I get very irritated when FDR’s Works Progress Administration programs get roundly mocked as useless wastes of money. My grandfather is a living example of the benefits of this program. His parent’s (my great grandparent’s) farm went under, and my grandfather left home at age 18 seeking to make money to send back to his family (parents + 8 siblings), so that they literally wouldn’t starve.
Frankly, he had no options in the private sector. He had a 7th grade education and his only experience was as a laborer on the family farm. He signed up for the CCC (Civil Conservation Corp). The CCC was part of FDR’s WPA program. His camp built roads and bridges and planted trees in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The camps were entirely government funded.
He spent 7 years in the camp. During his stay, he learned accounting/bookkeeping and eventually headed up all operations of the mess hall. He has told me repeatedly that it was the most valuable experience in his early life. It was the high school education he never received. He went on to serve on the board of directors of a bank and own several small businesses. He put 4 kids and 10 grandchildren through college.
So when Mr. Yates says, “the idea that the government can provide useful jobs and training to the unemployed has broad political appeal, especially across the all-important center. There’s just one problem: workfare just doesn’t work,” forgive me if I suggest he has no idea what he is talking about. Over the years, I’ve attended the CCC reunions with my grandfather and met the actual men who served. The stories are the same. They are stories about how the experience at the camp provided them with the education and training they desperately needed to succeed in private enterprise.
