Since the discussion of the WPA began yesterday, I have received countless replies, ALL POSITIVE. When the Great Depression hit the United States in 1929, the American economy hit rock bottom and millions of Americans lost their jobs. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced "The New Deal", a series of new programs designed to pick America back up on to its feet and get the economy moving again. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was one of those programs. Initially designed to fund the building and improvement America's infrastructure, it also funded the arts, history, and culture of America. In short, the WPA employed out-of-work Americans who were certified by local agencies as meeting certain qualifications. The WPA was responsible for building structures, such as airports, seaports, and bridges. It paved 651,000 miles of road, built 78,000 bridges, 8,000 parks, and 800 airports. The WPA also funded some programs in the humanities, including the Federal Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, Federal Theatre Project, National Health Survey, and the Historical Records Survey (HRS). Although I was quite young (born in 1928), I remember when the WPA was actively improving the infrastructure of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. The lakefront seawall, drainage and sewage systems, Audubon Park zoo and lagoons, roads and bridges, City Park lagoons and bridges, highways in and out of the city to name a few. The WPA put millions of un-employed Americans back to work. They worked and produced valuable projects that enriched this nation. It was not a hand-out. It gave pride to those who began to feel a self worth. A new name for this program could be PUBLIC Works. Something we could use today to give jobs to the un-employed. NO HAND-OUTS, just a job. We need a tremenduous amount of upgrading of our infrastructure. Instead of giving away countless billions of American Taxpayers' dollars to our so-called allies, we should spend this money at home. Don Landry don2717@aol.com