Unemployed Youth to Get Chance
1. Miss Josephine Roche, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the NYA. 2. What Is to Become of These Young
People Now They Are Out of School? 3. Aubrey Williams, Executive Director.
By WILLIAIV. C. UTLEY
WITH a snort of disgust the
young man tossed his hat on
the table. And as he sank Into
the chair, Ills worn newspa
per, folded with ttie “help wanted”
ads to the outside, their gray columns
smudged with the sweat of much han
dling, fell to the floor; he didn't bother
to pick It up.
lie bent In defeat, his hands hung
limply from the arms of the chair. His
eyes fixed In a red stare on the thin
enrpet, Ids nostrils widened In a
sneer and his lower lip pouted. He
looked ns If he would do something
desperate—If there were anything des
perate to do.
Ills throat was dry as he spoke.
“I give up!
“I've teen in every darn place In
this town where they might need any
body to do anything. I’m a graduate
engineer with one of the best records
in my class—and I can't get a job
washing dishes. I've been trying for
three years.
“The Jobs thpre are go to married
men who have families that need food
and a home. That's all right, I sup
pose they should. But Lord, I want
to get married myself some day. and
here I am twenty-five without a chance
In sight of getting myself any kind
of a start. I've got a right to my life
and happiness. But I’ve got to work!
“And what do they say to me?
‘You've no experience. We can get
good men with year3 of experience for
what we have to pay you.'
"Good Lord, how am I going to get
experience If I can't get work?”
The mar Is, of course, a hypothetical
case. But If you think Ids counterpart
does not exist in reality and in ap
palling numbers, you are sadly mis
taken. The International Labor ollice
at Geneva has just Issued a statement
which declares that at least 2,'> per
cent of all the world’s 2r),000,(XK) un
employed nre less than twenty-live
years old.
But wait, despairing youth! There
may be an end In sight for all this.
America lias an idea. It may work
and It may not, hut at least something
is going to he done. The President of
the United States is speaking .
“I have determined that we shall do
something for the nation's unemployed
youth because we can ill afford to lose
the skill and energy of these young
men and women. They must have
their chances in school, their turn ns
apprentices and their opportunity for
Jobs—n chance to work and earn for
themselves.
“In recognition of this great na
tional need I have established a Na
tional Youth administration, to he
under the Works Progress administra
tion.”
$50,000,000 for Youth.
Out ot the $4,800,000,000 which con
gress in tlie emergency relief appro
priation act of April 8 turned over to
Mr. Boosevelt that lie might sink pub
lic dollars Into the mire of depres
sion to make a foundation for a sturdy
structure of sound prosperity. $50,000,
OOO will be poured as a pylon to sup
port the new NYA during Us first year.
As chairman of t lie executive com
mittee of the NYA, the President
named Miss Josephine Koche, assist
ant secretary of ttie treasury. She
wus long a professional champion of
youth and later, as a coal operator,
waged the battle for the rights of
young men and women in different
form. As executive director she will
have Aubrey Williams, first assistant
to Hurry U Hopkins, works-progress
administrator.
These two will set up the organiza
tion which will execute the challenge
taken up hy the President to remove
youth from the depths of disillusion
nnd defeatism and the dangerous rad
icalism which so often arises from
such conditions. Youth in the case of
the NYA Is limited to men and women
between the ages of sixteen and twen
ty-five. Here are the services the or
ganization will attempt to perform:
1. Find employment In private in
dustry for unemployed youth. “Work
designed to accomplish ttds shall be
set going in every state In order to
work out with employers in industry,
commerce and business, ways and
means of employing additional person
nel from unemployed young people."
2. Train and retrain for industrial,
technical and professional employment
opportunities.
3. Provide for continuing attendance
at high school and college.
4. Work relief projects designed to
meet the needs of youth.
An estimated 150,000 youths will re
ceive job training of some sort; 100,
000 will be aided in finishing their high
school courses; 120.000 will bo assisted
in pursuing a college education, and ad
ditional thousands will be given finan
cial aid to enable them to take post
graduate work. Many more may he ab
sorbed without cost through the find
ing of Jobs In industry.
The smallest unit In the set-up will
be the local or community committee.
This will be under the supervision of
the state administration, which in turn
will report to Washington headquar
ters. Kfforts will be concentrated upon
youths who nre out of work and no
longer financially capable of attending
school.
The tasks of the various divisions,
according to tlie announcement from
the White House, will be “to mobilize
tlie Industrial, commercial, agricultural
and educational forces to provide em
ployment and other practical assist
ance to the unemployed youth ; to de
velop and carry out a co-ordinated pro
gram of work and work opportunities,
job training and retraining for unem
ployed youth, utilizing all existing pub
lic and private agencies, industries,
schools and various training facilities
which can assist In meeting various
phases of the problem."
How Money Wdl Be Spent.
These tasks will all he undertaken
with a view of furnishing youths
(who are eligible for relief) compen
sation for work they nmy do on their
new Jobs, or expense money if they are
going to school.
Hoys ntul girls over sixteen who l.nve
been forced to stop attending high
school because they have no money for
car fare, lunches and Incidentals will
be given an average of $0 a month to
enable them to complete their courses.
An average of $15 a month will go
to unemployed high school graduates
under twenty-five to help them finish
college. Institutions will receive no
subsidies; the students will be expect
ed to pay part of the cost themselves,
as they have in the past. There is a
rule now that those receiving work re
lief shall not account for more than
12 per cent of the enrollment of Insti
tutions of higher learning, but this will
in all likelihood be revoked or changed
to make room for the NY A proteges.
Host-graduate students who have
been unsuccessful In their job-hunting
will he carefully selected for aid In
completing their study. A special ef
f‘ rt will be made to find jobs for grad
uates of the class of 1935.
An average of $15 a month will be
paid to youths given outright work
relief Jobs; since one of the qualifica
tions Is that they must fce from relief
families. It may be assumed that the
bead of the family will be holding a
work-relief job at better pay.
Regarding tills type of worker tbe
plan says: “Particular stress should be
laid upon the building and use of recre
ational and community centers which,
depending upon local conditions and
the energy, ability and enthusiasm of
local youth groups, can be anything
from an old-fashioned “swimming
hole” to a complete center Including
all types of athletic facilities, commu
nity houses, library, classrooms, etc.
Take National Census.
Work relief youths will also be kept
busy taking a national census of all
youths In the United States between
sixteen and twenty-five.
To secure employment, tbe NT A will
ask industrial employers to hire youths
as apprentices under special arrange
ments. Governmental bureaus, county,
municipal and state, will be asked to
take apprentices and train them for
public service. Concerning the latter,
the NTA said:
“The opportunity afforded by this
type of work should be used to develop
a new type of trained public servant,
rather than to merely add to the Im
mense groups of men and women who
now clamor to get Into government
service.”
It has been called possible that this
may foreshadow a permanent civil
service organization, like that of Eng
land.
Job training and job placement are
to be accomplished by:
(a) Utilizing available school shop
facilities for initial or basic trade
training, through special late after
noon or evening classes, taught as
work relief projects by needy unem
ployed persons qualified to teach the
special field.
(b) Utilizing available private fac
tories, industries, or plants, at times
when they are not In regular opera
tion, as places to hold training classes,
taught by needy unemployed.
(c) Using public libraries for train
ing youths to function ns librarians
and enabling the libraries to be kept
open for the public a greater number
of hours a day.
Co-operation Needed.
“This undertaking will need the vig
orous co-operation of the citizens of
the several states.” said the President.
"It is recognized that the final so
lution of this whole problem of unem
ployed youth will not be attained un
til there Is a resumption of normal
business activities and opportunities
for private employment on a wide
scale. I believe that the national
youth program will serve the most
pressing and Immediate needs of that
portion of unemployed youth most se
riously affected at the present time."
The NYA is a definite step toward
solving the problem of unemployed
youth in America. What will be done
about the remainder of the six or
seven million unemployed youths in
other parts of the world Is being con
sidered by Geneva's International La
bor olllce, with tlie object of doing
away with the discontent that often
results in serious social dangers. It Is
particularly worried about the method
which is being used to a wide extent
by many Kuropean nations—military
conscription. Forced labor camps and
Incorporation of young men in other
organizations more or less of a mili
tary character it deplores:
“Attendance af such unemployment
centers should be strictly voluntary,
should exclude any Idea of military
training, and ttiese centers should only
undertake work which under prevail
ing economic conditions would not be
carried out by workers In normal em
ployment”
On a Shelf Opposite Me Sat a Dinosaur.
Odd Agriculture
By James J. Montague
I HAD almost forgotten Emil Lus
tengnrten. Schoolmates, one had
not seen or heard from for thirty
years, are likely to be like thnt. He
was a pleasant sort—larger than 1
was, and always somewhere In the
jfling when the school bullies picked
m me. In one way his friendship was
r trifle embarrassing. 1 was the ouly
boy in school whom he appeared to
like. His other friends were toads
and frogs and snakes and lizards. He
had a great collection of them In his
father's woodshed, and used to talk
to them by the hour, not In the least
disturbed If tiieir replies were unin
telligible. The other boys always In
sisted that he would not have made a
friend of me If I did not share the na
ture or natures of one or more of these
animal pets. They used to attempt
to make the noises that these crea
tures emitted, or at least imitations
of them, to indicate thnt I resembled
them. Not when Emil was around,
however:
“I sick me a rattlesnake on you If
you bodder my friend," he would say,
and for a time I would be left In peace.
But the insistence that I was a mem
ber of Emil’s menagerie got on my
nerves after a while. I went less and
less to his establishment, and, when
one day 1 heard that he and his par
enfs had left town, 1 was a little
ashamed to think that I had shunned
him for weeks. I found out at the
post oflice where he and Ids family
had gone—some little town in Arizona,
and now and then sent him a post
card. Invariably 1 received a long re
ply which narrated his adventures In
the new country, where he said he and
his parents were running a farm. Each
letter expressed the earnest hope that
I might come out there and visit him
some day. And fifteen years later,
when It so Happened that I was about
to make a western Journey, I wrote
him thnt 1 would try my best to pay
him a short visit.
A letter came by return mail. “Come
as long ns you like for,” it said. "Send
me a telegram and I will meet you. I
think you will like my farm. Maybe
you will go in business with me. It
is a very interesting farm, and It
makes money. It will be good to see
you."
He was at the station In a little car
when I arrived. He plied me with so
many questions about the old town
and what was happening there that I
could not edge in a question about Ills
farm. When we reached Ills house It
was already dark, and after a cup of
coffee and some ham and eggs he po
litely suggested then it was late and
1 must be tired. He showed me Into
an extremely neat little room, and In
a few minutes 1 was lost to the world.
Three or four times In the night 1
wakened, as one Is likely to In strange
surroundings. Each time I thought 1
heard peculiar rustlings and other
noises which I tried In vain to Identify.
It was already broad daylight when
1 finally awoke. Opening my eyes to
look about me 1 caught my breath. I
must still be asleep and dreaming. On
a shelf behind the little chest of draw
ers opposite me sat a dinosaur, and
not a particularly benign dinosaur. It
moved. To make sure that the bracing
desert nlr had not overbraced me I
reached down, picked up one of my
shoes, and shied It at the animal It
made a curious squeak, and leaped
nimbly from Its perch, heading for my
bed.
My first instinct was to pull the
blankets over my head and try to re
member some of the prayers that I
had. learned at my mother's knee.
Then I remembered that a creature
such as I had seen would not be held
at bay by any blankets. I got up and
stood in the exact center of the bed,
calling sharply to Emil for help.
He hurried into the room.
“So sorry he got away on me last
night," he said. "lie won't bite un
less he get scared, but almost any
thing will scare him. Coom.”
The latter was addressed to the In
truder, who “cootned," creeping swift
ly to his owner. Emil caught him by
the scruiT of the neck and tossed him
lightly out of the door.
“What was that thing?” 1 demanded.
"Joost a lizard," said Emil. "He
iss called Gila Monster. But monster
means big. lie Iss not so big, eh?
Leave him alone and he don’t bite—
but make him bad, trouble maybe.
Now let us have breakfast.”
That breakfast was not a pleasant
meal, despite the appetite the clear
desert air had given me.
As it progressed my host kept pick
ing up tit-bits from his plate and toss
ing them In this or that direction,
where they were deftly caught by my
friend the Gila monster, lizards that
looked like him, field mice, rabbits, and
several different varieties of snakes.
The snakes, however, did not swallow
the dainties thrown to them. Appar
ently they were merely doing a little
practice fielding.
"Snakes Iss funny," said Emil. "They
haf to haf their meals alife. But they
Iss hogs, and they don’t want no other
animals to get nothing, so you can’t
keep them out of the house when
meals Iss going on. You like to see
the biggest rattler in Arizona?”
“Is he alive?” 1 asked, looking
around me anxiously.
“Very much alive. When I caught
him he had bit ten greasers already.
1 had to fight with almost everybody
around here to save hiss life yet”
“Emil,” I said, “I thought this was
a farm."
"Sure, It Is a farm. The biggest
snake and reptile farm In Arizona.
Here 1 make me more money as any
cattle or sheep farmer can do. Come
1 show you.”
1 returned to my sleeping room,
walking warily and secured a heavy
pair of boots I had brought along.
Around these, to make assurance
doubly sure, I wrapped some heavy
leather puttees.
Emil glanced at my rig contemptu
ously.
“Nobody need be afraid of snakes,"
he said. “Look I"
Before 1 could stop him he had
picked up a four-foot serpent which
sang a merry tune with its tail the
while. “By the neck you hold him a
while,” he said ingratiatingly. "You
will soon learn when you and me Is
partners here.” 1 declined the out
stretched offering.
"What the devil do you do with
these creatures?” I demanded. "There
certainly cnn’t be any demand for
snakes and lizards."
•‘.My boy. Nothing you know of it
For the poison many scientists will
buy them, and from us, for I havs al
ready established what you call a rep
utation. Out In the yard I have hun
dreds of others. Today I make a ship
ment to New York. You shall help
me. Just for a start, eh?"
"Emil," 1 said. "1 like you, and I
admire you. I hope you succeed In
this enterprise and make a big reputa
tion for yourself. 1 know you will.
But when I get home I will dream
about these brutes, night after night,
nnd wake up yelling for help. And
what would happen If I stayed here
two days? I would go mad, that Is
what would happen.”
“My Mend I I am so sorry. I am so
disappointed. In school you were the
only one I liked, and 1 was so looking
forward to your coming, and so sure
you would like It here. And I know
you would luff them If you knew them
better. But If you feel—”
“1 do, Emil," I said.
“Very well. It Is then soon auf
wledersehen, But maybe, when you go
home you will think it over, eh?”
«1’11 do toy best, Emil," 1 said.
And I did. But Emil Is still con
ducting that chamber of horrors by
himself.
ffi Bell Syndicate—WNU Servloa.