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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton News Record, 1937-04-22, Page 3'-H RS., APRIL 22, 1937. THE CLINTON NEWS -RECORD PAGE St of a MODERN K414Q/4'11)./ �.a Estimates on Heating Systems, Plumbing, Johns -Mansfield Asbestos Roofing and Shingles. LET US HELP YOU SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS. Sutter Phone 147w er ue saves you money J.B. Mustard, Lumber .Coal Co. BRUCI]FIELD, CLINTON and GODERICH. Enhance the beauty and value of your home with a NEW ROOF TAE AIM IS JOBS --- NOT L+ANS! Borrowing and Loaning Features of Homes Improvement Plan o .n 1 y Incidental t t Creating Jobs for Unemployed. The following article is by Norma Phillips Muir, and appeared in the April 10th issue of "Saturday Night." It is frequently the ease that be- hind any great project there is a dy- namic force in the personality of a man. In. the case of the Home Im- provement Plan the dynamic energy is generally understood to be supplied largely by Arthur B. Purvis, Chair.' manof the National Employment Commissions Just out of his own plane after returning to Montreal from New York, thence to Ottawa, Mr. Purvis received the special re- presentative of e-presentative,of Saturday Night pre- pared to clarify any part of the Plan which was not clear. "In the early stages of the Nation- al Employment Commission, the ex- treme importance of stimulating a revival in the construction industry was realized," said Mr. Purvis. "The ,reason for this is that the building industry represents a tremendous purchasing power. In support of this I niay say that 119th of all in- dustrial employees a.e normally en- gaged in making building materials; 1110th of all freight cars are normally engaged in the transfer of these ma- terials, and 1112th of all wholesalers are engaged in their distribution. And this is apart from the labor used in the building construetion work it- self." "How would you characterize the Home Improvement Plan?" Mr. Pur- vis was asked. "I would say that the impetus of the Plan comes from the fact that it harnesses self-interest to the provis- ion of jobs for those seeking employ- ment. This self-interest night be translated in this way: To the worker it means a job; to the contractor, an opportunity for profit; to the maker of building supplies, the chance of selling more of his product; to the banks, the ability to loan surplus funds; to the home -owner, an improv- ed house; to the farmer, an improved and better equipped farm; to the merchant a greater opportunity of selling his goods, and to the munici- pality and to the citizen, a chance to reduce taxes by helping reduce the cost of unemployment relief." "Do you think this Plan, in its sim- plicity and sincerity, is sufficiently well known and understood?;' was the next question put to Mr. Purvis. "Certain misconceptions are pos- sible, and I would like to obviate the danger of these by elaborating a lit- tle further on the intentions behind the Plan," replied Mr. Purvis. "For instance, it is not primarly a plan for loaning money. It is a Plan for the improvement and for the moderniza- tion of homes, and I think that, tow we know where we are in this depres- sion, there is no real reason why any- one with a secure position and a rea- sonable margin of income over ex- penses need hesitate to do those things in connection with the improv ing of his home that he could not de during the past seven years." "Again, this is nota plan to get the Government to bear the cost ofim- proving existing dwellings. It is, rather, a plan whereby we hope to make home -owners familiar with the facilities now provided whereby they can improve their own homes." "What other misconceptions have you found arising, Mr. Purvis?" "It is not, as has in some cases ap- parently been thought, a plan to get people to do things that are not essen- tial in order to provide employment for people who are out of work. There is a real need for better homes, and more' congenial homes, and we want to get the -maximum, benefit out of the Plan in brightening these homes during the .next couple of years .. . It will, of course, give employment, and naturally the National Employ- ment Commission has that very much in mind, but it will not do it by sim- ply imposing something on an un- natural foundation," "Do you think it is generally un- derstood that the Elan is not one for urban dwellers only?" the interviewer asked, "No, That is another misconcep- tion. It applies to the rural districts as well, as to ,the urban, and I think this offers us inthis country an even greater chance to fill that need than the chance which was offered under the Plan in the United States." "Our primary producers have had. a pretty thin time and although I imagine this plan may start a little too high up for them at present, still. with the prices of primary products constantly increasing, by the times Lumber, Shingles & Builder's Supplies of all Descriptions. pawl • Geo. T. Jenkins -Phone us Plumbing Supplies of All Kinds at ardware Get Our Quotations First'., • PHONE 244, this plan gets really under way and into its swing (it took five months in the United States before it really got started). the rural district is a field to which we- will need to give a lot of attention. We know there will have to be a great deal of organiza- tion, and that it will take time." "Obviously the first essential. to the success of the Plan is the organ- ization of the selling of the job to home -owners by the. contractors and by the suppliers of building mater- ils." "I would like to emphasize what to me is a most important point .in connection with the Plan. It provides an opportunity for contractors, for the plumbing and heating trade, for thepaint, the insulation, steel. ce- ment and electrical equipment people to sell very much more of what they produce, or the services they produce, than they would have had without the help of the Plan." ' "Will they make the effort to sell? That this Plan is going to succeed, in my opinion, is certain; but it depends entirely on how.the Plan is organized and put across. We of the Commis- sion can hardly find the answer to that. All we can do is.to provide the Plan and endeavor to get community effort throughout the country to bring home the possibilities of the Plan to home -owners." "On the success of the selling effort depends the success of the whole plan." "What evidence is there that this Plan is practical and will be success- ful," Mr. Purvis was asked. "We were very fortunate in having the experience and study of the Uni- ted States in regard to this matter to use as a basis for our own Plan," he replied. "In the United States in the first two years of operation of • the equivalent Plan 1,100,000 loans total- ling .$600,000,000 were made. And, better still, $1,500,000,000 of private money was spent by those who had the funds but had been holding back because of lack of confidence—spent by people, who, when they saw oth- ers putting in a new bathroom, a gar- age, a cement sidewalk, electric wir- ing, etc. decided to do the same them. selves. Loans for such work are still continuing to be made every day in large numbers." "And the losses to the U.S.A. Gov- ernment on these loans have been negligible. Claims amount to but 1 per cent. of the loans and half of those claims it is estimated by the Government are recoverable." "In Canada we can confidently ex- pect proportionate progress, and over a reasonable period it should be pos- sible to bring the loan total up to say $50,000,000 and total expenditures including private outlays up to a total of $200,000,000. And you can ima gine what that will mean for the con- 'struction• industry and for employ- ment "The rate of interest charged on. these loans in Canada, a discount rate sof 32/4 per cent„ is 40 per cent. below I the rate used hi the United States for the same plan; is less than half what is usually charged ' for installment ,purchases, and is actually the lowest the world has yet known for such financing." ! "There are two more points which might be stressed" declared Mr. Pur- vis. "There was a danger of the Plan meeting trouble through municipali- ties increasing assessments as im- provements are made. Already there have been indications of definite co- operation on the nart of some muni- cipalities that immediately passed by- laws of what they thought would be a helpful kind. In some cases they find that their field is limited by what the Provinces permit them to do. The municipalities have so much to gain in the avoidance of undue ex- penditures for unemployment relief that they must welcome the successful working of the Plan and lend all their efforts to co-operate with it. Their position with the taxpayer would oth- erwise be impossible." "Is there any other difficulty in the way of success?" 1 "Yes, there is another difficulty" said Mr. Purvis, "that of the mort- i gage owners. They have told me that they have had to reduce interest char- ges and postpone principal repay- ments and generally let the mortgag- or down easy during these troublous times. It is perhaps natural to ex- pect the mortgage holder to look as- kance at the idea of the titular own- 1er entering into fresh financial com- mitments under such circumstances. 'And there I think we have a right to make an appeal to the mortgage own- er to put a broad interpretation on what is his self-interest. I am sure many of the homes that are mort- 'gaged today are very badly in heed of repair work, and it seems to me that the increasing value of the asset should be enough to enable the mort- gage holder to work with public spir- ited citizens in the Local Advisory Committees, to come to what would be a reasonable basis of facilitating the work under the Plan. "Here is the point I would like to stress: we cannot expect the bank managers to take the large share of the burden of selling the home im- provement job to the prospect. This is up to the contractor. It is his job to sell the prospect, to take him into the bank and to ascertain that he is a suitable man to get a loan. If he does not do that, he will probably find that many a sale will slip through his fin- gers, and, therefore, I again empha- size the responsibility of the contrac- tors. "Canada has a standing army of artisans trained to the purpose of making homes for Canadian people, homes keyed to various income levels and to various standards of living. For too long this has been a standing army. It must now become an army on the move, and this can be achieved if every individual will do what he can. People must not feel that be- cause a job is small it is unimportant to the scheme. Papering a couple of • rooms implies the use of a truck to bring trestles and ladders, purchases of wallpaper, paste, sizing: possibly overalls for the worker—and in the final analysis the circle will widen from consumer to retailer, retailer to manufacturer, manufacturer to primary—producer—establishing work and need for products all along the line." "This is what the Plan must do if it is to succeed and every home- owner can have a part in making it a success!" Is that dingy old wall paper getting on your nerves? It's very apt to be the case if you haven't had the house decorated for' several seasons; If so, let us give you an estimate en a thorough ceiling tint- ing and wall papering job. You'll find our prices very reasonable. Finance, if. necessary, under the Home Improvement Plan.: A. T. COOPEI Dept. Store 36w -Furnishings 36j. �Ft iiD1ociivitlek IMPROVING CANADIAN HOMES From the figures just released by Finance Minister Dunning it is ap- parent that Canadians are taking ad- vantage of the loans being made for home improvement purposes. Cities,' towns, villages and rural communities have shared in this pro- ject of ' creating employment by re - Modelling, painting, e-modelling,;painting, and renovating homes which in previous years have been neglected. Loans hi cities and, towns. of 10,000 population or over number 3;075 with a value of $1,252,843. Improvements on 866 farms are valued at $288,794. Adding to this the loans in smaller towns and villages, $2,091,158 has been loaned to make living conditions better in 5,441 Canadian homes. CLINTON. 4U MTN Freshly tinted ceilings; smart new wall paper , what a difference they make to any room. All the depressing dullness disappears. Your home is in tune with bright summer days. Let us give you an estimate on ',an all round renovation job—paper- hanging, painting, floor refinishing. You will find it surprisingly easy to pay for under the Home Improvement Flan. 600 SAMPLES TO CHOOSE FROM Davi hay Phone 234. Does your property need NEW WALKS and DRIVEWAYS? Foundations, Sidewalks, and All Kinds of Cement Work. Plastering Chimney Repairs, Well -Digging, Etc.. David Elliott PHONIi 263, Have plenty of ELECTRIC OUTLETS.. REW/RE ��P c Any information on this Plan cheerfully, given. Public Utilities, Commission Phone 20. Make your home cooler in Summer and warmer - in Winter by insulating your attic,, BUY DIRECT FROM PRODUCER AND SAYE:. Let us quote you on Material or on Finished Job- { IE PHONE 633r42: