Families S
Md.
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
Tugwell’s principal Uto-
pias is now open for business,
and some say it's good
some say it's bad. At any rate,
the first families have moved
into Greenbelt, Md., ‘‘model
town"
ministration formerly
by Tugwell, and perhaps we
shall one day see just how ef-
fective the co-operative, slum-
less community can be.
A year ago this time Greenbelt
was the target of much criticism
concerning high costs,
venture of the federal government
into “collectivism,” “communism,”
and other horrible social and eco-
nomic isms which, during the heat-
paign, were grouped under one gen-
eral head—""Tugwellism."” Friends
of the project usually had defenses
for these charges; what you believe
is probably greatly influenced by the
trend of your politics. The impor-
tant thing today is that the experi-
ment is definitely under way,
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life, the opportunity to enjoy rd
sports and free range of several
thousand beautiful acres of
land.
The white with en-
and harmonizing
The drive and
are flanked with trees, most of them
still young.
houses are
in
JN
every im-
aginable precaution for safety hav-
ing been taken. All highways are
crossed by means of underpasses,
so that the children who attend the
sary to watch out for automobiles
Queer at first do Greenbell's
in other sections of the nation.
Greenbelt, with its 885
units, rests on a crescent-shaped
plateau,
ton, D. C.
from which it gets its name.
roring it is an artificial lake of some
25 acres.
the front doors are at the back, if
that is not taxing the reader's logic.
In other words, they face on the
open space at the rear, rather than
on the street. They are durable and
attractive, but not ornate.
Kitchens Are Sensibly Modern.
Foundations are of concrete and
roofs of tinted slate. Broad case-
ment windows assure plenty of sun-
light, and plenty of air. In this cli-
mate the summers are likely to be
hot, but ceilings of poured ce
reinforced with steel rods,
rooms cool.
with copper
sheathing to banish drafts. Fi
and walls have
last a hundred years, but they
have not been foolishly planned
outlast the Coliseum in Rome. C
and oak
been built to
O8~
is
Their local government will be run
by an ultra-modern city manager,
under the first city manager char-
Maryland. All the
business will be directed
which was sponsored by the late Ed-
ward A. Filene, Boston merchant.
Settlers who buy shares in the
sumer distribution corporation”
receive rebates at all the stores in
the community.
Inhabitants Carefully Selected.
It is not easy for a family to be
admitted to life in Greenbelt
ne
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are most likely to be trod upon.
Kitchens are modern,
are metal cupboards with
and smooth, easy-dusting
Sinks are of enamel and
bathroom walls are covered with
inexpensive waterproof paint. All
fixtures are sturdy and in good
taste.
Greenbelt’s business and commu-
crescent, includes a
cantile building, a municipal
rage, a fire-house, a town inn,
taurant and a school.
en every precaution in selecting the
tenants and, purportedly, political
“pull” doesn’t mean a thing. First,
name, residence,
information; hundreds were dropped
immediately on the basis of this
preliminary data. Those whose ap-
plications survived were asked for
more detailed information about
themselves, and this was checked
by officials. The candidates were
then visited in their homes, their
character and credit ratings investi-
gated and their references verified.
The final selections were made on
the basis of a summary of all these
findings. If Greenbelt is to succeed,
the durability of its buildings must
he matched by the integrity and sin-
cerity of its inhabitants.
These tenants will be living in
the most completely planned com-
munity in America. Where they may
have lived in city slums, with poor
environment for their children, they
are now set down in the rolling
green hills of Maryland, where fresh
air is plentiful, where there is a
good school, where their budgets
will allow them to live as well as
their much wealthier city neighbors.
Greenbelt’s citizens can go to and
from work in the city, if they like,
by bus. At home in the evening
after the day's labors they can put-
ter around in a garden. They will
ing.
sides like inverted flying but-
ses. There is a chiseled frieze
of cubist characters. Interiors are
the ultimate in scientific design
buttresses support the walls of a
Light brown
plaster help to diffuse the plentiful
sunlight which enters corridors and
school rooms through windows and
glass brick panels built into the
walls. Students keep their belong-
ings in individual lockers. The out-
er wall of each classroom is of
transparent glass, stretching al-
most the entire height of the room.
Conditions such as these are about
all a teacher could ask for.
All commercial operations
conducted by the consumers’ cor-
poration. Two per cent of the gross
revenue will be turned over to the
federal government as rent; any re-
maining profits will be returned to
the customers as dividends. Operat-
ed on this plan will be a general
merchandise store, a drug store, a
food and meat market, a motion pic-
ture theater, a barber shop, a beau-
ty parlor and a garage and service
station. When and if the community
decides it does not like this system,
it may adopt a new one.
There are no churches in Green-
belt but free land is available for
them if community groups desire to
build them. Greenbelters are given
plenty of opportunity to contribute
their share toward the beautifying
of the town. Anyone may secure
the head gardener’'s advice at any
time free of charge. Trees or bushes
are
1
free from the town
{ they were transplanted
land was cleared
This Is “Tugwelltown."”
Greenbelt
Tugwell's philosophy. He
aim was
“To obtain a
and thus avoid the ¢
{ dinarily due to diverse
{ In this tract to create a community,
{ protected by an encircling green
| belt; the community to be designed
| primarily for fami
| comeg, and arranged and managed
as to encourage a family and
| community life which will be better
than they now enjoy, but which will
| not involve subjecting them to co-
| ercive or theoretical and untested
| discipline
“The dwellings and the land upon
| which they are located are to be
held in one ownership,
public agency to which the federal
| government will transfer titie, and
| which agency wi - rent or lease the
dwel ellings but will not gell them; a
| municipal g fo be set up,
when the
Professor
its
epitomizes
said
large tract
i 80
vernment
in character with sud h Be ve
Cco- math on te ) oe estab-
in relation to the local and
state governments, so that there
may be provided th public serv-
5 of educational and other char-
unity will re-
gi on,
lished,
Os¢
ice
ctr which Th ie Cor mity
quire; and, Bally. accomplish
these purposes in such a way that
the community may be a taxpaying
participant in the region, that ex-
trav agant outlays from the individ-
ily income will not be neces-
and that the rents will be suit-
to
sary,
“To develop a land-use plan for
the entire tract; to devise a system
of rural economy co-ordin ated with
the land-use plan for the rural por-
tions of the tract surrounding the
and to inte-
grate both the physical plans and
the economies of the rural area and
nmunity.”’
Whether or not the model town
can be regarded as the answer to
the low-cost housing program, even
if Greenbelt succeeds as a happy,
prospering community, depends on
how at it It has been
opponents that the
project cost far too much and that
there were too many delays, alleg-
attributable to ‘government
in its construction,
vou look
efficiency,”
What Sponsors Contend.
Only 885 families may be housed
in Greenbelt, opponents point out,
yet the cost is $14,227,000, or more
than $16,000 a house. The govern-
ment's estimated net return on the
investment, they say, is less than
15 of 1 per cent. Even if interest
were waived, it would take 237 years
to repay the cost.
Against this the sponsors reply
that it is unfair to pro-rate the cost
among the houses alone, for it in-
cludes the business buildings, land-
scaping and many other things. Pre-
sumably their answer would have
been the same if the cost had been
regarded $16,000 per family.
Also there is the argument that
the “made work,'”’ transient relief
labor and such, skyrocketed the
cost. They contend that low-cost
housing is spreading and that re-
payments under the Wagner act will
be more generous than those at
Greenbelt. They attempt to show
that costs of slum conditions are in-
direct but that they are even greater
than the cost to the government of
subsidizing model communities; that
well-built homes are in the long
run cheaper than flimsier dwellings
built for sale; and the Greenbelt
accountants write off a third of the
total cost as excess labor costs, more
directly chargeable to work relief
than to the Greenbelt residents.
@ Western Newspaper Union,
Floyd Gibbons
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF!
“Suicide for Three”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
ELLO, EVERYBODY:
Ever get stuck with a rubber check? Well, sir, that is
But
s a case where a bad check led from one thing to another,
Eugene Percifield of Sea Cliff, N. Y., had with a vicious criminal
on the Halifax river at Daytona, Fla.
Gene Percifield's dad ran an automobile agency in Lake Worth,
back in 1928, and it was there that the curious chain of events
started that was to lead to the most terrifying ten minutes of George's
A stranger came to the agency one day, bought a new car, and
Before the man drove away, Gene saw him transfer two pis-
tols from his pockets to the pockets of the newly purchased car,
but he thought nothing of it at the moment. It was only when
the stranger's check was returned marked “No Funds''’ that Gene
realized what sort of a man his dad had been dealing with,
The crook was gone—and so was the car. Gene's dad notified the
Gene never expected to see the bird again,
& manner that makes him shiver every time he thinks of it.
Gene and two other young lads his own age had gone to Jackson-
ville to drive three new cars down for his dad. They were on their
way back, about twenty-five miles north of Daytona, when Gene spied a
and saw a man standing beside it
Gene Captured the Crook.
Gene stopped the other two cars
hem what he had seen.
parked them, one
~told the lads who were driving
They drove their buses back to the filling sta-
in back, one in front and one alongside of the
Gene climbed out of his car and started for the crook. It was then—
Through the Bridge Railing Into the River.
Gene's eye cast wildly about in search of some sort of weap-
on. There wasn't a thing in sight. Then, his knees shaking, his
tongue dry against the roof of his mouth, he thrust his hand
inside his coat, pretending he had a gun there, and faced the
crook.
The crook took it He didn't even make any pro-
in to Daytona and
with the crook and
front, driving the
up i
quietly enough
There was a woman
her. The crook sat
car accurding to Gene's directions.
t was about nine o'clock of a cool, balmy night
and was rapidly nearing Daytona. The crook had
his capture so meekly—was following so cbediently that Gene
lulled into a false sense of security. He was beginning to think that
be so bad after all But later—just a few
he was going to change his mind about that.
Drove Right Into the River.
They were coming into Daytona when things began to happen. There
the crook failed for the first time to follow directions and turned onto a
Gene told him to stop or he'd knock
The
turn him over to the police
The car bowled
was
his block off, but he might as well have been talking to a post.
They were about the middle of the bridge now. The woman,
in the back seat with Gene, began to get panicky. She called
to the crook to stop or she'd jump out of the car. The crook said,
“Oh, you will, eh?" AND DROVE THE CAR THROUGH THE
BRIDGE RAILING INTO THE RIVER.
The car turned turtle as it hit the river, and sank in five feet of water.
Gene landed in a stooped position, his feet on the inverted top of the
The water rose to his knees-—his chest—HIS NECK. And still
it was coming up. He cursed—prayed-—tried to break a window. Then
he took one last deep breath as the water covered him over.
A seat cushion was on his back, pushing him down. He thrust it
aside and managed to get his nose above water in a narrow space be-
tween the water and the up-ended floor of the car. Then he felt some-
thing kick him under water—the woman-—struggling in her death throes
Gene grabbed her and tried to pull her head up into that
narrow pocket of air at the top of the car. She slipped out of his
arms and sank down again. Gene went down after her and found
—an opening—a broken window beneath the surface of the water.
He dived—felt someone grab him from outside, and was pulled
out, a piece of broken glass cutting a deep gash in his back as he
went,
As he came up, he saw a straw hat floating on the surface of the
A crowd of people lined the bridge rail. Two men who were
They turned him over
© WNU Service,
Areas of the States
In the following list the figures
represent the square miles of the
states: Texas, 265,896; California,
158,207; Montana, 146997; New
Mexico, 122,634; Arizona, 113,956;
Nevada, 110,600; Colorado, 103,948;
Wyoming, 97914; Oregon, 96,699;
Utah, 84,990; Minnesota, 84,682; Ida-
ho, 83,888; Kansas, 82,158; South Da-
kota, 77,615; Nebraska, 77,520;
North Dakota, 70.837; Oklahoma,
70,057; Missouri, 60,420; Washing-
ton, 69,127; Georgia, 59,265; Florida,
58,666; Michigan, 57,980; Illinois,
56,665; lowa, 56,147; Wisconsin, 56,-
086; Arkansas, 53,335; North Caro-
Table Manners
Manners vary considerably in dif-
ferent parts of the world-—especially
table manners. What we would con-
sider terribly rude in this country
is regarded as excellent form in In-
dia, says London Tit-Bits Magazine.
If you dine with an Indian in his
country you are expected to lick the
platter clean—to leave anything on
your plate is an insult fo his food.
Be sure to call for a second helping
of everything in a loud voice, and
a third, if possible. Always praise
the items and give the impression
that the food is delicious. You are
expected to desist when you cannot
A Happy Family of
Bluebirds for Linens
Take the Bluebird family “un-
der your wing” and embroider
their five plump images on what
ever household linens you'd like
to make really colorful. Simple,
and just the thing for sheets, pil
low-case, towels, refreshment
cloth or scarf. They're in 8 to the
inch cross stitch, enhanced with a
bit of lazy-daisy and c ne stitch.
Pattern 1524 contains a transfer
pattern of two motifs 63% by 15%
inches; four motifs 6 by 7 inches
and six motifs 2% by 2% inches:
color suggestions: i trations of
all stitches used; material require-
in stamps
ins pref ferred) for thi
to the Sewing Cir
Dept., 82 Eighth Ae ;
N.Y.
Please rite plainly
number, and
or coins
5 pattern
Needlecraft
New York,
pattern
address.
On Our Dollar Bills
+ Latin 1 to ““Annuit Coep-
tis’ on the most red issue of
our lar ills rendered as
“He (God) favored our undertak-
ings.” “Novu Iirdo Se is
transls der of the
ages
The design on the bac
current one-dollar
cate presents for
any issued by the United
States a representation of both the
obverse and reverse of the Great
Seal of the United States.
A Three Days’ Cough
Is Your Danger Signal
No matter how many
you have tried for your cough, chest
cold, or bronchial irritation, you can
relief now with Creomulsion.
rious trouble may be brewing and
you cannot afford to take a chance
with any remedy less potent than
Creomulsion, which goes right to
the seat of the trouble and aids na-
ture to soothe and heal the inflamed
mucous membranes and to loosen
and expel the germ-laden ph
Even if other remedies have {
don't be discouraged, try Creomul-
sion. Your druggist is ha to
refund your money if you are not
thoroughly satisfied with the bene-
fits obtained from the very first
bottle. Creomulsion is one word—not
two, and it has no hyphen in it.
Ask for it plainly, see that the name
a the bottle is Creomulsion, and
t the genuine product and
Boe rebet you want, (Adv)
Words of Counsel
To youth I have but three words
work, work.—
cent
lor um’’
k of the
certifi-
the first time on
silver
money
Bismarck.
GOOD RELIEF
of constipation by a
GOOD LAXATIVE
Many folks get such refreshing
relief by taking Black-Draught for
constipation that they prefer it to
other laxatives and urge their friends
to try it. Black-Draught is made of
the leaves and roots of plants. It
does not disturb digestion but stimu-
lates the lower bowel so that cen
stipation is relieved,
BLACK-DRAUGHT
purely vegetable laxative
Never Happens
There never was a good war or
eat more, not when you have had
sufficient. Patting your stomach as
proof is one sign. Indians are great
eaters, and “‘strong” and “fat” are
£ynONymMous, especially among the
“‘bannia” (shopkeeper) class.
Among them it is common practice
to tie a length of cotton round their
waists and eat until their stomachs
swell and the cotton snaps. Then
they cease immediately.
lina, 52,426; Alabama, 51,998; New
York, 40,204; Louisiana, 48,508; Mis-
sissippi, 46,865; Pennsylvania, 45.
126; Virginia, 42,627; Tennessee, 42.-
022; Ohio, 41,040; Kentucky, 40,508;
Indiana, 36,354; Maine, 33,040; South
Carolina, 30,989; West Virginia, 24,-
170; Maryland, 12,327; Vermont, 9,-
564; New Hampshire, 9.341; Massa-
chusetts, 8,266; New Jersey, 8,224;
Connecticut, 4,965; Delaware, 2,370;
Rhode Island, 1,248.
MALARIA
a bad peace.—Franklin.
in three dase
666 2:
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WNU-—4