Evening star., 1934-09-15
NORTHUMBERLAND
HELD RECOvERYA|D
Head of Lumber Code Says
Program Is Already Prov
ing Successful.

The Federal Housing Administra-
tion's modernization program already
has demonstrated 1t will prove an i'm
portant factor in the success of the
recovery movement, o. II. Greene, one
of the Nations leading lumber figures,
told F. H. A. officials this week.
Greene is chairman Of the Lumber
Code Authority for eight States, chair
man of the Merchandising Council of
Lumber Associations of the United
States, president of the Northeastern
Retail Lumber Mems Association and
president of Wilson & Greene Lumber
Co.. Syracuse. N. Y.
Made Influence Felt.
"while the program has scarcely
had enough time to get good start" I"
Mr.. Greene said, ''it has already be-
gun to make its influence felt. The
amount of actual construction is as
yet rather small, but the preliminary
work has been well done and a new
spirit of hopefulness has sprung into
life in the last 80 days in every branch
of the building industry. 1t is not a
case of whistling to keep up our cour-
age. The whole industry Is imbued
with feeling of confidence. We know
that a brighter day is coming-and
coming fast. AS one proof Of all this,
look at the trade journals and real
estate pages of the newspapers. Hun
dreds of thousands of dollars are being
spent every week in these publications
in building and construction adver-
tising.
No Artificial Stimulant.
"This is no artificial stimulant that
is being administered to the building
business" he continued. "It is plan
that is as sound as dollar. The
Government is simply loosening up
the log-jam of credit. Uncle Sam is
making it good business for the banks
to lend on character loans for mod
ernizing projects. Such loans are good
investments for the borrowers and
good business for the banks. 1t is a
perfectly feasible and natural plan.
banks are glad to let them have 1t, the
building industry is stimulated thereby
and will pass a lot of new business
along to all other lines. I can't see
any flaw in it and from the way it is
beginning to click I am convinced
that this is the consensus of opinion.
"At the Federal Housing Admins
tration in Washington they tell me
they are literally swamped with re-
quests for better housing literature,
with letters from all parts of the
eooLfv,o iv,fo IA bo,,f xI,a
program, and with requests from
newspapers, magazines and radio
stations for news about the program,
so that they can swing into line in
the big parade that Is proving to be
one of the most heartening develop
ments in recent months.
Larger Program Later.
"Of course, as we know, the present
program is just preliminary to larger
and more important one to follow,
namely, the home mortgage plan to
be carried out in compliance with
title II of the national housing act.
But those Of us who are in the con-
struction field are more than satisfied
with the way the better-h housing pro-
gram is moving along. and we know
that the momentum of the present
movement will do much to assure the
success Of the later program.
There is just one more point I wish
to make. No one is being urged to 60
along with this movement merely for
the sake of sentiment. Property own
ers are being urged to borrow money
to make only such repairs and i'm
provements as might be considered
sound investments. If a man borrows