Executive Order 7034—Establishing the Division of Applications and Information, the Advisory Committee on Allotments, the Works Progress Administration, and for Other Purposes

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me under the "Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935", approved April 8, 1935 (Public Resolution No. 11, 74th Congress), and of all other authority vested in me, it is hereby ordered as follows:

I. I hereby establish within the Government certain agencies, and prescribe their respective functions and duties, as follows:

(A) The Division of Applications and Information of the National Emergency Council, to be under the general supervision of the Executive Director of the National Emergency Council. Such Division shall receive all applications for projects, cause the applications to be examined and reviewed, obtaining when necessary aid and assistance of governmental departments or agencies, and transmit such applications to the Advisory Committee on Allotments hereinafter established. The Division shall furnish information to the public on allotments made and on the progress of all projects as they are initiated and carried forward.

(B) The Advisory Committee on Allotments, which shall be composed of:

The Secretary of the Interior, Chairman
The Secretary of /Agriculture
The Secretary of Labor
The Executive Director of the National Emergency Council
The Administrator of the Works Progress Administration
The Director of Procurement
The Director of the Bureau of the Budget
The Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army
The Commissioner of Reclamation
The Director of Soil Erosion
The Chief of the Forest Service
The Director of Emergency Conservation Work
The Chief of the Bureau of Public Roads
The Administrator of the Resettlement Administration
The Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration
The Federal Emergency Relief Administrator
The Director, Housing Division
The Vice-Chairman, National Resources Board and a representative of
     (a) the Business Advisory Council
     (b) organized labor
     (c) farm organizations
     (d) the American Bankers' Association, and
     (e) the United States Conference of Mayors

Such Committee shall make recommendations to the President with respect to the allotments of funds for such projects covered by the applications submitted by the Division of Applications and Information as will constitute a coordinated and balanced program of work under the said Act.

(C) A Works Progress Administration, which shall be responsible to the President for the honest, efficient, speedy, and coordinated execution of the work relief program as a whole, and for the execution of that program in such manner as to move from the relief rolls to work on such projects or in private employment the maximum number of persons in the shortest time possible.

To this end, the Works Progress Administration shall have the following powers and duties:

1. To establish and operate a division of progress investigation, and to coordinate the pertinent work of existing investigative agencies of the Government, so as to insure the honest execution of the work relief program.

2. To formulate, and, with the approval of the President, to require uniform periodic reports of progress on all projects; and, where any avoidable delay appears, forthwith to recommend to the President appropriate measures for eliminating such delay, and, similarly, to recommend the termination of projects where it develops that they are not affording the amount of employment warranting their continuance.

3. With the approval of the President, to prescribe rules and regulations:

     a. To assure that as many of the persons employed on all work projects as is feasible shall be persons receiving relief; and

     b. To govern the selection of such persons for such employment.

4. To formulate and administer a system of uniform periodic reports of the employment on such projects of persons receiving relief.

5. To investigate wages and working conditions and to make and submit to the President such findings as will aid the President in prescribing working conditions and rates of pay on projects.

In addition to the foregoing powers and duties, the Works Progress Administration shall:

1. Provide for the coordination of such data compiling projects as form a part of the work relief program and of such portions of other research activities as may be necessary or useful in carrying out such program.

2. Coordinate all requests for opinions and decisions addressed to the Executive departments or independent establishments of the Government on questions affecting the administration of the Act or of orders issued thereunder.

3. Recommend and cany on small useful projects designed to assure a maximum of employment in all localities.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administrator shall serve also as Administrator of the Works Progress Administration.

II. I hereby direct:

(A) The Secretary of the Treasury, (1) through the disbursing and accounting facilities under the Commissioner of Accounts and Deposits of the Treasury Department, to make provision for all disbursements from the funds appropriated by the "Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935", subject only to such exceptions as the Secretary may authorize, and to maintain a system of accounts necessary to enable the President (a) to exercise Executive control over such funds, (&) to provide current financial and accounting information for governmental agencies concerned, and (c) to make a complete report to the Congress concerning expenditures made and obligations incurred, by classes and amounts; and (2) through the Director of Procurement, to purchase, or to provide a system for the purchase of all materials, supplies and equipment to be procured with the said funds.

(B) The Director of the Bureau of the Budget to pass upon all requests for allotment of funds for administrative expenses.

III. All permanent and emergency agencies of the Government will afford full cooperation to the agencies herein established or designated and make available such personnel and facilities as may aid in carrying out the provisions of the said Act.

IV. The agencies established or designated hereunder are hereby authorized to prescribe such administrative procedures, and to submit for the approval of the President such rules and regulations as may be necessary, to carry out their respective duties and powers under the provisions of this Order.

V. Within such amounts as may hereafter be allotted by the President, the agencies herein established or designated are authorized to employ the services and means mentioned in subdivision (a) of section 3 of said Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, to the extent therein provided, and, within the limitation prescribed by such section and at the direction of the President, to exercise the authority with respect to personnel conferred by subdivision (b) thereof: Provided, That so far as practicable the persons employed under the authority of this section shall be selected from those receiving relief.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

The White House,
May 6, 1935.