The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 15

19 Ickes Assails 'Cackling' Critics in Launching Borough Housing Project BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1936 haggling over a one-three-hundred- municipal one and. In any really At Opening of Model Housing Project Williamsburg Housing Work Begun in Rain LaGuardia and IL0 1 Run Strain Shovel on 12-Block Protect Continued from rug 1 ism" and strict adherence Constitution, by hailing the h( project as an example of wit; Federal Government ha-, beei tne sing the able tseli to accomplish by concerning itsel with the safety and well-being of it: people 12-Blok Area Cleared Today's ceremonies main the Tells of Fight On Old Order InSpeechHere Works Chief Says PWA Willingly Took Up the Problem of Housing Public Works Administrator Harold H. Ickes, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremonies lor the WU-liamsburt Housing Project today, lashed out at the prophets of the eld order and defended the Government's better housing program. The full text of his address follows: Step by step, in this land of ours, we are departing from an older and less desirable order. Practices which once we tacitly sanctioned or even condoned we now regard as reprehensible.

Today we are taking a verv Important step toward that newer order with its promise of an Improved mode of living for great numbers of our people who up to the present time have been denied many of the benefits of that way of life which is the birthright of the humblest American. This ground which we dedicate to greater uses for humanity has a recorded history some 300 years old. In thU span of three centuries it fulfillment of a dream which has sovernments to take the initiative long been in the minds of Brooklyn in fighting slums. economic and civic idealists. The Krnrm.

T.n.ni i 12-block area bounded by Bush Wick I Sr0rM Tenant Ave. and Scholes, Leonard and 'Contrast that with some utter-Mauler Sts. has been now nnrr-s we hear today tin- school of rally entirely Hearer) of it. s'om tnoaJu that it i KaiK SUft Photo i -i SfflKWsKWlE 1 I Borough President Raymond V. Ingersoll (left) and the Rev.

Dr. J. Howard Melish. long-term housing ac-ivtty. the relative positions of local and Federal agencies must be reversed.

Our municipalities will have to stand upon their own feet. At nether Dy cnoice or oi necessity, they are seekers after largess from the United States Treasury. Tills is. at best, a pre vious and no! altotnhc! fied position. Could Answer Only 33 Out of 200 Demands Slum clearance and low-rent housing is, in essence, the most intimate concern of a municipality.

Under the stress which made the national emergency program neces- it was right and proper that Federal Government should rt the ball rolling. The country has indorsed this course. With our funds initially limited and later drastically reduced, the cities of lined ud bv the score to plead for housing projects. With a narrow purse, we were able to answer this plea in only 35 cities. We had requests from more than 200.

They were more than inquiries they were petitions pressed upon us earnest Delegations oi oniciai! and citizens who sought me out li my office. Do not, misunderstand me: I was delighted to receive these fine men and women. They came as representatives of cities which had become concerned about the conditions which had developed in their own backyards. They were eager to rectify these conditions and warmly approved the Federal Government's undertaking of a slum clearance program. The Government has pointed the way and I feel now that it is up to the municipalities to join in the task.

That, of course. Is more easily said than done. But as I visualize the situation there is one particular tiling that stands out clearly. It is that the true role of the Federal Government should be to give financial and technical assistance to municipalities that want housing ano are willing and able responsibility for their share of the financing and for the initiation, construction and operation of the projects, uniy in this war car truly worth-while housing progi ix' a lor the nation. I do not mean that the Federal Government should abandon its work in this field.

The entire assumption by municipalities of hous ing responsibility cannot be effeeted by a wave of the pen. In the linal achievement of our object there will Federal Government to work hand in hand toward the develODI a well-balanced program of public I believe we should consider the use of public funds something like this: Given the Federal housing dollar, we should make that dollar go as far as possible. Revolving funds would facilitate its flow and the assumption by local agencies of their fair share of the burden of financing would make possible more projects. We are at the point of emergence irom tne laooratory stage. consequently, we must con id- the housing of the 25,000 or 30,000 families that we will provide for by this first demonstration, but of minimum of decent shelter.

Local initiative must be fully exercised if al'' tar.e care of this load. A matching basis, with loans and ponsibility for the amelioration of conditions on the respective localities and local authorities. There also remains to be worked amount of subsidy necessary and Its apportionmt tween nation, munirioaliiv ami vnu, V-l 1 vnmnlft for Others 1 Here is where housing authorities come in and I hope that soon they will be authorized in all the State? with the fullest possible powers Up to this time there has been one outstanding housing aiuhoniv the country both able and willing to stand upon its own feet I the problem of housing by ing independent initiative. That the greatest profit to the speculator. I rest of the community from the 'rents, there rre self-righteous gen-It was a sorry devolution, for here anti-social excesses of slum-nour- tlemen who proclaim that the Gov- In the 35 cities In which cumulated Pes.

we dealt with some ,000 owners, often as many as ten to a parcel. We believe that the assemblage of 52,000,000 square feet of urban property repre- the largest under.aking of its kind ever to be put through by a single organization, whether public or private. pletely under construction, will provide some 25.000 modern, healthful, comfortable, efficient dwelling units iow reiuais. iney win not. oc luxurious, but they will allow their tenants ample air and sunlight and will provide wide lawns where real grass and flowers will be grown.

Moreover, recreational spaces will be available for the normal play of children who now have only filthy alleys for their spare time. This project that we inaugurate today will be typical of our contributions Ml I i Hi )ll ol Ann ican slum. There are people, of course, who prefer to look at things through the sixtieth share in the property. Mayor Praises Roosevelt Mayor LaGuardia described the Williamsburg project as a "great monument to the mistake, and selfishness of the past and laith, hope and security of the future. "I want to take this occasion to give the thanks of the people of New York to President Roosevelt for bis vision and understandmg of the city," he said amid applause.

"Today this land is conic hark- th? public domain- we do away with squalor way witn opu- lor i the other. This Government project imia nor nave cecn neceasan if private capital bad done the same thing. "How comforting to hear a Cabl- net member. for his Ad- ministration, coming down into lha thickly populated district saying that the Federal Government has sensed the inability of municinal thp function of the Federal Site that Government should not -'''ricre v-ith the landlord who ex- tenants, that believes in 1 vou. which nool repre- this country?" The Mavor noim.eri nt city housing authority was formed eut mo years ago.

"We didn't aton Constitution," he declared "We dldnt care what men thousht should be done 150 years a.o.'S men nan more thought, however and more vision than some of those who attempt to interpret the Constitution today." Girl Pupils Sin? The indoor exercises, which were broadcast with the singing of the Star-spangled Banner" bv a grouD of girl pupils of the school dressed In white middle blouses with green sailor ties. 6 Mr Ickes and the Mayor, arriving together, were greeted bv Jean Gar-ber. 9. of 648 Grand and Tobv Frank. 10, of 201 Siegel who presented them with two baskets 0f huge chrysanthemums on behalf ot tlie Grand Street.

Businessmen Association and the Williamsburgh Public Housing Conference. At the close of the exercises all tne guests of honor were presented with bouquets of roses bv the Manhattan Avenue Merchants Association of Williamsburg. Music was BandShed Park DePartment Site Carefully Chosen I H. Shreve. chief architect for the project, was called upon by the Mayor to speak and said, in part: "This Williamsburg development was the first site and the first housing group set up by public authority in the City of New York.

Heretofore all homes have been built in accordance with the judgment of private owners, without planned relation to the community and without thought of the ability of the city government to sustain the cost of serving the newly created struc- "In the case of this project things have been done differently. The site and the area to be rebuilt were chosen after wide study of those sections of the city suitable for residential use by persons of low ln- "Carcful study has been given to the type of building to be erected, to the social planning of living quarters and to the careful arrangement of buildings and the surrounding open spaces." Ingersoll Present Among tnose on the platform were Borough President Raymond V. Ingersoll Angelo R. Clas. Director ol Housing of the Federal Emergency administration of Public Works.

Mons. John C. York. Louis H. Pink.

B. Charney Vladcck. Mrs. Man Simhkovitch and the Rev. E.

Robert Moore, all members of the New York City Housing Authority: Mrs. LaGuardia. Mrs. Raymond V. Ingersoll and delegations representing the Manhattan Avenue Merchants Association of Williamsburg, the WU-liamsourg Civic Association, the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce and the Graham Avenue Boys Asso- Mr.

Post acted as chairman a the 1 ls I --peraie The Rev. Dr Melish declared that the success of the housing project depended upon three factors labor, the tenants and the public officials' in charge. "The most Important Is labor," he declared. "If labor on this project gives an honest dav's work for an honest day's pay it will keep down the biggest item of the cost Of construction, which Ls labor. If labor does not co-operate, the expense will be so great that such pro'erts will be impractical.

"The second factor will be the residents of this protect when it Is finished. People have got to leam to live In these model homes. If thev don't treat them properly, if thev face them or abuse them, they wlil set back model housing 50 years or Cites Own Record am not ashamed of being Impatient or of losing my temper when I lose It in connection with those who want, to ston a snuarc for nll TnA' tS.S roverlng up the starting up the steam shovel. Th lawyers will retire and the architects step In." The Mayor said that, with unrelenting enforcement of existing laws his administration had vacated more unsanitary and unsafe dwellings In the city In the past twt years than had been vacated in thi previous 50 years. There has been much talk aboul the American standard of living, hi said, "but the minute vou try translate II into something tangible you're called unwmatltutional and i Frequently dre.

than 'characteristic vigor. Inch he delivered with to prove that our efforts have been of respectable Ameri-nf little avail lMnno nf can families that now lack ever that, in comparison with the mini- ber of proper dwellings needed in this country, our contribution will be small, but considering that onlv aeroay a ptioilc housing program -lams io ue exieiiura uy me reo-S lit; le more than a eateh-rihraae eral Government would place re- build in-s to make way for modern ami hra.ihv hon lor lam- the at rentals of $6 and $7 a room. Before the ground-breaking rere- mony on the rainv. wind -swept tor- ner of Scholes. St.

and Bushwick. exercises were held in the! 6, diagonally I rgea Cities Continue Work In addition to Mr. Ickes and Mavor LaGuardia spr.tker... in cluded Langdon W. Post, chairman of the New York City Housing Au thority; George president ot the New York State Federation of Labor; the Rev.

John Howard Melish, chairman of the Brooklyn Com- B.ti.T Ho.M'.v,. H. Shreve, chief of the architectural staff for the project. Mr. a fense of the Federal Government's slum clearance program and then challenged the municipal govern- ot the nan ii.

to :.) work which Washington must soon begin to relinquish. "Somewhere along tne line, ne said, "a tapering off in the How of public housing Irom Washington must begin and I how to see the incoming Congress provide for this while accepting responsibility for continuing the Government's attack on this grave so, problem. He said senator wagner .) was preparing a bill to fix the Government policy that will, if adopted, "be one of the great landmarks in social legislation in this country for all time to come." Saying "tnere is no agony equal to the birth pangs ol a new idea," Ickes declared: "Rrac.ionisis 'lally shout that enlightened progress is unconstitu tional, rney would nave us oeueve that the founding fathers deliberately saw to it that millions of their descendants should live like animals. "The slum is but one vicious product of that old order whose passing, we hope, is at hand. I refer to the old order of special privilege.

The harsh cacklings of its senile prophets are still heard in opposition to every progressive proposal." He called slums "a tribute to the coupon-clipping gentry who affect to believe that, unaided, private enterprise can properly house the people of our nation." "Local initiative must be fully exercised if we are to take care of this load," he said. "A matching basis, with loans and grants to be extended by the Federal Government, would place responsibility for the amelioration of housing conditions on the respective localities." Defending the PWA's progress with its 50 housing projects. Ickes cited a single parcel of property owned by 12 men. After the PWA had virtually concluded negotiations with them one of the 12 died. The PWA had to start dickering anew with his 30 heirs, "each of them his ability, or his capacity to get things done for which he is noted, that distinguishes him so much as it is his social vision, his deep concern for the happiness and welfare of the people.

Given only a small minority of Robert F. Wagner in each branch of the Congress and within a comparatively few years America, with resnect to social The Wagner bill. If It shall be- come law, will be declarative ot ihe poll, ol lhe Feci, ral iov, ment with respect to housing and will fix the policy of that Government. Yet, Important as this will be. It will mean only a beginning toward the solution of the problem of slum elimination.

In every city there Is crying need for decent housing for the lower in-some groups. With the Federal Government ready, if it shall be ready, to advance loans and grants for housing projects, our municipalities, with State aid where possible, should take up the work that is fundamentally theirs. The Public Works Administration undertook this program as a demonstration of what ought to be done and can be done. It has all of Its projects under construction. In the development of our program we have sought certain farts, and we have them.

And the outstanding fart is that housing ll so primarily the concern of the local community, that the municipality should take iiwu uir mumcipa I -iiould take the initiative in slum elimination. he aid and summit of the Federal Government. Let us then look uixm this project that we dedicate not merely as a well-planned lntei -community which will atone in some degree for the wrongs of many people for many years, but rather as a symbol of that, which will be accomplished on a greatly enlarged scale during the coming years. Here is a gauge flung to our cities to couch the lance of civic rnternrlse eninat their rotting rings of antiquated hovels riia.irnur io primer belter fate for their rttlseni thj the police court, corrective instil Hons and tuberculosis sair.t mum Here we have a goal well worth the striving tor oi any' man, wonderful and many appalling changes. No change of the past, however, approaches the of that which we are commemorating today.

We are here not only to hail the construction of a great social bea- of an historic tract which some time since fell upon evil days. Twelve blocks of wretched dwellings, relics standards, have been torn down and their wreckage cleared away. In their place we are about to build housing development and the greatest undertaking in the slum-clearance program of the Public Works eration of decrepit dwelling houses, leaning crazlly against one another, their bleak ranks hemming the sidewalks and fending off light and air, months ago. All this has disappeared. It will be replaced within the year by a modern community of bright, sunny homes, properly oriented on a spacious site, each with Its healthful exposure to light and -4.

olaimintr a generous share of green lawns and shrubs. Hard Fought Battle To Achieve Project This striking transformation will not have been effected with ease. To talk about housing is a pleasant conversational exercise. To build it Is to engage in a hard-fought battle. We have faced In this project the most baffling and vexatious obstacles.

We have been forced to haggle for every gain. We have surmounted one hurdle only to be tripped by the next. We have learned Job's bitter lesson of patience. It has been only through the most dogged efforts of the Federal Government and the unwavering zeal and determined assistance of your citv administration that this undertaking ever got beyond the stage of blueprints and became an actuality. The vivid tapestry of the history of this area has been revealed to us through the tedious process of acquiring the site.

The title records of this land go back to the days when the Dutch West Indies Company, through its governors, with prodigal hand bestowed grants of land upon Its settlers. What seems to be the oldest title taken by the Government derives from a grant made In 1647 by Governor Kieft to one Hans Hansenbergen. That remarkable fellow, apparently finding Manhattan Island, even In those days, too confining to his spirit, secured a grant of land over here and broke the virgin isf for farming. His story Is worth recalling, for his experiences paralleled In a measure those of our own lawyers who entered upon this scene three centuries later. Like them, Hansenbergen had disheartening encounters with previous landlords.

In his case they were tne inaians, who pressed their claims with more nrimltlve methods than law suits. Legend relates that Hansenbergen more than once hastily vacated his holdings at the Insistence of the outraged Indians. But he placated them, not by gifts or legal settlements, but by the more Christian expedient of singing them hymns from a safe seat In the branches of a convenient tree. Our lawyers, who cannot sing, even although they may sometimes find themselves up a tree, have envied the ingenious Hansenbergen, Served as Farm Land For More Than Century Prom Hansenbergen's day on this eluded in the old town of Bushwick, Incorporated In 1827 Into the village of Williamsburg, wnicn Decame town in 1840. a city in 1851, merged with Brooklyn in 1854 and became a part of New York City In DM It la Interesting on this occi to note that one of the first tures in model dwellings was In Williamsburg Just one hundred years ago.

A company purchased the Conselyea farm and an adjoining estate, plotted them and erected 14 handsome homes. These were Intended to establish a ittern for the new citv. The Idea was (rood. but like many another good idea It was born before Its time. Eventually the houses passed from the hands of their hopeful builders and were absorbed in the general development.

The earlier farms and the later trim two-story homes went down before an oncoming horde of buildings, designed for the most part spawnea one oi those appalling social monstrosities, a community of overcrowded, badly designed houses that utilized every foot of land, even to the exclusion of light and air, of open space and greensward. I have no desire to give offense to those respectable citizens who formerly made their homes in this neighborhood, and, against discouraging odds, reared creditable iamuies in its congested precincts. Most of the residents who clung to these outmoded houses which at long last have been wrecked and cleared away, lived here not out of choice, but because of -stem necessity. There were better homes, more desirable environments but not at puces within the means of those who lived here. The social system which tolerated these conditions condemned helpless people to hope less houses and by restricting their lives curtauea tneir opportunities to become more useful citizens.

Old Order's Prophets Still Cackle Harshly The slum Is but one vicious prod uct of that old order whose passing we hope is at hand. I refer to the old order of special privilege, the creator and upholder of a social system containing vicious contrasts of opulence and squalor that have shamed the democracy of our own times. Its day In America ing the westerning sun, but the harsh cacklings of its senile prophets are still heard In opposition to every progressive proposal; predicting disaster for every humanitarian attempt to ameliorate the lot of the least fortunate of our people. Wil liamsburg was not the only victim of the knights of sanctioned greed. The slum still flourishes in other in Atlanta, in Cincinnati, in Indianapolis and in practically every other community in our land.

A malignant social growth in every city where it exists, the slum Is most acute in New York, spreading through Qiir city. Last year the Municipal Housing Authority re-norted that upward of a million peo ple were living in 1,500 blocks of slums in Manhattan and Brooklyn alone. A report of the Department of Taxes and Assessments to Mayor LaGuardia states that in New York City there are 69.000 buildings needing rehabilitation or modernization. Writine to President Roosevelt on behalf of the Brooklyn Committee for Better Housing Dr. John How- aid Melish pointed out that the Real Property Inventory of 1934 showed that 41 percent of the dwellings in Brooklyn are more than 35 years old; that 76,000 lack private sanitary accommodations; that have no central heating plants; that 4,000 have no gas or electricity and that 10,000 do not have gas for cooking.

Dr. Melish adds that the cost of demolition of these wretched places would be negligible a sad commentary on the status of living nr. ale ii The boasted American standard of living, indeed! What a reproach to our supposed enterprise aim nu manitarlanism! What a tribute the wisdom of the coupon-clipping gentry wno anect to believe that, unaided, private enterprise can properly house the people of our nation! It is the same story everywhere. The dreary ranks of row upon row of slums fester deep Into our munic-inalitles. Because we have been negligent in cauterizing those dis- ea.sed sections in the oast there are stupid, well-fed people who insist that we can ignore them in the future.

These areas of blight count shocking civic costs. They absorb more than their share of police and fire and health protection. Municipal Services Can't Make Slums Livable the furnishing of all of these costly municipal services re -cue the slum Irom grave i i )x-1 it- 'lhr l-'ne Department may prevent loo heavy losses to underwriters but the slum dwelling Is not thereby made more habitable, Police ma protect the isiied flee and crime, but the indi- iduais exposed to these influences bear the tragic stamp of their environment. The Health Department may ward off epidemics which might prove embarrassing to the Chamber oi commerce Dut it cannot save every victim of slum-spread sick- I have reiterated again and aeain. until I am sure the country must be getting tired of hearing me say it, that slums are the most expensive indulgence of any city.

I shall not on instances ot what I mean. Let. it suture to sac thai innumerable rec ords made by the cities themselves, the researches of PWA's own housing division and surveys of the United States Department of Commerce all show that the main tenance of slum areas costs from three to ten times the aggregate of their tax contributions. When It comes to slums, we are financing annually a terrible deficit. Here is a perennial unbalanced budget that does not give the Liberty League the slightest concern.

Literally, we are liberally subsidizing the most shameful phase of our civic life. By dint of persistent hammering, I believe the country is at last beginning to realize what it means to support these museums of disease, these forcing beds of every anti-social activity. More and more people are Insisting that our un-precious heritage of slums must go. A century ago, it took a persistent fight to establish in our country the principle of free education. Yet we have been blind to this other equally necessary part of a sound civic de velopment.

I recall how Sir Ray mond Unwin. a veteran of English housing, put it when he visited this country last year. "You have long been ahead of in the matter of public education, he said. "You have insisted that every American be educated. The English feel that good housing conditions are just as necessary in the development of good citizens as education.

"If you put a whole family In room, that family cannot play better part in civilization than those who are so ignorant and unedu-cated that they can't read." There Is no agony equal to the birth panes of a new idea. There has never been a reform that has not been attacked by the forces of reaction as an invasion of private rights and as contrary to the self- serving shibboleths of the selfish and the ignorant. For good measure, in this country at least, reactionists m-; pro; ress is unconstitutional. They would have us believe that the FoundinK Fathers deliberately saw to it that millions of their descendants should live like animals. Thus it is with this program of e-aranre and low rent hous ing.

Here, however, we have twd seis of critics. On the one hand. we are condemned for entering the housing business at all and, on the other, we are assailed for ting far enough fast enough. Many of our loudest critics are the Lord Piii. hbouoms ol the club windows.

Their motive In obstructing all social reforms is too selfish to be a secret. Their parroted complaint Is; "We should not be using tax money to pauperize the people. Millions Arc Paid JQ I Yrpct tiate Slums I That objection Is either unin formed or downright dishonest. Every intelligent person knows the answer to it. We have been using millions of dollars of public money annually for many years to pay the cost, of the slums, to perpetuate lowest income group In worse than squalor.

Here, In truth, is a sordid investment of the taxpayers' money in vice and crime and ur ease; an il.at eeneioiis dividends In kind. Yet is an Investment which the people who profit from these social sorei wouli have us continue. With I then mind on the ill-begotten eminent has no right to build proved housing because the better accommodations thus provided will lire tenants from disgraceful pri-ately-owned dwellings. According to this astonishing theory, logically private investor should be prohibited from erecting a better building than his neighbor's for the that he would he engaging in unfair competition. The standard of housing would be the most squalid slum dwelling; slums might De exactly reproduced Dut not replaced.

rnese voiuoie oononenis oi neuer housing for the Door offer no other solution than the contmuaiion ol the existing system. I am happy lay, however, that not all oi tne os ihai -w lira: less. Recently, the Committee for Economic Recovery submitted to President Roosevelt a most arresting document, outlining a home-building program for our country. This enlightened committee was willing to face the fact of its con clusion that in 1933 70 percent of American families received annual incomes of less than and 93 percent received less than Si. It nointed out that anOTOXlmatelJ one-third of American families live in sub-standard homes victims of overcrowding.

"The social and economic losses from these liabilities are beyond riesenntion." its report said. Em phasizing that there Is no phase of living more important tnan proper shelter, the committee urged that our country should permit one-third of its citizenry to intelligently agreed proposition that "a well-balanced home-building program places roonslbilltv on both private oublic and declared that somehow we must afford relief for live in houses that are either unfit for human habitation or are rapid ly approaching that unpardonable stage." The committee had the courage to declare that somewhere ion public housing would place in oiner care for those for whom private terprlse cannot possibly provide in hevond the pigsty mat is sc acceptable to the passing order. nents would analyze the situation with the honesty and intelligence that this committee of Industrial leaders has shown. PWA Willingly Took Up Housing Problem There are those who take an al most sadistic delight In dashing the hopes of our underprivileged cit izens by Ul-advisedly proclaiming that the public housing program ol PWA is a lanure. nie incut piuv ognize the ordinary claims where a housing program had to be started.

1 ne uo em inent willingly assumed the burden through the PWA and took the initiative. In spite ot innumeiaoic auucui- those deliberately si rewn in our path by selfish obslrurlioiu. 1-. lhr Meih- n'lr Division ot PWA has developed a demonstration program which points one way out ol our housing We have 47 active projects on this program, all under construction. islrven thousand prisons are already i i li" commodatlons of limited-dividend housing projects financed by PWA, and the first Federal developments will be occupied early in tne bpring.

moil laud Hi--, lire." sary for these developments we had to purchase 3,489 parcels of city land for which individual 'itles had to be searched, cleared and approved. In eluding all the land in the areas be dedicated, that is, the streets to be closed and the like, all of which careful legal work, these 3,489 parcels represent a total of SifiOOflOQ square feet, or 1,190 acre, of course, is the New York legislation, would stand at the fore-CltJ Housing Authority, with whose front of the civilized nations of the intelligent and vigorous support and world, instead ol limping along, as co-operation this project has come we have, in a place well toward the of hopeful social workers, our ac- iBUsnmenta have been epoch- miking. Do our Impatient and un i easMiung critics expect a full-fledged housing program to be established and operated in the wink of an eye? Twain's wnicn a ceiestinl being appeals group of small Austrian bovs if the lads wanted an apple or an orange, or grapes, they had biu asK tor them in his presence and the truit would appear in their pocki Perhaps thai is the way of housing by sleight of hand accomplish our program. Williamsburg Typical Of Other Projects Lacking celestial attributes, we in only produce housing through persistent, back-breaking work. Our problems in connection with this Williamsburg project have been typical.

We had to pursue proper! to Italy. It was necessary to one mortgagee from town to town in California. Another we located In New Orleans, only to have him disappear again. One piece of property was owned by 12 men and naa to deal with the entire dozen this one transaction. Then, just we were closinc negotiations, one of the 12 died, leaving his share to 30 others.

So we had to handle 30 more individuals with each of them haggling over a one three-huiiilred- sixtieth share In the property. My inena, Mayor Lauuardia on occasion, has referred jokingly to the "semi-colon boys" In Washington, who appeared to him to be clutter. Ing up his projects with needless punctuation. In general. I agree with trie Mayor, but I would like to express my appreciation of the work of these meticulous lawyers on this particular project for.

on several occasions, a "semi-colon bov" saved us from a large black period marlt-lng the end of the whole undertaking. It would be pleasant to continue to reminisce on this project, io recall its conception. Its untoldnient, the multitude of problems it bK engendered and the means by which they haye been patiently solved, but there is more significance to this project than the development Itself. This project is both a symbol and an outpost of a new idea. It will.

I hope, soon be duplicated by many others similar to, or better than, it. Slum clearance and low -i eni housing are now at least tentatively established farts In thil country, despite the efforts ot the profe alone! harbingers of woe We must now deride what direction the program Is to take. My personal coilvletlon, born of experience oaring our demonstration period, is thai ihc Fed- I meet the for public hous- I Ing, The problem Is basically a tunately nad tne backing at ail lorwaro-iooking ana forthright Mayor. I would like see other housing authorities play an equally important role in their respective cities. Among people who are willing to face facts, there Is no argument about the necessity for renovating the bad housing areas which constitute municipal liabilities that are both social and economic.

There remains, then, only the method by which this is to be done. The policy of having the Federal Government Carry forward a program of Federal housing may be essential until local agencies are ducated to the necessity of assuming responsibility, but If we accustom our municipalities to turn always to Washington for 100 percent aid. they will have little opportunity for local self-determination or to develop or exercise initiative, somewhere along the line a taper-InR off of the flow of public housing from Washington must begin and 1 hope to see the incoming Congress provide for this while accepting responsibility for continuing the Government's attack on this grave so- Your distinguished Senator, Robert F. Wagner, with his customary clarity -of thought, has recognized the true lactors in the situation. He Is drafting a bill to Introduce la this session of Congress which, if adopted, will be one of the great landmarks in social legislation In this country for all time to come.

Willi a Federal -uch as Senator Wagner Is proposing, we will all be better armed for our battle against the slum iln pa smg, may I nay a personal, but a truly deserved, tribute to your Junior Senator. I regard him as one of the ablest and outstanding members Of the Congress. But is not hU energy,.