An Old New Deal Program for Today

There appears to be cross-party consensus in Washington today as to the need for the Federal government to pump cash into the economy. Perhaps an old New Deal program offers a guide as to how this cash can provide jobs and income while enhancing the value of one of the country's most valuable - and valued - assets.

On March 21, 1933, eighty-seven years ago almost to the day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed to Congress the establishment of the Citizen Conservation Corps.

I call your attention to the fact that this type of work is of definite, practical value, not only through the prevention of great present financial loss but also as a means of creating future national wealth.

The proposal was introduced in Congress the same day and enacted by voice vote on March 31. On April 5, the CCC was formed. And create future national wealth it did.

If you've ever been to a national park - and this includes the Lincoln Memorial - you witnessed the handiwork of the CCC. Over its nine-year tenure, 3 million men between the ages 17-28 were provided with shelter, clothing, food and pay in exchange for a life-changing experience.

The Corps planted over two billion trees, constructed 13,000 miles of hiking trails, developed 800 new state parks, and slowed soil erosion on forty million acres of farmland.

In 1933, 3.2 million people visited national parks. By 2019, the total was 320 million. An increase of 10,000%! To put this into perspective, aggregate attendance of Major League Baseball games in 2019 was 75 million, for NFL games, it was 17 million.

The program's success - cut short by WWII - led to a greater public awareness and appreciation of the nation's natural resources along with need for a comprehensive national program for the protection of America's treasures.

Along with infrastructure, investment in national parks over the past few decades has not kept pace with use. With a heating planet beneath us, and a dire need to find work for many, resurrecting the CCC may soothe the land while restoring the health of the economy.