Reformers have argued for years that the ultimate weapon of the poverty war should be a program of guaranteed work for every adult willing and physically able to hold a job. Last summer's urban violence gave new impetus to the idea. The Urban Coalition—a group of business, labor, political, religious and civil rights leaders—backed the proposal, and a bipartisan group of Senate liberals fought for legislation to implement it. But the Johnson Administration actively opposed the bill.
Last week Lyndon Johnson surprisingly came out hard for making the U.S. Government the employer of last...