The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-10

feSp0n4btltty Ter the personal views OF MT Fekte1
..d sften disagree with them - ~sch Is many Of
Ills readers His artiel.s the good purpose Of
aakns people think-
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
NEW YORK,-With no intention to curl
lip at Mr.. Willkie for proposing that Ameri-
cans must discount this country's high ma
terial standard of living, 1 would point out to
him that that standard already has been re-
vised sharply downward, even among people
who used to live luxuriously. It has reached
the point of wretchedness in some areas,
notably the Miamis in Florida, San Diego and
in many of our factory and shipbuilding GEN.
tiers, and the worry and uncertainty have had
a bad moral effect on service men and their
wives who have reason to believe that they
are being gyped by landlords exploiting their
hesrtache and necessity and feel that civilians
are favored because they are in position to
pay more rent and for longer terms. And, of
course, food is not plentiful transportation is
SLOW crowded and painful and many of our
people are living out of suitcases, the parents
and the baby, all in one mean little room.
This is not the traditional American standard
but emergency condition. but nevertheless
it represents great decline for a great many.
An enlisted Navy man wrote from San Diego
some time ago after 10 months in the Aleu-
tans and the South Pacific complaining that
because he was not defense worker he
could not find quarters in which to spend
few months ashore with his wife and son.
Naturally, this turned him against the CT
villains in the war factories and he said bit
terly that he couldn't compete with the over
time pay of those in whose defense he had
put in his time at sea. The Navy people at
the base had tried to, arrange for the
construction of quarters for married enlisted
men and the situation was the more painful
because. even with wounded and war-weary
men coming in for hospital treatment their
families could find no place to live. The hous-
ing shortage was so bad, in fact, that some
of the want ads in the San Diego Tribune
Sun contained offers of brides or bonuses.
only one of them, incidentally, by service
people who ordinarily can't compete in such
bidding.
One want ad offered case Of Four Roses
(Which believe to be an alcoholic beverage)
to anyone who could find him a suitable apart
ment; another, by businessman, offered $500
for home with two or three bedrooms, and
two adults permanent business people"
were ready to pay $50 reward for furnished
house with two bedrooms.
On the other hand, naval lieut., wife Eek
pectant), want furn. house or apt" Army
couple (expectant mother) urgent need
home" and Service wife (expectant moth
err, small son, want room, kitchen privi-
|leges, is a text which bespeaks standard
of living that cannot go much lower without
plunging into absolute hardship and squalor.
An ensign's wife in Miami was very angry
at landlords both on the beach and on the
mainland who were charging exorbitant rents
and discriminating a .ainst servlcemen and
their wives, most of them apparently young
brides who had left their homes everywhere
to follow their husbands to the waters edge.
The OPA, she sad had set rents as OF August
1943 when ION the average they were double
what they would ordinarily be- but even so
some owners would not rent to servicemen
at all.
Naturally" she conceded, 1.-The story is
not all one-sided. There are kind landlords
and there are service people who abuse Kind
ness. But they are definitely in the minority
For some of these men it will be the last
chance for a semblance of family life. We
hear so damn much about all of us settling
down and loving one another like brothers
after the war; and right now in the midst OF
the war people can't even have consideration
for the men who are fighting it. They can't
strike. they don't make 500 week, they have
no homes and they are boycotted because
their income is limited. We wives OF oI1lcers
are fortunate in having more income to rent
sands of enlisted men with familes?''
The same sort of reports have come from
places in Texas, and in some industrial towns
| life is equally bad for war factory workers
whose paw. in many cases, is barely enough
"a moot the cost of living in close quarters
with strangers under slum conditions.
AS to people in higher income brackets
Mr. Willkie. being one of them, should know
+h.+ many have had to borrow money to pay
+he;r taxes and have scaled down their stand
ord of living OF necessity in the hope Of
r,,11;ne out of debt. Overall, the American
standard is far down now but the sad part
If it is that not only the servicemen, but
their families both at home and on the road
following them around, have sacrificed most
V
In the development of the tremendous po-
tential postwar need for construction it will
probably be necessary for government to be
\ of assistance to private industry and to pri-
vate banking. Foreign Economic Administra-
tor Leo T. Crowley.
I