Evening star., 1939-04-18
00PicketH
In Move 10 Save
America S Homes
Spokesman to Offer
Program to House
Committee

More than 600 persons, mainly
from the vicinity of New York City,
this morning joined in a save
Americas homes pilgrimage" march,
ing around the Home Owners Loan
Corp. headquarters and the Capitol
and urging amendment of the Home
Owners Loan Act.
They were scheduled to have rep
resentation at a public hearing of
the House Banking Committee at
1890 am. to present a program in
Guiding:
Reduction of H. o. L. C. mortgage
interest rate to per cent.
Extention of the amortization
period on H. o. L. c. loans from IS
to 80 years.
Elimination of deficiency judg-
ments.
Recognition of right to redeem
homes already foreclosed.
Declaration of tWo-year NOR
atorium on principal payments
where the home owner pays interest
and taxes.
Circle Building Several Times.
Forming 30o-yard- long line of
march at the Continental Hotel
after an overnight train journey
from New York and other points,
the pilgrimage" circled the Federal
Home Loan Bank Board Building
several times.
Marchers bore placards bearing
the names of such distant States
as California, Iowa, North Dakota.
New Hampshire and Maine. AS the
line formed, organizers were over
heard coaching the placard bearers
and members of their immediate
groups as to what States they were
from.
Where are you from?" the or
ganizer asked the placard carriers.
On several occasions the sign
bearers forgot themselves and said
New York or New Jersey" when
their card bore the name of another
State.
AS the pilgrimage walked around
H. o. L. c. headquarters, partici-
pants on the urging of their lead
ers, repeatedly shouted in a sing
song manner:
Save Americas s homes"
Many of the women sang verses
OF The Star Spangled Banner"
In the forefront were four girls
around 10 to II years old. Ones
sign read. my daddy lost his job.
Now the H. O. L. c. wants his home.
Please stop them"
Employees Crowd to Windows.
Matthew Napear of New York,
chairman of the pilgrimage, said he
planned to present the organizations
program to President Roosevelt, if
possible, and to the Senate Banking
Committee this afternoon.
Mr.. Napear explained that his
organization was composed of
members of the Council of H. o.
L. c. Mortgagors and of the Con-
solidated Home and Farm Owners
Mortgage Committee.
Hundreds of H. o. L. c. employees
stopped work and crowded to win
dows to watch proceedings outside,
and many passers-by hovered near
by on the sidewalks.
A number of police officers came
to the scene, 10l Indiana avenue
NV, to see that traffic was not
delayed and that no sidewalks were
blocked by the marchers.
Eohov n,,<l;->. v:-
The position of the Federal Home
Loan Bank Board regarding the sug-
gested program changes, as outlined
by Chairman John H. Fahey in a
letter to Senator Robert F.. Wagner
OF the Senate Banking Committee, is
that:
"The extension of the amortization
period would bring relief to few and
threaten the entire H. O. L. c. pro-
gram, that reduction of interest
rates is unnecessary and would add
millions of dollars to the taxpayers
burden that deficiency judgments
are enforced only when borrowers
fail to meet their obligations despite
their ability to do so, that foreclosed
H. o. L. c. borrowers already can re-
deem their properties and that a
moratorium on principal payments
might force the H. o. L. c. to de-
fault on its bonds"
A delegation representing the
pilgrimage conferred with Mr..
Fahey, but no announcement was
made regarding the outcome. Men,
bers of the delegation showed a
telegram from Alex Rose, State Sec
retary OF the American Labor party
IN New York, in which their pro-