TABLE VIII.-Contract monthly rent: Tenant occupied nonfarm dwelling units, by region, 1940 and 1947--Continued

TABLE IX.-Average ratio of property valuation to home owner's annual income: single-family dwellings with FHA sec. 203, mortgage insurance, 1936–46

TABLE X.-Average ratio of property valuation to home owner's annual income, by income group: new single-family dwellings and FHA sec. 203, mortgage insurance, 1941-46

TABLE XI.-Distribution by price class of asking price for other than new single family dwellings advertised for sale: 100 selected metropolitan districts, April 1940-March 1947

TABLE XII.-Percentage distribution of nonfarm families and individuals not in families, by total money income level, by color of head, for the United States by region: 1946

NOTE.-A family according to the present census concepts consist of 2 or more related persons living in the same household.

Source: Bureau of the Census.

Mr. GAMBLE. There is a quorum call. We will have to suspend. We will have to ask Mr. Harry See, national legislative representative of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, to come back tomorrow morning, if that is possible.

There are quorum calls on some controversial matters on the floor. Will that be convenient to you, Mr. See?

Mr. SEE. It will not, Mr. Chairman. I have a hearing before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. The hearing will probably take two days.

Mr. GAMBLE. Then we will have to schedule you for later on during the week. Do you live in Washington?

Mr. SEE. Yes, sir.

Mr. GAMBLE. I would not want to see you get caught in this railroad strike.

Mr. SEE. Would it accommodate the committee if I just filed my statement and allowed it to be printed in the record?

Mr. GAMBLE. That is all right with us, if satisfactory to you.
Mr. SEE. The clerk of the committee has a copy.

Mr. GAMBLE. Without objection, Mr. See's testimony will be incorporated in the record at this point.

Mr. SEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. GAMBLE. Thank you.

(The statement above referred to is as follows:)

STATEMENT OF HARRY SEE, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE, BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee:

My name is Harry See and I am national legislative representative of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, with offices at 130 Third Street SE., Washington, D. C. Our headquarters are located at Cleveland, Ohio.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen strongly supports S. 866, as passed by the Senate and now awaiting action by your committee.

Throughout the entire United States some railroad men and their families are living in substandard housing, not because they want to but because it is not possible to find any other kind of housing in railroad terminals. A part of the manpower shortage on railroads has been due to the lack of adequate and, in some instances, the lack of any housing at all.

Within the past few days I have had an opportunity to talk with representatives of railroad labor organizations from many of the States and they all tell the same story, that there is a shortage of housing in practically every railroad terminal.

If private enterprise can and will construct the necessary housing and this legislation will encourage them to do so, then it will have served a great purpose. If Governmental assistance is needed to enable private industry to do a better job and this legislation will provide that assistance, then it should receive favorable consideration.

Insofar as Governmental aid for housing and clearance of slums is concerned, certainly it is not necessary to go outside of the District of Columbia to see the need of this legislation. During the past several years much has been said about inadequate housing and slum conditions within a very few blocks of the Capitol Building. Those conditions have not been improved, and if this legislation will assist this city and other cities in the United States to eliminate the slums and provide adequate and sanitary housing for the poor people who live in these districts, it will be very much worthwhile.

The viewpoint of our members is that a Nation that can appropriate $15,000,000,000 for national defense and billions of dollars to promote recovery in 16 European countries ought not to longer tolerate or permit the neglect which year after year has resulted in the deplorable conditions prevailing in cities throughout America.

On behalf of the 200,000 members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen in the United States, we urgently request that this committee take favorable and prompt action on this legislation, so that it may be enacted by this Congress, because the need is urgent.

Mr. GAMBLE. The committee will recess until 10 tomorrow.

(Whereupon, at 11:30 a. m., the committee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a. m., Tuesday, May 11, 1948.)

GENERAL HOUSING

TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1948

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,

Washington, D. C. The committee reconvened at 10 a. m., pursuant to adjournment, Hon. Jesse P. Wolcott (chairman) presiding.

Present: Messrs. Wolcott, Gamble, Smith, Talle, Sundstrom, Kilburn, Buffett, Cole, Hull, Banta, Nicholson, Spence, Brown, Monroney, and Folger.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

We will proceed with the hearings on S. 866 and related bills.

We have with us this morning representatives of various veterans' organizations.

We will first hear from Colonel Taylor.

Colonel TAYLOR. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I want to express our appreciation for this opportunity of coming before the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. We are very happy to have you, Colonel Taylor. STATEMENT OF COL. JOHN THOMAS TAYLOR, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE, AMERICAN LEGION

Colonel TAYLOR. I have asked the clerk to put before each member of the committee a copy of the regulation which was adopted by the national executive committee just last Tuesday relative to our position on this matter, and the only thing that I care to read from it is this:

That the director of the national legislative committee be directed to present to the Congress further amendments to Senator Flanders' amendments to the TEW bill, S. 866, to incorporate therein the provisions of the Veterans' Homestead Act, H. R. 4488, as modified by the House Veterans' Affairs Committee print dated March 28, 1948.

And, with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like at this point to present to the committee for inclusion in the record the Veterans' Homestead Act as reported by the Veterans' Affairs Committee and now on the House calendar.

The CHAIRMAN. You want to make it a part of the unofficial records before the committee?

Colonel TAYLOR. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well.

Colonel TAYLOR. And I will include the report on the bill, so that that will also be before the committee?

The CHAIRMAN. Very well.

Colonel TAYLOR. There is one other matter to which I wish to call the attention of the committee: that a review of S. 866 discloses that on page 3, line 19, there is a proviso that the Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance agency may prescribe, by regulation, a higher maximum rate of interest, not to exceed 412 percent.

Also on page 250, line 16, there is a proviso authorizing the Administrator of the Veterans' Administration to prescribe, by regulation, a higher maximum rate of interest, not to exceed 41/2 percent.

Now, in conformance with a resolution adopted by the national executive committee, we oppose these two provisos. The resolution referred to above is worded as follows, exclusive of the whereas clauses:

Therefore, be it resolved, That the director of the national legislative committee be directed to oppose vigorously any efforts on the part of the Congress to increase the present 4 percent interest rate provided for under Governmentinsured mortgages.

The CHAIRMAN. Why do they think we authorized the increase in interest rate? Did they give any consideration to why we did that?

Colonel TAYLOR. Mr. Chairman, I have with me Walter Alessandroni, the chairman of our Veterans Housing Committee of the American Legion, and with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to present him at this time, because he is thoroughly familiar with H. R. 4488, having assisted in drafting it. He knows the provisos of it, and he is here to lend his aid and his assistance and to answer any questions you might wish to ask, and I want him particularly to answer the question that you have just presented to me.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Did the American Legion appear before the Senate committee on this bill?

Colonel TAYLOR. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Why?

Colonel TAYLOR. Well, the only hearings that the American Legion has ever appeared on were on H. R. 4488.

The CHAIRMAN. Why did not the American Legion appear before the Senate committee on S. 866?

Colonel TAYLOR. Because we had no direction from our national organization to do that. We had no mandate, I might put it that way. The CHAIRMAN. Did you have the opportunity?

Colonel TAYLOR. Did we have the opportunity to appear?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Colonel TAYLOR. Well, sir; I think upon request we have the opportunity to appear before any committee on legislation that we consider vitally affects veterans. But we did not, because we had no mandate and we never do appear before a committee unless we have specific directions in the form of a mandate. That is why I am here today, and is it why I have Chairman Alessandroni.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well.

Mr. Alessandroni.

Colonel TAYLOR. Walter, will you step up here and speak to the committee on this matter?

The CHAIRMAN. We are very glad to have you proceed, Mr. Alessandroni.