Evening star., 1936-06-18
Praiseworthy ''Objectives.'

Are objectives the only consideration
In legislation? There has been a pro-
nounced tendency on the part of Con-
gress, in its consideration of manifestly
desirable objectives, to. forget the rough
ground that must be covered in reaching
them That seems to be the case in
the Wagner housing bill, hurriedly passed
by the Senate after few hours of de-
bate. If the general objectives of that
measure may be described as the pro-
vision of low-coSt housing for the low
income families and the abolishment Of
slum areas in the great Cities there are
few who can object.
But what are some of the problems in
attaining the objective? In Senate de-
bate it was left for Democrat, George
of Georgia, to sum them up impressively
in manner that has left them unan-
swered One of them:
The members of your committee
Finance Committee) have been spending
literally days and weeks trying to devise
means by which we may raise some $780,
100000 in additional revenue; yet, with
not more than two or three hours of
debate. at the very end of the session,
We are appropriating approximately
$500O 900.
Where is the money to come from?
That is one problem.
Under the terms of the bill families
are eligible for acceptance as low-rental
tenants who lack sufficient income,
without the benefit of financial assist
ance, to enable them to live in decent,
safe and sanitary dwellings and other
than overcrowded housing conditions"
There is the additional proviso that no
family shall be accepted whose total in
come exceeds six times the rental.
How many families would be eligible?
Senators Wagner and Walsh, explaining
1.-The bill to the Senate, said the matter
of selecting the most needy families for
the low-rental housing was largely one
of administration" But the difficulty of
@such administration is understood in the
realization that forty per cent of the
families Of the United States earn less
far as income is concerned, would doubt
less be considered eligible tenants. The
provision of low-cost housing, said
Senator George, is desirable. but ut is
roadway that once we set our feet in it
will literally have no end. In
America we cannot build houses for
part of our people without building
houses ultimately for the remainder of
our people" That is another problem.
The housing bill would exempt from
taxation the areas and property utilized
in low-cost housing construction, thus
presenting competition that cannot be
met from private sources. This produced
from Senator Couzens the observation
that Ito pass legislation like that pro-
posed and at the same time to be preach
ing from the house tops in an effort to
encourage business to re-employ men is
so inconsistent that no sound argument
can be advanced for it," Which is an
other problem.
With such problems altogether un-
solved, the Senate has passed the bill,
with its eyes fixed exclusively on the
objectives. The legislation is largely ex-
perimental. 1t may be practical 1t may
fail utterly. 1t is designed to encourage,
through grants and loans, the building
of low-cost housing by local authorities
of the States and cities. The Govern
ment is directly to engage in certain
demonstration projects. But the dem
onstration, 1t is feared, will not go far
beyond proving that desirable things
may be accomplished where there is
plentiful supply of money and as long as
the money lasts.
Most of the taxpayers know that.
What they do not know is the extent Of
obligations assumed in their name by
the appropriating Congress. If the
housing bill provided the taxes to meet
the expense, it would have been more
honest than a measure which leaves
the payment of the bills to some other
time