Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-21
Home Building Aid Project
Arouses Little Opposition

President Hoover's proposal that leg
islation be adopted establishing better
banking facilities for the building OF
homes receives wide approval, as the
effects are thought likely to be felt In
many directions. It Is generally be-
lieved that the plan would create q
better means of handling mortgages
than has previously existed. and thus
stimulate building. but critics main
tain that 1t would do nothing to re-
duce costs to the home builder.
I'm some communities" according to
the Chicago Daily News, bankers and
building-loan associations have frozen
so much of their resources In inflated
real estate projects that no funds re-
main for the renewal Of sound mort
cages on conservatively financed prop
critics." with the result that "unnun-
bered families have remained In
cramped, insanitary quarters because
they could not finance suitable homes. "
The Daily News feels that, while the
Presidents plan should promote bust
ness recovery, it should have the ef-
feet also Of lowering building costs and
elevating the standard of living of
many Americans now miserably housed. "
X y
Especially opportune," Is the verdict
of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
on the plan, with the conclusion that
sit would be an available resource for
the banks and associations making orig
inal loans enabling them to replentsh
their credit supply when necessary. in
this way tending to stabilize the real
estate market and to make credit more
constantly available to the homemaker."
Pointing to three bank systen1s-one
in operation since 1914, the second just
about to function, the third awaiting
the action of the next Congress" the
Cincinnati Times-Star holds that they
would take care of most Of the frozen
credit" and that ''the sound theory be-
hind them all is that whenever there
is value a safe means can and should
be found to make use of 1t in the daily
business of the people" The Hanil-
ton Evening Journal comments:
There may be some features of the
plan which will not meet the approval
Of Congress but the basic thought
should become helpful law"
4
"Phe Endorsements given by real
estate, banking. civic and political lead
ers throughout the country are i'm
preSSive," says the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette, recalling that "the National
Association of Real Estate Boards, at
its Baltimore convention last May, adj
Vance0 the 1dea OF mortgage discount
bank plan" The Columbus Ohio
State Journal offers the Judgment:
Construction is one of the big indus
tries of the United States. and so long
as 1t is kept at q minimum because
people are afraid to build. unemploy-
mert will continue to be with us and
the return Of more normal times will
be delayed. It has been estimated by
economists that every dollar spent in
construction is used five times during
the year that tits spent; thus every
dollar put into circulation on q con-
struction project becomes worth $5 In
the succeeding IL months. II this es-
innate Is correct 1t Is easy to see what
result on general prosperity q pickup
in building would have
1.-THE real purpose behind the plan"
explains the New York Herald Tribune,
lis to put banks that are carrying large
portfolios of real estate loans in a more
liquid position. This is to be accom-
plished by making such loans, under
closely circumscribed conditions, dis
countable at regional institutions to be
set UP for that purpose. It Is too early
to discuss the machinery Of the new
system, as Mr.. Hoover has outlined 1t,
for, as he himself has said, the present
suggestions are by no means neces-
sarily final. The most obviously salts