Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.
1932 › Herbert Hoover (Republican) › Public works as employment policy
Federal construction at three times normal and $1.5 billion of RFC loans for self-liquidating works — but no pork-barrel or non-productive projects
defense_of_recordspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Federal Budget & SpendingInfrastructure & Public Works⚡ The Great Depression similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Maintain federal public works at $500–700 million a year and RFC loans up to $1,500 million for reproductive projects that repay themselves; oppose the $1,200 million Garner-Rainey bill and any works that 'never make a real return'; reject the idea that government can employ all surplus labor.
Rationale
Taking money from taxpayers for unproductive works 'is a waste of national wealth and an actual destruction of employment'; employing ten million on public works would cost $9–12 billion a year and destroy public and private credit; 'emergency jobs will never heal the depression.'
Statements (4)
It was in accordance with these principles that, in aid to unemployment, we expend some $600 millions in Federal construction of such public works as can be justified as bringing early and definite returns. We have opposed the distortion of these needed works into pork-barrel nonproductive works which impoverish the Nation.
Now, there has proved to be a limitation, however, on this, and that limitation is that the Federal Government should not and must not undertake projects which are not of productive value to the Nation and must not extend its liabilities beyond its ability to maintain a balanced budget.
Emergency jobs have helped enormously, but the normal job is the permanent dependence of the worker. Emergency jobs will never heal the depression.
There can only be one conclusion from that statement. It is a hope held out to 10 million men and women now suffering and unemployed that they will be given jobs, directly or indirectly, by the Government. That is a promise that no government on Earth can fulfill.
Follow-through
not_applicable
Hoover lost the election; the pledge could not be tested in office. Roosevelt's $3.3 billion PWA and the WPA far exceeded the spending Hoover had called ruinous, though the PWA's project-by-project scrutiny under Ickes reflected Hoover's 'productive works' criterion.
Enacted by others
| 1933-06-16 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | statute NIRA Title II (PWA) | source |
Other positions on this issue
- 'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it) — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 directional_stance
- Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- Ratify the St. Lawrence seaway treaty and complete the inland waterway system — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- The Garner-Rainey $1.2 billion public-works bill — and a pledge to reintroduce it — John Nance Garner, 1932 specific_pledge
- A $5 billion federal public-works program — roads, reforestation, slum clearance, workers' housing — and idle factories and land turned over to the unemployed — Norman Thomas, 1932 specific_pledge
1932-hoover-productive-public-works-no-pork · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed