W.P.A. Projects Left Their Stamp on the Region

The diversity of projects developed by the W.P.A. during the 1930s is astonishing, Mr. Taylor said. In New Jersey, unemployed white-collar workers were assigned the task of creating archival records and surveys in towns like Garfield, North Arlington and Rutherford, among others. “So many things might not exist if the W.P.A. hadn’t been able to match the talents of workers with specific assignments,” Mr. Taylor said.

That creativity certainly provides an object lesson for today’s stimulus spending, which thus far has emphasized big public works projects, not arts and culture. Today’s work force has changed dramatically since the 1930s, said Mark Wasserman, a history professor atRutgers University in New Brunswick.

“The work force is more white collar now, and white-collar workers don’t have the skills to build bridges,” Professor Wasserman said. “It’s a different world now.”

Perhaps, but renewed interest in the work of the W.P.A. suggests that in some ways, things may not have changed much at all.

现在人们手中的货币没有流通，对现有物品没有索取。政府当然可以扩张信用，印钞票，而且强制流通，比如说政府主导建一些东西。时间长了这些货币一同起来了，就会多了，就会通胀，就会产生恐慌，以及又一次危机。所以，我们一定要在经济好的时候把信用慢慢的收回来，最好的办法是，危机时补给别人的钱收回来。