The Washington herald., 1920-12-24
CALDER PROPOSES
EIGHT PLANKSM
HOUSING PROGRAM
Tells Senate Legislation
Is Greatest Bar to New
: So Building.

: frying a program of legislation
toTelieve the nations housing short
age, Senator william NJ. Calder. of
New York. addressed the Senate for
nearly an hour yesterday. pointing
out the fact. that during the last
four years building construction has
been lower than in any one year
Immediately preceding the war.
He declared that freight rates on
building materials are more than
dcuhle what they were previous to
this condition and said that coal is
-tw6-and one-haIf times the pre-war
scale. As chairman of the Senate
Committee on Reconstruction and
Production he pointed out difficult
ties. under which the public is Ia
boring for lack of suitable legis-
fation, as revealed by the recent in
Vestigations made by his commit
cee.- He predicted that it would be
lihcult to change either fuel or
transportation costs before there is
reduction in wages, and urged
EHat working men be patient with
.ylHir lot until improvements are
.BhOwn.
- says Prices Will stay High.
While there ought to be substan.
-tiaI reductions in every commodity,
s5uildinc prices will never come
down. so We must face the situation
with that in mind" he said. He
made the following recommends
eSIOus:
- J. Establishment of a construc-
~-Ii.n bureau In the Department of
= Commerce to be a clearing house for
ell building activities. to secure in
formation on building materials,
study new building methods to de-
-Crease costs and work out stand
sIrdization Of materials.
= Authorization for so per cent
.sf S2.000,O0O.000 savings deposits in
.the national banks to be loaned on
real estate mortgages.
) Exemption from taxation of the
income on mortgages when in the
hands of individuals, provided that
no individual shall own more than
$4,000 worth This is provided in
o. bill already introduced by Calder
Exemption for New Building.
-. 4. Legislation exempting for five
years the, profits on the sale of new
buildings erected for dwellings, pro-
vided these profits are reinvested in
new buildings.
.. Creation Of a home loan bank
ing system in line with the farm
loan bank.
. 6 Establishment of trade schools
where young men could be trained
IN the building trades.
7. Amendment Of the transporta-
lion act to check the issuance by
The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion Of "ill-adyised ex-parte or
ders,' on the ground that priority
orders for coal retarded business
and discouraged building.
s. Supervision of the coal indus
try by some Federal agency to pre-
vent necessity of complete Gov
ernmcnt control, or even the licens-
iuz system"
calder pointed out that bitumi-
nous coal. which before the war
sold at the mine for $3.50 a ton, is
now $3.50 to SIS. and anthracite,
which formerly sold at the mine
fol $3.50, has brought recently from
IS 10 $50.
Coa-Iud Ig, Calder said he want
cd TO VI &c upon the Senate that
greater Elterest be displayed here
"a the human welfare, so that some
thing may be done to relieve the
bcpl0rable living conditions"
In every city of the nation there
S abnormal overcrowding. As a
result of the overcrowding infant
mortality in these congested CEN
-Sers has increased so per cent. There
is also a large increase in the num-
Der of tuberculosis cases in the
cities"