IF",km0"aW.P.•-Lpr<>jeailllilt",;,lJlt"iliit 1930 .,.TheA m er icanpeopleknewboththeseand late rNew
D ealorganizationsby their i n itials.Le tus loo k mo re
clo sel yatthework ofsomeoft hese"alpha bet
agencies.
Roo se vel tbelievedthath is mo sturge n ttas k wasto
findpeoplework.Hewasespeciallyanxio us abou t
theyoung .Tho us an d sweres tealingrid es 011 freig ht
trainsandwanderingabourthecountr ysearchi ngfo r
j ob s. Roo sev eltsetupth eCCC to help them. By
August1933,theCCChadalreadyplaced250,00 0
you n gm e nIIIcampsalloverthecount ry.The y we re
hardatworkcuttingfire- lanes throu ghfo re st s,
st re ng t he n in griverbanksagainstflood ing,planting
t reesIIIplaceswher et he soilwasbein gblown J \va y.
Thegovernmentgave th e C C Cworkersfoodan d
she lte randawageofadollara d a y .Many sentt his
wageho m e tohelpt heir lessfo rtunate relativ es.
Alateralphabetagency w astheWorks Pro g ress
Admini stranon (W PA). R oo se veltse t uptheWI' A in
1 <) 35. Liket heCCc,itaimedtose t peopletowork
o n j obsthatwereu sefultoth e co mm un i t y. 13 y 1937
itsworkers had bu iltthousandsofm ilesofne wroads
and tho usand sofschoolsandho sp itals.TheWPA
e venfo un dwor kforun emplo yedw ritersandartis ts.
T he wri te rsproducedg uidebookstostatesand cities.
The artistspaintedp ictures o nthewallsofpost
offices ando therpublic buildi ngs.
Alph ab et agenciesliket he C:CCandtheWPA pur
millio nsofpeopleto w o r k .B et w een 1935 and 1941
t heWPAalo nepro vi ded eightmillionj o bs. T his
meantthat peo plewereab letosu pp o rtthemselves
oncem o re.T he yreg ainedtheirindependenceand
selfres pect .Thiswasnotall.Themoneyt he ywere
p ai dhelpedtobringt rade bac ktolife.Shopshad
c ust o m ers ag am .Facto riesbecamebusyoncem o re.
Fa r m e rshadsomeonetobuyth eirproduce.
Thisw aswhatRo o sevelt hadhopedfor. l iebelie ved
thatputtingmoneyII HOpeople's pocket s waslike
po ur ing fuel in to anengmc th athad stoppedto make
it startaga lll. The engllle couldth enoncemored rive
t heeconom icmachineryth atearnedthecountryit s
living.
101