They belly-ached all the way

Several weeks ago a letter writer in the Valley Press stated his father told him that in the 1930’s when the CCC was doing a job, you could always tell because one guy was digging a hole and two others were watching him. The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, did not deserve such a critical and nasty observation.

In the thirties, the American people suffered through the Great Depression, with the unemployment rate reaching 25%. In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt easily defeated Herbert Hoover, the incumbent Republican president, who had done little to deal with the depression. FDR promised he would do everything he could to get people back to work and end the economic misery.

FDR not only became president but Democrats took over the Senate and House. In the first 100 days in 1933, Congress passed 15 bills to get people jobs. Two of the best remembered and popular programs were the Works Progress Administration or WPA, and the CCC.

In ten years the WPA built more than 650,000 miles of highways, streets and roads, 125,000 public buildings such as post offices, and 8,000 parks, bridges and airports.

The CCC, administered by the army, that recruited 18 and 19 year old men, planted one billion trees, which prevented soil erosion, did forestry and conservation work, built dams, and did historic restoration including La Purísima Mission here in California. And just think, it only took today’s Congress five years to pass an “infrastructure” bill, and Republicans belly ached all the way. Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster