Evening star., 1935-01-20
BY EDMUND KRIMMEL.

III oOSxIN1 Iido UCCOIIlC d ICdulIlk
IL world problem; today it ranks
with money, international
l. i debts and reciprocal tariffs.
1t shares the same confusion;
1t is, perhaps, as little understood.
All the ballyhoo, the stupid propa-
ganda and social fetishism which has
been fitting about in the news and
over the radio on the subject of
housing and slum clearance evidence
the lack OF sound thinking, a lack of
basic knowledge of housing and its
relation to sound government.
These factors, had they been known,
might have prevented the sacking of
rich mems homes during the French
and Russian revolutions and pre-
vented the recent destruction. by gov
ernment shell fire, of the model hous-
ing built for Viennese workers since
the war Confused thought is pervad-
ing our housing program today and
it can easily bring European turmoil
to our shores. Men are in need Of en-
ployment. Slums should be destroyed
and better housing offered to the poor;
but these motives should not take
precedence over a more basic need
a well-rounded housing program for
society as whole.
There are factors in housing which
do not reveal themselves during the
flush of enthusiasm to create work
and offer better housing to the poor,
Their interplay can be seen in the
progress of civilization. Moulders of
nations, in ancient as well as modern
times, never noted that as they gath
cred greater numbers together under
one rule they transplanted them from
a simple, primitive life, with its close
relation between people, to a social
order which demanded interrelated
but distant services Of men, with
varied rewards. Without a plan for
living in the larger social order, COM
fort led to abuse of privileges. neglect
of service, decay and collapse of that
order. Planning housing for the poor
alone will not prevent the recurrence
of these evils.
Older Civilizations Crumbled.
Egypt Babylonia. Greece, Rome
all failed to develop a plan for living
The Roman Empire crumbled, to hurl
the many people under its control
back to more primitive life. with
its limited opportunities but with
more equality Of service and living.
Yet out of the Dark Ages nations
tried anew to have men live together
in a more complicated social order
under new names-England. France,
Germany. In France We eventually
find the privileged, ruling families
seeking isolation in the sumptuous
palace of Versailles-so far removed
from the pulse of Paris. the great
mass of people. that they no longer
knew their problems and needs.
The early nineteenth century found
England with a wealthy. privileged.
governing group living aloof while
thousands lived in poverty in slums.
But at the same time Charles Dickens
approached the problem from the op-
posite end Of the social strata. With
a vigorous pen he removed the for
lorn characters from their inacces-
sible isolation in the slums and placed
them in books which were to be acces-
sible to all of England. Slums, the
physical expression of a neglected
class, decaying social order. suddenly
became abhorrent. Many Of the slums
Dickens wrote about were torn down
to make way for public improvements.
Capitals Ape England.
All the capital cities of Europe
Paris, Berlin, Vienna-followed Eng
lands lead and displaced slums with
parks, wide boulevards, strategic mill
tary avenues, and great profits were
made from the commercial develop
ments along the new streets. But the
movement was little more than an at
tempt to carve out social danger
spots, to remove growing threat to
organized power. The problem of
housing was not solved Slums de-
veloped anew in other sections.
More than 40 years ago England
again set the pace for Europe to fol-
low. The government began to build
better housing for the workers, new
garden villages, low-cost housing in
slum clearance projects. The post
war period found all Europe in a fury
of low-cost housing construction.
Money raised by ruinous taxation on
property owners paid for the erection
OF the new structures. Germany, with
the aid Of billions sent from the
United States, built new villages and
large apartment house developments
for the workers.
Proper Relation Sought.
What is the relation of all this hous-
ing to sound government, to the hap
piness Of society as a whole? How
sound are the social, economic and DO
litical factors involved? Europe has
only been changing the isolation of
the unfortunates from the slums to
new villages, to new housing in Slum
clearance projects.
In none of these projects was there
evidence Of planning for sound social
order, for an accord and under
standing between classes. During this
period, when billions were being spent
on this new housing. the greatest ges-
ture ever made to the workers in the
history of the world, most European
countries had hanging over them the
bogie of the dictatorship Of the pro-
letariat.
Europe is paying terrible price be-
cause it did not learn in time the
secret of how men can live together.
It did not learn that separation and
isolation Of classes leads to selfish
ness, misunderstanding, class strife,
TO matter whether the isolation takes
place in the governing class, the in
telligentsia or the workers-no matter
whether the isolation Of the workers
takes place In slums or in model hous-
ing.
Let us turn our back on the Euro
pean propaganda and learn our own
housing needs. We started anew on
virgin soil, and as pioneers we expe-
rienced the equality of service and
equality of living of primitive people.
BY the early nineteenth century we
had already developed varied services
with varied rewards, but rs per cent
of our people still lived on farms:
there were large farms and small
farms.
Seventy-five per cent Of our popula-
Si1r boS l,oo,,,ac bavo,.l iv,sy,. .dfo k1