Evening star., 1953-05-11
President Cites
'0b|igation' Of.
Better. HOUSING
Y -
Citizens Conference
Opens Here in Middle
Of Congress Bottle

HSUS uISBS u.s. IVIbOOIS
Of Congress Bottle
President Eisenhower asserted
today that Americans of all
political parties now accept as
"a moral obligation" the i'm
provement of housing standards
and provision of decent hous-
ing for those now compelled to
live in, slums."
The statement was made to
Olin Linn, president of the Ma
tional Housing Conference, Inc,
as about 500 delegates of the
group opened a two-day meeting
on controversial housing issues
at the Hotel Statler.
The meeting conceded with a
bitter Capitol Hill battle over the
fate of public housing. While
Gen. Eisenhower made no COM
ment on House moves to wipe
out public housing proposed by
the administration for the next
fiscal year, he declared in his
statement, the text of which fol-
lows:
Because the membership Of
your conference includes repre-
sentatives of business. profess
sion. religion. labor, women's,
welfare and similar organiza-
tions, you are well-equipped to
assist in the inpo1 tant task of
improving the housing stand
ards of American families.
Citizen Groups Must Help.
II have previously stated and
want again to emphasize my be-
lief that Americans of all par
ties have now accepted as a
moral obligation the important
task of progressively improving
our housing standards and of
providing decent housing for
those now compelled to live in
Slums. It is to the work of citi-
zens' groups, so often under
taken on a voluntary basis, that
we rightfully look for construc-
tive and long-term solutions to
problems such as these.
Il am confident that your de-
iberationS will also prove help
full to those in government who
are responsible for administer
ing our housing programs.
wish you every success"
The MIA is a steadfast pro-
ponent of public housing. The
group, which has been active in
drawing basic State legislation
for low-income housing develop
ment, has waged a fight against
the recent House vote to elimi-
nate from the 1854 budget a
provision for $4,000 public hous-
ing units during the year start
ing July /.
Committee Meets Today. 7~-
AS the conference opens, the
Senate Appropriations Commit
tee met today to consider SUBJ
committee vote reinstatlng the
$4,000 housing units in the Inde-
pendent OfhceS Appropriations
Bill.
Senator Douglas. Democrat, of
Illinois promised a floor fight
in the Senate on behalf of the
public housing program in the
next fiscal year.
He told the conference that
almost never has the Six-year
public housing program laid
down by Congress in 1949 been
carried out. The new adminiStra-
ton cut to $4,000 units the rs, 900
called for. in the coming year.
Unless House elimination of the
appropriations are restored, there
will be no further construction
OF public housing, he declared.
Across Party Lines.
The Senator said the question
cuts across party lines. He
blamed mid-Western Repub-
licans and Southern agrarian
Democrats for public housing
troubles. although he said there
were notable exceptions in these
groups.
Senator Maybank, Democrat.
of South Carolina said in his
message that to call the public
housing program "Socialistic" is
to attach that label to the 81st
and 82d Congresses and about
1,l00 local governing bodies
throughout the country. He said
that no program or piece Of leg
islation he knew of had been so
misrepreSented.
Senator Cooper, Republican, of
Kentucky pointed out that it was
necessary for the new admins
tration to review programs and
attempt to get spending under
control. But he pledged support
for what he believed was the
Presidents program to retain
minimum public housing provi-
SionS.
Slum Clearance Problem.
A message from Senator Hum
phrey. Democrat. of Minnesota
declared that Slum -clearanc can
not be achieved without some
public housing to rehouse the
displaced families of low income
The House action eliminating
public housing starts and forcing
cities to put up all cash rather
than count capital improvement
as the local share of urban de-
velopment plans would "call a
halt to wiping out slums in our
Cities" he said.
Representative Boiling, Demo
crat. of Missouri, asserted the
fight for public housing has been
losing ground not because OF
conscience, but because those
who oppose it for narrow, self
ish reasons" have succeeded in
ro11viy1rjnp tho mo iorifv of fhe