Chapter 7
The Success of the Experiment
A popular nickname for the CCC was "Roosevelt's Tree
Army," and its activities were often regarded as being primarily
concerned with the planting of trees. [1]
Tree planting was always an important aspect of the work; in fact, as W.
E. Leuchtenburg has pointed out, "of all the forest planting . . . in
the history of the nation, more than half was done by the C.C.C." [2] Yet this was but one of the host of tasks
performed by the enrollees. To emphasize it unduly is to get a
completely false impression of the variety and usefulness of CCC work.
Roughly 75 per cent of all CCC camps worked on projects administered by
the Department of Agriculture, and of these, more than half were
employed in national, state, or private forests, under the direction of
the United States Forest Service. [3] Their
work can be divided into two broad categories: forest protection and
forest improvement.
The most spectacular protective function was
undoubtedly the fighting or prevention of forest fires. By 1942 the CCC
had spent nearly 6.5 million days fighting fires, a period equivalent to
the constant efforts of more than 16,000 men, working for a whole year
on the basis of an eight-hour day. Forty-seven enrollees lost their
lives in the various blazes. During this time, the acreage lost by fire
in the United States reached its lowest point ever, though a record
number of fires were reported. [4]
In fighting fires, CCC enrollees used techniques
developed over long years of experience. Some served as members of
permanent forest fire patrols, covering forest routes by truck, on foot,
by canoe, or as members of airplane crews. For most, however,
fire-fighting was something outside the work project, and the CCC's
unique contribution was its ability to become a readily available,
easily mobilized reservoir of assistance. When fire broke out, enrollees
were willing and able to use grub hoe, ax, saw, pump, and bulldozer, as
well as sheer numbers, against the blaze. In 1934, for example, 1,400
men were dispatched to a fire near Los Angeles with such speed that a
potential holocaust was controlled before doing much damage to the
timber stand or the nearby urban area. [5]
Tangible accomplishments of the Corps in the field of fire prevention
were the construction of roads, trails, telephone lines, and lookout
towers which facilitated communication between fire-fighting units and
enabled men, supplies, and equipment to be transported faster. In 1936,
a typical year, enrollees laid 44,750 miles of telephone lines and
cleared 11,402 miles of truck trails. They maintained 62,920 miles of
trail and built 611 lookout towers. [6] CCC
workers covered thousands of acres of forest land, removing dead trees
and other inflammable material, and constructing fire breaks by clearing
woodland strips, including the Ponderosa Way in California, which was
six hundred miles long. This giant firebreak separated the brush-covered
foothills, where fires often start, from the valuable timber higher up
on the slopes of the north-south chain of forested mountains. It was one
of the CCC's most important achievements in the field of timber
protection. Other important contributions to fire prevention included
the construction of water storage basins and ponds in New England, and
the manning of motorized well-digging units in Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin forest areas. These insured a ready supply of water for
fire-fighting tanks and pumps. [7]
Less dramatic perhaps than the fight against fire but
equally necessary was the protection of the forests against disease and
insects. By 1933 every major white pine region in the country had been
severely affected by blister rust, an alien tree disease whose
depredations threatened to eradicate white pine completely from the
nation's forests. With the aid of CCC labor, foresters were able to
throw heavier control forces against the scourge, usually by the
painstaking method of scouring the woods and pulling out by hand
currants, gooseberry bushes, and other plants, the "alternate hosts" by
which the disease spread from tree to tree. By 1942 its march had been
almost completely checked in some areas of the country and brought under
a measure of control elsewhere. [8] Insects,
too, were silently sapping the life of thousands of healthy trees. The
most serious of these was the bark beetle, which laid eggs in tree bark.
The larvae then tunneled deep into the wood, cutting off the sap supply
and eventually killing the tree. This pest destroyed more than five
billion feet of standing timber annually. CCC enrollees, instructed by
Forest Service technicians, engaged successfully in a campaign against
the pest, mainly by cutting down infected trees; by 1938, forestry
losses due to its ravages were on the decline. [9] Other control projects were directed against
the gypsy mothchecked by maintaining a barrier zone to prevent the
spread of the pest and by destroying egg clustersthe grasshopper,
various species of weevil, and Dutch elm disease. [10]
Forest protection was but a section of the work
carried out by enrollees working with the Forestry Service. The Corps
also devoted much of its time to forest improvement. Workers constructed
roads and trails which opened up large areas to greater timber
utilization. Structural additions in the forms of warehouses, garages,
overnight cabins, shelters, toolhouses, and storage boxes contributed to
greater efficiency in forest management. [11] Hundreds of new camping grounds, made more
beautiful by building small dams to convert streams into lakes, were
developed in public forests. CCC dams ranged in size from small stone,
earth, or brush "gully stoppers," used to combat soil erosion, to large
earth and concrete edifices involving months of labor; most dams were of
the small variety. Stream improvements, too, entailing the building of
deflectors, dams, and riffles, aided fishing conditions, while the
construction of winter sports facilities, especially ski jumps and runs,
met an increasing public demand. [12]
The most important aspect of the CCC's forestry
improvement work, however, was simply reforestation. By June, 1936,
nearly 570 million young trees had been planted on national forest lands
alone. In addition, overcrowded timber stands were thinned and
experimental forest plots assiduously tendedvaluable assets in the
constant search for new techniques. Perhaps it was for its work in
reforestation that the Corps was best known. Certainly its record in
this field was a fine one. [13]
Other tasks performed under Forestry Service auspices
included the improvement of the grazing land situation on national
forests in Western states. The Corps re-grassed thousands of acres, dug
new water holes and improved existing ones, built storage dams for stock
water, killed uncounted millions of prairie dogs, pocket gophers, and
jackrabbits, and constructed fences and bridges. [14] Intensive rodent control schemes were also
put into operation. [15] Despite occasional
complaints that CCC labor was "ruining the forests," [16] there is ample evidence to indicate that
most foresters thoroughly approved of its use. This approbation was
reflected in both the public statements and private correspondence of
state and regional forest officials, most of whom were ardent proponents
of a permanent Corps, with even greater emphasis laid on conservation.
In the words of one of their number, "the proven worth of the camps
clearly suggests that they continue. . . . By unifying the conservation
feature of the CCC on an equal basis with the unemployment relief and
rehabilitation features, the whole concept of the Corps will be
materially clarified and strengthened." [17]
Next to the Forest Service, the Soil Conservation
Service was the Department of Agriculture agency with the most camps
under its direction. By 1938 the service had developed more than five
hundred project areas in forty-four states, employing about 60,000
youths annually. [18] Their work fell into
three categories: the demonstration of practical methods of soil
conservation to farmers, actual work upon private land in co-operation
with landowners, and the development and improvement of erosion control
techniques through research. [19] Most of
this work was done in Southern and Western states, where ignorance,
improper land use, and climate had wrought havoc with the soil.
Techniques included the checking and healing of gullied areas, fence
construction, and contour tree planting. By 1938, CCC enrollees had
planted more than 200 million trees on soil conservation projects alone.
One of the most effective methods of preventing water erosion on steeper
slopes was the construction of broad-based terraces. These emptied
excess water into designed outlets where it did no harm, while their
broad bases and gentle slopes offered little problem to the farmer
implanting, working, and reaping his crops. Engineering and surveying
were important aspects of terrace construction. Enrollees with special
aptitudes were given instruction in these fields, then placed in charge
of a terracing project under the general supervision of the camp
engineer. This experience often pointed the way to future employment.
[20]
One of the more publicized activities of the Corps
was its role in the conservation of wildlife, under the direction of the
Bureau of Biological Survey in the Department of Agriculture. The coming
of the European settlers to the American continent had begun a process
of wildlife destruction which continued thereafter virtually unhampered
by legal or moral restraint. In 1934 the President's Committee on
Wildlife Restoration, appointed in January of that year, revealed a
gloomy story of depredation and waste. At the committee's insistence on
action, a wildlife restoration program was devised and the CCC was
widely used in its implementation. [21]
Enrollees developed submarginal land as wildlife refuges, built
fish-rearing ponds and animal shelters, developed springs, and planted
food for animals and birds. Nesting areas were constructed or improved,
streams, dams and rivers were stocked with fish, and sick or injured
creatures were collected, treated, and released om federal refuges. [22] One of the wildlife camps occasioned
national interest. This was the "Arkansas floating camp," whose
enrollees lived om a fleet of houseboats while developing waterfowl
refuges in streams, swamps, and bayous. They were given "shore leave" on
weekends. [23] Wildlife also benefited
incidentally from most other Department of Agriculture activities,
particularly from forest fire prevention and dam building. By 1938 the
most serious aspects of wildlife wastage had been ameliorated, and
expenditures on wildlife administration had increased by 450 per cent
since 1933. The Forest Service claimed that the largest share of the
credit for improved conditions was due to the CCC. [24]
Other camps under the general auspices of the
Department of Agriculture included those working on drainage problems.
They were directed by the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering, their main
function being to assist public drainage organizations in performing
neglected maintenance work and in making improvements. The Department of
Agriculture also supervised the work of about thirty CCC camps employed
on various projects directed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Most TVA
camps were engaged in reforestation, and by June 1942, they had planted
44 million trees. They also performed important work in erosion control,
as well as suppressing 114 forest fires within TVA boundaries. [25]
The majority of the CCC camps controlled by the
Department of the Interior were employed by the National Parks Service
on tasks directly related to the improvement and protection of national
parks. In so doing, they performed many functions similar to forestry
camps. National Parks Service camps built bridges, installed telephone
lines, constructed stoves, fireplaces, and picnic tables, and made dams,
lakes, and swimming pools. They opened up many park areas to the public
through the construction of roads and trails. Land was purchased and
turned into new parks entirely by CCC labor. The largest of these, Big
Bend National Park in Texas, was more than six hundred acres. [26]
National Parks Service companies worked extensively,
too, on the preservation and restoration of historical sites and
monuments. CCC labor, for example, restored Fort Necessity,
Pennsylvania, where George Washington in 1754 engaged a force under
General Coulon de Villiers to start the French and Indian War. The
painstaking re-creation of La Purisma Mission in California drew wide
acclaim from historians and archeologists. The carving of Mount Theater,
at Mount Tamalpois State Park, California, from the solid rock of the
mountainside was a lasting tribute to the constructive ability,
engineering skill, and creativity of the Corps' labor. [27]
The CCC co-operated with the Bureau of Reclamation,
Department of the Interior, on irrigation projects, particularly the
building of dams and canals. [28] Several
camps were also attached to the Division of Grazing. Again, most of them
worked on water development tasksthe drilling of wells, the piping
of springsin drought areas. Grazing camps were also engaged in
rodent and insect control, and by 1937 more than 2,590,000 acres had
been treated. It was estimated that CCC work advanced range
rehabilitation work by ten to twenty years. [29]
One of the most interesting aspects of work done with
CCC labor by the Department of the Interior concerned the fighting of
subterranean coal fires in Gillette, Wyoming. Seventeen camps were
established in the Gillette area at specific fire points, working under
the auspices of the General Land Office. Until their advent, no attempt
had been made to extinguish the seventeen fires, but the CCC had
successfully put out seven of them by 1937 and had the remainder well
under control. The method of attack was either to dig out all burning
material, then cover the exposed coal bed with several feet of sand and
shale, or to smother larger fires by sealing. [30]
Two of the largest, most important, and most
publicized of all CCC projects were carried out under the guidance of
the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army. These were the flood
control schemes on the Winooski River, Vermont, and the Walkill River,
New York. The Winooski project, the largest construction project in the
country using CCC labor, aimed at reducing flood damage to areas along
the Winooski River, a tributary of Lake Champlain. It involved the
construction of three major dams. Two of these, Wrightsville and East
Barre, were completed in 1935. Wrightsville, 1,200 feet long and seventy
feet high, controlled the flow from seventy-one square miles of
watershed; East Barre, which was slightly smaller, controlled the flow
from thirty-eight square miles of watershed. The third dam, the
Waterbury dam, completed later, was bigger than Wrightsville and East
Barre combined, controlling the run-off from 109 square miles of
watershed. Flood control of the Winooski River, whose waters had killed
120 persons in 1927, was one of the most enduring of all CCC
achievements. [31]
The Walkill River project, which employed about 2,500
enrollees annually, involved channeling rather than dam construction,
though about four miles of levees were also built. Enrollees excavated a
channel 4.5 miles long and twenty feet deep, with a seventy-foot bottom
width. The channel drew off flood waters, preventing the destruction of
crops in the highly fertile farming sections along the Walkill River of
upstate New York. This particular job was finished in 1937. [32]
The vast range of CCC work was not performed without
considerable expense. One of the charges most often leveled against the
Corps was that its cost was excessive for a relief agency. [33] If the agency's function was considered
purely one of reliefdistributing aid to the unemployed, but
receiving little in returnthen such charges can be partially
substantiated. The annual cost per enrollee was $1,004, which compared
unfavorably with that of the Works Progress Administration of $770 to
$800, and the National Youth Administration of $400 to $700. [34]
However, to consider the Corps solely as a relief
agency is to neglect the whole question of the benefits accruing to the
United States as a result of its work. In other words, what was the
financial return on every dollar expended on CCC activity? To estimate
the value to the country of the Corps' work is impossible. McEntee
considered in 1941 that the immediate physical value alone of the work
done so far was at the very least $664 per enrollee, and this figure
could not take into account its future value. [35] There was no way of calculating how much
money had been saved because of fire prevention, or by how much the
grazing program and erosion control schemes had increased land value and
produced better crops and stock, or what the billions of trees planted
would be worth in thirty years. Such achievements could not be measured
in economic terms; suffice it to say that if this were possible, if the
monetary value of all the present and future benefits of CCC work could
be added together, then divided by the total number of enrollees, the
per capita value thus obtained would far outweigh the per capita cost of
$1,004. In terms of value obtained, the CCC surely showed a handsome
profit.
Moreover, even this latter figure would not have
considered one of the vital aspects of the CCC work. The role of the CCC
as a conservor of human beings can in no way be measured economically,
yet its importance in this field was seminal. The efficiency of the CCC
as a rehabilitation agency can be studied in two ways: though looking at
charts, facts, and figures, or by reviewing the testimonies of the
enrollees and their families. The figures are impressive. The men gained
from eight to fourteen pounds in weight and about one-half inch in
height as a result of good food, regular hours, and hard work. The
disease rate was low, in most cases lower than the national average for
men of the enrollee's age group. The same was true for the mortality
rate. [36] The educational program provided
measurably useful instruction for many, and job opportunities for some.
The Corps success could often be represented by diagrams, such as graphs
indicating weight gains, or similar sets of figures. [37]
No charts could indicate the effect of the CCC
experience on the whole outlook of most enrollees. Figures cannot tell
of hope regained or horizons broadened, yet such changes were a reality
in the camps of the CCC. The words of the enrollees best tell the story.
Life in the camp was a completely new experience for the enrollees,
often their first taste of country living. For many of them the journey
to camp was their first venture outside the home environment, and most
found it salutary. A lad from Milroy, Pennsylvania, wrote: "I live in a
little town which is smokey all the time and their is no fresh air,
whatsoever like there is on the mountains, good fresh air and good eats,
better than what over half the fellows are getting at home." [38] A former college student described rather
strikingly the effect of camp life on him personally. "The mornings of
sunlight," he wrote, "the evening dusk, and shaded sun when the stars
are so close to the earth one could almost reach out and touch them,
these are glorious days that shall never be forgotten. Each night I face
the setting sun that floods the peaks of the distant mountains with
crimson grandeur, and with me is the song of the hills, and the strength
to face tomorrow's dawn." [39]
Three youths from New York City, who were sent to
camp in Iowa, said "they saw a nation's vast resources" while making the
journey across the country. [40] The
Louisiana state director of relief reported that "boys who had never
been away from the small rural community in which they grew up, came
home on leave improved in knowledge with an interest in national
problems." [41] Enrollee James W. Danner
spoke articulately of the broadening effects of CCC life when he
asserted that "as an Americanizing influence, the CCC is perhaps without
equal." It blended people of different home and racial environments,
"getting immigrants' sons away from the old world settlements in our big
cities." [42] Few enrollees could have
returned from camp without having gained in understanding of their
country and its people.
For some enrollees, CCC training opened up whole new
vistas for future employment. One youth, whose series of articles for
his camp newspaper came to the attention of the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer
motion picture studio, was given a position as a scenario writer there.
[43] Another found a good job with a billing
firm, purely because of the training in typing which he had received in
camp. Others received scholarships to colleges and universities. [44] Not all enrollees succeeded in obtaining
jobs upon their discharge, but their chances increased as employers
became increasingly aware of the beneficial effects of camp life on the
youths. [45]
Many enrollees found the chance to do something for
their families the most satisfactory aspect of camp life. Enrollee John
Ross, of Norwood, Colorado, told of receiving a letter from his mother,
who was "proud of me for what I am able to do for her with the money
that I am sending home. Her health has been poor for some time and I am
helping to pay the necessary bills. This is in itself a great
satisfaction to me." [46] Another boy, one
of a family of seventeen with an unemployed father, spoke of the great
assistance his monthly check had been to his family and to his own
self-respect. The feeling of doing something for his people had inspired
him to continue his interrupted education while in camp, and he had
recently graduated from high school. [47]
In almost all the letters relating the specific
benefits of CCC life, there was one common denominator, something at
once intangible and very real. For most enrollees, enlistment in the CCC
had been the final act, the culmination of a long period of despair and
helplessness. It proved also to be a turning point. The Corps rekindled
hope for the future and faith in America and its way of life. Some
expressed this experience articulately. Enrollee Karl Kidd said: "the
greatest fact which the CCC has given me, as well as thousands of other
young men, is the building of a strong and more enduring faith. Not one
which is so frequently synonymous with ignorance or credulity, but a
faith that restores belief in one's physical, mental and spiritual self,
in his associates, and in the future." [48]
Joseph E. Bush spoke of his "renewed ambitions and hope." [49] Am enrollee who had lived in a transient
camp before joining the Corps identified "a new born fighting spirit
within me," and emphatically declared that his CCC experience had made
him a far better American. [50] Others, less
introspective perhaps, were equally sincere. To enrollee Ray Johnson the
CCC was the work of the Almighty. "God created this universe," he
declared; "he gave us spring, with its beauty of flowers, and birds and
trees. Now he has given us the CCC and this man Roosevelt. For that, I
praise God." [51]
Of course, these written testimonies of faith
renewed, hope rekindled, and horizons broadened have a somewhat limited
value when one is estimating the effect of the CCC experience on the
outlook of the enrollees. After all, it was not the typical youth who
put his half-formed thoughts to paper, and any opinion on the question
must inevitably be largely impressionistic. Certainly, for many
enrollees the CCC probably meant three square meals a day, a bed at
night, and little else. Nevertheless, and unless the collective
testimony of parents, relief directors, camp officers, and the enrollees
themselves is to be completely discarded, the camp experience brought
benefits which were profoundly more than physical. In January, 1937,
when the President accepted an award from the Foresters of America
Association "for the greatest individual contribution to conservation in
the United States in 1936" because of his "sponsorship" of the CCC, he
would have been justified in pointing with pride to the Corps'
achievement in the conservation of youth as well as of natural
resources. [52]
Not everyone who enrolled during the first four years
of the CCC's existence benefited from the experience, however, nor were
all enrollees satisfied with the conditions. Small-scale mutinies
erupted, most of them due to conditions peculiar to the particular camp
involved. Enrollees in camp at Battiest, Oklahoma, for example, once
revolted because of the poor quality of the food there. [53] In New York, at the South Mountain
reservation, some enrollees would not accept an 11 P.M. curfew, refusing
to work until it had been lifted. [54] This
type of rebellion involved only a minority of the company and was
quelled without trouble, usually by the dismissal of the ringleaders.
During the first four years, there was only one mutiny of significant
proportions, when members of a camp at Maine refused en bloc to accept a
transfer to Maryland, assaulting their officers when they attempted to
enforce the ruling. This, too, was ended by dismissing the ring-leaders.
[55] A few such flurries were doubtless
inevitable, and mutiny was never a serious problem in the early years of
the Corps. Most enrollees were probably too cognizant of the relief the
CCC offered them and were not willing to give it up easily.
Of greater concern was the desertion rate. By
February, 1937, 11.6 per cent of all enrollees leaving the Corps were
discharged for desertion, and the rate was increasing sharply. Almost
all who deserted did so in their first few days in camp because of
homesickness, and much was probably unavoidable. Nevertheless, the
desertion problem was one which Corps officials had made little attempt
to investigate, even after four years of experience, apart from trying
to place as many enrollees as possible in camps some distance from their
homes. [56] It is probable that a
well-planned orientation scheme would have prevented at least some
homesick enrollees from leaving camp, but the swift transition from the
familiar home atmosphere to the rugged rural environment and the
modified Army discipline still would have been too much for many to
take. The problem was more wisely approached in the last few years of
the Corps' existence when rapidly rising desertion rates had assumed
serious proportions. [57]
Many enrollees, having had their self-respect
somewhat restored by their camp experience, left the Corps as possessors
of new hope and skills, only to have their optimism destroyed by
continued failure to find employment. Often they reverted to their
earlier patterns of bleak existence, lacking in morale, confidence, and
hope. [58] From 1933 through 1937 the
unemployment situation probably made this inevitable. There were simply
not enough jobs for all former enrollees, and the fact that the CCC
experience did help so many of them to secure employment is a signal
argument in its favor. Nevertheless, the CCC organization was tardy in
developing any sort of co-ordinated employment agency. Virtually nothing
had been done by 1937, and returning enrollees still had to seek out
jobs themselves. Individual camp advisers and local relief directors
occasionally interested themselves in the problem of placing the
returning enrollee, and employers with a vacancy frequently approached
camp commanders looking for a suitable man. But it was not until the
last four years of the Corps' existence that a serious attempt was made
to develop any national job-finding agency, and by this time rising
white re-employment rates had made its need less urgent. [59]
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