The New York herald., 1921-01-16
Debates on Housing and Labor

supply houses 10 lower PAID wage earnerS
Mr.. Murphy dissents on the individualstic
ground that public efforts would be wasteful
as compared to private undertakings, while
Mr.. Alderman continues consistent by de-
nouncfng municipal housing as another
form of subsidy" to falling financial sys-
TEN. a subsidy which would defeat its own
ends by stimulating the growth of cities and
ending in more congestion. To refute this,
Mrs. Wood endeavors to show that municipal
housing programmes are successfully being
carried out by Liverpool, Manchester and
London; but she fails to answer Mr.. Acker-
mans point that municipal housing en-
courages the development of cities.
AS a substitute for Mrs. Woods proposal
Mr.. Murphy suggests exemption from tax
alton of incomes derived from mortgages
and all new buildings erected within three
years." Remove the obstacles" he main
tains, "and buildings will rise." But, as
might be expected, his plan meets with
strenuous opposition from his fellow de-
baters. While Mrs. Wood admits that tax
exemptions can be mildly helpful" she as
sails Mr.. jMurphy's scheme on the ground
that 1t subsidies the builder and landlord
at the expense of the taxpayer" Mr.. Acker-
man likewise claims II to be a subsidy, a
crutch to the entire financial business sys-
tem," and he attacks the proposal as a SUBJ
vention based on a disregard of economic
conditions
How then are we to remedy the problem
of congestion? At this point Mr.. Murphy
singularly, and perhaps unconsciously, comes
to agree with Mr.. Alderman, for he traces
the difficulty in part to speculation In land,
and intimates that congestion will not be re-
lieved so long as holders of vacant lands
see an opportunity to make profits out OF
land Developments" However, he asserts
that public regulation would be futile. I'm
a city like New York." he declares. 'the task
has become too colossal to be considered Sc
riously." Therein he differs from Mrs. Wood,
who believes that congestion can be pre-
vented by town planning. zoning. cheap
transportation and public ownership OF land.
But his conclusion is In accord with that OF
Mr.. Ackerman. although the latter arrives
at his result on the ground that mo political
action can be effective since the ac-
tion would have to make its appeal as de-
sirable business proposition"
Pessmistically, he states There s not
the slightest hope OF changing the drift of
population which has been running toward
Industrial centres until the modern industrial
system shall have begun to move In the
direction OF decentralization" Congestion
OF population" he points out, "is conse-
quence OF the concentration of Industry"
accordingly. he maintains that "the only way
to bring about a redistribution of population
would be to bring about an equalization Of
investment opportunity"
In other words, the problem, in Mr.. AclSer-
mans conception. reduces itself to the dis
allowance of investment for profit" To
illustrate his point he mentions a newspaper
heading that ran, TOO much milk to sell
but not enough to drink" In this case,
economic advantage prompted producers
actually to waste milk while millions were
In need Of II. In the same way. there is n
waste In the housing field; no matter what
the public need production will be curtailed
while 1t Is economically beneficial to the pro-
ducers to keep production down. And until
that situation is remedied. contends MIR.
Ackerman, we can look for no permanent
solution to the housing problem.