C.C.C.

SENATOR LAUDS CORPS

FROZEN NIAGARA ENTRANCE, MAMMOTH CAVE As Reconstructed by CCC enrollees

"For the past six years I have watched with great interest the program and progress of one of our conservation agencies, the Civilian Conservation Corps," wrote James M. Mead, New York's junior United States Senator, in a recent letter to the editor of The New York Times. "Since it was first established in April, 1933, it has had a vast influence on our national life -- both on the physical resources of our country, and the character of its people.

"Judged on its record of conservation of natural resources and aid to unemployed youth, the CCC deserves high praise. I am of the belief that this organization should be made a permanent one. Conservation authorities estimate that the value of our national resources has been augmented by hundreds of millions of dollars through the work of the CCC, and that conservation measures throughout the country have been advanced 10 to 30 years by the CCC program.

"They also state that there is need for this work during many years. Undoubtedly there will also be need for employment by many young men for some time to come. A permanent CCC would aid in the solution of both these problems.

"This problem of unemployed youth is not new. Under the administration of President Roosevelt the situation was first recognized and measures taken to correct it, but the problem itself has been in existence for many years. It was a graver problem when the CCC was launched to help correct it, but it is still a problem -- we have always had unemployed youths who need just what the CCC can give, not only a job, but well organized guidance and leadership, to work, to develop, to study in healthful surroundings -- in a word, to become better citizens.

"Nor is the need for a nation-wide conservation program new. For years the physical assets of the nation have been drying up, wearing away and burning down. The CCC is the first program of national scope designed to combat this waste. But not in six years can this waste be checked or rebuilt. A comprehensive conservation program planned by state and federal officials, utilizing CCC camps and workers to carry out a long-range program of forest protection, reforestation, flood control, soil erosion prevention measures, development of recreational resources, and wildlife restoration would be of the greatest value to our country, now and for future generations.

"The program has been launched by the CCC. Let the corps therefore continue its excellent work."