Evening star., 1935-12-22

made in Congress in 1886 to launch
netD large-Scale housing program
are discussed here by the senior
Senator from NelU York, aUho has
been responsible for drafting much
of the NeU Deals social security
and labor legislation.
BY ROBERT F. WAGNER,
United States Senator from New York.
LARGE-SCALE housing pro-
n gram in the United States will
"A accomplish three major OBJ
4 a jectives. First and foremost,
it will provide better living quarters
for millions of our people who now
dwell in dismal and unhealthful sur
roundingS. Secondly, it will augment,
and insure the permanence of, the
remarkable business comeback that we
have staged during the past two and
half years. Finally, it will create
Jobs for those men and women who
are still idle and dependent upon
public relief despite their overwhelm-
ing desire to earn a decent living in
normal way.
Bad housing conditions exist in
every county in America. In our
metropolitan areas, over 20 per cent
of the homes lack elementary sanitary
facilities and are not adapted to
decent living And when we turn
from the city to the village and the
farm, we find conditions equally
shocking. Despite the poetic senti-
mentality about the beauties of rural
living. there are innumerable locali-
ties today where only one home in a
hundred has bathtub; only two in
a hundred any kind of running water.
Ten million American families,
through no fault of their own, are
subjected continually to an environ
ment that is inimical to their health,
safety and morale.
We have long recognized that bad
housing means bad health. In the
crowded tenementS of our cities, three
out OF every four babies are afflicted
with ricketts,, and the danger of con-
tracing tuberculosis is 80 times as
great as under normal conditions. But
it is only more recently that studies
have traced the close connection be-
tween the Slum and crime. In the
worst areas of Manhattan, where
children Of tender years are forced
to spend most of their waking hours
in streets infested with the vilest
elements Of city life, the rate of
juvenile delinquency is four times as
high as in better parts of the city.
And we know that New York is, in
this respect, not an exception, but
rather an example.
Home Center of Culture.
This association of bad housing,
disease and crime confirms our Ameri-
can tradition that the home is the
very center Of civilization. We must
therefore, begin to cultivate decent
conditions at this center If we want
the boys and girls of America to grow
up as flowers rather than as weeds.
If we dodge this responsibility, the
hospitals and reformatories that we
build to take care of the victims of
our neglect will be mere monuments
to our folly.
A large building program will place
upon f1rmer foundation, not only the
physical and spiritual future of young
America, but also our entire business
structure. No single factor contri-
buted so largely to the depression as
the collapse of the construction trades,
and their budding revival today is
the most reassuring element in the
economic situation. But We shall not
be able to sing the praises Of full re-
covery until the sound of the hammer
and the rivet and the saw are joined
even more fully in the chorus of eco
nomic Improvement
The opportunities are great. 1t is
reliably estimated that during the next
10 years we shall require 100000
new homes to provide adequately for
normal population increases, for obso-
lescence and for the demolition and
abandonment of millions of dwellings
that are totally unfit for human habi-
tation. Such a program would involve
an investment of capital, and, of course,
mainly private capital, to the extent of
about $65 ,OO0, 900 900. or $6,50o,0oo per
year. When we consider the volume of
prosperity generated by the automobile
trade alone we can sense the business
gains that would result from supply
ing a need that is far more general, far
more stable and far more neglected
to date
Discusses Alternatives.
In thus widening the areas for profit
able enterprise, we must not forget to
press forward our attack upon unem-
ployment. Despite the pleasing gains
that have been made, two-thirds Of
those who lost their jobs during the de-
preston have not been reabsorbed by
private industry. In facing their just
challenge, what are our alternatives?
To let deserving men and women
starve would be inhuman, nor can mil.
lions of people remain STRANDED per-
manently upon public relief. Shorten