Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-12-03

first session OF the President
i Conference on Home Building
and Home Ownership in Con
Hall follows:
You have come from every State
in the Union to consider matter OF
basic national interest. Your pur-
pose is to consider 1t in its long
view rather than its emergency as
poets. Next to food and clothing.
the housing OF nation is its most
vital social and economic problem.
This conference has been called espe-
ciallv to consi5er one great segment
of that problem: that is. in what
manner can we facilitate the owner
ship OF homes, and how can We pro-
tect the owners OF homes?
The conference also has before 1t
some phases of that other great seq
ment of housing, that Is, the stand
ards of tenement and apartment
dwellings While at this time we
give primary emphasis to home own
ership in city, town and farm, we
are all of us concerned in the i'm
provement of city housing / hope
we may at some future time subject
the question of city housing to more
definitely organized national intelli-
gence, through which we shall fur
ther establish standards which will
give impetus to public understanding
and public action to this, the ques-
ton of blighted areas and slums in
many of our great cities. I am con-
fident that the sentiment for home
ownership is so embedded in the
American heart that millions Of
xxfhn Atual1
apartments and rented rows of solid
brick have the aspiration for wider
opportunity in ownership of their
own homes. To possess ones own
home Is the hope and ambition Of
almost every individual in our coun-
try, whether he lives IN hotel, apart
ment or tenement.
Confidence and Security.
While the purpose of this confer
ence Is to study and advise upon the
very practical questions Of home de-
sign, OF materials, Of building regu-
1ations, of coming, Of taxes, Of trans
portation, Of financing, Of parks and
Fairgrounds and other topics, yet
behind it all every one of you here Is
impelled by the high ideal and as
piration that each family may pass
their days in the home which they
own: that they may nurture 1t as
theirs; that 1t may be their castle
in all that exquisite sentiment which
1t surrounds with the sweetness of
family life This aspiration pene-
trates the heart of our national well
being 1t makes for happier married
life, 1t makes for better children, 1t
makes for confidence and security,
battle of life. it makes for better
citizenship. There can be no fear
for a democracy or elf-government
or for liberty or freedom from home
owners, no matter how humble they
may be-
There Is o wide distinction be-
tween homes and mere housing.
Those immortal ballads, Home,
Sweet Home" MY Old Kentucky
Home" and THE Little Gray Home
in the West were not written about
tenements or apartments. They are
the expressions Of racial longing
which find outlet in the living poetry
and songs Of our people. They were
written about an individual abode,
alive with the tender associations of
childhood, the family life at the fire.
side, the free out Of doors, the indie
pendence, the security and the pride
in possession OF the family's own
home-the very seat Of its being.
That our people should live in
their own homes Is q sentiment deep
in the heart of our race and OF
American life. We know that as yet
Is not universally possible to all. We
know that many Of our people must
at all times live under other condi-
lions. But they never sing songs
about a pile of rent receipts. To own
ones own home is physical ex-
preston Of individualism, Of enter
prise. of independence and OF the
freedom of spirit. We do not in our
imagination attach to a transitory
place that expression about a mans
home being his castle, no matter
what its constitutional rights may BE-
individual Endeavor.
But to return to our practical
problems. Over 80 committees, en-
bracing the collective skill and ex-
perience of our country, have been
voluntarily engaged for the past year
in collecting the best Of national ex-
perience from every part of our
country, in collating it into definite
recommendation for your considera-
ton. Like the solution Of all prac-
tical problems, the facts first must
be discovered; they must be assem-
bled In their true perspective, and
the conclusions to be drawn from
them must be the memorable march
Of logic. This conference has not
been called primarily on legislative
questions. It's ma ior purpose is to
stimulate individual action. 1t seeks
better planned use Of our Nations
energies and resources, especially
those that are rooted in neighborii-
ness and mutual help, and those that
find expression in our great national
voluntary organizations, in our
schools and colleges and in our re-
search laboratories The conference
represents a place in our mastery of
the forces that modern science and
modern technology place at our dis
posal. 1t Is not to set up govern
ment in the building of homes, but
to stimulate individual endeavor and
make community conditions pro-
pitious The basis of Its action is
TO collate the whole of our expert
ence to date, to establish standards,
TO advance thought to 4 new plane
from which We may secure q revitai-
lied start upon national progress In
the building and owning Of homes.