The Economy: The Boondoggle Recalled

Ain't it lucky, ain't it swell

I ran all the way home to tell

I'm so happy it's just like ringing a bell—Papa's got a job!

THOSE Depression lyrics from the musical Sing for Your Supper were first presented to the public in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration. At the same time, that agency was covering the country with highways, bridges, sidewalks, sewers and dams, giving free piano lessons to housewives and eventually providing jobs for 8.5 million Americans who otherwise would have been unemployed. Its activities have suddenly become of considerably more than antiquarian interest. The Nixon Administration has sneered that Democrats...

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