During the 1920s both the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers tended to employ and manage their own forces of "day labor." The AGC vigorously opposed the practice. The government was taking on the role of general contractor on increasingly large canal, dam, irrigation and other projects, replacing general contractors that believed they had a rightful place in the free-market economy. The national AGC adopted a two-pronged offensive, mounting a public relations campaign on the one hand and pushing for legislation on the other.

At the 1925 AGC convention, President Coolidge agreed that government should get out of the construction business. Unfortunatly, he did little about it afterwards.

The struggles of contractors would only get worse with the years of the Great Depression ahead of them.

Content from: Building on Experience AGC 100 Years