Carbon County news., 1937-03-12
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millions will be expended and more
people encouraged to place them
selves in debt. L {. III: <..~ f.. ... >. r =. -
| I cannot criticize the housing adj
ministration policy any more thar
I can criticize the program of the
i Hole. The point is that there is
simply no coordination in govern.
ment policies as they concern these
two agencies, and consequently, one
group is building new homes and an.
| other is taking over old homes for
which the buyers have been unable
to pay. In my humble opinion, it
does not make good sense. ~
] have heard considerable talk
among influential New Dealers to
the effect that new homes will sell
more easily than the old ones and
therefore the housing administration
plans are held to be justified. Yet,
1t does seem to be perfectly nat
ural and logical thing that new
homes become old homes as time
elapses and there are many who
believe that the government, be-
cause it has guaranteed the loans
on new homes, will have to take
over large percentage of them as
well That is, it will have to take
over ait least q normal percentage
because whether the loans are made
by private financing companies or
by the government, considerable
number Of buyers are unable to full
all their obligations. It is not all
ways the fault Of the buyers. Sick
ness, loss Of Jobs or a thousand and
one other circumstances may de-
velop that prevents the. buyer Of q
home from carrying through his
cherished dream Of own the roof
over his head. It IS the way of life
that certain percentage win, and
Of necessity must, fall BY the way
side.
I never have been able to agree
that the federal government has any
-: s.sts: { business In the
Wrong field Of financing
Principle homes or extend
.... ... % ing credit to indi-
.viduals. I have always criticized /
the Hoover administration for ere I
ating the Reconstruction Finance
corporation and the Roosevelt adj
ministration for expanding its oper-
ations. The principle is wrong be-
cause it uses money either borrowed
by the government or paid into the
Treasury by the taxpayers to f..
nance, to build up, personal funds Of
individuals or corporations.
It seems quite clear to me that
the Hole, following the experiences
of the farm loan system, justifes
the conclusion that the federal gov
ernment cannot successfully engage |
in that field. In the first instance,
I think it is bad business for gov |
ernnent to go beyond the protection |
Of life, liberty and property, with |
all the implications carried in those |
three words as governmental pol
icy. Further, and with much more
I am sure that any time |
government engages in that field it /
opens the way for politicians to be I
tempted, to be forced, to do things |
in legislative way that cannot be
justified as economically sound.
Earlier in this article, suggested
The difficulty always surrounding
the sale of property that has been
taken back from the original pur-
chasers. Officials Of private mort
gage companies and other financial
Institutions have grown many a
gray hair in their efforts to recover
money loaned in cases where the
borrowers have met with unfortu-
nate circumstances. The govern
ment, finding itself in the position
If the private lender insofar as re-
possession Of property is concerned,
mas about one-half the chance Of
that the private lender
would have. And beyond that, there
IS too much chance for favoritism,
and even crookedness
when the government attempts to
10 job like the HOLC now is fac
ng. say that regardless Of the
honest purpose that ! know char
acterizes the present Hole man.
agement.
It may not have occurred to some !
out the fact that the federal govern
ment through the
u. ). a Hole will own all
Taxpayer Of these houses
+ + %=.s which had to be-
aiken back, means that the federal |
government becomes taxpayer in |
,very city, county and state where
I owns these homes. At the rate
hings are going and assuming that
he ratio of >delinquencies and de-
aults continue as they do for pri-
rate lending agencies, another four
vears will see the Hole in possess II
lion Of minimum of 1000 par II
:e1s of real estate. Of course, I +
the local tax collectors will h
,e glad to see the federal govern
nent taking over the property. be-
,auSe they will then collect their L