REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 3 OF 1947 HEARINGS H.S. Congress, Sonate. BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY, UNITED STATES SENATE EIGHTIETH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 3 OF 1947 DEALING WITH HOUSING 7 24 47 CARD DIVISIO 63219 JUNE 18 AND 19, 1947 Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking and Currency UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1947 Alger, Richard, Office of Housing Expediter, Washington, D. C................ Bliss, George R., president, Railroad Federal Savings and Loan Asso- Cortwright, Frank W., executive vice president, National Association Daniel, Clarke, National Home and Property Owners Foundation, Ellingson, Carl H., vice president, National Savings and Loan League, 85 Foley, Raymond M., National Housing Administrator and Federal 5 King, Joseph T., counsel, National Retail Lumber Dealers Associa- 55 Pearce, Wesley D., national housing officer, Veterans of Foreign Wars 24 Rouse, James W., Mortgage Bankers Association of America, Wash- Poston, Robert R., legislative representative, American Legion, Wash- 45 59 Spencer, Vernon P., executive vice president, California Savings and 65 Letters, telegrams, statements, etc., submitted for the record- 116 American Federation of Labor, letter, June 20, 1947, from Boris 104 American Institute of Architects, statement by Edmund R. Purves__ 106 95 Baltimore Builders' Chapter, Associated General Contractors of 100 Boyden, Mrs. D. F., letter, June 20, 1947__ 102 CIO Housing Committee, telegram, June 19, 1947- 99 Commerce and Industry Association of New York, letter, June 24, 104 Cortwright, Frank W., prepared statement.. 85 Emerson, Mrs. George H., letter June 19, 1947- 101 Estimated administrative expenses of NHA and constituent agencies, 37 Fahey, John H., Federal Home Loan Bank Commissioner, submitted 107 III Letters, telegrams, statements, etc., submitted for the record-Continued Fitzpatrick; B. T., memornadum to Raymond M. Foley- Gibbs, Mrs. Rufus M., letter, June 22, 1947 Harvey, Mrs. F. Barton, letter, June 20, 1947- Hatch, Hon. Carl A., letter, June 17, 1947, with enclosed letter from House Document No. 270, Eightieth Congress, first session, message Henry, Ernest F., letter to Robert Hill, June 10, 1947- Jenkins, Helen W., letter, June 18, 1947.. Justice Department, letter, June 20, 1947, from Tom C. Clark League of Women Voters of the United States, telegram, June 19, Page 103 1 National Apartment Owners Association, opposition letter, June 16, National Association of Housing Officials, telegram- National Association of Jewish Center Workers, letter, June 19, 1947, National Council of Negro Women, Inc., letter, June 23, 1947- National Housing Agency, letter, Raymond M. Foley, June 20, 1947-_ National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, letter, June 19, 1947, National Public Housing Conference, telegram from Lee F. Johnson, National Savings and Loan League, resolution dated May 28, 1947-- National Savings and Loan League, letter, May 29, 1947. Poston, Robert R., legislative representative, American Legion, state- Property Owners Foundation, letter, June 17, to Mr. Creedon_. Purves, Edmund R., submitted statement, May 27, 1947 Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1947, prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Con- United States Housing Agencies' Duplication Is Costly, article from 40 United States Housing Authority Is Under Fire in Report, article from 42 United States Savings and Loan League, letter, Morton Bodfish, June 92 United States Savings and Loan League, letter, June 20, 1947, from 100 REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 3 OF 1947 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 1947 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11 a. m., in room 301, Senate Office Building, Senator C. Douglass Buck presiding. Present: Senators Buck (presiding), Capehart, Flanders, Cain, Bricker, McCarthy, Maybank, Taylor, Fullbright, Robertson of Virginia, and Sparkman. Senator BUCK. We are going to take up Reorganization Plan No. 3, and I will ask if you will give us your views. (Reorganization Plan No. 3 is as follows:) SOTH CONGRESS} 1st HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DOCUMENT [H. Doc. No. 270, 80th Cong., 1st sess.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TRANSMITTING To the Congress of the United States: I am transmitting herewith Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1947, prepared in accordance with the Reorganization Act of 1945. This plan deals solely with housing. It simplifies, and increases the efficiency of, the administrative organization of permanent housing functions and provides for the administration of certain emergency housing activities pending their liquidation. I have found, after investigation, that each reorganization contained in this plan is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2 (a) of the Reorganization Act of 1945. The provision of adequate housing will remain a major national objective throughout the next decade. The primary responsibility for meeting housing needs rests, and must continue to rest, with private industry, as I have stated on other occasions. The Federal Government, however, has an important role to play in stimulating and facilitating home construction. Over the years the Congress has provided for a number of permanent housing programs, each involving a special approach to the basic objective of more adequate housing for our citizens. The Congress first enacted a series of measures to facilitate home construction and home ownership by strengthening the savings and loan type of home-financing institution. These measures established a credit reserve system for such agencies, authorized the chartering of Federal savings and loan associations to provide more adequate home-financing facilities, and provided for the insurance of investments in savings and loan institutions in order to attract savings into this field. The Congress also created a system for the insurance of home loans and mortgages to stimulate the flow of capital into home-mortgage lending and thereby facilitate home ownership and improvement and increase home construction. These measures were supplemented by legislation extending financial assistance to local com 1 |