Evening star., 1936-09-06
Government Bounty
Brings Its Problems
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

the lesson now beglnnlng remains to be
revealed more fully in the years Just
ahead.
Questions like these are pressing closer
and closer to the White House:
Who are to enjoy continued bounties;
who to be denied. and who to pay the
bills? Which individuals are to be
spared from meeting their contracts
with the Government; which to be made
to pay up or face the loss Of their prop
erty? Who are to get homes with rent
subsidies: who to be turned down?
Practical problems in paternalism are
demanding immediate answers. The
Government in Washington is forced to
decide which citizens are to receive
drought relief: which are to be denied
A. A. A. subsidies; which to get nice
new homes at low rents; which to be
forced from work relief; which to be
permitted to keep their homes even when
defaulting on H. o. L. c. mortgages;
which to lose their homes and farms
through foreclosure.
Thus. the personal affairs Of millions
Of its citizens become the direct concern
Of a central Government which often
dominates those affairs.
President Roosevelt was up against
these new problems Of Government on
his visit to the drought areas. He saw
some farmers drawing Government
checks for work on w. P. A. jobs, while
their neighbors, probably just as hard
saw others mortgaging their chattels to
borrow money from DR.. Rexford Tug
| wells Resettlement Administration. while
their y,oi0hhOrc hajpp uix
by the same agency.
This was just a sample Of Govern
| ment, dependent on votes for continu-
ance in power, choosing between voters
In extending help.
That problem Of selection raises more
| and more difficulties.
Relief officials have faced 1t through
the last three years. On the basis of
their experience, these officials discount
the political capital to be made out of
Government aid. They find that those
who get relief start demanding more;
those who don't get it are resentful
| over what they think is favoritism in
| selection; while those who do not need
relief are angered over what they regard
as too great lberality and over the pros
pect OF paying the bill.
But nonetheless huge class Of re-
lief recipients. with as yet untested
political powe1s. is built up.
Now there Is arising the problem of
distributing $500 100000 in subsidies to
millions of individual farmers eligible
| to take part in the soil conservation
program. These farmers have no con-
tracts. The machinery OF Government
will determine which ones are to get
| checks. Supposedly. these checks are to
| be conditioned on cooperation. But
| drought has wiped out evidence of CO.
| operation or lack of cooperation in
many States. Does that mean that all
| farmers will receive bounties? II SO,
the money would be spread thin. So
ways are being figured out to exclude
some, include others.
In prospect is large, subsidized group
Of farmers, with the possibility of con-
trolling several million votes. At the
same time, there will be other farmers
excluded from this group, who will be
resentful at the Government selections.
Then there is a rapidly growing prob
lem Of mortgage foreclosure.
Government holds mortgages on nearly
a million city homes and half a million
farms. Those mortgages, like others,
call for payments of interest and for
retirement of the principal. Even be-
fore principal payments start, about
200 ZOO of the city mortgages have been
subject to at least technical default and
| tens of thousands of farm mortgages are
in the same condition.
A&&&
What to do? The Home Owners Loan
Corp. holding the mortgages on city
homes. has commenced to foreclose in
an increasing number of cases. Soon
every community in the land will wit
ness the spectacle of the Federal Gov
ernment, in the role of hard-hearted
creditor, taking homes away from his
citizen debtors.
But even so. not all defaulters are
losing their places. Again the Govern
ment is choosing between its citizens,
and, in cases where its agents decide
| that home-owners should be allowed to
keep their homes in the face Of defaults,
| leniency is shown.
Fewer farm debtors are in immediate
| trouble. because the drought has given
| the Farm Credit Administration an ex-
cuse for delaying foreclosures.
Also. Congress already has taken no.
| tice Of the plight Of farmer borrowers.
With almost no opposition, the National
| Legislature decided to have taxpayers
partially subsidize farmers by carrying
| their debt at 31z per cent interest rate.
City debtors, owing the same Govern
| ment, have to pay per cent for
their money.
Some Congressman are ready now to
| demand that home owners get the same
concessions as farm owners. There is
being built up a class Of property,
| financed by the Federal Government,
which Is more desirable than other
property, privately financed, because of
lower interest charges and because Of
subsidies.
AS another example: Work is rapidly
being completed on number of Gov
ernment- subsidized housing projects. In
some of them tenants already have taken
up residence. They are favored by rents
| far below those charged for similar ac-
commodations for the remainder of the
population.
Again, the Government has to decide
who are to be the lucky few who get
| low-rent homes In Slum clearance apart
ments, subsistence homesteads or green
| belt developments in city suburbs.
And If concessions and advantages are
| given to some, what is to keep politics
from determining the choice, and what
is to keep other citizens from demanding
similar benefits from their Government?