Evening star., 1935-01-05
tn the Editor of The Star:

o Utlc EultOk VI LAC osoA'
If it is desired to take up the slack
in employment and end the depres-
sion, it would seem that the quickest
and safest way to do so would be TO
restore the normal flow Of mortgage
money at attractive rates. If, instead
of squandering billions in ways which
six years ago no one outside OF a
lunatic asylum could have proposed,
the Government would set up an
agency for discounting sound 6 per
cent mortgages made by the lending
institutions at a reasonable rate OF
interest, a great wave OF industry
would quickly follow and with 1t a
demand not only for all the new con-
struction but for that which now lies
vacant. Moreover, the Government
would stand to lose nothing by the
venture. The proposed insurance OF
mortgages is too onerous to be
effective.
There must be a vast number OF
other responsible persons throughout
the country situated as I am who
would gladly undertake building opera
tions if they could obtain mortgages
at reasonable rates. Under such
condition myself could Immediately
commence work on projects which
with all their ramif1cations would
probably afford employment to four
or five thousand persons for q year or
more, and there are undoubtedly
thousands of others who would do
likewise to a greater or less extent.
For almost five years now this great
stimulus to industry has been dried
up. Five or six million men formerly
engaged in the building industry have
been either out of work or else en-
ployed only a small part Of their
time.
The paralysis in this line has af-
fected all other lines so that upward
of 10 million men have become con-
sumers at the public expense instead
of producers and all the wealth which
they could have created by their
labors has been lost.
With employment q vast demand
for floor space would quickly develop
not only for living quarters but for all
other purposes, while the creation of
that space would afford the necessary
employment.
During the war building operations
were suspended for only about two
wears, yet it took 10 years to catch up
with the demand. I owned a large
block of tenements on Forty-first and
Forty-second streets, Manhattan, and
for the first five years of that time
there was a long tenants waiting lst'
The management reported that they
could rent apartments on the roof or
in the cellar if we had them.
Now there has been a stoppage OF
building for about five years. A great
number of families have been obliged
to double up, as the saying is. They
do not like it and at the first oppor-
tunity will separate. Others by the
thousands have crowded themselves
into smaller units and these, too, Will
want to expand. With unemployment
there will, therefore, spring up an un-
heard of demand for space.
Many short sighted persons, among
whom are the heads of most OF the
large lending institutions, look askance
at new building and ask why have
more while so much is vacant. They
do not seem to realize that the va
cancies are chiefly due to the stoppage
of building.
The depression feeds on itself and
each curtailment causes others, and
the strange part Is that there has been
no loss of real wealth but only Of
courage. Meanwhile the National
Government adopts measures most
admirably adapted to scare of private
enterprise and pours out billions in
the vain effort to restore prosperity BY