EXHIBIT No. 130

On page 1055 reference was made in the testimony of Mr. Roy Schroder to the following statement on the Works Projects Administration in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands:

STATEMENT OF ROY SCHRODER, ADMINISTRATOR, WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION, PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE INSULAR AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, SAN JUAN, P. R., HON. C. JASPER BELL, MEMBER OF CONGRESS, CHAIRMAN

FUNCTIONS OF WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION

ACTIVITIES IN PUERTO

RICO

Since September of 1942, the work projects administration has gradually increased its activities to help meet the serious unemployment problem prevalent in Puerto Rico, which of course it has never been able to do, because of insufficient funds. Its working load reached a high of 45,668 persons in January 1943, when conditions were extremely critical on the island. As of May 31, 1943, 40,847 persons were gainfully employed on projects of a useful public nature in Puerto Rico by the work projects administration.

Widespread unemployment, occasioned in a large measure by the war activities and resultant loss in shipping facilities to and from the island, created a certified and carefully checked and listed unemployment reservoir of 245,675 workers as of February 1943. Since, according to recognized statistics, there are about 5.4 people included in a family group here, these workers, then, represented approximately one and one quarter million residents of all ages in Puerto Rico who had no known sources of work or income at that time.

The Work Projects Administration, with its limited funds, met the situation as adequately as possible, and while an average quota of around 31,000 was established, actually 74,000 different individuals participated in the work program during the first 9 months of the present fiscal year.

On the attached report of accomplishments on projects of the division of engineering and construction, DSS Form 18-A, information is submitted to show some of the work which has been done by the construction section of the work projects administration program. Some of the figures are, of course, confidential, as they outline considerable of the work done for the armed forces, but highlighted in the results are the following accomplishments:

Some 399 miles of roads, streets, and highways have been constructed or improved.

31 bridges and contingent culverts were completed.

Approximately 48,000 feet of other culverts have been installed or improved. 141 miles of sidewalks have been finished, including those in Army camps. 153 miles of roads have been landscaped, including shoulder work, drainage, etc.

228 miles of road drainage pipe has been installed.

131 miles of fencing erected for the armed forces. 50,000 square yards of parade ground completed.

4,200 feet of new railroad track put in and 2,400 feet reconstructed-for the armed services.

190,000 bitudobe bricks manufactured for the Army.

626 wood-frame tents, most of them with concrete floors, built and put in place.

113 miles of telephone and telegraph lines erected under a high priority project for private use of the armed forces, extending across the island to points of military importance.

46 miles of storm and sanitary sewers have been installed.

26,678 sanitary privies were built and erected-mostly in rural and slum areas. 16,859,770 pounds of prime steel, aluminum, copper, and other metals collected and sorted, of which 8,559,240 pounds have already been shipped to the mainland. Of this amount, 1,044,940 pounds has been shipped out-the balance on docks, ready to go when space is available.

3,571,930 pounds of scrap rubber has been collected.

Airport and airway facilities (confidential) are listed in section 6 of DSS
Form 18-A, attached.

At the present time (June 1st) in our working employment of 40,847 persons in Puerto Rico, approximately 52 percent are assigned to projects in the engineering and construction division. Projects similar to some of the accomplishments mentioned above and explained further in a detailed list (attached herewith) are now in operation throughout the island under this division.

The balance (of the 40,847), or around 48 percent, are assigned to projects under the direction of the service division, providing work in practically every municipality and barrio in the island. In the service division, during the past 10 months in particular, the work projects administration has concentrated its efforts in trying to help solve the scarcity of food problem in the island. We now have. under a project sponsored by the department of education, approximately 14,000 acres under cultivation, and another 2,000 acres or so in the process of being turned over to us without charge by private individuals. This project employs about one-fourth of the entire quota, or 10,674 people, and at the present time is producing over one and one-half million pounds of fresh vegetables, which are in turn distributed free to the school lunch project for the children and to public institutions, as well as to the armed forces. July production will pass the 2,009,000-pound mark.

The school lunchroom project is operating at the present time in 1,639 units, serving 209,588 meals daily to 168,395 children. Food for these meals, in addition to the produce grown on the work projects administration gardens above-mentioned, is supplied by the food distribution administration and insular department of education. It is estimated that there are 325,000 children attending school on the island, and it can be seen that due to lack of funds and equipment the schoollunch project is unable to assist around 130,000 children attending school. However, through the 141 work projects administration milk stations operating in the island we are able to serve daily an additional 5,562 children of preschool age, but no provision is made for those children 6 years or older who do not attend school, of which there is a large number on the island. Many of these children are unable to go to school because of transportation difficulties, and oftentimes because of lack of proper clothing, as well as because there is a deplorable lack of adequate school facilities on the island.

Through the work projects administration there is now being conducted a nursery-school program involving 31 units, plus 5 play centers, which daily care for 1,479 children, some of whom, because of definite evidence of malnutrition, are fed, in addition to the usual school lunches, a breakfast and a midafternoon meal.

As administrator, I personally believe that while all of the projects now being operated by the work projects administration are beneficial to Puerto Rico in addition to providing employment to needy people, the contribution being made through this agency to the future generation of American citizens of Puerto Rico who are now being fed through our school-lunch projects will be of value beyond estimation later on. We know that the lunches being served by the work projects administration are, in many cases, the only foods the child receives, due to the poor economic condition of his or her family. This is proven by the fact that on Monday, after a hungry week end, the response and intelligence of the child is of a comparatively low degree. Tuesday it improves, but steps even higher during the latter part of the week, because of the fact that the child has been sufficiently fed during the preceding days. In the belief that the residents of Puerto Rico have too long existed on a meager diet of rice and beans, the work projects administration is, through its lunches, teaching the children to eat and appreciate such vegetables as okra, string beans, corn, carrots, soybeans, eggplant, grapefruit, oranges, lettuce-most of which are grown in our work projects administration gardens. Through the change in diet and eating habits, with the resultant better change in health, during the years to come it is felt that stronger and healthier type citizens will be the result of the funds now being invested.

Another meritorious activity of the work projects administration for assistance to the needy and unemployed is the surplus commodity program which involves distribution of food through 146 local commissaries and 4 large warehouses and, as of June 1, employed 1,300 people on the work projects administration pav roll. In the month of January 1943, 5,053,883 pounds of foodstuffs were distributed free to 97,667 families, representing a total of 535,917 men, women, and children. The January figure represented an increase of 894,503 pounds of foodstuff over the December allocation.

Though the need increased, shipping facilities and supplies decreased, so as of the end of April 1943 a total of 2,832,057 pounds were distributed to 110,395 needy families, involving over 611,000 people, through the commodity stations alone.

At the present time there are 124,744 families certified as eligible for food through the surplus commodities distribution project. In other words, because of lack of supplies, some 15,000 families, representing between 75,000 and 80,000 individuals, are receiving no foodstuff through the project, even though they are considered eligible for such assistance.

Since the work projects administration is only reaching, at the present time, about 18 percent of the certified unemployed, the picture will be even more discouraging unless funds are made available to continue and expand this type of program on a larger basis for the needy unemployed and their dependents after June 30, 1943, at which time the work projects administration expires.

All indications point to rapidly rising unemployment, beginning in July. The present sugarcane cutting season, which due to rainy weather has continued this year a little longer than usual, will have practically expired in July, and it is conservatively estimated that some 30,000 people who now have temporary employment in that field of industry will be on the unemployed market and looking for work. Decreased shipping facilities have already caused the closing of a large number of retail and wholesale establishments, and small manufacturing firms here, including most of the needlework industry. Many which have not closed entirely have, through necessity, reduced their staffs from 30 to 50 percent. Others, we are told, are expecting to be forced out of business because of insufficient supplies to sell in the near future. Information we have is to the effect that private contractors now doing work for the armed forces will have completed most of their activities by the 1st of June. This being true, an additional 20,000 or more people will also be out of employment. Curtailments on these private contracts are already being made in the San Juan area.

Though we now have registered and waiting assignment, in addition to those now working on work projects administration projects, 94,391 people, it must be recognized that our regulations provide that only 1 member of a family can be considered for employment on our program. Since the majority of our work falls in the labor category, it is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 peple of the clericɛi, salesman, office worker, and white-collar class have not applied to us for consideration, as the majority of them are physically unable to do labor work. Also, some of them have assets of some sort or another, and thereby are denied consideration by the work projects administration for certification, as they cannot meet the need test of eligibility. However, they and their families get hungry, too, and I think that additional funds should be made available so that provision could be made for this class of unemployed, who undoubtedly have been released from their previous jobs because of the war.

FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

LIST OF DATA SUBMITTED ON PUERTO RICO PROGRAM

Table 1. Weekly employment count, May 31, 1943.

Table 2. Description of selected projects currently operating under the division of engineering.

Table 3. Report of accomplishment on projects of the division of engineering from beginning of program through May 31, 1943-DSS Form 18 A.

Table 4. Description of selected projects currently operating under the service division.

Table 5. Expenditures of projects operated by Work Projects Administration by type of project and source and funds from October 1939 through May 31, 1943 -WPA Form 158.

Table 6. Status of certified families by municipalities showing population, certified cases, certified cases receiving commodities, heads of families working, persons benefited, etc.

Table 7. Number of unassigned certified persons by age and sex, as of May 30, 1943.

Table 8. Assignments and terminations on Work Projects Administration projects, month of April 1943-WPA Form 160.

Table 9.-Monthly report of certification, cancelation, review of need and number of certified persons, month of April 1943-WPA Form 166.

Table 10.-Total population and employment on Work Projects Administration projects in Puerto Rico by municipality group, as of April 26, 1943-Special Form 2.

Table 11. Report of employment by municipalities, as of April 26, 1943-WPA Form 732 supplement.

Table 12. Monthly report of employment on Work Projects Administration projects in Puerto Rico by project and municipality as of May 31, 1943— Special Form 1.

Table 13. Employment on projects operated by Work Projects Administration, by type of project, war status, certification status, and wage class, as of May 31, 1943-WPA Form 161.

(EDITOR'S NOTE.-The statistical information referred to above is in the committee's files and can be inspected upon request. More current, complete, and accurate information regarding the over-all picture of Work Projects Administration program in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands can be obtained in the hearings conducted by this committee on S. 981 and H. R. 4153.)

FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY,

WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION FOR PUERTO RICO,
San Juan, P. R., May 19, 1943.

FEEDING PROGRAM-O. P. 365-1-36-4

The feeding program in Puerto Rico is one of the most important activities of the Work Projects Administration. Normally the greater proportion of the population suffers from malnutrition due to low living standards and faulty eating habits. In the normal diet, rice, beans, taniers, plantains, and sweetpotatoes, make up the bulk which is seasoned with pork backs and other inferior grades of meat or dried codfish. A diet of rice and codfish, a reminder of the old Spanish days, still remains as a favorite on home menus, very little fresh green vegetables being used. As most foodstuffs have to be imported, their use is limited by the purchasing power of the population which is very low for the majority of families. The shipping restrictions of wartime have decreased the normal supply of foodstuffs and have increased costs, so that today the people find fewer things to buy and these at higher prices in spite of the fact that their earning power has been decreased and unemployment is increasing.

The Federal Government by means of the Food Distribution Administration is making an attempt to alleviate this condition by supplying much-needed foodstuffs through the insular government. The Work Projects Administration is supplying personnel to distribute these foodstuffs through the commodity distribution project. In addition, the importations of the Food Distribution Administration have been augmented by direct purchases by the insular government and by fresh vegetables grown by the Work Projects Administration.

The direct feeding activities are handled by the school-lunch project. Direct distribution to clients certified as needy is made through the commodity distribution project which also assists in the distribution of Food Distribution Administration foods to institutions and the school lunch project. The subsistence-crop project grows and distributes fresh vegetables to the school-lunch project as a means of supplementing its menu in an attempt to provide children with a well balanced diet.

This feeding program consisting of production, distribution, and direct feeding. employs 14,049 persons which represent 83 percent of the total employment on our service programs division and 35 percent of the entire Work Projects Administration program in Puerto Rico.

SCHOOL LUNCH-FOOD PREPARATION AND SERVICE PHASE-WP 298

This project employs 3,662 persons in island-wide activities in feeding 163,343 children to whom an average of 209,588 meals are served daily in 1,639 different units scattered throughout the island. These units consist of public school lunchrooms, community lunchrooms, nutrition centers, restrooms, cafeterias, and incomplete and cold lunch centers. This means that there is a feeding unit in every municipality and in practically every barrio or ward on the island of Puerto Rico. The feeding units vary from modern well equipped cafeterias in a few of the city schools to humble wooden shacks in the innermost rural barrios, which are equipped with only a primitive charcoal burner, and where the dishwashing is done in big gourds. In some the only water is supplied from nearby brooks.

Because the public-school system is unable to provide facilities for all school-age children, not all lunches are served in public-school buildings. Conditions are so overcrowded that in some instances where there are no lunchroom facilities, meals are served on the classroom desks.

The children served are certified as underprivileged. This is necessary to obtain Food Distribution Administration foods, but in this community where one-third of the population is certified as in need, the participation is limited more by the facilities available than the certifications. The effect of this feeding on malnutrition is evident when we note the statements made by the teachers who claim that children who were backward invariably catch up with their classes after a few weeks of school-lunch participation. Records also show that attendance has considerably improved after this program has been in operation.

Community interest is very high as is demonstrated by the fact that there is an active advisory committee made up of local people which serves as a liaison between the community and the project in that community. It interprets the aims of the project, secures financial aid, coordinates the efforts of the parentteachers association and other groups, and keeps public interest alive. Those committees have been a major aid in raising the standards of the units by obtaining utensils, paint, foodstuffs, as well as financial assistance.

The foodstuffs consumed on this project come from three different sources: Food Distribution Administration through the community distribution project supplies considerable amount of commodities consisting of canned and dried milk, dried eggs, cereals, canned vegetables, fat backs, and lard; the department of education and the parent-teacher association supply locally purchased meat, fresh eggs, and other articles; project federal nonlabor funds are used for the purchase of additional meat, milk, cheese, butter, enriched margarine, fish, eggs, fruits, and vegetables; the Work Projects Administration subsistence crop project supplies fresh vegetables and charcoal. The percentage contribution of foodstuffs to the project is approximately 25 percent from Work Projects Administration subsistence crop project, 45 percent from the Food Distribution Administration, 20 percent from the sponsor, and 10 percent from Work Projects Administration.

It is estimated that during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1943, a total of $2,453,910 will be spent by the project, distributed as follows:

Furthermore, approximately 8,000,000 pounds of foodstuffs will be provided by the Food Distribution Administration. The value of this project is evident when we consider the fact that an average of 800,000 persons, or 40 percent of the total population of Puerto Rico, is certified as needy. Furthermore, it can be said without exaggeration that in more than 50 percent of the cases the only meal children get is that served at the Work Projects Administration school lunch project. To this should be added the fact that at present, with the United States Selective Service in Puerto Rico in trying to find men for its quota it has been found out that a high percentage was deferred because of physical disabilities, most of which were traceable to mal- and/or under-nutrition.

CROP PRODUCTION-FOOD PRODUCTION AND PRESERVATION PHASE-WP 299

In 1940, because of lack of readily obtainable fresh vegetables, a Work Projects Administration project was initiated to provide these to the school-lunch units! Because of the curtailment in shipping and the war emergency, in March 1942 the land under cultivation was expanded from approximately 900 acres to 4,462 acres, and an attempt was made to provide enough root and truck crops to supply the Work Projects Administration lunch units with their needs.

This decision was brought about by the lack of these items in the markets which was so serious that the armed forces stationed on the island were forced to import in their own boats items from the mainland and neighboring islands. This condition was brought about by the sharp curtailment of shipping which had previously provided these crops which Puerto Rico has never been able to supply to its own markets.