The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-10-28

free from the town nursery to which
they were transplanted when the
land was cleared.
This Is "Tugwelltown."
Greenbelt epitomizes Professor
Tugwell's philosophy. He said its
aim was:
"To obtain a large tract of land
and thus avoid the complications or
dinarily due to diverse ownerships !;
in this tract to create a community,
protected by an encircling green
belt; the community to be designed
prim arily for families of modest in
comes, and arranged and managed
SO as to encourage family and
community life which will be better
than they now enjoy, but which will
not involve subjecting them to CO.
ercive or theoretical and INFESTED
discipline.
"The dwellings and the land upon
which they are located are to be
held in one ownership, preferably a
public agency to which the federal
government will transfer title, and
which agency will rent or lease the
dwellings but will not sell them; a
municipal government to be set up,
in character with such governments
now existing or possible in that re-
gion; coordination to be estab-
lished, in relation to the local and
state governments, SO that there
may be provided those public serv-
ices of educational and other char
acter which the community will re-
quire; and, finally, to accomplish
these purposes in such a way that
the community may be a taXpaying
participant in the region, that eX-
travagant OUTLAWS from the indi 7id-
ual family income will not be neces-
sary, and that the rents will be suit
able to families of modest income.
'To develop a land-use plan for
the entire tract; to devise a system
of rural economy co-ordinated with
the land-use plan for the rural por-
tons of the tract surrounding the
suburban community; and to inte-
CRATE both the physical plans and
the economies of the rural area and
the suburban community"
Whether or not the model town
can be regarded as the answer to
the low-cost housing program, even
if Greenbelt succeeds as a happy,
prospecting community, depends on
how you look at it. It has been
pointed out by opponents that the
project cost far too much and that
there were too many delays, alleg-
eddy attributable to government
efficiency" in its construction.
What Sponsors Contend.
Only 1856 families may be housed
in Greenbelt, opponents point out,
yet the cost is $14,227 900, or more
than $4,000 house. The govern
ment's estimated net return on the
investment, they say, is less than
" of l per cent. Even if interest
were waived, it would take 237 years
to repay the cost.
Against this the sponsors reply
that it is unfair to pro-rate the cost
among the houses alone, for it in
cludes the business buildings, land
scaping and many other things. Pre-
sumably their answer would have
been the same if the cost had been
regarded $4,000 per family.
Also there is the argument that
the made work." transient relief
labor and such, skyrocketed the
cost. They contend that low-cost
housing is spreading and that re-
payments under the Wagner act will
be more generous than those at
Greenbelt. They attempt to show
that costs of slum conditions are in
direct but that they are even greater
than the cost to the government of
substituting model communities; that
well-built homes are in the long
run cheaper than flimsier dwellings
built for sale; and the Greenbelt
accountants write off third of the
total cost as excess labor costs, more
directly chargeable to work relief
than to the GreenbeIt residents.
g Western Newspaper Union.