Evening star., 1939-11-23
Farm Bureau Attacks
Housing Project on
Several Grounds
Boord Of Directors
Sees Plan as Blow
To Agriculture
By STAFF Correspondent Of The Star.

By Stan Correspondent Of The Star.
ROCKVILLE, Md, Nov. 23.-Ths
Board of Directors of the Mont
gomery County Farm Bureau yester-
day made public it's reasons for
disappearing the rural housing
program of the Montgomery County
Housing Authority.
Over the signature of G. Rust
Candy, chairman of the Resolutions
Committee, and James D. King,
bureau president and exofficio mem
ber, the resolution declared that in
principle the plan for elimination of
rural substandard housing showed
"a tendency to further dependence
upon Government rather than a
step to these folks becoming more
independent and self-sustaining.
I'VE cannot approve plan which
places premium upon unemploy-
ment and deliberate refusal to
work." the resolution declared. "On
the contrary, no one will go further
than this body to help sustain self
respecting, honest, industrious labor
to improve their housing standards
and become property owners, how
ever little they are able to pay
towards the equity each month"
Hines Introduces Resolution.
The resolution was introduced by
William j. Hines, who last week
objected to the program outlined
by E. Brooke Lee, chairman of the
County Housing Authority. Four Of
his five tenant houses, he told Mr..
Lee, would be eliminated by the
authority's program. 1t was Sec
onded by Mr.. Candy.
The directors also contended that
there is no need for the 300 to 1000
new houses the authority proposed
to build, although it was agreed that
isolated cases" Of need exist. The
virtue of the plan, the resolution
declared, depended on the legality
Of any action to destroy such houses,
particularly upon the farms where
the business depends upon available
labor" The houses would be re-
occupied if allowed to remain two
years, the board stated, resulting in
further overcrowding of schools and
their cost. The same could be said
of expenses regarding health, social
welfare and relief, according to the
resolution.
The board doubted the economy"
OF placing low income labor on a
cash basis and opposed a policy
of removing farm labor to points
out of reach, especially if this class
have no form of transportation,
adding that should transportation
be provided to industrial or suburban
centers this labor would thereby
be lost to agriculture
Sees Modern Trend Reversed.
"The program in question" the
resolution stated, "reverses the mod
ern tendency against concentration
of individuals. Concentration lends
itself to so many social disorders,
namely, public health, unemploy-
ment and crime without correcting
anything or saving expense. For
instance, houses could be built as
SAASoP4y IL otoblCl Gu lllIOuRIlOuL
communities without destroying
present labor contacts. Little, II
anything, would be saved on school
transportation, as the buses must
cover these routes anyhow"
The board declared itself in SYM
pathy with the position of some of
its members, but suggested the pro-
gram be readjusted to bring elec-
tricity to every farm in the county
and pointed out that scarcely a
single electric line extension has
been made in rural Montgomery
County in the last seven years"
Under the present proposed plan
OF constructing Is or more villages
for white and colored workers in
the low income brackets, the damage
ito adjacent and nearby properties
would be inestimable," the resolu-
ton stated.