The Future of Federal Grants-in-Aid
| Author | Joseph P. Harris |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624020700104 |
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
14
The
Future
of
Federal
Grants-in-Aid
By
JOSEPH
P.
HARRIS
FEDERAL
aid
has
become
one
of
the
most
important
aspects
of
gov-
ernmental
finance
in
this
country.
Dur-
ing
recent
years
it
has
greatly
increased
in
size,
and
the
prospect
is
for
an
even
greater
use
of
Federal
aid
in
the
future.
It
is
time
to
examine
critically
the
ex-
isting
Federal
aid
policies
and
admin-
istration,
the
significant
trends,
and
the
defects
indicated
by
experience,
to
see
what
changes
are
needed. Federal
aid
in
this
country
has
developed
without
a
well-considered,
consistent,
national
pol-
icy.
It
has
been
guided
principally
by
the
advocates
of
particular
forms
of
aid
to
the
states,
with
little
attention
to
na-
tional
interest.
GROWTH
OF
FEDERAL
AID
Prior
to
1915
the
total
grants,
not
in-
cluding
those
for
the
National
Guard,
amounted
to
less
than
$5,000,000
an-
nually.’
After
the
passage
of
the
high-
way
act
in
1916,
Federal
aid
rose
to
around
$100,000,000
annually,
at
which
point
it
remained
fairly
constant
from
1918
through
1930.
The
annual
ex-
penditures
for
highways
alone
accounted
for
about
$80,000,000.
During
the
1920’s,
when
Federal
aid
was
the
sub-
ject
of
considerable
controversy,
the
only
substantial
Federal
aid
was
for
high-
ways.
The
other
grants
combined
to-
taled
only
from
ten
to
twenty
million
annually-less
than
1
per
cent
of
the
national
budget.
Somewhat
more
than
half
of
this
went
to
the
state
agricultural
colleges
for
experiment
stations,
exten-
sion
work,
and
agricultural
and
scien-
tific
education;
about
a
third
went
to
vocational
education;
and
the
remainder,
in
annual
appropriations
of
less
than
$1,000,000
each,
to
forest
fire
protection,
vocational
rehabilitation,
public
health,
and
maternal
and
child
health.
During
these
years
state
aid
to
local
govern-
ments
for
highways
and
schools
was
several
times
larger
than
all
Federal
aid
and
was
growing
rapidly.
By
1930
New
York
State
alone
was
providing
nearly
$100,000,000
in
state
aid,
or
about
the
same
amount
as
the
total
Federal
aid
to
all
the
states.2
2
Since
1930
Federal
aid
has
increased
very
rapidly,
though
it still
constitutes
only
a
small
part
of
the
national
budget
-less
than
10
per
cent.
It
has
become
in
this
country,
as
elsewhere
in
the
world,
an
important
aspect
of
govern-
mental
finance.
In
1931
Federal
aid
in-
creased
to
$180,000,000,
largely
because
of
an
increase
of
highway
aid
to
over
$150,000,000,
and
at
the
close
of
the
Hoover
administration
it
had
reached
about
$215,000,000
annually.
Since
1933
it
has
greatly
increased,
amounting
to
$488,000,000
in
1938.
This
figure
includes
only
the
regular,
permanent
grants-in-aid
to
state
and
local
govern-
ments,
except
the
National
Guard
pay-
ments,
and
does
not
include
work-relief
expenditures,
of
which
$122,000,000
was
expended
through
emergency
grants
to
the
states
for
highways,
and
$176,000,-
000
in
P.W.A.
grants
to
states
and
local
governments.
The
large
expenditures
for
W.P.A.,
amounting
to
$1,414,708
in
1938,
were
disbursed
for
the
most
part
under
co-operative
arrangements
with
state
and
local
governments,
but
are
not
properly
classified
as
Federal
aid.
While
the
increase
in
Federal
aid
has
1
The
National
Guard
is
omitted
from
these
figures
because
it
has
become
in
reality
a
Fed-
eral
rather
than
a
state
activity.
2
See
H.
J.
Bittermann,
State
and
Federal
Grants-in-Aid
(Chicago:
Mentzer,
Bush
&
Co.),
Chap.
II;
R.
J.
Hinckley,
State
Grants
in
Aid
(Albany:
New
York
State
Tax
Com-
mission),
p.
30.
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