"We Can Take It": A Short Story of the C.C.C.

"We Can Take It", first published in 1935, is an early history of the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.). The C.C.C., considered one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's most successful New Deal programs, operated from 1933 to 1942 and provided natural resource-related work for young men, ages 18-25, during the Great Depression. In the program's nine years, 3 million young men participated in the C.C.C. In return for their work, the men received training in a variety of skills, living quarters, clothing, and food, and a small wage of $30 a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families). The accomplishments of the C.C.C. remain evident today in the nation's national forests, parks, roads and trails. Included are 10 pages of well-executed pen and ink illustrations.

In "We Can Take It", author Ray Hoyt provides an on-the-scene look at the C.C.C. several years after its formation. He was with the men in camp, ate at their mess tables, and read thousands of letters describing their work, their play, their reactions to camp life and their officers, and their thoughts about their families at home and about their government. The book attempts to capture both the tangibles of the program - what the men achieved - as well as the "spirit" of the C.C.C. As the author states, "It is hoped that this short story of the C.C.C. will call general attention to a nation's great attempt to conserve the 'national resources' of the country; to the thousands of young men who are participating in this gigantic 'experiment' in natural and human conservation and rehabilitation; and to the new patriotism that has sprung from their contact with nature, government, and the need of a job."