He asked the audience to imagine they were 17 or 18 year old city boys trying to survive during the Depression. "Food is scarce, jobs are non-existent and you've turned to petty crime to eke out a living. One day you hear about a new job works program created by the federal government that pays a "dollar-a-day." You soon find yourself in the woods spending long days planting trees and building roads. Over the next year, you put on 20 pounds, develop good work habits, gain confidence and make life-long friends. The job skills you learned help you find a job when you leave camp. Your experience in the CCC turns out to be the most important event in your life. It turned you from a boy into a man."
He told the audience that in some cases, the boys were given a choice of prison or the CCC, and many cities experienced a substantial decline in the crime rate during the days of the CCC. He also pointed out that many of the 2.5 million CCC boys had families in "dire poverty," and the money the boys earned saved many families.
There was a table display of CCC material in the library and the audience could look it over to gain an appreciation of the effect of the CCC. Mr. Jamerson also had copies of his book about the CCC, Big Shoulders, for sale.