C.C.C.

APPLAUSE

"The work of the [Civilian Conservation] Corps should not be measured alone in terms of economic conservation work since that was not its sole function. Some 750,000 men who probably would not have sought to improve themselves by further education availed themselves of this privilege offered by the CCC. Most of this education was of the vocational type and presumably improved the chances of the boys for success when they were again on their own. . . The whole CCC activity is an example of what can result when an emergency demands. In view of the vastness of the projects undertaken, it is remarkable that so few serious mistakes have been made. . . The opportunity of service and accomplishment through the CCC should be improved to the fullest." -- Quarterly Bulletin of the American Nature Association, October, 1938.

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52,000 REPLACEMENTS APPROVED

Robert Fechner, CCC Director, announced this month the approval of a replacement enrollment program, from January 1 to 20, providing for selection of approximately 52,000 youths and war veterans. Selections are expected to bring the total Corps strength to about 310,000. The replacement programs are held quarterly to fill vacancies resulting from the honorable discharge of enrollees who have found private employment and of those who have completed their enrollment period.

By the first week of December, more than a quarter-million persons had applied for enrollment.

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LITTLE COLLEGE IN CAMP

Sixteen universities and colleges are represented in the group of instructors which is providing educational opportunities for Corps members at Alabama SP-5, De Soto State Park, Fort Payne. The State Department of Trade and Industrial Education, in cooperation with the local Board of Education, is supplying seven teachers and there also is a full-time instructor provided by the Works Progress Administration. Service and Army personnel likewise conduct classes. Altogether, 43 different courses are offered by 22 teachers.

Four WPA-supplied teachers have joined the group of instructors at Alabama SP-15, Mound State Monument, Moundville, where class attendance records are being broken. At SP-6, Gulf State Park, Foley, only seven of the camp's complement of enrollees are not entered on the class rosters. The "school term" at that camp begins anew each quarter to permit rapid advancement by those who demonstrate their proficiency.

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DAM COMPLETED

The fine concrete-masonry dam pictured at the right is one of the numerous engineering projects which were carried to successful completion during the year by CCC enrollees working under supervision of the Service. It will impound a recreational lake at the Cumberland Homesteads Park, a public play area of the Farm Security Administration, near Crossville, Tennessee. Excavation at the lake site began in November of 1935 and the actual construction of the dam was launched in April, 1936. Flooding of the basin began last September.

Except for the assistance rendered for about two weeks by masons provided by the Farm Security Administration, all construction was carried out by junior enrollees. Despite the natural hazards resulting from the character of the work performed, such as quarrying and crushing large quantities of stone, the most serious mishap recorded during the operations was an injury to a quarryman's finger.

More than a score of dams, embracing a variety of engineering requirements, were completed or in progress during the year throughout the region.

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SAFETY DEMONSTRATIONS IN OHIO

Practical demonstrations of work safety methods are a part of the camp program at Ohio SP-20, Miami Conservancy District, Vandalia. Exact tests of the time and distance required for bringing a moving truck to a halt, the use of extinguishers in putting out fires purposely lighted, the deliberate construction of unsafe scaffolds, all are examples of the devices employed in instructing enrollees in accident prevention. Safety Engineer Matt Baker, a recent visitor at the camp, commended its program.