Evening Star Newspaper, April 6, 1937, Page 29

HOUSINGBILLHELD BOON 0 JOBLESS Offers Best -Prospect for Unemployment Solution, Wagner Declares. The housing industry offers the best prospect for permainent solution of the problem of large-scale unem- ployment, Senator Wagner, Demo- crat, of New York declared last night. He added that this is a problem that must be solved “if we desire to pre- serve our economic system.” The Senator, author of the hous- ing bill now pending before the Sen- ate Committee on Education and La- bor, spoke in the National Radio | Forum, arranged by The Washington Star and broadcast over Station WRC and a coast-to-coast network of other National Broadcasting Co. | stations. | The unemployment problem was not created by the depression, the epeaker declared, but it reflects the | rate of technological change, the dis- | placement of men by machines. To- | day every fifth man has been replaced by a machine, Wagner said. “This age of power should not make us feel helpless,” he continued. “On the contrary, it should strength- en our determination to direct this power to the service of society. “The great chalenge of today is to find new opportunities—to locate the industries which have not shared in the recovery drive, which are so far retarded that they afford an opportunity of the immediate invest- ment of capital and the immediate absorption of men. Every one who has examined this question seriously has come to this conclusion: The industry whose further development offers the greatest prospect for the country today is the housing in- dustry.” Text of Address. The text of Senator speech follows: For more than & year our economic pecovery has been proceeding by leaps and bounds. There is no time now to summarize all the evidence of this recovery. I call your attention, how- ever, to the following statement, made ny one of the best known and most reliable financial journals: *Recovery is going ahead under a strong momentum. The great advance within a single year, as measured by the business statistics, employment and pay roll figures, and corporate re- ports for 1936, shows how greatly all groups in the economic system stand to gain by giving their co-operation to keep the upswing going. Business has come a long way from the disorder and paralysis which threatened almost to destroy it only a few years ago, and as far as volume of production goes, is back to the so-called normal.” We who recall that “disorder and paralysis of only a few years ago” must do everything in our power to prevent its return. Never again do we want to | see the American people plunged into that black night of despair. In the eomparative brightness of today, we should be foolhardy to overlook the one cloud still hanging above the horizon. What is this cloud? It is the presence of large-scale unemployment, still disturbing our peace of mind d spite our best efforts. Every one knows that we cannot deal with this problem | forever on a catch-as-catch-can basis. We must solve it permanently if we | desire to preserve our economic system. Any attack upon unemployment | must realize that the problem was not created by the depression. In its long- term aspects it reflects the rate of technological change, the displacement of men by machines. While this ten- dency has always received notice, there are few who realize its startling significance. I have here some figures | which indicate that the average worker in the steel industry, who could pro- duce only 85 tons of finished steel per year in 1900, could turn out 138 tons in 1929. In the electric light industry, each worker who made 20,000 bulbs in 1920 made 100,000 in 1931. During the depression the rate of change was faster then ever. Today 4,000,000 men can do the work of 5,000,000 in 1929. Every fifth man has been replaced by & machine. This age of power should not make us feel helpless. On the contrary, it should strengthen our determination to direct this power to the service of eociety. We have always believed that new inventions, by increasing the | range and possibilities of human efforts, would increase employment and promote higher standards of liv- ing. This, indeed, is true, provided that the workers displaced from one | industry can find employment in an- | other. The men displaced from one industry can never be reabsorbed in the very places where they were found no longer necessary. The great challenge of today is, therefore, to find these new opportu- nities. It is to locate the industries which have not shared in the recovery drive—which are so far retarded that they afford an opportunity for the immediate investment of capital and the immediate absorption of men. Every one who has examined this question seriously has come to this conclusion: The industry whose fur- ther development offers the greatest prospect for the country today is the housing industry. It is a matter of general knowledge, and of grave concern, that the pro- vision of housing for our people is sadly disorganized. Residential build- ing suffered most during the depres- sion. While industrial activity fell to 64 per cent of normal in the gloom of 1932, home building dropped to 11 per cent of normal. Today, with indus- trial activity speeded up to 117 per eent of normal, housing lags far be- hind at 42. After eight long years of stagnation, despite a tremendous ac- cumulated housing deficit, and despite & vast increase in population, we are now building homes at only one-third the 1920 rate. Building Affects Many. ‘What does this lag in home building mean? It means direct unemploy- ment for almost 1,000,000 workers. If we take all the men in the United States who have been steadily unem- ployed since 1929, we find that one in every three is a building tradesman. This means that the very line of activity which could do most to absorb the unemployed is doing the least. It means that this unemployment in the building industry .is stretching its per- nicious influence into other lines of activity. In addition, it is choking & huge potential volume of profitable enterprise. Today, we find common agreement among business men that our recovery cannot be completed and made permanent unless it extends into the building industry. There is an even more important reason why the still-depressed state of the construction industry is cause .for concern. Already there is a se- rious dearth of dwellings in America. More than that, we face the imminent prospect of & critical housing shortage. Wagner's THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. Urges Housing Development SENATOR ROBERT F. WAGNER. on by such a period. I had occasion, when a Supreme Court judge in New York, to write the first opinion sus- taining the emergency rent laws. At the time of that crisis, I studied all the terrible facts connected with & dangerous housing shortage. In the first place a housing shortage means a rapid rise in rentals. Dur- ing the past four months alone, aver- age rentals have jumped by more than 11 per cent. When rents rise so much faster than wages, living standards are serioysly impaired. Vast masses of people, who can ill afford it find that they have less to spend for food and clothing and the other necessities of life. They are pushed further and further below the poverty line. In addition, a shortage aggravates the bad housing conditions under which millions of people live. Fami- lies are forced to double up. The demand for any kind of shelter be- comes so0 strong that the incentive to make housing decent and com- fortable is practically destroyed. All the iniquities of the slums are muiti- plied—the lack of healthful facilities, the ill state of repairs, the wide- spread neglect of safety. More slums inevitably mean a higher rate of in- fant mortality and general disease. More slums bring on & wider preva- lence of crime and juvenile delin- quency. They entail an increasing cost to municipalities and States in the form of rent relief, police protec- tion and social service. Slum hous- i up in front. bone!” Only Frigidaire has the “Meter- Miser” that cuts current costs to the bone. 1 have observed the hardships brought ’ ) 1 'SUPER DUTY While You're Shopping for Your OIllcr“'Kfé};is'— Take a Few Minutes to Sce It! ing has never been economical hous- ing. From the social, human and business point of view, it is the most short-sighted, wasteful and expensive kind of housing. The housing bill which I introduced last year, and again this year, is di- rected against these evils. It provides Government loans at low rates of in- terest to States and cities to build homes for persons of low income. It provides annual Federal subsidies in the amounts necessary to make these quarters available for families of slender means. It will be worth while to examine very simply how this financial plan works. Let us suppose that a city makes application to the United States housing authority for a $1,000,000 low-rent housing project. The au- thority advances a loan, covering either the whole, or more likely, only a part, of the cost of building the project. This loan is repayable in full. It bears interest at a rate not less than the cost of money to the Govern- ment, plus administrative expenses. It is secured by the property itself. For these reasons, the loan will, in the long run, cost the Federal Govern- ment nothing. It is a more secure loan than 90 per cent of the loans which have been made for worth- while purposes in the past. When the loan is made and the project built, the city makes a simple computation of all the annual charges against the housing project. and O Sts. 4 How the New 9-Way Adjustable Interior ad- justs like magic, gives maximum shelf space Also the full width sliding shelves and the portable utility shelf. How Food Is Kept Safe and Fresh for a long time—how the Food Safety indicator is al- ways in sight right on the door. How the Famous Meter-Miser, with only three moving parts, cuts current costs “to the The Beautiful Sealed Steel Cabinet, with life- time porcelain or durable du luxe exterior and one-piece porcelain interior. Only Frigidaire has the New IN- STANT CUBE RELEASE that releases ice cubes from tray. moaet s SPYA4 .0 much must be set aside each year for repaying the principal and in- terest on the Federal loan and on other loans. 8o much must be set aside each year for local taxes. So much must be set aside each year for operating expenses, vacancies, maintenance and repairs. All these charges represent the sum to be cov- ered by the rentals, and on the basis of these charges, the rentals are fixed. Then the Federal Government looks at these rentals and makes its annual contribution in an amount necessary to get these rentals down to the level of low-income groups. This makes it clear the annual Federal subsidy is not a roundabout method of repaying the Federal loan. It has nothing to do with the Federal loan. It is sim- ply a contribution to low-income fam- ilies enabling them to meet the rent charges. The Federal annual contribution has many merits. It provides a con- stant check against extravagance and waste in the operation of projects. It enables the Federal Government to atop its contribution at any time, if the full benefit does not accrue to those who need low rentals, or if people with higher incomes are allowed into the project. In addition, these contributions in an annual form are on a genuine “pay-as-you-go” basis. The subsidies paid each year Wwill produce lower rentals fn that year. On the other hand, the so-called capi- tal grant requires huge subsidies in the first year to pay for rent reductions in 30 or 40 years to come. For these sound financial reasons and because it protects private enter- prise so well from competition, the bill has received widespread support from business interests. They realize, more- over, that providing better housing will improve residential neighborhoods and increase the wealth of the entire com- munity. Bill Widely Indorsed. In fact no social legislation intro- duced in Congress within my memory has been so widely indorsed as my housing bill, both as to general prin- ciples and detailed provisions. During a period of two years it has been con- stantly revised and improved. Housers, social workers, public officials, busi- ness men, labor leaders and financial experts have all been consulted. The experiences of many European coun- tries which have improved the living conditions of their people through low- rent housing have all been studied. The considerable experience of our own Government during the past four years has been drawn upon. There is not a single financial expert who is able to come forward with a more economical and workable plan. There is no one who has been able to come forward with a more fair and humane plan. The lines have been clearly drawn between the few who do not want the Federal Government to help in low-rent housing and the many sincere friends who know that the Government must help if there is to be a low-rent housing program at 8o, all. ‘Why do we believe the Government C., can help? We believe so0 because since 1933 the Government has been able to save home owners from evic- tion; because since 1933 the Govern- ment has helped home owners to re- pair dwellings which had become di- lapidated; and because the Govern- ment since 1933 has rescued the in- vestors in real estate from complete ruin. If the Government could help in saving old homes, it can help in building new ones; if it could help in protecting property values, it can help in preserving human values; if it could help in refinancing old invest- ments it can help in developing areas for the operation of new capital. That is the task of today. My housing bill represents a modi- fication and improvement of the pub- lic works idea to meet present long- term needs. It attacks the unemploy- ment problem on a long-range planned basis rather than on an emergency basis of pure expediency; it guides the Federal Government’s assistance to business, labor and the general public along lines dictated by permanent pol- icy rather than emergency objectives; it measures each dollar of public money spent in terms of its ultimate accomplishments, rather than its im- mediate ameliorative effects; and it provides the best method for with- drawing public assistance as private capacity mounts, thus creating a bal- ance wheel for stabilizing the indus- trial activity of the Nation. Why must the Government con- tinue this modified form of public works, combined with stimulation of private industry? Because, despite our efforts to raise wages, there are still millions of familles who cannot pay the rent which decent housing requires. To help these families will not be charity, any more than we would regard it as charity to maintain schools and universities and lbraries and hospitals. By assisting these fam- ilies to get away from the blighting influences of the slums, we shall put them in a better position to help themselves. All society will be the gainer. What is the real basic problem un- derlying this issue? It is simply that America is too proud and too wealthy a country to allow one-third of its population to be ill-clothed, ill-fed and ill-housed. It is simply that we cannot permit unnecessary sickness and crime and suffering to be gener- ated by the evils of the slums. We believe that society has the same re- sponsibility toward the child crippled by a barren environment that it has toward a child crippled by a traffic accident. More than that, we do not want the child to be crippled at all. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Instead of building more hospitals and more prisons and more reforma- tories we propose to remedy the con- ditions which make these institutions 50 largely necessary. America has the intelligence, the imagination and the | social conscience to create the mate- | rial environment for an inspiring home life The housing bill, when enacted, will ~ Is the Only Department Store in Washington Showing the 'T‘{\"\\’;E-A\i\{‘\\\‘ S Including Small Carrying Charge Kaan's—Street and Third Floors. '\‘\,\“"““‘—‘fi New 1937 FRIGIDAIRE N TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 19317. directly provide better homes for one million people within the next four years. To this must be added the stimulation of private home building generally, and the fact that the pro- gram will be expanded when its merits have been proved. Surely, here is & proposition worthy of support by all who desire to fulfill our Nation's promise of comfort and security for the masses of its citizens. 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