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Show Public Works Plan Is Given Impetus - ' a. U. S. Cuts Red Tape to Speed) Up Program. Washington. Impetus to the $3. 300.000,000 federal public works program during the past few weeks gave weight to predictions that more than a million men will bt withdrawn from the vast army of unemployed before the rigors of winter are felt Secretary of the Interior Ickes and his chief aids are refraining to projects of doubtful economic value or projects that would give only limited employment but all red tape Is being "cut to avoid delays that have dogged the administration's administra-tion's steps during the past few months. The principal delay has been In getting federal projects started. These were the first authorized, with a full appreciation of the Roosevelt administration that this type of public works was notoriously notorious-ly slow. Impatient at the delays caused by bureaucratic red tape, and squabbles among department and bureau heads, Ickes called for action. lie demanded that the contract period, traditional 30 days, be cut drastically. There was no federal law requiring such public notice. It was merely a practice which moss-backed moss-backed functionaries found it dlffi cult to get away from. Then came the problem of convincing con-vincing states, counties and municipalities munici-palities that here was a vast fund available more than a billion and a half dollars for non-federal projects, proj-ects, the government willing to make an outright grant of 30 per cent to cover the cost of labor and material, and 70 per cent where needed on 4 per cent loans over a period of 30 years. The special cabinet public works board is feeding this type of allotments allot-ments through the grist mill with ever Increasing speed, now that the machinery Is going at maximum momentum. mo-mentum. Ickes hopes to have the entire $3,S00,OO0,0OO on Its way to payrolls by January. |