The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-19

bury must rage a "Slum" unit fol every unit built under the housing act provisions.
 The text of the radio speech ap- pears, in full, as follows:
 Last week I spoke briefly on the proposed budget for the City of Waterbury put forward by the board of finance for 1889, and some of the effects that the four mill boost in the property tax rate will have on the welfare of the ordinary citizen, the working man or woman. Events of the past week heighten the significance of that 1889 budget, and make it of more and more vital import ance to every thoughtful person in the city. I refer especially to these two events: the strong at tack on the Housing and Slum Clearance program which was voiced at the public meeting spon- sored by the Waterbury Housing Authority last Wednesday night, and the ominous slash of $50 work CTS from the local WPA rolls which was carried through this week.
 To a casual observer, these two matters may seem unrelated; but both have a definite bearing on what the Board of Finance budget is going to do to the people of this city, if it is pushed through as scheduled.
 $10,000 Requested
 At the Housing meeting on Wednesday night, it was explained that the local Authority was re- questing $10,000 from the city for administrative expenses during the next year, in order to hasten the beginning of the actual work of construction and slum elimination. With this comparatively small elimination. With this compara- lively small sum, the business of spending in Waterbury $500,000 supplied by the federal govern ernment could get under way, providing employment for hun dreds of local workers, orders for local construction firms and sup ply houses - all helping the the tradesman and business man as well as the unfortunate slum dwellerS for whose benefit the housing would be provided. On the face of it, the ordinary citizen would say, an excellent investment for the community.
 But at the Housing meeting we had some extraordinary citizens. We had some citizens there who rose to question the deSirability of the Housing project, because, they said, it would not take care of the people who really need it most, the people now living in the low rent Slums.
 These extraordinary citizens, the most articulate of whom was Max Traurig, were oddly enough real estate men, men who have many houses and apartments to rent. I was greatly impressed by their hu- mane and altruistic attitude, their concern for the underprivileged Slun dweller, who would not be able to pay the rents required in this new project being built es- pecially for the slum dweller. I could only conclude that their op- position to the project was based on lack of information: because the SIS or $20 a month men, tioned as the proposed rental of these dwellings would include heat, gas. light and refrigeration, so that these units would be within the reach of people who now have to pay SIS or SIS for shelter rent alone. On this basis, l believe that the real estaet men could dry their tears, and work along with the rest of us in get, ting the Housing project started.
 But then suddenly a gentleman
 Sensitive Nerve
 whose name I did not hear rose and gave the game away. Why should property owners, asked this gentleman, why should the tax payers of Waterbury have to con- tribute to such a project, when the tax rate was already a tremen- dous burden, and jeopardize their own property incomes by setting up this low rent housing in com petition?
 And l thought to myself, as this gentleman spoke, we have touched the nerve that runs through his pocketbook. which is undoubtedly much more sensitive