
The administration of the many-sided public-aid pro-
ization.
grams we envisage cannot be entrusted to poorly trained
Although the efficient administration of many pro-
or politically selected personnel. A high degree of
grams will call for a high degree of centralization, it
skill and professional competence is required to deter-
does not follow that there is no possible centralizing
mine eligibility and administer aid in such a way that
administrative unit larger than a single State but
human values are conserved and that the needy families
smaller than the entire United States. We believe that
and individuals are assisted to make the most of their
fuller utilization of the regional basis of organization
own capacities and opportunities.
offers the possibility of avoiding some of the less
These skills, adapted to the objectives of each pro-
desirable characteristics of highly centralized admin-
gram, are needed by all officials dealing directly with
istration while overcoming some of the limitations of
people who are potential or actual recipients of any
purely State-administered programs.
form of public aid. This applies equally to registra-
A more effective use of the regional basis of organi-
tion, occupational classification, and vocational guid-
zation will call for consideration of a number of prob-
ance in an employment office; to the interpretation of
lems. In the first place, increased attention must be
objectives and procedures, and the rights of the in-
paid to the selection of appropriate regions. Since we
sured, the adjustment of claims, and the consideration
believe that constructive and preventive policies must
of appeals in the insurance programs; to comparable
play an increasing role, the selection of appropriate
contacts and relationships in the work programs; and
areas must reflect this fact. In the second place, every
to the making of loans and grants to farmers.
effort should be made to assure uniform regional bound-
A high calibre of personnel is also called for if the
42
43
intricate relationships which will necessarily exist be-
any time adopted. This contribution to intelligent
tween different agencies and different levels of gov-
planning and sound development of policy can be made
ernment are to operate smoothly and in the public
interest. The story of public-aid administration dur-
only by administrators who combine technical compe-
ing the past decade is one of inventiveness and origin-
tence with an understanding of and sympathy with the
ality in developing new forms of organization which
major objectives of public policy.
in some cases have been set up independently and in
10. Citizen participation in policy formation and
others have been made a part of older administrative
program operation should be encouraged wherever this
is consistent with sound and impartial administration.
structures. Particularly in the special-assistance and
child-welfare fields, the organization of new programs
Full realization of the objectives of public-aid policy
has involved building upon patterns already created,
depends in large measure upon the success with which
and, in many cases, highly developed, in State agen-
the gap that now exists between governmental admin-
cies. The result has been a type of Federal, State, and
istrators and the public can be bridged. All events
local cooperation and a joint approach to common prob-
conspire to increase the role of government in the realm
lems which tend to minimize the administrative diffi-
of public aid. The increase in the magnitude of the
culties encountered in the operation of specialized
task, the growing emphasis on preventive and construc-
tive services, the need for specialized and highly trained
programs on three governmental levels. In conse-
quence, the need for extensive and detailed authorita-
personnel, and the necessity for increased appropria-
tive controls has been lessened. Administrative
tions to secure the desired objectives, all point to utili-
cooperation has fostered a sense of participation in
zation of government and in particular of large units
a common undertaking on the part of Federal, State,
of government, as the only effective instrument for
and local agencies and encouraged a unified approach
implementing many of the objectives of public-aid
to the problems of any given local community.
policy. Yet there is an unfortunate consequence of
This type of cooperative effort has been possible to
what should have been merely an intelligent adoption
the extent that key positions on Federal and State head-
by a democratic society of the instruments available to
quarters and field staffs have been filled by qualified
it for dealing with problems beyond the control of
individuals or scattered groups. We refer to the
personnel, trained and experienced in the specialized
fields which they were supervising. The type of rela-
marked tendency on the part of the general public to
tionship established by such personnel between differ-
assume, once performance of certain functions has been
ent levels of government has been maintained through
assigned to government and particularly to the Federal
Government, that the problem is no longer one with
constructive supervision, consultation, and two-way
which the individual citizen need be concerned. Gov-
interpretation of policies and problems. It has re-
sulted in a growing acceptance on a Nation-wide basis,
ernment and its operating agencies thus come to be
of standards of aid, of service, and of personnel, and
thought of as entirely apart from, if not alien to, "the
also in the acceptance of Federal leadership in estab-
public," and officials are regarded as autocratic or arbi-
lishing these standards.
trary, instead of being what they really are-the ser-
This report has drawn attention to the extent to
vants of the public. We believe that a perpetuation of
this attitude would be little short of disastrous.
which the character of the programs and their evolu-
tion have been influenced by administrative decisions
Enlistment of lay participation both in policy form-
and by the research and data made available by the
ing and in certain administrative aspects of public-aid
different agencies. Inevitably the public must depend
programs offers one method of bridging the gap be-
in large measure upon its administrators for guidance
tween administrators and the public by giving the citi-
and knowledge concerning both the character of the
zen a sense of responsibility for the programs with
problem and the appropriateness of the measures at
which he is connected. It brings to bear upon ad-
ministrators the nonofficial viewpoint and fosters the
44
45
adaptation of programs to existing local needs. Tech-
FINDINGS AND RECOMMEN-
nical assistance can also often be rendered the admin-
DATIONS'
istrator, as when advisory committees representing
employers and workers are attached to employment of-
fices to assist in local labor market analyses or in de-
We have given our reasons for believing that the
termining the technical requirements of certain
adoption of certain policies and the application of
occupational skills.
certain financial and administrative principles would
Equally important is the effect of lay participation
result in a more nearly adequate, well-rounded, and
in interpreting to the public at large the problems with
orderly system of public-aid measures. In summariz-
which government agencies are faced. The citizen
ing these proposals, we wish again to emphasize that,
who can speak from a familiarity with these problems
precisely because we have attempted to develop a well-
and who is personally acquainted with the many types of
coordinated and consistent body of policies and prin-
situation which confront officials can enlist public inter-
ciples, no one of our specific recommendations can be
est and direct criticism along informed lines, as well
considered apart from the whole system of which it is
as defend the agency against unjustifiable attacks.
an integral part.
Finally, lay participation in public-aid policy forma-
In this context, and for the reasons we have given
tion and administration is a valuable channel through
in the preceding pages, we therefore make the following
which the obligations of citizenship can be expressed.
recommendations:
We believe that a large section of our population de-
sires an enhanced civic responsibility and shows a
I. THE PUBLIC-AID PROBLEM
readiness to make a social contribution where it can be
effective. The willingness of citizens to devote time
The American people should base public-aid policy
and energy to assisting in the local draft board ma-
upon the acceptance of the following facts:
chinery of Selective Service operations, and to partici-
1. The need for public aid will be both large and per-
pating in civilian defense activities demonstrates how
sistent for some time to come.
great a response can be expected when the reality and
2. The need for public aid is in large measure caused
significance of the job to be done are made clear. It is
by serious maladjustments in the operation of our
not too much to hope that the problems of public aid
economy and by personal physical or psychological
would call forth the same kind of citizen participation if
defects, many of which can be remedied.
their vital significance for the national welfare were
3. The social problem created by economic insecu-
appreciated.
rity is many-sided and requires for its solution a series
of diversified programs.
II. BROAD OBJECTIVE OF
PUBLIC AID
The over-all objective of public aid should be the
assurance of access to minimum security for all our
people, wherever they may reside, and the maintenance
of the social stability and values threatened when
people lack jobs or income.
This is Chapter XJX of the full report.
47
46
I. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
should be clearly stated and distinguishable, and the
The specific objectives of public-aid policy should
beneficiaries of each should be those, and only those,
be:
for whom the specific program is appropriate.
1. Increasing emphasis upon policies aiming at the
6. Although Federal-State cooperation is preferable
prevention of economic insecurity through a fuller
as a general principle, the allocation of administrative
utilization of our productive resources, including labor,
responsibility. for the various diversified programs be-
and by more comprehensive measures to improve the
tween Federal, State, and local governments should be
health of our people.
determined by reference to:
2. Government provision of work for all adults who
A. The capacity of the different governmental units
are willing and able to work, if private industry is
for the exercise of specific financial, policy-forming,
unable to provide employment.
technical, and routine administrative functions; and
3. Appropriate measures to equip young persons be-
B. The national importance attached to the attain-
yond the compulsory school-attendance age for as-
ment of the objectives of the given program.
suming the full responsibilities of citizenship.
7. In jointly administered programs special atten-
4. Assurance of basic minimum security through
tion should be paid to defining as logically and clearly
social insurance, so far as possible.
as possible the respective responsibilities of the partici-
5. Establishment of a comprehensive underpinning
pating governments and to developing techniques for
general public-assistance system providing aid on the
cooperative action.
basis of need, to complete the framework of protection
8. The advantages of administrative decentraliza-
against economic insecurity.
tion should be explored to the full, especially through
6. Expansion of social services which are essential
a more constructive development of the regional basis
for the health, welfare, and efficiency of the whole
of organization.
population: this expansion should be as wide and as
9. The personnel administering public-aid programs
rapid as possible:
should be fully qualified by training and experience
for the performance of tasks which call for a high
,IV. FINANCE AND ADMINIS-
degree of skill and professional competence.
TRATION
10. Citizen participation in policy formation and
program operation should be encouraged wherever this
The following financial and administrative principles
is consistent with sound and impartial administration.
should be consistently applied in all public-aid pro-
grams:
V. SPECIFIC PROGRAMS
1. The financing of public aid should be provided
for as a normal and continuing function of government
The existing programs should be modified in the light
in a revised and reorganized fiscal system.
of these policies and principles in the following ways:
2. Public-aid financing, even if treated on a com-
1. Federal Work Programs
partmentalized basis, should be coordinated with the
A. To carry out the principle that work should be
broader economic and monetary policies of government.
provided for all adults willing and able to work, a
3. Reliance on consumption and earmarked taxes
Federal work agency charged with responsibility for
should in general be avoided.
developing and operating work programs should be
4. A distribution of financial responsibility for total
established on a permanent basis. The organization
public-aid costs between the various units of govern-
should operate with a high degree of flexibility.
ment is advisable and should reflect differences in need
In developing appropriate projects, the organization
and in economic and fiscal capacity.
should work in close contact with the Public Works
5. The objectives of the various special programs
Programming Division of the National Resources
48
49
Planning Board, the Bureau of Employment Security
of the Social Security Board, and appropriate technical
to the program should not be dependent upon under-
agencies, and with State and local public-works and
going an investigation of economic need. Adequate
welfare administrations. State and local governments
appropriations for a work program and a general
should be encouraged to intensify the efforts now made
public-assistance system would make such a test
to develop long-range public-works planning with a
unnecessary.
view to maximizing the amount of work given during
G. All persons seeking work should be required to
periods of economic depression. It is recognized that
the types and volume of public works which will lend
register at public employment offices and access to the
themselves to such programming will change from time
work program should be through the employment office.
to time. Increasing attention should, however, be
H. Major responsibility for the operation of work
paid to planning for nonconstruction work and service
programs should remain with the Federal Government,
activities.
although every effort should be made further to develop
B. The character of the work performed should be
cooperative relationships with the States and localities.
adapted to the developing needs of the Nation and of
I. Major financial responsibility should be carried
communities for both construction and nonconstruction
by the Federal Government. In sponsored programs
work, including social services. It should also reflect
the share which sponsors are required to contribute
the occupational characteristics and geographical dis-
should reflect the fiscal capacity of the sponsor.
tributions of the unemployed and the probable future
2. Programs for Youth
needs of the economy for workers with specific skills
A. Federal financial aid as needed, to assure educa-
and occupational experience. Necessarily the programs
tional opportunity for all young people above the age
must be flexible and highly diversified.
of compulsory school attendance who desire and can
C. The standards of performance demanded of proj-
benefit by continued schooling, should take the form of
ect workers should be those normally required in private
educational grants. These grants should be distributed
industry and should be strictly enforced.
by the educational authorities and, in determining pay-
D. Rates of remuneration, conditions of employ-
ments to be made to families under public-aid pro-
ment, and hours of work should parallel as closely as
grams, no part of the payments made to enable youth
possible those prevailing in private employment.
to continue schooling should be treated as part of the
Where, however, the work projects are primarily used
resources of the family.
as an instrument for training or retraining, suitable
B. The curricula of the schools should be revised so
training grants should be paid in lieu of wages.
as to provide that all young people obtain meaningful
E. Eligibility for employment on work programs
unpaid work experience in the school or in community
should be restricted to persons normally dependent
service during the period of school attendance.
upon full-time employment and those who are not
C. Apprenticeship should be recognized as an appro-
entitled to receive unemployment compensation benefits,
priate channel for the occupational adjustment of
or whose unemployment is likely to persist for an ex-
youth.
tended period of time. Persons undergoing short spells
D. Young people who are not in full-time attendance
of unemployment and partially unemployed workers
at schools or institutions of higher learning or who are
should not normally be assigned to work-project em-
not in private employment should be provided with pro-
ployment. Special work projects, limited in duration,
ductive work for a wage. The character of work and
should be devised for farmers and agricultural workers
the wages paid should reflect the inexperience of the
during slack seasons.
young workers. Both resident and nonresident types
F. Eligibility for employment should be determined
of programs are desirable. Special stress should be
by relative employability and need for work. Access
placed upon the educational aspects of the work and
50
upon the inculcation of work habits and disciplines and
51
familiarity with the use of a variety of tools. The
provide at least partial compensation for loss of income
hours of work and related training should be the
attributable to permanent or temporary disability.
equivalent of full-time work. Close relations should
B. Unemployment Compensation
be maintained between the educational authorities re-
The unemployment compensation system should be
sponsible for related training and the administrators
of the youth work programs.
strengthened and expanded in the following ways:
E. All young people seeking public work should be
(a) Coverage should be extended to embrace seamen
required to register at public employment offices, and
and employees of nonprofit corporations and of firms
they should be referred to the various special programs
employing one worker or more. The inclusion of
by this service. Access to the youth work programs
workers in domestic, agricultural, and other low-paid
should not be limited to young people in economic need.
employments should be considered in relation to the
F. Eligibility for the youth work programs should be
patterns of employment, the character and amount of
ordinarily restricted to persons under 21 years of age un-
their earnings, and the feasibility of devising a benefit
less it can be shown that, because of the absence of pub-
formula which will yield them significant payments.
lic provisions, they have not had access to special youth
Consideration might be given to the desirability of
programs or have not had adequate work experience
developing a separate system with its own eligibility,
through private employment prior to reaching this age.
benefit, and contribution provisions for agricultural
G. Facilities for counseling and güidance should be
workers.
made available to all young people and their parents.
(b) The duration of benefits should be extended to
The actual counseling should be performed by the
26 weeks and should be uniform for all eligible
schools and the public employment service. The em-
workers.
ployment service, through a special youth-service unit,
(c) The benefit formulas should be reconsidered with
should act as the local coordinating body.
a view to assuring benefits which will enable the vast
H. All youth programs should devote special atten-
majority of recipients to maintain themselves for a
tion to the physical health of youth, and financial
period up to 26 weeks without recourse to supplemen-
provision should be made accordingly.
tary payments under other forms of public aid. The
I. The youth work programs should be financed and
payment of dependents' allowances would be a first
administered on a national basis, and the present CCC
step in this direction.
and NYA out-of-school work programs should be com-
(d) Eligibility rules should be revised so as to admit
bined in a unified administration. Local sponsorship
to insurance benefits only workers whose past earnings
of work projects should be encouraged so long as this
and employment records offer a presumption that they
is consistent with the development of work projects
will draw significant benefits from the system and yet
appropriate to the needs of youth.
not such amounts as to induce them to prefer benefit
status to self-support. The adoption of duration of
3. Work Programs for the Handicapped
past employment in place of previous earnings as a
Further study should be given to the development
criterion of eligibility should be explored.
of therapeutic work programs for those with special
(e) Experience rating should be abandoned. If ex-
physical and mental handicaps and disabilities.
perience rating is retained, minimum Federal standards
4. The Social Insurances
relating to eligibility, duration, and amount of benefit
are essential.
A. Disability Insurance
(f) The present Federal-State system should be
The existing protection against economic insecurity
replaced by a wholly Federal administrative organ-
through social-insurance measures should be expanded
ization.
by the development of a system of social insurance to
(g) There should be a single national unemployment
52
53
compensation fund, part of which should be drawn
or supervision of the plan. The Federal administra-
from general tax sources. If, however, the system is
tive agency should be the Social Security Board.
not placed upon a national basis, a reinsurance system
Where a State refuses to comply with the Federal re-
accompanied by Federal standards relating to eligi-
quirements in accordance with the Federal law or re-
bility, duration, and amount of benefit should be
frains from participation in the program, the Federal
developed.
Government should have the power to operate the pro-
C. Old-Age and Survivors Insurance
gram within that State with Federal personnel until
The old-age and survivors insurance system should
the State demonstrates its ability and willingness to
be strengthened and made more widely available by the
reassume its responsibilities, provided:
following changes:
(a) That a public hearing should be called at which
(a) Coverage should be extended to employees of
the Federal Government should show why this step is
nonprofit corporations. Additional groups of em-
believed to be necessary and at which the State gov-
ployees should be covered as rapidly as it can be
ernment should have an opportunity to answer the
demonstrated that they will receive adequate or
allegations; and
significant benefits from the system.
(b) That the hearing should take place within the
(b) Continuing study should be given to the feasi-
State concerned.
bility of revising the benefit formulas and the mini-
D. In addition to the provisions laid down for the
mum-earnings eligibility requirement, with a view to
special types of public assistance in the Social Se-
making it possible for the vast majority of covered
curity Act relating to availability of aid throughout
workers to qualify for benefits and to enabling the
the State, selection of staff on a merit basis, the assur-
system to offer significant monthly benefits to a larger
ance of appeal rights, and the rendering of reports to
proportion of the low-paid and irregularly employed
the Social Security Board, the States' plans for general
workers. Periods of involuntary unemployment, sick-
public assistance should provide:
ness, and military service should not impair eligibility
(a) That public assistance may not be denied any
for and amount of benefits.
person by reason of race, sex, marital or employment
(c) The general principle of a governmental con-
status, or failure to have resided within the State for
tribution to the costs of the program should be spe-
more than one year.
cifically embodied in legislation.
(b) That public assistance should be administered
in accordance with general standards adopted under
5. General Public Assistance
rules and regulations of the Social Security Board
A. In addition to adequate work and social-insur-
relating to adequacy of aid and methods of payment.
ance programs, there should be a comprehensive gen-
(c) That the same standards regarding eligibility
eral public-assistance program.
(other than residence) and assistance given shall be
B. There should be a Federal grant-in-aid for gen-
applied to persons with less than one year's residence
eral public assistance, which should be available on
as to the remainder of public-assistance recipients.
a basis reflecting differences in need and economic and
6. Special Types of Public Assistance
fiscal capacity as between the States. The States
should be required to distribute Federal and State
A. Public assistance now provided for special groups
monies within their political subdivisions on a similar
such as the needy aged and blind and dependent children
should be continued with such modifications of existing
variable basis. The costs of public assistance granted
to persons with less than one year's residence in a
provisions as are necessary to develop a more fully
State should be a wholly Federal charge.
coordinated program. Consideration should be given
C. The system should be administered through a
to extending the categories to embrace all groups whose
single State agency responsible for the administration
need for socially provided income is likely to be rela-
55
54
tively permanent or of long and predictable duration.
D. Free school lunches should be provided for all
B. The present equal-matching Federal grant should
school children.
be replaced by a grant in which the amount of the
E. The bulk distribution of surplus commodities
Federal contribution would take into account dif-
should be replaced by the stamp plan, and greater
ferences between the States in need and in economic and
efforts should be made to prevent the availability of
fiscal capacity.
commodities from concealing the inadequacies of gen-
C. The States' plans should provide for a distribu-
eral public assistance or from leading to a reversion to
tion of Federal and State monies within their political
payment in kind. Surplus commodities should be
subdivisions in accordance with relative need and fiscal
available to the entire low-income population and not
capacity.
D. The Federal act providing aid to dependent
merely to public-aid recipients.
children should provide specifically for payments to
8. General Administrative Arrangements
mothers. Grants under the aid-to-dependent-children
A. The merit system should be extended upward,
program should be comparable in adequacy with those
downward, and outward for all personnel in the field
for the aged and the blind.
of public aid. Opportunity for employment on these
7. Public Social Services
programs should not be restricted on the basis of resi-
A. Public social services essential to the health, edu-
dence in a particular State or locality. Greater use
cation, and welfare of the population should be avail-
should be made of inservice training and staff-
able throughout the country, especially in areas which
development programs. Interchange of staff between
are disadvantaged in respect to income and taxable
Federal, State, and local governments should be
wealth. In most communities, marked expansion of
encouraged.
present services will be required in order to achieve
B. Appropriations for administrative costs, which
these objectives. The planning and administration of
directly condition the size and quality of staffs, should
public social services should be lodged in the appro-
not take the form of a uniform percentage of the total
priate agencies of government and responsibility for
costs of any program but should be variable, depending
their development should be shared by local, State, and
on the character of the job to be done.
Federal authorities. The administration should be in
0. In every community there should be a central
the hands of qualified full-time personnel selected on
information office responsible for informing applicants
the basis of merit.
of the availability of community resources, both public
B. It is essential that public provision be made for
and private, and putting them in touch with the admin-
meeting the needs of our people for more adequate
istrators of measures appropriate to their needs.
medical care. Toward this end the Federal Govern-
D. The administration of all public-assistance pro-
ment should stimulate, assist, or undertake constructive
grams operating within a locality should be the
action to provide such care for the millions of our peo-
responsibility of a single agency, which should be the
ple whose need cannot be fully met from their own
channel of access to all programs where eligibility is
resources. Such a program should include adequate
based upon need.
provision for promoting the health of mothers and
E. Access to all programs offering employment or
children.
training should be through public employment offices.
C. State and local child-welfare services for the pre-
The federalization of the employment service should
vention of child neglect and delinquency and for pro-
be continued as a permanent policy. The work of the
moting adequate care of children requiring special
employment service in developing an intimate knowl-
attention should be expanded with the assistance of
edge of the labor market, mechanisms for interstate
available. the Federal Government so as to be everywhere
exchange of labor, vocational guidance, and counseling,
as well as its activities in the administration of unem-
56
57
ployment compensation, should be further developed.
The activities of the public employment service along
SECURITY, WORK, AND RELIEF POLICIES
these lines in the defense period should be incorporated
into the permanent program of the agency. The em-
A REPORT BY THE
ployment service should be empowered to make advances
COMMITTEE ON LONG-RANGE WORK AND RELIEF POLICIES OF THE
to workers for the purchase of tools and the payment
NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
of fares, to give financial assistance to those incurring
TABLE OF CONTENTS
heavy costs due to geographical transference, and to
INTRODUCTION BY THE NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
pay training allowances to workers undergoing ap-
proved training courses.
PART I. EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC-AID PROGRAMS*
F. The Federal Security Agency should be given the
CHAPTER I. PUBLIC AID: ITS NATURE AND PROBLEMS
status of an executive department, and the Administra-
The Increasing Importance of Public Aid
tor should be given the status of a member of the
The Changing Character of "Relief"
Cabinet. The agency should be vested with primary
The Meaning of Public Aid
The Problems of Public-Aid Policy
and continuing responsibility for promoting and safe-
The Necessity for Policy Evaluation
guarding the general welfare, health, and education
CHAPTER II. THE PROBLEM OF ECONOMIC INSECURITY, 1930-40
of the people. Continuing study should be given to
General Economic Conditions
the basis of organization of the-agency and to its
The Agricultural Situation
relationship to other agencies administering related
Unemployment
public-aid programs.
Inadequacy of Incomes
G. There should be established a permanent national
Public Recognition of the Problem
advisory body charged with the function of studying
CHAPTER III. THE EVOLUTION OF POLICY AND PROGRAMS, 1930-40
and advising the President, the Congress, and the
Relief Prior to 1930
Major Developments, 1930-40
country on the over-all operation of public-aid policies
The Predominant Role of the Federal Government
and programs.
The Expanding Role of State and Local Governments
H. Similar advisory bodies, composed of representa-
The Changing Content of Public-Aid Measures
tives of public and private agencies and of the public,
The Service Aspects of Public-Aid Programs
Health and Welfare Services
should be established at the State level, charged with
the function of investigating State and local needs for
CHAPTER IV. THE PROGRAMS OPERATING IN 1940
public aid in relation to existing community resources,
Measures for the Unemployed
both public and private.
Measures for the Aged
Measures for the Agricultural Population
1. Greater efforts should be made to bridge the gap
Provision for Dependent Children
between administrators and the public by increased
Provision of Income to the Sick and Disabled
efforts on the part of public agencies to inform the
Noncategorical Programs
public of the purposes, achievements, and limitations
Community Services
of public-aid programs; by citizen participation in
CHAPTER V. THE RECIPIENTS OF PUBLIC AID
policy-making and in appropriate phases of administra-
The Volume of Public Aid
Characteristics of the Public-Aid Population
tion; and by more effective use of the co-operation of
Persistence of the Public-Aid Problem
private welfare agencies which have a necessary part
*In the sense used throughout the Committee's report, "public-aid" programs fall into three general
to play in this enlarged conception of public welfare
classes. Some of these programs are aimed to give employment to those willing and able to work.
service.
They included the Work Projects Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, National Youth
Administration, Public Employment Service, and Rural Rehabilitation loans. Others, such as old
J. All public-aid programs involving Federal par-
age and survivors insurance, railroad retirement insurance. State unemployment compensation systems,
ticipation should include Puerto Rico and the island
railroad unemployment insurance, and workmen's compensation, aimed to provide workers in certain
comingencies with assured income free of any requirement to undergo a test of need. A third group
possessions, except where constitutional provisions
of programs provided assistance to persons who could satisfy the authorities that they were in need.
forbid.
Among these were the special public assistance programs developed under the Social Security Act.
58
the farm security grant program, and general relief.
59
PART IV. THE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC AID
PART II. PUBLIC AID PROGRAMS AND THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER XIII. THE PROBLEM OF ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION AND
CHAPTER VI. Is PUBLIC AID AVAILABLE TO THE NEEDY POPULATION?
COORDINATION
Limitations of the Special Programs
Limitations of General Relief
Administration of Diversified but Related Programs
The Extent of Unmet Need
Administrative Participation of Several Levels of Government
Differences in Access to Public Aid
Administration of Diversified Programs by Several Levels of Gov-
ernment
CHAPTER VII. THE LEVEL OF LIVING PROVIDED TO RECIPIENTS OF PUBLIC
AID
CHAPTER XIV. ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
The Personnel of Federal Agencies
Measurement of Levels of Living
General Relief
Personnel of State and Local Agencies
Special Public Assistances
Inadequacy of Administrative Staffs
Receipt of Surplus Commodities Only
CHAPTER XV. ADMINISTRATION AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Federal Work Programs
Dissemination of Information by Federal Agencies
Social Insurances
Dissemination of Information by State and Local Agencies
Differences in Levels of Living Afforded by Public Aid
Public Participation through Advisory Committees
Social Cost of Low Living Standards
Lay Participation in Administration
CHAPTER VIII. THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH PUBLIC Am Is AVAIL-
Nonofficial Organizations of the Public
ABLE
PART V. PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Security as a Right under the Social Insurances
Other Safeguards for Self-Respect
CHAPTER XVI. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Payment in Cash
The Extent of the Need for Public Aid
Differences in Access to Preferable Forms of Public Aid
Ten Years of Experiment and Evolution
The Social Challenge of Economic Insecurity
CHAPTER IX. SPECIAL MEASURES FOR THE EMPLOYABLE POPULATION
The Assurance of Maintenance
The Public Employment Service
The Public Social Services
Work Programs for the Unemployed
Work, Guidance, and Training for the Employable Population
Special Programs for Youth
The Financing of Public Aid
Employment Opportunities for Farmers
Public-Aid Administration
PART III. FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF
CHAPTER XVII. PUBLIC-AID POLICY: THE SELECTION OF ENDS AND
PUBLIC-AID MEASURES
MEANS
CHAPTER X. THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL DISTRIBUTION OF FINANCIAL
The Character of the Problem
RESPONSIBILITY FOR PUBLIC-AID PROGRAMS
The Broad Objectives of Public-Aid Policy
Distribution of Financial Responsibility between Levels of Gov.
The Specific Objectives of Public-Aid Policy
ernment
Financial and Administrative Principles
Forces Making for Extensive Federal Financial Participation
CHAPTER XVIII. THE EFFECTUATION OF CONSISTENT PRINCIPLES AND
Evaluation of the Extent and Character of Federal Aid
POLICIES
Intrastate Problems of Public-Aid Financing
The Character of Preventive Policies
CHAPTER XI. THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE DISBURSEMENT AND COL-
Provision of Work and Training for the Unemployed
LECTION OF PUBLIC-AID FUNDS
Assurance of Minimum Security
Forces Affecting Recovery
Expansion of the Social Services
Influence of Public-Aid Disbursements and Collections on Pur-
The Financing of Public Aid
chasing Power
Administration
Appropriateness of Taxes Used to Finance Public Aid
CHAPTER XIX. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
CHAPTER XII. THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE OPERATION OF
PUBLIC-AID PROGRAMS
Direct Contribution to Production
Effect of Public-Aid Programs on the Total Labor Supply
Effect of Public-Aid Programs on the Labor Supply Available for
Private Employment
Public-Aid Programs and Labor Mobility
61
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1943
60
PSF
Postular Planning
NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD
PAMPHLETS
(For sale by the Superintendent of Documents)
After Defense-What? 5 cents
After the War-Full Employment. 5 cents
Better Cities. 5 cents
The Consumer Spends His Income. 10 cents
Housing-The Continuing Problem. 10 cents
PSF: Post War
Planning
MEMORANDUM
February 23, 1943
TO:
Mr. Harry L. Hopkins
FROM:
Oscar Cox
SUBJECT: Post War Planning on the International Front
There appears to be considerable ferment in Congress
on post war planning.
A half dozen Congressional committees conducting
simultaneous investigations will only succeed in confusing
public opinion and will keep important officials occupied
jumping from one committee room to another Such hearings may
also be used by some witnesses as & forum for the expression
of views which may have an embarrassing effect upon the con-
duct of the war.
It might be unwise for the Administration to offer
a bill at this time to serve as a basis of Congressional hearings.
Such a measure, if too specific, will provide a target for hos-
tile critics. If too general, it may lead to discursive, un-
coordinated and unhelpful hearings.
The approach should be more flexible.
One possibility is a commission consisting of four
members of the Senate, four members of the House and four persons
appointed by the President. Such a commission could do most of
its work at the beginning in executive session. In this way
there could be frank disclosures and discussions of important
issues. The commission might be charged with the duty of sub-
mitting interim reports to Congress at frequent intervals. These
reports would keep Congress informed of what was being done with-
out violating the confidences reposed in the commission. These
reports too would be of great value in educating public opinion.
At some later time after the necessary preparatory work
was concluded, the commission could hold open hearings on various
of the subjects studied by it. I believe that this is the most
feasible way of making Congress feel that it is actively partici-
pating in the shaping of the post war world. More important, it is
- 2 -
the principal way of giving Congress a vested interest in the inter-
national arrangements which are essential to an enduring peace.
The establishment of a commission might be suggested by the
President in a full-dress message, personally delivered, in which the
tone and scope of the inquiry could be set. This, I believe, would
be preferable to sponsoring a specific Administration bill.
Oscar lot
PSF: Post War Rhi
spending
MEMORANDUM
June 5, 1943
TO:
Mr. Harry L. Hopkins
FROM: Oscar Cox
You may be interested in the attached figures from a recent
national survey on post-war spending.
If a bold and appealing program for full employment after
the war is not gotten out, I should think-if these figures are right-
we might be in store for a pretty good depression. Without an
emotional feeling that there is going to be full employment, people
naturally would be inclined to hold their savings for what they think
may be a rainy day. Thus the backlog of savings might not be used to
keep the wheels going when the war is ended.
Oscar lox
Attachment
POSTWAR SPENDING OF WAR BONDS AND STAMPS
Have you bought any war bonds or stamps?
Yes
83%
No
17
100%
Asked of those who had bought bonds:
As you see things now, do you expect to spend a good part of this
money right after the war for things you need, or do you expect
to save the money for a while?
Spend right after war
11%
Save for a while
73
Not sure
16
100%
-/-
FEDERAL
POST DEFENSE AGENDA
OPERATING AGENCIES
1. Plans for Demobilization
Liaison - Gulick & Millett
Selective Service System
a. Release of men from the armed forces
1) Over what period of time?
Reemployment responsibilities
2) In what order of skill, previous
under law, Employment
occupation, ago, length of service?
committees, plans for progress-
3) Be returned to place of enrollment
ive demobilization of men.
or encouraged to go elsewhere?
Cost of Living Branch, Bureau
4) Size of dismissal pay. if any?
of Labor Statistics, studies
of 1918-20 experience.
5) How be absorbed into peace-time
Employment Trends - Blaisdell & field offices
Occupational Outlook Branch,
employment?
Employment Stabilization Section
Bureau of Labor Statistics
forecasts of peace-time production needs
analysis of labor demands for
post-defense projects.
6) Desirable arrangements for new training?
Office of Education make
training plans?
PSF: amount
b. Release of men from defense employment
1) How rapidly should defense contracts be
Selective Service System
cancelled or terminated?
plans for progressive demobili-
2) Should dismissal wage be larger than
zation of defense contracts
present unemployment compensation?
Bureau of Employment Security
plans to increase contributions
and enlarge benefits.
3) How can defense workers be absorbed into Employment Stabilization Section
Occupational Outlook Branch,
peace-time employment?
forecasts of peace-time production needs
Bureau of Labor Statistics
analysis of labor demands for
post-defense projects.
4) What provisions should be made for re-
Office of Education
training defense workers?
training plans?
-2-
FEDERAL
+
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
C. Use of defense plant
1) To what extent can defense plant
Industrial Location Section
Occupational Outlook Branch,
be used to meet peace-time pro-
analysis of defense plant and relation
Bureau of Labor Statistics
duction needs?
to peace-time demand
Bureau of Foreign & Domestic
Commerce, Department of Commerce
analysis of defense dislocations,
by industry and by area
projection of trends.
2) To what extent can defense
Industrial Location Section
machinery be converted to peace-
study of conversion possibilities?
time production?
3) What federal assistance, if any,
should be given to defense plant
conversion?
d. The maintenance of defense economic
controls
1) How long should price controls be
Office of Price Administration.
retained after cessation of
No plans, merely exploration
hostilities?
of sentiment.
2) How long should priorities controls be
retained?
3) Should peace-time production receive
immediate priority?
4) What other defense controls should be
retained and how longt
NRPB
FEDERAL
OPERATING AGENCIES
2. Plans with private enterprise
Liaison (with private groups) - Qulick
and Millett
a. Encouragement of private initiative
Business Advisory Council, Depart-
ment of Commerce.
Regional Representatives, Bureau of
Foreign & Domestic Commerce
1) What will be the potential volume
Stabilization Section -
Cost of Living Branch, Bureau of
of industrial production after defense?
Labor Statistics - sample studies
of consumer expenditures
2) What will be the possible and desirable
projection of consumer expenditures
Bureau of Home Economics and Bureau
expansion in service activities?
at full income levels
of Agricultural Economics
Studies of rural consumption
3) What will be the capital require-
ments for private enterprise?
projection of capital requirements
Bureau of Foreign & Domestic
Commerce - studies in relation of
physical output to capital require-
ments
4) Over what period of time can and
Business Advisory Council and Bureau
will additions to private capital
of Foreign & Domestic Commerce -
plant be programmed?
projected studies in capital budget-
ing by private enterprise
b. Government Aids and Controls
1) Will a long-range government program
clearly defined and quantified help
business confidence?
2) What government actions in tax
field, patent law, or elsewhere
will encourage private initiative?
3) How can a government insure that its
Anti-Trust Division, Department of
programs have desired economic effect
Justice - dotermination of enforce-
of increasing production rather than
ment policy
merely raising prices?
4) What new forms of industrial organization
and of government subsidy may be required
to encourage maximum operation by private
enterprise?
- 4 -
FEDERAL
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
C. Industrial Location
1) Is the existing pattern of
industrial location
undesirable?
2) Where should future industrial
plant be encouraged to locate?
3) Should some existing facilities
be moved?
4) What assistance or controls should
government exercise in order to
improve the industrial location
Industrial Location Section
pattern?
3. Plans for public activity
a. Improvements in physical facilities.
1) Urban Development
Urban Development & Conservation-
Federal Housing Administration -
Ascher
studies of land ownership, costs of
rebuilding, possible impact upon city
finances in selected areas.
a) How can large areas of urban land
be publicly acquired for systematic
redevelopment?
b) How can urban facilities, including
streets, terminals, recreational
facilities, and public buildings be
replanned 80 as to provide maximum
living satisfactions?
c) How can low income families be ade-
Census Bureau - data on 1940 housing
quately housed?
conditions
U.S. Housing Authority - estimates of
housing needs.
d) What government controls of and
assistance to private housing construo-
tion are needed?
o) What federal government financial
assistance to urban redevelopment is
desirable?
- 5 -
FEDERAL
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
2) Rural Works
a) What efforts are needed to
Subcommittee on Rural Works, Department
conserve our soil resource?
of Agriculture
b) What plans are desirable for
reforectation?
c) What improvements in public
facilities for the rural pop-
ulation are needed - school
buildings. hospitals, recrea-
tional facilities, etc.?
d) How should rural housing con-
ditions be improved?
e) What plans are needed to bring
electrification to rural areas?
3) Conservation & Development of
Energy Resources Committee
Energy Resources
Bureau of Mines, Interior Department
a) What are prospective trends
Fuels Division, Office of Price Admin-
in coal use related to avail-
istration
able supply? What plans to
regulate use are desirable?
b) What are prospective trends in
petroleum use related to
Petroleum Conservation Division, Interior
available supply? What plans
Department
to regulate use are desirable?
c) What are prospective trends in
gas use related to supply?
What plans to regulate use are
desirable?
d) What are prospective trends in
use of electric energy related
Power Division, Office of the Secretary
to supply? What plans are
of the Interior
desirable to expand electric out-
Federal Power Commission
put?
e) What are capital requirements for
expansion of energy resources?
Securities & Exchange Commission
- 6 -
FEDERAL
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
f) How can electric energy be
most satisfactorily distrib-
uted?
4) Drainage Basin Development
Water Resources Committee
a) What drainage basins are in
Army Corps of Engineers, Subcommittee on
need of adequate flood con-
Rural Works
trol facilities? Extent?
b) Whare are efforts required to
abate stream pollution and
improve water supply? Extent?
c) Whore are river navigation
facilities in need of develop-
ment? Extent?
Army Corps of Engineers
d) What are prospective needs for
Bureau of Reclamation, Interior
irrigation?
Department
e) What river developments can be
used for hydro-electric power?
f) What recreational possibilities
arise in river development?
5) Transportation Development
Inter-Regional Highway Committee
Civil Aeronautics Authority
U.S. Maritime Commission
a) What are prospective transportation
loads by various modes?
b) What improvements will be required
in existing and additional facilities?
c) How can transportation facilities be
integrated?
6) Improvements in Land Use
Land Committee
Department of Agriculture
Department of the Interior
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FEDERAL
NRPB
OPE RATING AGENCIES
continued:
a) What are acreage require-
ments to provide food of
adequate dietary standard?
b) What are prospective demands
for industrial raw materials
from the soil?
d) What is the prospective
export demand for soil
products?
d) What are prospective needs
for recreational land?
Forest land? game refuges?
e) What shifts in land use are
destrable?
£) What publiccontrols are
needed to regulate land use?
7) Programming Public Improvements
Division C - Herring
All Construction & Supervising Agencies
Public Works Reserve
a) In what order and over what period
of time are desired and needed
public improvements to be con-
structed?
b) What additions to capital plant
will be required to do the
necessary buildng?
c) How should construction organization
be improved?
- 8 -
FEDERAL
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
b. Development of Service Activities
Committee on Program Planning, Federal
1) Health, Nutrition and Medical Care
Security Agency
Interdepartmental Committee - Office of
Defense Health & Welfare Services
Public Health Service
a) What are minimum desirable standards for feeding
and preserving the health of the
population?
b) What extensions and improvements in public
service are required to meet these standards?
2) Education, including all youth activities
Reeves & Hanna
a) What improvements are desirable in
educational service?
b) How can we improve services generally
needed by youth?
c) How can we improve youth training for
productive activity in our society?
3) Recreation
a) What improvements are needed for the
maintenance of an adequate recreational
service?
4) Library
a) What improvements are needed for the
maintenance of an adequate library
service?
5) Cultural Activities
a) How should the government actively foster
music, painting, and dramatic efforts?
6) Research
a) What steps are needed to improve research
into physical and social aspects of our
national activity?
- 9 -
FEDERAL
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
7) Programming of Service Activities
a) Over what period of time are
various service plans to be put
into effect?
11) Plans for Social Security
Relief Committee, Haber & Burns
Committee on Program Planning, Federal
Security Agency
Subcommittee on Rural Welfare, Department
of Agriculture
a) Unemployment
1) What improvements in coverage, compensation,
and administration of unemployment
insurance are desirable?
b) Old Age Assistance
1) How can we better provide for adequate
security to all over working age?
c) Family Allowances
1) How should we insure that all
families have income sufficient to
maintain a tolerable minimum
standard of living?
d) Special Aids
1) What additional services are required
for dependent children, mothers, the
blind, the physically handicapped?
- 10 -
FEDERAL
NRPB
OPERATING AGENCIES
5) Plans Affecting Labor Force
a) Internal Population Trends
National Resources Committees
Bureau of the Census
Problems of a Changing Population
1) What will be the aggregate
population of the United States
over the next thirty years?
2) How will this population be
divided by sex and age groups?
3) How will this population be
divided into families and single
individuals?
b) Labor Force
1) How should the populations gainful
workers be divided among indus-
trial, service and agricultural
occupations?
2) What kinds of vocational training
LabaRelation
will be required to provide for
effective utilization of our
available labor force?
c) Migration Problems
1) In the light of desirable utilization
of labor force, what will be the pop-
ulations division by urban, rural,
non-farm and farm dwellers?
2) What shifts will accordingly be
required?
3) Where will new occupational oppor-
tunities be located?
d) Immigration Problems
1) Should immigration into the United
States be encouraged in order to
add to our productive resources?
6) Plans for Financing and Fiscal Policy
a) The size of financial outlays
Stabilization Section
Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System
1) #hat will be the prospective
volume of investment required to
maintain full employment?
- 11
MRPB
FEDERAL
OPERATING AGENCIES
2) That will be the prospective capital
requirements for private enterprise
in peace-time production at full-
employment levels?
3) What will be the required size of
the complementary capital investment
by government?
b.) Government Revenue
Department of Treasury, Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System
1) What proportion of the required gov-
ernment outlay should be met by taxa-
tion and what by borrowing?
2) What special methods of financing, such
as non-interest bearing notes, might
be used?
3) What changes in the monetary system are
desirable
4) How should the tax structure be altered
to effectuate post-defense objectives?
c) Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations
Department of Treasury
1) Is duplication of tax sources among
various levels of government inefficient
and uneconomical?
2) How can such duplication be eliminated?
3) Should the federal government assume
greater fiscal responsibility for state
Unitary Administration
and local activities?
?) Plans for Regional, State and Local Participation
Regional Offices, Drainage
9 Regional Planning Committees,
Basin Committees, State and
Department of Agriculture
Local Planning Agencies
12 Regional Representatives,
Department of Commerce
Public Work Reserve
3) Inventories of Regional and Area Resources
and liabilities.
b) Consideration of Regional and Area Needs.
c) Preparation of Regional and Area Plans.
d) Application of National Plans to Regions
and Areas.
- 12 -
FEDERAL
OPERATING AGENCIES
8) Plans for International Collaboration
Department of State
Economic Defense Board
a) The role of the United States in promoting
better world-wide utilization of resources
and world advancement in living standards.
b) The repercussions of the United States trade,
currency, lending, commodity stabilization,
and other foreign policies upon domestic
production and employment.
0) The influence of United States domestic
programs for full employment upon world
relations.
PSF: Post War Plans
ADDRESS OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS
THE SECRETARY OF
STATE TO
WASHINGTON, D. c.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
WASHINGTON
October 10, 1943
MEMORANDUM FOR
THE HONORABLE STEPHEN EARLY,
FROM BRECKINRIDGE LONG.
My dear Steve:
The attached is self-explanatory. It consists
of a letter to me from Judge Ewing Cockrell with the
President. request that I forward the underlying to the
A copy was also enclosed and it is being sent to
the Post-War Studies Committee in the Department.
And
FORVICTORY
BUY
UNITED
STATES
DEFENSE
BONDS
AND
STAMPS
NATIONAL COUNCIL AND DIRECTORS
BANFORD BATES. Excutive Director Boys Clubs JOHN DEWEY, Professor of Philosophy. Columbia ROSCOE POUND. Professor of Jurisprudence and
of America: former Director U. 8. Bureau of
University: former President American Psycho-
Government, Harvard University: former Com-
Prisons, President American Prison Association:
logical Society and American Philosophical Society
missioner Nebraska Supreme Court
Commissioner to International Prison Congresses
OSCAR HALLAM. former Justice Minnesota
HOMER G. POWELL. Chief Justice Cleveland
E. W. BURGESS. Professor Sociology University
Supreme Court and Chairman Minnesota Crime
Court of Common Pleas: former prosecutor
of Chicago; former President American Hoclo-
Commission
AUGUST VOLLMER, Professor of Criminology.
logical Society
HERBERT HARLEY, Organizer and Secretary
University of California, former President Inter-
ARTHUR CAPPER. U. 8. Senator: former Gor-
American Judicature Society
national Association of Chiefs of Police
ernor of Kansas
JAMES M. HEPBRON (Secretary), Executive
MARY E. WOOLLEY, Chairman International
EWING COCKRELL (President): former prose-
Director Raltimore Criminal Justice Commission
Justice Commission of Churches of Christ:
eutor and Judge circuit court of Missouri
and Baltimore Community Chest
former President Mount Holyoke College: officer
JOHN W. DAVIS. former state and federal legis-
LEWIS E. LAWES. former Warden Bing Sing,
of schools in six countries
lator. Molicitor General, President American Bar
President American Prison Association and In-
Association and Ambassador to Great Britain
ternational Delegate to Prison Congresses
(Council and Directorate being enlarged)
UNITED STATES FEDERATION OF JUSTICE
(Incorporated as an educational body in the District of Columbia, 1928)
TO PROMOTE THE SUCCESSES OF LAW ADMINISTRATION
Hotel Van Cortlandt,
New York Office: 41 Park Row
142 West 49th Street,
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
October 6,1943.
Honorable Breckinridge Long,
State Department;
0018-1943
Dear Mr. Long:
MR. LONG
I think enclosures may be such important matter that I am sending you
copies for yourself and the originals which I trust you will get to the Pre-
sident. (Or if you think preferable, tell me how to send them so they will
reach him). I hope to be in Washington soon and to have the opportunity
to consult you about various steps involved in the enclosures.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Ewing Cockrell
NATIONAL COUNCIL AND DIRECTORS
BANFORD BATES. Excutive Director Boys Clubs
JOHN DEWEY. Professor of Philosophy, Columbia
ROSCOE POUND, Professor of Jurisprudence and
of America: former Director U. M. Bureau of
University: former President American Psycho-
Prisons, President American Prison Association:
Government, Harvard University: former Com-
logical Society and American Philosophical Society
missioner Nebraska Supreme Court
Commissioner to International Prison Congresses
OSCAR HALLAM. former Justice Minnesota
HOMER G. POWELL, Chief Justice Cleveland
E. W. BURGESS. Professor Hoclology University
Supreme Court and Chairman Minnesota Crime
Court of Common Pleas; former prosecutor
of Chicago; former President American Socio-
Commission
logical Society
AUGUST VOLLMER, Professor of Criminology,
HERBERT HARLEY, Organizer and Secretary
University of California, former President Inter-
ARTHUR CAPPER, U. R. Renator: former Gov-
American Judicature Society
national Association of Chiefs of Police
ernor of Kansas
JAMES M. HEPBRON (Secretary). Executive
MARY E, WOOLLEY, Chairman International
EWING COCKRELL (President); former prose-
Director Baltimore Criminal Justice Commission
Justice Commission of Churches of Christ:
cutor and Judge circuit court of Missouri
and Haltimore Community Chest
former President Mount Holyoke College: officer
JOHN W. DAVIS, former state and federal legin-
LEWIS E. LAWES. former Warden Sing Sing,
of schools in six countries
lator, Holicitor General, President American Bar
President American Prison Association and In-
Association and Ambassador to Great Britain
ternational Delegate to Prison Congresses
(Council and Directorate being enlarged)
UNITED STATES FEDERATION OF JUSTICE
(Incorporated as an educational body in the District of Columbia, 1928)
Telephone
TO PROMOTE THE SUCCESSES OF LAW ADMINISTRATION
Hotel Van Cortlandt
Bryant 9-6410
New York Office: 41 Park Row
142 West 49th Street,
October 6,1943.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
The White House;
My dear Mr. President:
1. Enclosed compilation shows a support of immense value, never yet made
public, for the basic peace measures or foundations of yourself and Secretary
Hull. You will note specially (a) the unexpected and decisive support of them
all by Senator Taft (I.have his full speech sent me from his office), and (b)
the fact that if carried out they should more than satisfy Russia's aims for
a strong peace.
2. Enclosed tentative program for a first international force for peace
does carry them out under conditions thatamparently would be fully approved
by the Senate and all United Nations governments. And it can be inaugurated
by sole executive action.
Both these are to carry out the urgent wish in Secretary Hull's last
year's address endorsed by you (July 23d) for"the development of an informed
public opinion" on "fundamental postwar policies". They and a tentative
program for general welfare organization are to be publicized as fully as pos-
sible and submitted to 1,000 American leaders for criticisms and suggestions
and full reports thereof sent you and Secretary Hull and Congress.
In view of the coming conference at Moscow, I send these advance copies now
to you and Secretary Hull and Assistant Secretary Long in the hope they may be
of present service.
From the standpoint of intrinsic effectiveness for peace everything you
are doing is working out admirably.
With good wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Ewing Cockrell
You may recall that I worked with Louis Howe in your pre-Convention cam-
paign in Missouri in 1931-32, visited and reported on Senator Reed and Governors
Woodring and Bryan of Kansas and Nebraska and sent you varied campaign material-
directly and through Frank Walsh.
/
MERICAN LEADER S' TEN FOUNDATIONS FOR PEACE
1. Disermament of Axis or aggressor nations
2. Police or force under international control to prevent war or aggression
3. Fair treatment of Axis peoples
4. A body or procedures to secure peaceful settlement of any international dispute
5. Victorious Allies to hold armamentsand decrease them as they feel secured.
6. The peace to help bring more freedom to peoples
7. Mutual aid between nations, especially to the week
8. International cooperation for betterment insall fields of human life
9. International organization on a wide and voluntary basis
10. Special postwar cooperation by the United States, Britain, Russia and China
Each of these is approved by from five to ten of the following leaders:
SENATOR AUSTIN, Assistant Senate Republican Leader
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER, and
EX-GOVERNOR STASSEN
EX-AMEASSADOR GIBSON
SENATOR TAFT
SECRETARY HULL
VICE-PRESIDENT WALLACE
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE OWEN J. ROBERTS
WENDELL WILLKIE
They are approved (one or more) by these authorities:
Thirty-two United Nations
Ambassador Halifex
American people (Gallup poll)
President Carl J. Hambro, Norway Parliament
British People (Gallup poll)
Foreign Minister Trygvie Lie, Norway
Ane rican Legion
Ex-Governor Alfred M. Landon
American Institute of Judaism
Ex-Governor Herbert H. Lehman
Senator Bell
Senator Lucas
Assistant Secretary of State Berle
Senator Maybank
President Benes, Czechoslovakia
Senator McClelland
Senator Burton
Vice-Premier Jan Mazaryk
British Federation of Industry
Minister of Home Security Herbert Morrison
British Labour Party
Supreme Court Justice Murphy
British Liberal Party
Ex-Senator Norris
Governor John W. Bricker, Ohio
Presbyterian General Assembly
Senator Bulow
Minister Walter Nash, New Zealand
Senator Byrd
Republican Postwar Advisory Council
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler
Republican Postwar Policy Association
Archbishop of Canterbury
Premier Stalin
Catholic Association for International
Foreign Minister T. v. Soong, China
Peace - Committee Report
Sir Arthur Selter
Prime Minister Churchill
Earl Selborne, Minister of Economic Warfare
Senator Connally
Viscount Simon, Lord Chancellor
Sir Stafford Cripps, Lord Privy Seal
Premier Jen Smuts, South Africa
Viscount Cranborne, Secretary of State
Prime Minister Sikorski, Poland
for Dominion Affairs
Maximilian Steenberge, Chairmen of the Mission
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
from tle Netherlands
Governor Derden, Virginia
Marian Seyda, Polish Minister of State
Governor Dewey, New York
Senator Thomas, Utah
General De Gaulle
Senator Truman
Foreign Secretary Eden
Governor Warren, California
Senator Hatch
Under-Secretary Welles
Senator Hill
Queen Wilhelmina
Supreme Court Justice Jackson
Dr. Wang Chung Hui, Secretary General Chinese
Judge John C. Knox
Supreme National Defense Council
Confidential
/
Page 1.
AMERICAN LEADERSHIP FOR WORLD PEACE.
(Compilation by Ewing Cockrell.)
This is a compilation of ten foundations for postwar peace that are
substantially approved by foremost American public leaders. They are taken
from over six hundred statements of specific postwar peace measures made
since the war began by over one hundred fifty United Nations governments
and public and private leaders. These are distinctive features:
1. The American leaders differ among themselves in the whole
range of foreign policy - from "internationalism" to "isolationism."
2. The ten foundations are also approved by many United Nations
governments and leaders.
3. They constitute the greatest unity of American leadership on
postwar peace in the past one hundred years of our history and
its three wars.
4.
These agreements are on more solid, practical foundations for
peace than they were ever before in the world's history approved
by governments and leaders of nations with such power to carry
them out.
5. All these ten foundations have been successfully followed for one
hundred fifty years by the American people.
They constitute a real peace policy, as distinguished from a
total foreign policy. They do not attempt to cover trade, boundaries,
colonies, governments, and all the other things on which nations may
have dealings with each other. Thus limited to peace alone, these
diverse leaders and all peoples, can agree on them.
6. By all these agreements we are actually winning the peace today -
taking the first steps which must be taken and most of which were
never before taken in world relations.
The ten peace foundations are:
Disarmament of Ax1s or aggressor nations;
Police or force under international control to prevent war or aggression;
Fair treatment of Axis peoples.
A body or procedures to secure peaceful settlement of international disputes.
Victorious Allies to hold armaments and decrease them as they feel secured;
The peace to help bring freedom to peoples;
Mutual aid between nations, especially to the weak (with gain to all);
International cooperation to promote betterments in all fields of human life;
International organization on a wide and voluntary basis;
Special postwar cooperation by the United States, Britain, Russia and China.
Page 2.
DISARMAMENT OF AXIS OR AGGRESSOR NATIONS.
1. VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"Obviously the United Nations must first have machinery which can
disarm and keep disarmed those parts of the world which would break
the peace". (Washington Post, Dec. 29, 1942.)
2. EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
"The first cure for militarism is to break up the military class
or caste in Germany, Italy and Japan. Its descent and traditions
must be interrupted and destroyed. And the only way to achieve this
18 by complete disarmament." (Collier's, June 19, 1943.)
3. SENATOR TAFT:
"During the transition period the world will be dominated by the
United Nations. The Axis nations will be completely disarmed and
subjected to every penalty which seems wise and effective." (Speech
at Grove City College, May 22, 1943.)
4. SENATE REPUBLICAN ASSISTANT LEADER AUSTIN:
"We intend that the Germans, Italians and Japanese shall be liqui-
dated by disbandment and be prevented from reviving by the annihilation
of the facilities for the production of weapons of war." (Congressional
Record 1943, page 5497.)
5. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
For "the disarmament of "nations which threaten, or may threaten,
aggression outside of their frontiers." (In the Atlantic Charter).
6.
GOVERNOR STASSEN:
"To these temporary governments, under United Nations' supervision,
would fall the task of disarming the Axis nations, maintaining order
within them and seeing to it that their criminal leaders were brought
to punishment." (Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1943.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Governments of 31 United Nations
Viscount Cranborne, Secretary of
Under Secretary Welles
State for Dominion Affairs
Secretary Knox
Earl Selborne, Minister of Economic
Senator George W. Norris
Warfare
Senator Lucas
Lord Van Sittart, former Under
Senator Ball
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Senator Elbert D. Thomas (Utah)
Prof. Friedrich w. Foerster, former
Ex-Governor Alfred M. Landon
German Minister to Switzerland
Prime Minister Churchill
Albert C. Crzesinski, former Prussian
Foreign Secretary Eden
Minister of the Interior
President Eduard Benes, Czecho-Slovakia
American Legion
Premier Sikorski, Poland
Republican Postwar Advisory Council
American Institute of Judaism
Republican Postwar Policy
Herbert Morrison, Minister of Home
Association
Security
Page 3.
POLICE OR FORCE UNDER INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TO PREVENT WAR OR AGGRESS ION.
SENATOR TAFT:
n
"Undoubtedly the Axis nations must be policed, and they must be policed
either by the national armies, or perhaps by a special police force represent-
ing all the United Nations." (Speech at Grove City College, May 22, 1943.)
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
"A security commission made up of Russia, Britain and the United States
might well police the peace of Europe during the transition period until the
political reorganization of the Continent is completed. A similar commission
including China could do the same for Asia."
(As reported by Forrest Davis, Saturday Evening Post, April 10, 1943.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
"A comparatively small air force in the hands of the Trustees of Peace
with appropriate bases could in a disarmed world preserve order and prevent
aggression."
(Colliers, June 19, 1943.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"Obviously the United Nations must have machinery which can disarm and
keep disarmed those parts of the world which would break the peace."
(Washington Post, Dec. 29, 1942.)
SECRETARY HULL:
"...the United Nations must exercise surveillance over aggressor nations
until such time as the latter demonstrate their willingness and ability to
live at peace with other nations."
(N.Y. Times, July 24, 1942.)
GOVERNOR STASSEN:
"To be effective, a United Nations police will consist of modern air,
naval and land units. It can be manned by volunteers on a quota basis from
the members of the United Nations." (Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1943.)
WENDELL WILLKIE:
For "the Malayan Peninsula and the islands of the Southwest Pacific",
to "be wards of the United Nations, their basic commodities made freely
available to the world, their safety protected by an international police
force;"
(New York Herald-Tribune, Nov. 22, 1942)
SENATOR AUSTIN:
Favors separate military forces but employed by the international
"council" of the United Nations.
For "supreme military power in the United Nations such employment
of separate forces as the United Nations now use jointly."
(Congressional Record, June 7, 1943,p.5496-7)
Page 4.
OTHER SUPPORTING AUTHORITIES AND LEADERS.
The most striking support was the vote in the Congress of the United
States. It passed a Resolution signed by President Taft June 14, 1910,
appointing a Commission --
"to consider constituting the combined navies of the world an
international force for the preservation of universal peace."
This was passed by unanimous vote, not a Democrat or Republican voting
against it. (It was submitted to the nations but opposed by Germany.)
Recent expressions have been assembled from the following:
American People (Gallup Poll)
Republican Post-War Policy Assn.
British People (Gallup Poll)
Prime Minister Churchill
Senator Ball
British Labour Party
Senator Burton
Federation of British Industries
Senator Connally
British Liberal Party
Senator Hatch
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
Senator Hill
Sir Stafford Cripps
Senator Guffey
Viscount Cranborne, Secretary of
Senator Lucas
State for Dominion Affairs
Senator Maybank
Premier Sikorski, Poland
Senator McClelland
Foreign Minister T. V. Soong
Senator Thomas (Utah)
Carl J. Hambro, President Norwegian
Senator Truman
Parliament
Under-Secretary Welles
Marian Seyda, Polish Minister of State
Ex-Gov. Alfred M. Landon
Ex-Spanish Minister Salvador de
Judge John C. Knox, Senior Judge
Madariaga
U.S. District Court in New York City
Andre Istel, former advisor to Reynaud
Ambassador John G. Winant
Ministry
Governor Darden of Virginia
American Legion
Governor Dewey
Governor Earl Warren
Page 5.
FAIR TREATMENT OF AXIS PEOPLES.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
For "the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished,
of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the
world which are needed for their economic prosperity." (Atlantic Charter.)
SENATOR TAFT:
"we must assure to each one of these nations (European) and groups
of nations the raw materials which they require to feed their people
and develop their industrial life. We must secure to each an outlet for
sufficient PRODUCTS at least to pay for those raw materials." (Speech at
Grove City College, May 22, 1943.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
"Proposals forcibly to dismember Germany are a folly that would
add only to the economic and political balkanizing of Europe.
"We cannot have both revenge and peace. We must make such a
setting as will give the decent elements in Axis peoples a chance to lead
their comrades on to the paths of peace." (Colliers, June 19, 1943.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"The next peace must give the defeated aggressor nations the
opportunity to buy raw materials and sell manufactured goods without
discrimination as long as they do not produco offensive weapons and
engage in economic and psychological warfare or treat their labor un-
fairly." (N. Y. Times, April 9, 1941.)
JUSTICE ROBERTS:
Approves, "The combination for the Axis peoples of both force, when
needed, and friendship." (Written statement, April 7, 1943.)
GOVERNOR STASSEN:
"Certainly the prospects for less anarchy and more orderly progress
after this war depend, in some considerable measure, upon the treatment
meted out to our defeated enemies There is and there will be hate,
But it 1s not too soon to make it plain that hate is not the answer to
our problems; that by using it we can neither destroy anarchy nor build
a better order." (Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1943.)
ALSO APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE BY:
Governments of 31 United Nations (Atlantic Charter)
Senator Norris
Baron Van Sittart
Under Secretary Welles
Archbishop of Canterbury
Prime Minister Churchill
Lord Nathan
Premier Stalin
Halvdan Koht, former Foreign
Queen Wilhelmina
Minister of Norway
Vice Premier Jan Masaryk
Judge Knox
British Labour Party
Justice Murphy
Ambassador Halifax
Page 6.
VICTORIOUS ALLIES TO HOLD ARMAMENTS AND DECREASE THEM AS THEY FEEL SECURED.
SENATOR TAFT:
"Our people will not agree to disband their Army and Navy, or reduce them
to impotency. I feel equally confident that England has no such intention and
that Stalin has no such intention." (Speech at Grove City College, May 22, 1943.)
WENDELL WILLKIE:
For "our country" ... to "retain adequate military, aeronautical and naval
strength to implement and, if necessary, protect and enforce, its foreign
policy."
(N. Y. Times, August 13, 1943.)
GOVERNOR STASSEN:
"It 1s beyond argument that for many, many years, the individual United
Nations, including the United States of America, must and will maintain strong
armaments of their own. They will serve a double purpose - to back up the
United Nations legions, if necessary, and to serve as a safeguard against a
breakdown or perversion of the government of the United Nations of the World."
(Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1943.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
"...if the realistic experience of former world wars is any criterion,
even without definite organizations, the victorious powers will with military
means dominate the world for so long as their interests do not clash. They will
need to do so at least during a period of political and economic recuperation."
("The Problems of Lasting Peace", p. 263.)
JUSTICE ROBERTS:
Approves, "No requirement that Britain, Russia, United States or China
disarm until each feels satisfied it is protected against future aggression."
(Written statement, April 7, 1943.)
ALSO APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE BY:
Justice Jackson
Prime Minister Churchill
Secretary Jesse H. Jones
Lord Halifax
Senator Norris
Republican Postwar Advisory Council
Senator Ball
American Legion
Judge John C. Knox
Page 7.
A BODY OR PROCEDURES TO SECURE PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF ANY INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES.
JUSTICE ROBERTS:
Approves "An international tribunal to prescribe, when needed,
such peaceful procedures for the settlement of disputes as will pre-
vent war or aggression."
(Written statement, April 7, 1943.)
SENATOR TAFT:
Goes beyond the dispute and approves specific use of force by the United
States after an international body has decided there is aggression result-
ing from a dispute. Thus:
"...I believe that within carefully-defined limits we should. be willing
to take an active part in maintaining peace. Insofar as Europe 1s con-
cerned, I believe that obligation should be a secondary obligation after
the Council of Europe has made every possible effort and failed. In
America and the Far East we might assume a much more direct interest, and
prompt American action in those areas, when the proposed League of Nations
has found some nation to be an aggressor, may well prevent the development
of a world war." ..... "I see no less of sovereignty in a treaty binding
us to send our armed forces abroad, on the finding of an international body."
(Speech at Grove City College, May 22, 1943.)
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
"A sort of master commission, with each region represented, might
sit permanently as an executive council on problems of friction between
nations that might lead to war." (As reported by Forrest Davis, Saturday
Evening Post, April 10, 1943.)
SECRETARY HULL:
"It 1s plain that one of the institutions which must be established
and be given vitality is an international court of justice."
(N. Y. Times, July 24, 1942.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
"It (a 'world institution') should be authorized to take cognizance
of controversies and seek to bring about the peaceful settlement of them."
"It might well be considered that there should be one agency solely
to apply pacific means to controversies and to have no powers of force.
Upon the failure of pacific settlement, there might be a second agency
to step in and apply the force."
(Colliers, June 26, 1943.)
GOVERNOR STASSEN:
"Finally, a world code of justice 1s essential in an orderly
world.
....... A United Nations court should be established to ad-
minister this code, its members named by the supreme courts of the
various nations."
(Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1943.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"Probably there will have to be an international court to make de-
cisions in case of dispute."
(Washington Post, Dec. 29, 1942.)
Page 8.
SENATOR AUSTIN:
"...there must be international organization for strategic secur-
ity comprising council, court and military power.'
"...Judgments involving peace should be referred to the council
in whom the power 1s vested to order out the military."
(Congressional Record, June 7, 1943, pp.5496-97.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Justice Jackson
Secretary Welles
Senator Ball
Judge Knox
Senator Burton
Prime Minister Churchill
Senator Hatch
Viscount Simon, Lord Chancellor
Senator Hill
Republican Post-War Policy
Association
Senator Guffey
British Liberal Party
Senator Maybank
Dr. Wang Chung-hui, former judge
Senator McClelland
of Permanent Court of Inter-
Senator Truman
national Justice
Senator Thomas
Page 9.
THE PEACE TO HELP BRING MORE FREEDOM TO PEOPLES.
SENATOR TAFT:
"If we prevail in the war, it 1s undoubtedly true that the principles
FOR WHICH WE STAND WILL BE STRONGER THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. The world will
have to be made over in any evont and we can certainly establish a system
of which liberty is the cornerstone in every country where we have the
power to do it and the people appear to want it."
(Speech at Grove City College,May 22,1943.)
SECRETARY HULL:
For "the full measure of our influence to support attainment of freedom
by all peoples who by their acts show themselves worthy of 1t and ready for
it."
(New York Times, July 24, 1942.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"The people are on the march toward even fuller freedom than the most
fortunate peoples of the earth have hitherto enjoyed." (Congressional
Record,
May 11, 1941, P. 1823.)
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
"respect (s) the right of all peoples to choose the form of govern-
ment under which they will live."
(Atlantic Charter)
WENDELL WILLKIE:
Declared in Chungking that "he expected to dedicate his life to
urging a postwar world, "where all men can be free and with governments of
their own choosing." (Associated Press account, Washington Evening Star,
Oct. 7, 1942.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
Favor freedom for India, Burma, Indo-China, Malay States and Dutch
Indies. ("The Problems of Lasting Peace", p. 229.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Governments of 31 United Nations
Under Secretary Welles
(Atlantic Charter)
Governor Lehman
Senate Majority Leader Barkley
Governor Dewey
Senatur Burton
Senator Thomas of Utah
Justice Murphy
Page 10.
MUTUAL AID BETWEEN NATIONS, ESPECIALLY TO THE WEAK.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
In the Atlantic Charter: "They desire to bring about the fullest
collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object
of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and
social security."
SENATOR TAFT:
"We can help a people to help itself, and we ought to do so by reasonable
trade arrangements and by assisting countries which wish to improve their
industry, commerce and agriculture."
(Speech at Grove City College, May 22, 1943.)
GOVERNOR STASSEN:
"Neither is it right that we play Santa Claus to other nations. But
it is sound that we help other nations to help themselves."
(Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1943.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"Older nations will have the privilege to help younger nations get
started on the path to industrialization, but there must be neither
military nor economic imperialism."
(Congressional Record, May 11, 1941, p. A1824.)
SECRETARY HULL:
For "machinery through which capital may - for the development of the
world's resources and for the stabilization of economic activity - move on
equitable terms from financially stronger to financially weaker countries.
(New York Times, July 24, 1942.)
JUSTICE ROBERTS:
Favors "mutual aid between the members of the (international postwar)
organization."
(Written statement, April 7, 1943.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Thirty One United Nations Governments
Arthur Greenwood, Labour Leader
(Atlantic Charter)
Sir Stafford Cripps
Senate Majority Leader Barkley
Prime Minister Smuts
Secretary Knox
General De Gaulle
Asst. Secretary of State A. A. Berle, Jr.
Julius Deutsch, former Austrian
Justice Murphy
War Minister
Judge John C Knox
Governor Dewey
Premier Stalin
Republican Post-War Policy
Association
Foreign Secretary Eden
Page 11.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION TO PROMOTE BETTERMENTS IN ALL FIELDS OF HUMAN LIFE.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
"With victory assured, our foreign policy must be focused upon finding
the most effective means of enriching our lives - spiritually, morally and
materially - through all the ways in which international relationships con-
tribute to this end."
(N. Y. Times, Oct. 4, 1942.)
SENATOR TAFT, speaking about the Four Freedoms, particularly from fear and want:
"I don"t believe that we went to war in order to assure these freedoms
to every nation in the world, but certainly if they can be established as a
result of the war, we wish to attain them."
(Grove City College Address, May 22, 1943.)
SECRETARY HULL: looks forward to a peace after which
"The nations of the world will then be able to go forward in the
manner of their own choosing in all avenues of human betterment more
completely than they have ever been able to do in the past."
(N. Y. Times, July 24, 1942.)
SENATOR AUSTIN:
"I believe we have reason for the hope that is in us that beyond this
horizon there may extend a broader vision illumined by more enobling causes
for harmonious joint progress with endless possibilities."
(Congressional Record, June 7, 1943, p. 5496.)
JUSTICE ROBERTS:
Approves "international organization to promote advances in all fields
of human life."
(Written statement, April 7, 1943.)
WENDELL WILLKIE:
"We seek to break down the economic barriers of the world so that the
peoples of the world may live richer lives." (N. Y. Times, July 30, 1942.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"International organization can build permanent peace only by serving
continually the needs of the common man everythwere for jobs, opportunity,
health and security."
(N. Y. Times, September 12, 1943.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Thirty One governments of the United Nations
Jan Van Den Tempel, Netherlands
(In Atlantic Charter)
Minister of Social Affairs
Senate Majority Leader Barkley
Paul Leon Steenberge, Chairman
of the Mission from The
Gov. John W. Bricker, Ohio
Netherlands
Ambassador Halifax
Wang Chung Hui, Secretary
General Supreme National
Lord Privy Seal, Sir Stafford Cripps
Defense Council of China
Walter Nash, Minister from New Zealand
Page 12.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON A WIDE AND VOLUNTARY BASIS.
SENATOR TAFT:
"I supported the League of Nations in 1920
"In my opinion, international cooperation must be worked out along the
same general lines suggested in the League of Nations."
(Grove City address, May 22, 1943.)
(Note: The League was open to every nation and action in it was by
the voluntary vote of every nation.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and former AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
"Our belief 18 that
the method of representation will approximate
that of the League."
(Colliers, June 23, 1943.)
SECRETARY HULL:
"There must be international cooperative action to set up the mechanisms
which can thus insure peace.
"Participation by all nations in such measures would be for each its
CONTRIBUTION toward its own future security and safety from outside attack."
(N. Y. Times July 24, 1942.)
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
"He hopes that the war time alliance known as the United Nations may be
developed into a society of free states, less ambitious and constraining than
the League of Nations, but organic and capable of growth.'
the President looks with favor on the model furnished by the inter-
American system; flexible, representing no blanket surrender of sovereignty
(As reported by Forrest Davis, Saturday Evening Post, April 14, 1943.)
SENATOR AUSTIN:
Approves an organization "open to all willing to collaborate to the
development of a code of world conduct." (Congressional Record, June 7,
1943, p. 5496)
JUSTICE ROBERTS:
Approves "wide voluntary basis of international cooperation for economic
and other activities." (Written statement, April 7, 1943.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Viscount Simon
Foreign Minister Trygvie Lie,
Norway
Ambassador Halifax
British Commonwealth and nine
Marshal Stalin
European Governments
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
Judge John C. Knox
Prime Minister Sikorski
Gov. Earl Warren
Page 13.
SPECIAL POSTWAR COOPERATION BY UNITED STATES, BRITAIN, RUSSIA AND CHINA.
SENATOR AUST IN:
"China, Russia, Britain and the United States ought to lead off" for
"a more perfect union of the United Nations".
(Congressional Record, June 7, 1943, P 5496)
SENATOR TAFT:
"
tho maintenance of peace in any event depends upon the continued
cooperation of the great powers.
We must under any plan rely on the
continued desire of these nations to maintain peace by carrying out the
covenants into which they have solemnly entered."
(Grove City College speech, May 22, 1943.)
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT:
"A security commission made up of Russia, Britain and the United States
might well police the peace of Europe during the transition period
A
similar commission including China could do the same for Asia." (S.E.Post,
April 10, 1943; as reported by Forrest Davis.)
EX-PRESIDENT HOOVER and AMBASSADOR GIBSON:
Favor "a few of the leading United Nations" "be constituted Trustees
of Peace". This will be an "obligation" to them and "a right by virtue
of their major sacrifice and their strength to maintain peace."
(Colliers, June 12, 1943.)
WENDELL WILLKIE:
Says, "we are beginning to work with the British
But we must
learn equally well to work with the Russians and Chinese."
(N. Y. Herald Tribune, Nov. 22, 1942.)
VICE PRESIDENT WALLACE:
"Along with Britain, Russia and China our nation will exert a tremendous
economic and moral persuasion in the peace". (N. Y. Times July 26, 1943)
"..the United States and Russia must be in accord as to the fundamentals
of an enduring peace".
(N. Y. Times Nov. 9, 1942.)
APPROVED IN SUBSTANCE ALSO BY:
Senator Burton
Ex-Senator James Pope
Senator Bulow
Earl of Selborne, Minister of
Senator Byrd
Economic Warfare
Senator Connally
Premier Stalin
Prime Minister Churchill
Dr. Wang Chung-hui, Secretary General
Secretary Eden
Supreme National Chinese Defense
Ambassador Halifax
Council
Sir Stafford Cripps
Joseph E. Davies, former Ambassador
Senator Hatch
to Russia
Vice Premier Jan Masaryk
Republican Post-War Policy Association
Minister of Home Security Herbert Morrison
Page 14.
What the ten foundations can lead to, if efficiently carried out.
Complete disarmament of the Axis nations, maintained by a police force under
control of the United Nations, with the four big powers specially cooperating
and retaining arms as each desires.
No more fear of Germany. No need for protection against her of particular
boundaries or federations or any other alliances. No need for armies to keep
her at peace. Or for her dismemberment or repression. The military in all
these countries utterly abolished. Prussia and the Junkers and all other
groups helpless ever to make war. All this by a force under the control of
the four special cooperators and others.
If this force is kept within each enemy country it could quickly catch and
punish the individual officials or others who broke peace terms. No army need
ever march in. There could be wiped out the age-old tragedy of millions of
innocent people killed in unwanted wars brought on by their rulers.
No economic sanctions ever necessary - hurting both sides and especially
the innocent and the poor.
With all their enemies permanently disarmed, all the present jugated and
neutral nations of Europe could profitably put their forces into the international
police and rely on it for protection. This could encourage the four special
states and all others to disarm more and more till the world came to be as the
United States and Canada.
Fair treatment of enemy peoples.
No great armaments for them to build, no armies to support, no loss by
millions of men of years spent in military training.
Allowed to buy all the things they need as cheaply as their conquerors.
Yet, they could rightly be made to repay as fully as possible the damage they
have done.
More freedom; mutual aid and gains therefrom; betterments in all human life.
These are deliberate aims to profit by the war. To gain more good for both
body and soul than ever before. To compulsion on the aggressors to keep the
peace, they add encouragement to them and all peoples to keep it voluntarily.
Fair, peaceful settlement of all disputes.
This one foundation alone, together with the force to back up the settlement,
could maintain peace. For every war, even by every aggressor, is based on some
claim, good or bad, which 18 resisted.
International Cooperation wide and voluntary.
All these things to be done by all nations that want to do them and by none
that does not, Leads to whatever kind of international organization they want,
and to do whatever they want. Includes a world union if each nation in it BO
agreed. Or only the feeblest cooperation. Apparently the only foundation for
an international organization that the leading nations would approve.
2
TENTATIVE PROGRAM
for
A FIRST INTERNATIONAL FORCE FOR PEACE.
This outlines a tentative program for a first international organisation
to supply force to maintain peace.
It is not a new invention. It applies to future peace measures each of
which has been of proved success, if and when used. But were never all used
at once in world relations. It seems to meet the many objections to such a
force.
Organization Features.
It appears to have these preliminary features. They can be verified by
comparisons with the outline that follows.
Is based on peace measures that are already approved by leading United
Nations governments and leaders and by American leaders of all political
parties and groups.
Requires no world or regional government, league, confederation or
alliances to carry it out. Yet fits in with any of these.
Does not dominate the United States nor compel any action by it.
Creates no legal obligations on the United States to other nations and
involves us in no disputes with other naions.
Collects its own revenues. No expense to the United States unless we.
want to assume it.
2
OUTLINE OF ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAM.
1. A compact Council to be formed by the United States, Britain, Russia
and China as special supporting States and by other friendly cooperating nations.
2. Each member of it to have special ability and determination to maintain
peace against all conflicting interests. To be approved for such qualities by
all the Cooperators.
3. With the approval of the Cooperators, the Council to control and recruit
from them ample police forces, ships and planes to maintain disarmament and peace
in the Axis countries and associates.
4. The Council to maintain peace by a strong friendly police force permanently
within such country and by abundant reserves.
5. For any attempt at rearmament, other war preparation or peace violation of
any kind this force promptly punishes the individual officials or others who are
guilty - never innocent people.
6. The samé force also aids the people by all relief, economic and social
measures possible
7. It enlists and rewards full cooperation of peace loving natives in all
its activities. The Council may well be called an International Peace Council
and its force in each country a "Peace Force" named for the country; e.g., the
"German Peace Force".
8. The four supporting States to r etain armaments as each deems best or a.s
they agree, and decrease them as they feel their security is assured by the Coun-
cil or any other international organization or cooperation.
9. The Council and any Cooperators that so wish to favor other States putting
their armed forces in those of the Council and joining in their control through
approved Council members. Statesthat do this to r eceive from the Council and all
its forces full protection against war or aggression.
The Council is similarly
3
to protect the Axis and associate States against any States that do not this
disarm.
10. The Council to collect fundfor its operation in the countries where
it maintains Peace Forces or which depend on it for protection.
11. The four supporting States and others to make agreements or any or-
ganization they approve to promote peace and general welfare among themselves.
In these agreements or organization the Council may act as the peace enforcing
agency if the supporting States and other Cooperators so agree.
12. Additional. The Cooperators to establish a very able and impartial
bodyar procedures to secure peaceful settlement of any dispute about mainten-
ance of peace by the Council.
The Council also to enforce the decisions of
that body in any other dispute where the Cooperators have agreed for it to do 80.
The decisive features above are the combination of:
1. An organization that is only a first international force for peace.
It does not attempt to police the world but only the enemy nations and others
that desire its protection.
2. Permanent disarmament of enemy nations.
3. Quick punishment of individual violators of peace terms .
4. An international Force both powerful and friendly to maintain peace.
5. That Force under a Peace Council selected by the victorious nations.
6. Victors meanwhile remaining armed, as they see fit.
7. Strong inducements to other (European )nations to disarm.
Some results from this combination seem clear. As follows:
Requires a police force far smaller than that of any one of the four sup-
porting States and yet overwhelmingly big enough to maintain peace where it is
most needed.
4
Instead of taking away powers from the United States and other three sup-
porting nations it adds to them. The Peace Council and their armies make a
double force for peace.
Concentrates on peace and secures it independently of questions of boundar-
ies, minorities, trade, colonies and forms of government. Yet promotes set-
tlement of all such questions. These are for separate agreements between the
nations. The Peace Council enforces the peace that enables these agreements
to be carried out.
Does not try to force the United States, Britain, Russia and China to keep
the peace between themselves. Nor the Americas. But helps to make it easy for
them to do so safely and profitably.
It can be started any time byany of the Allies without any treaties or
"peace conference" Can begin at once as a part of the Allied military occupy-
ing forces in any enemy country. (And has already. so begun.)
5
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES AS A POLICE FORCE.
Comparisons show the correspondence to a real police force all the way
through.- with some of its common-sense advantages.
The Peace Council selected by the cooperating nations is like a City
Board of Police Commissioners elected by the people or appointed by an e-
lected mayor.
In only enforcing peace terms, not making them, it is like police not
trying to act as a legislature or city council to make the laws it enforces.
In policing the enemy nations first it is like a city police force which
concentrates on the known worst criminals and their district. It is an inter-
national cop on the world's worst beat.
Complete disarmament of the enemy does away with all "limited armaments"
to international criminals. Police don't let gangsters have a limited number
of tommy guns.
Punishment of individual peace breakers is like police arresting a crimin-
al but not his innocent wife and children.
The Peace Force within a country is like a police force in a city. They
don't have a camp outside or stay at the state capitol and march in to arrest
criminals.
Enlisting natives is like the many churches, social and civic organizat-
ions and great body of citizens who oppose crime and criminals.
The friendly services of a Peace Force are like those of police who do
everything from rescy ing an imprisoned alley cat to furnishing Christmas cel-
ebrations and hundreds of gifts to poor children.
The four separate States retaining arms are like States having a National
Guard in reserve if the police fail or need more forces.
The Council collecting its need revenues is like Uncle Sam doing BD to
pay the F.B. I. Not forty eight States quarreling over their payments for it.
ITS AMERICAN SUCCESSES REMEDY LEAGUE OF NATIONS' FAILURES.
Basicmeasures for peace in this Program were never in the League or other
world organization. Yet the American people have used them successfully under
their Constitution for a hundred fifty years. Here are some of them:
1. Peace Council members strong. able peace enforcers. They must be
approved as such by every cooperating nation. Overcomes the League defect
where trading diplomats brokemheir agreements and let the Japanese take Man-
Ethiopia
churia, Mussolini take and Hitler the demilitarized Rhineland. And let this
war follow.
The United States has its peace forces of courts and police specially
picked for their jobs. Not involved like diplomats in bargaining on tariffs,
boundaries, concessions, debt collections and everything else.
2. The Peace Council with its own armed forces. The League had none. Its
members had ample. But before they could use them collectively they first
had to act separately to do SO. And they failed collectively and separately.
The United States has its own federal army that protects the States against
each other and against all other nations.
3. The Peace Council largely self-sustaining. (Entirely 80, if desired.)
Under the League and under our Articles of Confèderation before the Constitu-
tion, federal revenues came only from the States acting separately. In both
organizations many States were behind in their payments.
Under the Constitution the United States collects its needed expenses
directly. The Peace Council would do the same but only in the States where its
services were most needed or helpful.
members
4. Punishment of individual peace violators. The League had no way to
stop the Japanese, Hitler and Mussolini except by invasion or economic sanctions.
Invasion was war itself and they shrank from it. Until too late. Economic
sanctions were finally used against Italy, but too little and too late.
7
This is all remedied by the internal Peace Force in each enemy (or other )
country that seizes the guilty individual international criminal as easily
as a domestic one.
In the United States, if a man breaks a federal law, the U.S.Army doesn't
invade his State or arrest its Governor. Nor blockade the State and starve
its people. The proper federal police get the criminal and him only.
The German Peace Force, with its constant nation-wide inspection, could
quickly catch a Hitlerite who concealed arms or made new ones or drilled in
secret or said or wrote anything advacating these things.
This individual punishment can start literally a new era in the world's
history- the abolition of the age-old tragedy of millions of innocents killed
in unwanted wars brought on by their rulers.
5. Friendship for Axis peoples instead of repression. After the last war
the Allies treatment of the Germans began with social arrogance to their
envoys at Versailles and extended to economic repression of the while nation.
All to become poisons used by Hitler on his people. Rightly managed, the
Coucil and its forces could become a favor to the Axis States and friends to
their peoples. Thus:
(a) The Peace Forces would become more and more made up of trusted.
peace-loving natives (yet always under control of the Council or other in
ternational body) and the people will come to see it as their police force
not an alien one.
(b) They will realize its protection against other nations.
(c) The men will be relieved of all military service and its losses
to them and their families.
(d) All citizens will be relieved of armament taxes, except their
small share for the Peace Fo rce.
8
(e) In its relief and other reconstruction and social work the
Peace Force can become personal friends to many - who most need friends.
In all these friendly activities the Peace Force would be following Amer-
ican ideals and American practices. (Just as they are being followed now by
Americans in Sicily and Italy.)
6. Provisions for peaceful settlement of any international dispute.
What these provisions shall be make another subject, but they are essential.
The"World Court" created by the League members has power to hear only "legal"
disputes that both parties voluntarily bring to it. No judicial body yet created
is authorized to decide the "political" and other disputes that led to the last
war or this one.
The United States has a Supreme Court which fully and successfully settles
peacefully every dispute of every nature between different States or their cit-
izens. While such a fixed international court with such power may not now be
practicable or best, it does appear to be feasible to establish a body or pro-
cedures which, in varying ways approved by each nation, will follow this basic
practice of settling every kind of dispute. (The "Bryan"treaties are already a
first and long step to that end. )
9
SOLUTIONS OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.
The Program avoids need for any particular boundaries for future defense
by Russia, Poland, CzechoSlovakia, France, the Low Countries or any other State.
Or for regional alliances. Or for prohibition of them. Europe could gradually
become as the United States and Canada and Mexico with thousands of miles of un-
fortified borders between them.
There will be no need for forcible dismemberment of Germany. Or her econom-
ic repression.
She has been a wild horse wrecking Europe where she ran. In-
stead of putting her in a stockade and sterving her, she can be harnessed and
put to work to rebuild the ruins she has wrought. And do this at any works
the Allies think best for themselves or the world.
10
STEPS TOWARDS MORE DISARMAMENT.
The Program capitalizes on the Situation at the end of the war that never
before existed in Europe's modern history. That is that all Europe will be
disarmed except the few neutral nations with their small forces and Britain
and Russia. The following are parts of the Program that tend to maintain
this disarmament and increase it- instead of going back to the old ways of
arms and war.
1. Keeping the Axis disarmed means protecting their peace-loving peoples
from future governments getting them into war. Encourages other peace-loving
peoples to disarm and receive the same protection from the Peace Council.
2. The Allies and Council would hardly, in any event, leave the disarmed
Axis peoples helpless against armed meighbors. They could readily protect
them by keeping on hand troops, planes and ships strategically located and
overwhelmingly stronger than those of the neighbors. Instead of standing in
the path of such a war juggernaut a subjugated or neutral State in Europe would
find it safer and cheaper if it also joined in disarmement and joint protection
throughnthe Council and all its forces. This inducement would be additional
to any others from the Allies.
The above means less chances of war involving either the little or big
nationsof Europe, more safety from war to all other nations, more disarmament
by them and more disarmament by the four supporting States.
THE PROGRAM ALREADY STARTED.
Possibly the most significant thing about this program is that it is al-
ready being put into effect. This in Sicily and Italy. The following are
some of its features.
1. The Allied Military Government there includes a police force. The head
of it is the equivalent of a chief of a Peace Force under this program.
2. Its members are international - Americans, British and others.
3. They are now doing substantially everything Peace Forces would do. Their
first day in Salerno they or their associates caught and tried counterfeiters of
American money and looters, unloaded a shipload of wheat and started mills to
grind it into flour, got a drug store opened and an Italian English newspaper
8. day's
started. These only samples of/policing and befriending the City's people.
4. They enlisted peace-loving native forces of all kinds, including Italian
police, the Carabinieri.
5. The United States and Britain have already become two of the four special
cooperating States. Churchill reported at the Quebec meeting that they had a.
Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee which worked as a unit. Which for these two
nations is like the Peace Council in its higher control of Peace Forces.
6. London reports there is now the Allied or Italian "Armistice Commission"
which the French have been invited to join - more international police. They car-
ry out the Armistice terms.
7. Russia has become one of the three special cooperating States in Europe.
This now for the Mediterranean area. She joined in the terms of the Italian
armistice- which, it is reported, was signed in her behalf by General Eisenhower.
12
APPROVAL OF PROGRAM PROVISIONS BY UNITED NATIONS GOVERNMENTS AND LEADERS.
Over 600 statements on specific peace provisions have been collected from
over 150 United Nations governments and their public and private leaders. Their
strongest approval is given to a few measures with relatively little contradict-
ion. The following are some of these measures or policies in this Program.
Six basic measures substantially approved by American public leaders who
range in the oublic eye from extreme "internationalism" to "isolationism".
These measures are:
1. Disarmament of Axis or aggressor nations;
2. Police or force under international control;
3. Victors Detain arms as they deem best;
4. Fair treatment of enemy peoples;
5. Body or procedures to secure peaceful settlement of disputes;
6. Special postwar cooperation by United States, Britain, Russia and China.
All six of these have been approved in expressions by Senator Taft and Ex-Pre-
sident Hoover and Ambassador Gibson, three to five of them by Vice President Wallace,
Governor Stassen, President Roosevelt, Secretary Hull, Justice Roberts and Senate
Assistant Republican Leader Austin.
Disarmament and fair treatment of Axis nations approved by the thirty two United
Nations governments (besides President Roosevelt) and an international police force
by the American and British peoples in Gallup polls.
In addition to the same leaders above, the following (andmany others) have ap-
proved in varying numbers these same six measures and also the three provisions in the
program for strong men to maintain peace, (2) they to punish only individual guilty peace breakers
and (3) be largely self-sustaining: Wendell Willkie, Governor Dewey, Ex-Governor Landon,
numbers of Senators, ex-Senator Norris, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler; also Churchill,
Stalin and government leaders of China, Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, Norway, Netherlands,
and former government leaders of Germany, Austria and Italy; also American and foreign
private leaders and orgenizations in education, law, religion, labor, industry and
women's affairs.
filed toop
PSF; Postwar folder
4-44
Mr. Reuther
Planning
Most important step now is to create "tooling pool", with
necessary man-power pool, 80 that tools and men can be used
on emergency war jobs. War needs changing all the time.
This would enable industry to continue on war production
without fear of competition. Otherwise as peace time
production becomes possible, they will all want to produce
peace-time goods and only use "left-hand" to produce
war goods.
POST WAR
The things that Mr. Baruch wants done must be
implemented.
There must be mobilization of economy in terms
of facilities and human aspirations.
Preparation must be made in advance to minimize
dislocation of employment when production changes from war
to peace time production and the time element must be
telescoped.
Big corporations could get into production of
peace time goods at pre-war level in three months, some in
less time and some in about six months. Government will
have to build a bridge over this gap between war time and
peace time production by a program of public works )Flood
control, St. Lawrence Waterway, regional TVAs, etc.)
Industry can not do it.
If these public works are not planned for now
and blue prints made, employment could not start for months.
The steel industry will be the first major industry
- 2 -
to have its war work terminated. The excessive capacity
developed will create unemployment soon. The same is
true of shipyards.
Tons of steel will be needed for the St. Lawrence
Waterway, for instance. Engineers could begin to work up
blue prints and steel plants could produce the steel components
as soon as war production slows up. Shipyards could begin
to make up these steel components in advance as war needs
taper off.
This would absorb a mass of wokkers until
plants can remobilize in peace time production.
Plants now making generators for war needs could
be planned 80-08 to make generators for TVAs, etc. as soon
as war needs taper off.
There should be an inventory available to the
public of materials and plants throughout the country so
workers will know whether to stay where they are in hopes
of having employment. Maury Maverick has this information
but 18 not allowed to give it out. The public paid for
these plants and have a right to know.
The aircraft plants will probably have to lay
off 300,000 workers within three months. This industry has
had the greatest expansion - employs one and a half million
people directly and many more indirectly. One bomber plant
and one fighter plant can make all the planes needed in
peace time.
concyo
30 TAXAS
Housing can be greatest peace-time activity. Houses
can be built on assembly line just as tanks have been built
and aircraft plants lend themselves to making prefabricated
houses. A commission should be set up to study the whole
question, beginning with housing.
Backward industrie& can be streamlined. The rail-
roads, for instance, are forty years behind the times in
technical development. Aluminim cars can be made in air-
craft plants. If our natural resources are threatened with
depletion and we need raw materials from China, South
America, etc., old railroad equipment can be sold to them
or given on lend-lease basis. Lighter equipment in this
country would lower transportation and freight rates and save
the public thousands of dollars.
Any plants belonging to the government, if the
tagues the conditions for Cabor,
management provides employment for making civilian goods,
should have first option.
We need men in government with vision to put through a post-
war plan.
Mr. Fortes in Interior 18 good man
Chester Bowles has vision, intelligence and integrity
Mr. Maverick should be used.
Mr. Byrnes needs to be sold.
Mr. Baruch needs to be worked on.