A number of the States, including Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin, have recently passed statutes looking to urban redevelopment. These statutes confer upon the municipalities or upon quasipublic corporations the power to acquire real property for redevolpment by condemnation. From the land so acquired, a sufficient amount would be taken for express highways, parks, and areas for the parking and storage of motor vehicles, and the balance resold to private companies for redevelopment in conformity with a scheme approved by the public authorities. Other States are now considering similar legislation. The State of Maryland has passed an act to submit to the voters of that State in the fall election of 1944 an amendment to the State constitution permitting the creation of a redevelopment commission in the city of Baltimore. The National Capital Park and Planning Commission has under advisement a draft of a statute to the same end for the city of Washington. All thoughtful students who have considered the problem have agreed that its solution depends upon the adoption of some device to activate the credit resources of our cities so as to enable them to acquire the blighted areas, and thenceforth to devote part thereof to public purposes and to resell or relet the balance for industrial, commercial, apartment, and residential uses. A credit institution to aid in urban development throughout the country ought to be possible to this end. The structure of such an institution could be based upon the real value of the land to be acquired and to be resold thereafter to redevelopers. Resale could be at cost plus the expense of operation, thereby preventing wildcat speculation in real estate which has probably contributed to the existence of the very conditions in question. In 1916 the Congress faced a similar problem with reference to rural land credits and in that year passed the Federal Farm Loan Act. Hon. Charles E. Hughes, then counsel for the Federal Land Bank of Wichita, Kans., in Smith v. Kansas City Title Co. (255 U. S. 180, 192), upholding the corptitutionality of the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, pertinently observed in his brief: "Congress had power to use the public money, and to provide for the borrowing of money to aid in agricultural development throughout the country in accordance with the systematic and general plan to promote the cultivation of the soil, involving the application of money through loans or otherwise." Under the terms of that act the Federal Farm Loan Board was established and authorized to set up Federal land banks in various areas of the United States. The amounts required for the original capital were provided by a congressional appropriation. Bonds eligible as security for all public deposits were offered to the general public and were based upon the security of mortgages on farms. Each borrower was required to subscribe for a certain amount of the capital stock of the banks, which subscriptions were available to repay the original capital furnished by the Government. The history of these institutions attests the soundness of the original conception. They have grown in usefulness in spite of the great deflation in land values which occurred in the depression of the thirties. The additional capital contribution made by the Government during. that depression is a good investment today. The blighted and distressed urban areas of the United States present a similar challenge to the ingenuity of the statesman. Consideration might be given to the establishment of Federal urban land banks to meet demands for longterm urban redevelopment credits. The original capital might be provided by appropriation of the Congress, and the institutions could be authorized to loan funds, upon the security of urban real estate, to municipalities or to public corporations within the municipalities. Similarly, bonds of these banks might be offered to the investing public upon the security of mortgages upon the urban land. In addition, the bonds issued to the public might be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the United States. The borrowers from the banks might similarly be required to subscribe to stock which, in turn, might be used to repay to the Federal Treasury the initial advance of capital. A Federal urban land board could be established to 'charter and supervise the urban land banks. Under the operation of such a credit institution, rights-of-way necessary for express highways through the congested areas of the cities might be acquired; traffic jams and bottlenecks common to all great centers of population might be relieved; the mobility of the population might be improved; better access to the great business and industrial sections of our cities would be established; the decayed cores of the outgrown and outmoded areas of the communities might be excised, and a way prepared for the growth of new, healthy, revenue-producing neighborhoods. The public credit ought only to be used for a public purpose. The redevelopment of blighted and decayed areas in our cities is a public responsibility in the same sense that the promotion of agriculture and the reclamation of the rural areas is a public purpose. The combination of the wise use of the public credit with the ingenuity and enterprise of the people has contributed to and developed the strength of America from its beginning. We might well take stock of the serious problems resulting from urban blight and decay which baffle the municipal governments throughout the land. An arrangement which would help the cities to help themselves is far preferable to unlimited drains on the National Treasury to bolster crumbling local governments. INDEX-DIGEST Page Abernethy, Thomas G. (Mississippi), member, House Public Buildings and Airports. (See Air transport.) Air transportation: Airlines Committee for United States Air Policy; statement of chair- 693-695 417 Airport construction a Federal responsibility where commercial avia- Backlog of project blueprints ready to be translated without delay 160 City without convenient access to an airport will be as handicapped as 161 212 Fuel problem (Fleet) - 197 International control-quotas suggested (Fleet)---. 191 Liberal aid given to railroads, waterways transport; likewise to air 161 Lighter-than-air service (Lanham, Fleet) 197 Airports, New York City; size and cost of planned airport (LaGuardia) 309 190 Airlines Committee for United States Air Policy, statement of chairman, 693-695 Airplane construction industry: Construction contractors working out airplane assembly contracts 62, 79 Estimates of post-war building by Civil Aeronautics Authority any 212 209 Albert Lea, Minn., development experiment cited (Blucher) Alexandria, Va., housing, Parkfairfax development of Metropolitan Lif Alley dwellings, District of Columbia (Elliott)_. American Association of State Highway Officials, executive secretary, Hal 343 American City, The, municipal post-war public works survey; cited_‒‒‒‒‒‒ Comparison of prices received by farmers and hourly earnings of fac- 244 243-244 240 National convention, 1943, statement of principles, adopted, i-xiii___ 226-228 American Institute of Architects (1857): Prepared statement_. 108 President, Raymond J. Ashton (See Ashton, Raymond J.) 34 Membership. 108 Washington representative, D. K. Este Fisher, Jr. (See Fisher, D. K. Este, Jr.) 96548-44-No. 2--45 699 Page American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers---. 55 Annual conference, October 29, 1943; resolution adopted on post-war 416 Membership, association is a federation of State leagues of munici- 368 President, H. A. Olson. (See Olson, Herbert A.) Reports, No. 152, tax limitation laws; by G. M. Harris, 1943; text--- 376-400 418 Ib., October 29, 1943; urban highway needs; text.. Special committee on planning municipalities and the post-war, 11 pp.; text- American Public Works Association: 417 369-374 Annual Public Works Congress; 1943, legislation urged. 354 353-354 Resolution adopted December 4, 1943; Federal participation to extent 358, 367 355, 363-365 Survey as of January 1, 1944; status of local plan preparation, 68 155, 280 102-103 Bill to encourage and expedite completion of surveys, etc., prerequisite American Society of Lanscape Architects, statement with reference to post- American Society of Planning Officials: 681-682 Executive director, Walter H. Blucher. (See Blucher, Walter H.) Membership, activity-. 202 Questionnaire on local planning sent to 1,200 members; analysis of 204 Architectural work: Government versus local (Arnold; Fisher, Lanham) 111-113 108 Appropriations and authorizations, action to minimize (Lanham). 10 Availability of experienced men above military age for drafting plans 89 Arends, Henry, mayor of Everett, Wash. (See Everett, Wash.) Arkansas, State planning board: Functions (Norrell) Urban rehabilitation. Arnold, Wat (Missouri), member House Public Buildings and Grounds 622-623 (See Urban redevelopment.) Architects licensing law recently passed in Missouri- 256 Building and loan associations better qualified to pass on credit of |