The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-10-27
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
s6s,34O AN ACRE

~, doIIar and half square foot is to be the
r,,;t of tho price of land for new public housing
u,;oo+s Nathan Strauss, administrator of the
fru;.oJ States Housing Authority, has ruled, and
49, r,l;n, causes concern in New York City, where
A1frod Pbenstein, head of the city's housing au-
-. COWS that adherence to that limit would
.,oor tbo+ obIiohted areas" in the more cOngested
oot;ors of Rrooklyn and the Bronx would remain
n;,,b+od bocause the areas cannot be purchased at
e. 20 s,,are foot. Lands at S65,340 an acre can
- ~ bod without going into the suburbs, and the
b,,rhs ,vonld not have the parks, Fairgrounds
otbor conveniences and luxuries that are provided
within the cities.
The ruIing by Administrator Strauss recalls to
writer in The New York Times remark by him
at meeting last February that Two STORY houses
Co., +u,o on5 four families might be erected on
large sites in new outlying areas Whefe land Is COM
80 so+i,,ol,, cboan Comparatively cheap" appears
to be $3.50 square foot it is well above that hs-
,,ro in the "bIighted areas" of the Bronx and
Brooklyn.
ultimately surely, the people of the United
States, not the people OF New 1ofN alohe' VIII pay
for whatever land shall be bought 1of 1eoefal nous
ing Otherwise the housing would not be federal.
At dollar and half square foot' the price
of land. remember, is S65,34O an acre. In the
great cities that price is considered too low; that
sum won't buy an acre.
The people of South Carolina, of Wyoming,
Georgia Texas and the other states are to buy land
at S65,34O an acre for the low income groups
in New York and other great cities-they are to be
taxed on tobacco, beer, sugar, knives and forks,
blankets and overcoatS, gasoline and cars at the
same rate as the people who are to dwell IN houses
on land bought for $65940 an acre-lt the housing
authorities of the big towns can get 1t at that
figure.
In the United,.States are millions on millions OF
acres that could be bought for $500, SlO0, sou,
S2Q, $40 an acre. One could name village III
South Carolina not far from Charleston where an
artesan well forces water into the second stories
of houses One could have all the land Of that at
traetive village for much less than S65,34O.
But the "slum jewellers" in the cities cannot to-
crate the notion of dwelling "out in the sticks.
The government of the United States, your presl-
dent and the majority of your congressman, impose
taxes upon you-and collect them too-so that land
at S65,340 an acre be purchased lest the city
sum-dwellers be sent into exile in the country dis
tricts to live among the people that these SUM
dwellers call "Hayseeds" and 'Rubes."
The lowest cost at which government-built houses
can be provided in the big towns for Glow income
groups is about $1,150 room. The land cost to
the family is 1852 in New York. How many fam
lilies in Ehrhardt, Enoree, Hemingway, are living
on lots of a sixth of an acre, about 1000 square
feet, that cost $16S2? In houses that cost $1,150
to $500 a room?
The families in Elloree Ehrhardt, and Heming-
way, of every village in South Carolina as well as
on the farms in the deep country, are paying taxes
for S., 900 homes for the slum-dwellers
Nor is The News and Courier defending the
Roosevelt administrators spending the taxpayers
money to build houses in Charleston, Columbia,
Sa annah, Atlanta.
However, you village and country people are the
great majority in South Carolina, and if you like
it and vote for it, why should We object?-Charles-
ton News and Courier.