A New Deal Labor Day

(WPA workers constructing the Fort Hill High School football stadium in Cumberland, Maryland, 1937. WPA workers created or improved thousands of the recreational areas that Americans will use this Labor Day holiday--golf courses, tennis courts, parks, and more. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.)

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day "is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

Of the WPA, President Franklin Roosevelt wrote "(The WPA) has added to the national wealth, has repaired the wastage of depression and has strengthened the country to bear the burden of war" (Final Report on the WPA Program 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946). Even limited-government icon Ronald Reagan seconded this appraisal, writing positively about the WPA in his autobiography.

Interestingly though, during this Labor Day you are unlikely to hear much from our mass media or political "leaders" about the laborers who participated in the New Deal work & construction programs, e.g., the WPA, the National Youth Administration (NYA), or the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), despite the fact that these workers--along with private sector workers funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA)--modernized our infrastructure on a scale never seen before or since.

It's hard to determine why the mass media and our political "leaders" will, for the most part, fail to mention these New Deal laborers. Is it cultural forgetfulness? Is it because Labor Day sales and "news" about Kim Kardashian's wardrobe choices will drown out the more substantive aspects of Labor Day? Is it because we have a collective disdain for the unemployed and thus don't care to mention their monumental, nation-changing achievements? (See "Matt Taibbi: America Has A 'Profound Hatred Of The Weak And The Poor'"). Is it because many on the political right would prefer to believe that Ayn Rand was responsible for the modernization of America, and not workers or "big bad government"? Is it all of the above?  

In any event, please take a moment to remember the millions of New Deal laborers who built or improved so many of the parks, bridges, roads, buildings, airports, etc., that we still enjoy & utilize today (see the Living New Deal for thousands of still-existing New Deal sites, structures, and works of art).  

WPA Poster: "Chalk Dust"

 Above: WPA poster by artist Blanche L. Anish; made in Ohio, 1936. "Chalk Dust" was a WPA theatre play about school reform. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

WPA Machines & Tractors

 (WPA workers on a road project in front of Fort Hill High School, in Cumberland, Maryland, 1937. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.) 

WPA projects would often shun machinery and heavy equipment, so that lots of unemployed laborers could find jobs at a particular work site. In other words, better to have 50 men with picks & shovels than 10 men and two tractors. While not the most efficient way to complete a project, it did bring paychecks, hope, and a sense of belonging to more unemployed workers.

Still, there were many times when machinery and tractors were used. For example, perhaps there were not enough unemployed workers to get the job done in a reasonable time. Perhaps one of the unemployed workers had experience with heavy equipment and the foreman was able to secure funds to rent a tractor. Perhaps private contractors were working on part of the project. Each WPA project had its own "personality" and thus the construction methods and strategies varied.

Take a look at some of the interesting machinery used at WPA work sites around Maryland, between 1935 and 1943. All photos courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives. 

Victory Concerts: Free to the Public

(WPA poster by artist Byron Browne. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

657 Water Line Breaks Per Day: Businesses flooded, traffic disrupted, schools closed, water wasted, and roads ruined. A new WPA could help with that.

(In the CNN video above, we see the enormous water main break near the UCLA campus on July 30, 2014.)

Some water main breaks... from just the past three days:

August 26: In the midst of a drought, a water line broke in San Francisco. A resident said, "At a time like this it's kind of unfortunate to have all of this water being wasted. So I actually grabbed some buckets and tried to capture as much as I could of it." A public utilities spokesperson said, "Right now there are still old pipes in the system and this is what happens. They last a long time but sooner or later they do actually fail due to age" (article). 

August 26: In Kansas City, Missouri, a water main break knocked out service for some businesses. It was reported that "Kansas City had 77 water main breaks so far this August, and is on pace for 99. The city had 100 water main breaks last August. The record number of breaks in August is 316" (article).  

August 26: In Bloomfield, Connecticut, a water line installed in 1933 broke and a "water wagon" had to be dispatched to bring water to affected residents (article). 

August 26: In Echo Park, California, a water line installed over a century ago broke and flooded several businesses and, amazingly,  "The same pipe burst last year and flooded the same businesses" (article).

August 27: In Boulder, Colorado, a Department of Motor Vehicles office was closed due to a water main break (article). 

August 27: In Missouri, a state university was forced to close because of a "break in Cape Girardeau's water system that feeds the main campus" (article).

August 27: In Honolulu, a water main break shut off water to area businesses (article).

August 27: In Geneseo, Illinois, officials told residents to boil their water after a line broke (article).

August 28: In Pittsburgh, "a massive water main break" broke a hole in a road and disrupted traffic (article).

August 28: In Oklahoma, "A 16-inch water main break has flooded a Tulsa street and is expected to significantly impact morning traffic" (article).

August 28: In Harrison, Ohio, a water main break disrupted traffic (article).

August 28: In Mitchell, Indiana, schools are being forced to delay their start times due to a water main break (article).

The above breaks are just the tip of the iceberg. According to statistics from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. averages 657 water main breaks per day.

(Poster created by WPA artist Earl Kerkam, between 1941 and 1943. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

During the New Deal, a tremendous amount of time and money was invested in America's infrastructure. For example, the WPA paid unemployed Americans to install 16,000 miles of new water lines, construct 276 new water treatment plants, dig 4,000 new water wells, and build 3,000 new water tanks & reservoirs. Even "limited-government" icon Ronald Reagan was impressed with the WPA's accomplishments, writing: "The WPA was one of the most productive elements of FDR's alphabet soup of agencies because it put people to work building roads, bridges, and other projects...it gave men and women a chance to make some money along with the satisfaction of knowing they earned it" (see Reagan's autobiography, Ronald Reagan: An American Life). 

Unfortunately, even as 23.5 million Americans can't find full-time work, and even as youth unemployment remains in the double-digits, and even as we experience hundreds of water line breaks every single day, we're not about to create a new WPA. Instead, we'll let the lines break, shut off water to low-income Americans, block infrastructure bills, let the un- and under-employed continue to be financially devastated and, all the while, watch 18-wheelers truck in nice fresh water for the super-wealthy as those around them must learn to do without.

Isn't that amazing?

(WPA workers building a reservoir in Frederick County, Maryland. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.)

New Deal Utility Plants

(Lake Ashburton Pumping Station. Photo by Brent McKee.)

During the 1930s & 40s, New Deal policymakers invested a great deal of time and money into America's infrastructure. For example, the Public Works Administration funded many utility plants, like the Lake Ashburton Pumping Station shown above. This pumping station has been providing drinking water to Baltimore-area residents for three-quarters of a century. Meanwhile, WPA laborers also contributed to upgrading America's energy and water systems by, among other things, working on over 4,000 utility plant projects across the U.S. (new constructions and improvements to existing facilities).

We would be wise to emulate New Deal policies on infrastructure, especially since the American Society of Civil Engineers recently issued a "D" letter grade to our water lines, a "D+" to our energy infrastructure, and a "D" to our wastewater systems. (See "2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure").

FDR on Private Power, Democracy, and Fascism

(President Roosevelt, photo courtesy of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.)

Many American corporations are making record profits, paying low effective tax rates, not hiring, not giving pay raises to their workers (despite increased worker productivity), and, of course, pumping millions of dollars into our electoral & political processes in an effort to acquire legal favors and/or have the government treat them lightly if they engage in fraud (see, e.g., "Actually, Corporations That Lobby and Make Campaign Contributions Get Special Benefits"). In other words, many American corporations are doing quite well, albeit at the expense of democracy, the middle-class, and the rule-of-law.

We also know that the richest 400 individuals in America have as much wealth as the entire African-American population of the United States. In other words, the super-wealthy are doing quite well, albeit without the job creation we were promised when our government gave them colossal tax cuts.

All this reminds me of a speech FDR gave to Congress on April 29, 1938, where he said:

"...the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power...Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing...No people, least of all a democratic people, will be content to go without work or to accept some standard of living which obviously and woefully falls short of their capacity to produce. No people, least of all a people with our traditions of personal liberty, will endure the slow erosion of opportunity for the common man, the oppressive sense of helplessness under the domination of a few, which are overshadowing our whole economic life...We must find practical controls over blind economic forces as well as over blindly selfish men."

For awhile, we heeded FDR's words. For example, we kept a close eye on monopolies, implemented common sense regulations on big financial institutions, kept taxes fairly high on the super-wealthy, and had strong union participation. Result? The middle-class grew like never before or since. Over the past 30+ years, however, we've turned away from New Deal policies & principles and have, instead, adopted the philosophies of Ayn Rand (regulations are bad!) and Arthur Laffer (taxes on the wealthy are bad!). Result? Wages have stagnated for decades, the middle-class has recently shrunk, and we've endured one of the worst periods of corporate fraud in American history.

Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, we will once again listen to FDR's words about the dangers of concentrated power in private hands. And perhaps, on that day, we will once again pick democracy over plutocracy.