Evening star., 1943-12-18
Mrs. Roosevelt Plans
To Continue Tours
OF S|um Areas Here

Mrs. Roosevelt plans to tour more
District slums early next month to
get additional material for a cam
paign against bad housing here as
the 'basic cause" of disease and
immortality, she indicated yesterday
during short inspection of two
slum areas in Southeast and South
west Washington.
Although John Ihlder, executive
officer of the National Capital Hous-
ing Authority, acted as guide, Mrs.
Roosevelt denied her tour was
prompted by the current contro-
versy over public housing. She said
she had been planning for some
time to gather facts for articles
showing that bad housing-not
recent wartime conditions-is the
root of crime and disease.
II want to be able to point out for
example" she said, that you can't
have a healthy city with outside
toilets near the family water pump
1t Is too great a risk"
Touches on Controversy.
Touching on the public housing
controversy, Mrs. Roosevelt said she
distrusts the proposed system of
rent certificates. This method of
Government payment of rent for
tenants in private low-cost housing
developments is charity" she said,
and would kill initiative. She pre-
fers that the Government continue
to build low-cost housing units eco
nomically enough for tenants to pay
their own rent. Mr.. Ihlder MAIN
tanned that private operators in
order to build are in many cases
borrowing most of the money from
Government agencies and yet still
they call it private housing" he said
Mrs. Roosevelt saw a privately
owned three-room dwelling at 1117
Short Sixth street Sc, with outside
toilet, coal stove and outside pump,
renting for $12 a month, and a
three-room apartment with inside
water and toilet renting for S32 so
month, with an estimated $40
extra each month for heat and
light. "Carrollsburg, Government
housing development in the next
block. Mr.. Ihlder told her, offers a
fve-room apartment with heat, light
and water for $3.50 month.
Views S12 Dwelling.
There is a tragic effort to keep
1t clean," Mrs. Roosevelt said as she
viewed the dwelling renting for $12
a month. The occupant, Union
Station worker who makes $3.50
day, and his wife and three children
have tried to get better dwelling
but have failed to find one, the wife
said.
Though it had recently been ere
paired" by the owner, Mr.. Ihlder
said, the house was heated by only
wood stove and had rags stuffed
In the broken windows to keep out
cold. Mrs. Roosevelt questioned
nine neighborhood children huddled
by the stove and said she was con-
vinced they had only come to visit
because the room was warm. In
specting the outside toilet drawing
water from the same pipe as the
family pump foot away, Mrs.
Roosevelt exclaimed:
'That's not decent or sanitary"
Six Live in Rooms.
In the 600 block of K street S.W.
Mrs. Roosevelt saw one-room
dwelling renting for SO week, with
kerosene lamp light, an oil stove
used for both cooking and heat, and
toilet and water pump loacted out
side around the back OF the house.
In the same building a family of
six lived in three rooms, renting for
Sl8 a month. A 14-year-oid girl
bundled in a sweater opened the
door and explained that the only
heat was an oil stove kept in the two
bedrooms on the second floor.
Across the street at jefferson
Terrace, Government public hous-
Ing project, rent for four rooms, a
bath and laundry is S28.75 a.
month, Mrs. Roosevelt learned.
You could probably find dupli-
Gates of these conditions in other
cities-possibly worse" Mrs. Roose-
welt said. But this is the capital
of the United States, under the con-
troll of Congress"
Mrs. Pauline Coggs, executive
secretary of the Washington Urban
League, also accompanied Mrs
Roosevelt on the tour.