Evening star., 1940-02-28

" u lu IL q w
Charles G. Ross. heard:
1T is truly amazing and shocking
that such perfidious proposition
should be brought into a body OF
free and intelligent men.
"The question at issue is whether
we are going to follow the Ameri-
can principle or turn our backs
upon Lincoln and Jefferson, wheth-
er we are going to follow the teach
ings of the stalwart fathers of our
American system or whether we
want to impose upon the American
people an overbearing, cumbersome
and tyrannical bureaucracy.
THAT is the only issue before US.
I prefer to follow Thomas Jefferson
to following Harry Hopkins"
On Housing Census.
The speaker was Representative
Dewey Short Of Missouri, candidate
for the Republican nomination for
Vice President, and he was talk
ing for the House minority In terms
only slightly less impassioned than
those Of some of his colleagues.
Mr.. Shorts oratory was not in
spired, as you might have surmised,
by an effort to abolish the Supreme
Court or substitute the Communist
manifesto for the Bill of Rights.
It has to do with the matter Of
the housing census to be taken in
connection with the regular 1910
decennial census. The idea of the
minority was to starve the housing
survey out of existence by killing an
item Of $5,0oo,o00 proposed for it in
deficiency bill. The minority lost.
Shorts Elegant Language.
In the elegant language Of Mr..
Short, the proposal is lousy" meas
ure which will enable "spies and
snoopers' to invade the privacy and
sanctity of the home" This because
the Bureau of the Census, complying
with the instructions of Congress to
take housing census, proposes to
ask a series Of questions designed to
build up comprehensive set Of sta.
tistics on the housing situation in
the United States. To this end, the
enumerators. bound by law against
violation of confidence, will ask
questions about mortgages, loan pay
ments, taxes, household appliances
in use. hygienic facilities. and so on.
Intimate questions, yes, but questions
that are necessary to be asked if the
country is to get complete picture
of the good and the bad in our hous.
ing conditions. They are no more
prying than questions that have
previously been asked in special sur
veys by the Government. There was
one that was particularly searching,
for example, as far back as 1908.
The purpose of the survey is the
useful one of getting information for
the guidance Of Congress Statistics
Of the sort that the housing census
will bring out-like authentic figures
on unemployment-have been sadly
lacking Unless the lack is repaired,
the economic legislation Of the fu.
ture-and we are going to have 1t in
some degree no matter which party
is in power-will be In some i'm
portant respects shot in the dark.
Figures Benefit Business.
Adequate figures on housing and
related questions will be, as we'll, of
direct benefit to private business
The manufacturers of bathtubs, for
example, may gain information that
will tell them where and how to sell
more tubs. Even in the debate on the
bill, in the remarks Of Mr.. Short
about the Ozark mountaineers who
are without modern bathing faciN-
ties In their homes but who are
nevertheless mot as dirty as some
New Dealers I know"-even here
they may find the germ of a selling
idea. Business, at any rate, con-
tributed largely to the demand for
the housing census. The retail lum.
Der dealers, the sand and gravel men,
the metal window manufacturers,
the paint and varnish producers
these and others, according to the
director of the census, expressed
their desire for the survey.
The reason for the teapot tempest
over the housing census is not far
to seek. This is political year; the
issues that can be sloganized are
scarce: hence the effort of Mr.. Short
and his fellow Republicans to initiate
the shopping" questions of the hous-
ing census into an assault on the
Bill Of Rights.
1t happens to be the Republicans
who are viewing with alarm. # tho
positions were reversed-if q Re.
publican administration were pro-
posing and about to take the cen.
sus-we should be hearing from tho
Democrats the same cries Of distress
that are now coming from their
colleagues across the aisle.
It's in the very nature Of census
bills to evoke charges from the op-
position that privacy is being in
vaded for the sinister purposes Of the
party In power.