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Show History Of CC Corps Given Since Founding President Eoosevelt Gave First Outline Of CCCs On March 1, 1933; Bill Signed On March 31 The young men of the United States were going through dark days during the early part of 1933. Several years had seen millions mil-lions of them cut off from work, completing their educations or forced to drop from school because be-cause of lack of funds. These changes in their plan of life led to intensive searching for work, but work was not available. Jobs were scarce and all openings were given to older men, who had families or dependents to support. Conservative estimates showed that over five million young Americans needed employment when President Roosevelt was in-augerated in-augerated on March 4, 1933. The President had been studying this problem since his election in November, and he was ready with an immediate plan of action. On March 9, he called the Secretaries of War, Agriculture and the Interior In-terior together, with the Director of the Budget and the Judge Advocate Ad-vocate General of the Army, into a conference. During this meeting, which led to the birth of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the President outlined a dual purpose plan, which was designed to conserve con-serve the resources of the country and it's manhood at one and the same time. He" called for immediate im-mediate action and the group responded. re-sponded. At 9 o'clock that night the first draft of the bill to create the CCC had been prepared. Work Out Details Subsequent meetings were held (Continued page six) The History Of The CCC Camps Since Their lnaugeration Depicted (Continued from first page) and the details worked out so the President's message, delivered to Congress on March 21, proposed the formation of the Corps. Congress Con-gress realized the garvity of the situation and with unusual speed passed the bill and placed it in the President's hands on March 29. His signature was affixed and the Civilian Conservation Corps was officially established by law, on March 31. The Department .of Labor was instructed to select the men, the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, to designate the work, and the War Department, was given the responsibility of organizing, organiz-ing, clothing, feeding and otherwise other-wise administering to the enrollees selected and enrolled. On April 4, Robert Fechner agreed to accept the position of Director of this work. He immediately im-mediately met with an Advisory Council and on April 5, orders went forward to the nine Commanding Com-manding Generals of the Army Corps Areas, concerning enrollment enroll-ment of men. First Corps The first member of the corps was enrolled on April 6. The first camp was established within a week and the work of selection was carried on with such speed that July 1, saw 275,000 men at 1 work in 1300 camps located throughout the entire United j States. This number was increased : to 300,000 by the close of the , summer. j The first camps were of tents with wooden buildings for mess j halls, kitchens and recreational ; purposes. During the latter part I of the summer wooden barracks were constructed and in the fall ! many camps were moved to lower altitudes for winter work. Athletic, 1 educational, and recreationalj equipment was provided. Over 1 1000 Educational Advisers were appointed and all other plans for making the CCC a complete unit for a well rounded life were carried car-ried on. The spring of 1934 saw the camps moving back to old homes and new camps being built. New enrollees came to replace those leaving and an order of the President Presi-dent increased the enrolled strength to 300,000 men. First Year Thus ended the first year of the 1 life of the CCC. The speed with which this early organization was carried on has never been duplicated dupli-cated in American history. The army mobilized 181,000 men during dur-ing the first three months of the World War. During a like period in 1933, 275,000 were enrolled and organized into 1315 companies of 200 men each. This movement, which grew up overnight, has carried on with increasing in-creasing success and efficiency and will celebrate its fifth birthday birth-day on April 6. A recent survey carried on by the American Institute In-stitute of Public Opinion, proved that the American people think the CCC is the most valuable of all "New Deal" agencies. Every wide-awake citizen should familiarize famili-arize himself with the life and workings of this new and growing grow-ing force in American life. Washington County and the neighboring territory has benefited bene-fited from the establishment of the corps throughout the entire period. Forest Service camps at St. George, La Verkin, Pinto and Leeds have worked on forest areas, trails and roads. Their efforts have improved the resources, provided pro-vided additional recreational facilities facili-ties and reduced the losses due to fires. Three of these companies have been disbanded and the Veyo camp is still working in the Pine Valley Mountain district. The Soil Conservation Service has worked on erosion and related problems with a camp, which was established at Gunlock and later moved to Leeds. Department of (Grazing The Department of Grazing entered en-tered upon its work in Southern Utah with two camps in 1935. These companies, located at St. George and Codnr City, have done valuable work in developing outlying out-lying territory, which is needed by stockmen. Desert roads, bridges, reservoirs and corrals have been constructed and are proving their worth by increasing use they are receiving. The benefits, which a community com-munity derives from the work of the CCC are truly visible in this vicinity. A short ride in any direction direc-tion brings the observer into contact con-tact with many examples of work which has greatly furthered the development and conservation of resources of Utah's Dixieland. |