Teens need work; revive CCC program

For as long as I can remember, young people have always been hired in the summertime to fill all kinds of part-time jobs.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president, he embarked on many programs that got people back to work and brought us out of troubled times. He forgot no one. Recognizing the need for teenagers, who were a group that turned to mischief and crime to get money, food and other things that required money, he provided a program that would solve a large part of this situation.

Only people 60 and older will recall the Civilian Conservation Corps. Only boys 16 and older were eligible. They were hired, placed in camps all over the country, given work uniforms and other clothing, placed in tents at first and then cabins which they helped to build. They were given three meals a day, a place to live and sleep and trained to do many jobs. They were overseen by older men, many of whom were former soldiers.

Taught discipline and respect, and trained to do many things, they were instrumental in helping to fix and build new roads, clear overgrowth and brush and help farmers. They went onto state and federal lands all over the country doing work that later was to be the beginnings of the state park and national park systems. They were paid once a month, and half of their pay went home to their families, whom they were able to visit each month. They learned good lessons and became productive and useful citizens.

One of the biggest things they accomplished was that they planted trees, millions of trees all over the country on lands that had been abused by overlogging, leaving whole mountains stripped of vegetation. The result was that laws were passed that stopped the practice of indiscriminately stripping vast areas of valuable trees.

The point I am trying to make is, why can't such a program be offered on a modified basis to the youth of today who would be interested? With the lack of opportunities due to the troubled economic state we are in, it will not solve the problem but would serve the same purpose it did back in the '30s. There are few new ideas, but sometimes it helps to recycle some of the old ones with a modern twist. Why not give it a try?

Arthur C. Mecomonaco

Watertown