The Washington times., 1937-01-28
HOUSING BILL
TOAD FLOOD
SUFFERERS
BY T. A. HUNTLEY

Permanent rehabilitation OF
flooded areas in the Ohio and
Mississippi Valleys through the
construction with Federal assist
ance Of lew satellite cities and
garden towns on the higher levels
of existing communities is being
studied on Capitol Hill as the flood
crest moves South.
AS the first definite development
lin this direction, it was learned to-
day that Senator Wagner, of New
York, will reintroduce his national
housing bill early next week,
probably with wider authorizations
and carrying larger appropriations
than the measure passed by the
Senate last session, and push it
through to final enactment as
rapidly as possibly thereafter. He
is expected to make an announce
ment of his purpose in the next
few days. The original bill au-
thorized the expenditure of $780,
900 900 a year for new low-coSt
housing in cooperation with States
and cities.
1t is known that the New York
Senator has had several talks with
the President about the housing
problem in general, and that he
believes that with the lessons of
the latest flood disaster fresh in
the country's mind, the time is
ripe to launch a great housing
/ in tn
clearing the cities of their Slums,
will provide what he regards as
the only real remedy for recur.
rent losses and suffering by mill
lions of Americans living in low
lying sections along these streams
ana their tributaries.
Plans New Communities
AS the New Yorker sees it, the
only permanent solution for the
flood problem in the Ohio Valley
particularly, so far as it involves
suffering by individual families
living in flooded areas, is to build
new communities on higher ground
where this is available, and grad.
ually move families living in the
river flats to these higher levels.
To the extent that cities like
Pittsburgh, Wheeling. Cincinnati,
Portsmouth, Evansville, Cairo and
similar river settlements have CEN
tered their business activities along
the, rivers and the railroads which
followed the stream levels, it is
recognized that the Government
cannot provide any guarantee
against property loss, except as it
may check the floods at their
source through the construction
Of storage dams at the headwaters
of the larger streams, as congress
Sional leaders analyZe the prob
lem. This remedy is also receiv.
ing consideration. But, as Sen
ator wagner and supporters Of
his housing program see it, there
is no reason why many thousands
of persons now living in areas
regularly inundated by the rivers
rise cannot be moved ultimately
to new neighborhoodS beyond the
reach of the highest flood stage.
Measure Speeded Up
It is this aspect of the problem
which has caused Senator Wagner
suddenly to speed his plans for
Federal assistance in the develop
, meH1t of a m-clearance and gar
den city program patterned after
the successful experimentation Of
England and Germany in this
field.
During a trip to Europe last
summer Senator Wagner person
ally visited several of the satellite
cities and garden towns in Eng
land. His observations served to
increase his enthusiasm for SIM
liar development in this country.
His housing program gains new
converts, he points out, as rapidly
as it is realized that "SlumS don't
pay" and that !ow-cost housing
projects for the most part can be
made Self-financing. The neceS-
sary Federal subsidies for broad
program of slum clearance and in
dustrial housing would be small.
in his opinion, by comparison with
sums spent for other purposes in
the last three years without re.
sulting in corresponding social
gains.
One of the stories from Europe
/ brought back by the Senator re-
+. wolves around an interview with
an elderly tenant in one of the
English garden townS-a woman.
, She was among those who had
! been re-housed from the London
. slums. She told the Senator,
t without knowing his identity:
"It's heaven now. It was hell
before"
Senator Wagner's interest in
sluIn clearance goes back to his
own boyhood, when as a nine-year.
old German immigrant, he spent
his first years in America in the
Slums of New York. From this
i origin he has fought his way up
: to become the foremost champion
r in the country OF slum rehabilita-
ton whether in New York or the
= river towns of the Ohio Valley.