OCR Text |
Show V 1938 UTAH LABOR NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, DECEMBER 23, Page 2 SHtafj Hafoor Established 1929 This paper receives MEMBER OF THE A Union News Service, a C. 1. 0. affiliate. 04 Entered as second-clas- s matter March 28, 1930, at the post office at Salt Lake City, Utah, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription Advertising rates by request $1.50 per annum Address all communications and remittances to Utah Labor News, 28 South 4th East Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. Published weekly at 28 South 4th East Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. Telephone Was. 2981. M. L I. THOMPSON M. THOMPSON Publisher Manager Office We stand for what the Constitution stands for domestic tranquility,' the 'establishment of justice," and the promotion of the general welfare. UTAH LABOR NEWS. "doubled up that is, are sharing their homes with other families. Over l,300jD00 homes are "crowded that is, have more than one person per room. LOW-COS- T HOUSING PROJECTS Need Homes (Continued from page 1) ing Act Can Do for Your City, put into circulation last week by USJIA Administrator Nathan Straus. Startling Results The pamphlet, artistically illustrated with numerous photographs, instructive graphs and charts, contains a comprehensive analysis of slum conditions throughout the It points out the appalling cost to communities of the blight of slums and explains how the USHA is waging victorious warfare against the scourge. The startling results of recent surveys of 5,000,000 residential buildings and 8,000,000 households in 204 localities comprising more than half the urban families in the United States are summarized as follows: homes conAbout 1,100,000 tained in 830,000 buildings have such serious structural defects that they are unsafe or absolute- The acute housing shortage al- ready gripping the nation at large is summarized in an review which indicates that "the increase in families and the wearing out of existing homes will necessitate another 10,000,000 dwellings by 1950. Moreover, it is pointed out, private industry is showing itself unable to stem this rising tide of shortage of homes for urban families. "However, Administrator Strau3 declares in a preface, "within a few short years the movement for low-rehousing and slum clearance has taken firm root in America. Not so long ago it was simply the hope of a few scattered specialists. Even when Senator Wagner put in his first housing bill in 1935 the prospects for housing reform, were both dim and distant. Today it is already an accepted part of the normal administrative responsibility of the Nation. Under the United States Housing ly unfit for use. Act of 1937, the USHA makes longMore than 1,661,000 homes, term loans to local housing authorh of the total, or about ities to defray up to 90 per cent of have no private bathing facilithe total development cost of sluifl ties,, and 1,221,000 do not have clearance and low-rerehousing private indoor water closets. projects. are - Local communities provide the 10 About 850,000 families cent balance, which, if raised Eer borrowing, is repaid with interest, as is the 90 per cent share of Merry Christmas and the USHA. llappy New Year According to the latest information, contracts for USHA loans of na-tio- ni nt one-fift- nt CROSS CORSET SHOP 61 Its Lovelier! rtf 67 communities $647,-575,0- Low-Re- Housing When the projects are tenanted nt families, the USHA by will contribute an annual grant or subsidy to each project which will make it possible to charge rentals equivalent to those charged in the slums. The local communities will also make an annual grant to maintain low rentals amounting to at least 20 per cent of the USHA Greetings to Labor The Friendly HOTEL DISTINCTIVE DINING PLACES EMPIRE ROOM COFFEE SHOP THE RENDEZVOUS Delicious Food at Very Moderate Prices. Unsurpassed Service Ml 00 nt low-inco- East Broadway If Its from Cross -- to $291,656,000 have been approved by President Roosevelt and $355,919,000 has been earmarked for additional localities, making a total of in USHA funds so far set aside for 155 communities to .build slum clearance and low-reprojects. tiil Utah GUY TOOMBES, Managing Director , share. The localities usually do this by agreeing to exempt the new projects from local taxation. Asserting that "public housing is a wise investment for the taxpayers, the pamphlet explains: "The cost to American cities of acquiring almost a billion dollars worth of decent low rent housing under the present USHA program All will be very smaU indeed. tax to is do to need provide they exemption or its equivalent for the projects to be built. "In calculating this cost, it is a serious mistake to assume that a figure representing the normal tax rate on these new projects reflects the actual loss of revenue sustained by a city when it exempts them from taxation. Taxes, no matter how they may be levied or collected, are paid by people, not by buildings. In a public housing program, a certain number of families move out of slums into decent new homes. Either the slums they were living in or an equivalent number of substandard dwellings are demolished. From a local fiscal point of view, in order to determine the cost of the new housing to the city, the real question is: What taxes were these families paying before, when they lived in the slums? To take a concrete example, let us assume a $2,000,000 project to rehouse 400 families in a city of 200,000 population. Full taxes on this project would amount to about $40,000 a year (at a conservative 2 per cent rate, with assessed valuation equal to 100 per cent of full valuation), or about $100 per family. Tax Problem "But a study of taxation in slum areas in cities of various sizes shows that taxes actually levied on the former slum homes of these 400 families probably did not exceed $40 per family per year, based upon an average assessment of $2000 Governor of Kentucky actl The Kentucky Miners' Defense is now conducting a "Christmas Pardon Campaign for these four inocent men. Every labor union, every During the past year, the La labor unionist must write or wire Follette Civil Liberties Committee immediately to Governor A. B. and the federal trial of coal oper- Chandler, Frankfort, Kv., asking ators have verified what organized for unconditional pardons this labor has long known about Har- Christmas. Do it today. namely, lan county, Kentucky, of is a ground it He Probably Meant It spawning that "Ilard-workiuncontrolled industrial tyranny, a little wifie youve fascist infection in the heart of got, Bill, said the traveler to the America. . small British shopkeeper as he Of all the things organized la- watched the mans wife busy in the bor must do to wipe out this cess- shop. pool, none is of more immediate "My word, yes! replied the importance than the freeing of the shopkeeper. "I only wish I 'ad a four Harlan union miners now couple more like 'er! serving life terms for the frame-u- p arising out of the famous "Battle of Evarts on May 5, 1931. These men defied the fury of arMerry Christmas and rogant coal operators long before Happy New Year the Wagner Act was passed to protect the right of workers to orMake the For daring to strike ganize. and starvation, against misery they have already served nearly eight years in a penitentiary and will spend the rest of their lives as prisoners unless organized labor fights unceasingly for tjieir CHRISTMAS IN KENTUCKY n' WILSON HOTEL freedom. Governor A. B. Chandler of Kentucky has been forced to hold two pardon hearings. Overwhelming proof of perjury and intimidation during the trials has been presented to him. A petition has been filed with him from 46 of the 47 living jurors asking for release of the men. But Happy Chandler has not yet made up his Salt Lake Citys Most Popular Medium Priced Hotel East 2nd South 32 Heated with Union-Mine- d Coal mind. Organized labor must make the SEASONS GREETINGS THE CHRISTENSEN MACHINE CO. for slum homes, and a large Custom Machine Work Engineering and Designing Manufacturing proportion of even this amount was Gray Iron Castings undoubtedly delinquent. "Thus the actual loss of revenue 1975 South 2nd West to the city, when it exempts the .jjjt new project from taxation is not $40,000, but less than $16,000. If the value of all the property in the city is assumed to be about $400,000,000 (at $2000 per capita), the total property tax levy for the whole city would amount to a year. Exemption of the 400 families of very low income from taxation would thus deprive the city of only 0.002 of its annual tax revenue. Furthermore, even this small theoretical loss is offset by the saving in municipal services due to the elimination of several blocks of slum homes, and by the benefits derived from the investment of $2,000,000 in an enduring public $8,-000,0- Your Headquarters :f. Phone Hyland 2570 GIVE STANDARD COAL A TRIAL 00 There is a dealer near you who Guarantees Your Satisfaction Mined and Distributed by ed STANDARD COAL COMPANY . Continental Bank Building. Union Mined improvement. . . . In a number of cities in England, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries, more than one family in five is living in a housing project owned and operated by the wJf9 V municipality with government aid. If the American city of 200,000 .jy people decides to undertake a similar program to rehouse 20 per cent of its population in 10 years, what will be the cost to the taxpayers of the city? Benefits Would Result "The benefits which would result from such a bold and comprehensive program are easier to forecast than those flowing from one small These project for 400 families. minimum benefits make the maximum estimates of cost to the city shrink into insignificance. Asserting that practically every exercise of public responsibility for productive purposes draws heavily upon the services of private enterprise and proves a stimulus to the profitable expansion of industry, the publication continues: The public highway system eliminated private toll roads and. toll bridges, wiped out miles of good farm land and expensive buildings, and cost the taxpayers millions and even billions of dollars. But where would the great (Continued on page 3) -- Salt Lake City, Utah 100 Per Cent Rail Hauled GOOD FOOD I SUTTONS CAFE I 127 South Main St., Salt Lake City ft ft cst pitslCS ft ft mxit o ft STATE LINE SERVICE (On Utah-NevaLine) and AcOils Gas, Repairing, cessories. Garage, Hotel, Cafe and Cabins in Connection. We serve the best of Wines and Liquors P.O. Box 37 Highways 0 W. F. Smith, Mgr. Friend of Labor WENDOVER, UTAH da ft ft ft ft 40-5- ft ft ft ft ft A (iJferry (Eljrtshmts ft ft Welcome to . . . ' for V ft ft - ft ft - - ft Genturp Qrinting Company c N 'p T COMER c I a l I O R 23135 Edison Street A E D printers Salt Lake City, Utah ft ft |