Editing Works Progress Administration (section)

==Criticism==
[[File:WPA-Rumor-Poster.jpg|thumb|Poster representing the WPA defending itself from attacks]]
The WPA had numerous critics.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Howard |first1= Donald S. |date= 1943 |title= The WPA and Federal Relief Policy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30014174 |journal= The University of Chicago Press |volume= 17 |issue= 4 |pages= 509–510|jstor= 30014174 }}</ref> The strongest attacks were that it was the prelude for a national political machine on behalf of Roosevelt. Reformers secured the [[Hatch Act of 1939]] that largely depoliticized the WPA.<ref>Alexander Keyssar, ''The right to vote: the contested history of democracy in the United States'' (2000) p 193</ref>

Others complained that far left elements played a major role, especially in the New York City unit. Representative [[J. Parnell Thomas]] of the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities]] claimed in 1938 that divisions of the WPA were a "hotbed of Communists" and "one more link in the vast and unparalleled New Deal propaganda network."<ref>{{cite book|editor=Gina Misiroglu|title=American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4KsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA334|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|page=334|isbn=9781317477297}}</ref>

Much of the criticism of the distribution of projects and funding allotment is a result of the view that the decisions were politically motivated. The South, despite being the poorest region of the United States, received 75% less in federal relief and public works funds per capita than the West. Critics would point to the fact that Roosevelt's Democrats could be sure of voting support from the South, whereas the West was less of a sure thing; [[swing state]]s took priority over the other states.<ref name="Bradford A. Lee 1982">{{cite journal |last=Lee |first=Bradford A. |date=Spring 1982 |title=The New Deal Reconsidered |journal=[[The Wilson Quarterly]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=62–76 |jstor=40256265 }}</ref>{{Rp|70}}

There was a perception that WPA employees were not diligent workers, and that they had little incentive to give up their [[busy work]] in favor of productive jobs. Some employers said that the WPA instilled poor work habits and encouraged inefficiency.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Eli |date=2004 |orig-year=1943 |title=The Unemployed |location=New Brunswick |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=447 |isbn=9780765805744 }}</ref> Some job applicants found that a WPA work history was viewed negatively by employers, who said they had formed poor work habits.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wood |first=Margaret Mary |date=1953 |title=Paths of Loneliness: The Individual Isolated in Modern Society|location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=61 |oclc=620533}}</ref>

A Senate committee reported that, "To some extent the complaint that WPA workers do poor work is not without foundation. ... Poor work habits and incorrect techniques are not remedied. Occasionally a supervisor or a foreman demands good work."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PWjKAAAAMAAJ&q=wpa++%22poor+work+habits%22 ''Report of investigation of public relief in the District of Columbia (U.S. Senate)''], (1938)</ref> The WPA and its workers were ridiculed as being lazy. The organization's initials were said to stand for "We Poke Along" or "We Putter Along" or "We Piddle Around" or "Whistle, Piss and Argue." These were sarcastic references to WPA projects that sometimes slowed down deliberately because foremen had an incentive to keep going, rather than finish a project.<ref>David A. Taylor, ''Soul of a people: the WPA Writer's Project uncovers Depression America'' (2009) p 12</ref>

The WPA's Division of Investigation proved so effective in preventing political corruption "that a later congressional investigation couldn't find a single serious irregularity it had overlooked," wrote economist [[Paul Krugman]]. "This dedication to honest government wasn't a sign of Roosevelt's personal virtue; rather, it reflected a political imperative. FDR's mission in office was to show that government activism works. To maintain that mission's credibility he needed to keep his administration's record clean. And he did."<ref>{{cite book |last=Krugman |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Krugman |date=2007 |title=The Conscience of a Liberal |location=New York |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/conscienceoflibe00krug/page/62 62] |isbn=9780393060690|title-link=The Conscience of a Liberal }}</ref>

Many complaints were recorded from private industry at the time that the existence of WPA works programs made hiring new workers difficult. The WPA claimed to counter this by keeping hourly wages well below private wages and encouraging relief workers to actively seek private employment and accept job offers if they got them.<ref name="Neumann et al. 2010"/>{{Rp|196}}