Flint Spokesman [Volume: 5, Issue: 1]

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Saturday, April 12, 1952

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By Charles Kuhn

IF IT'S. ERESH PAINT YA
WANT, SLOW UP A BIT.//

NO GomMI~ STRIP.
TODAY, MUTT!
THE BOSS CAN'T
THINK IDEA!

HE
(CAN'T?
WHY?

\| ( 1 DUNNO!) BUT WE'RE
~fT - CAN'T

HE JUST | SUPPOSED.: GIVE

ABs oi

WELL, THEN LET:
| SUST GIVE'EMA

| Housing fs hn

Where do you live? Or let me
put it another way: where can
you FIND a place to live? That~s
@ question not only for thousands 3
of Americans but one that occupies persons in al] parts of the
world these days. It colors their
lives, affects their -health, their
happiness. While can I find a
place to live... and when? Let
me tell you about one effort to
find the answer, _ =

Millions of human beings, és-; peciaHy in war-ravaged Europe,
each evening~ after work wearily

push open the door to a dingy
hotel room, or a décrepit furnished room which costs a good percentage of their salaries. The
situation is even more tragic
when it involves the head of a
family who has either $0 live
separated from ~his children -or,
~to bring them up: in. conditions:

} that. will mark them for life.

War is partly to blame, both.
in the destruction that it brought
and in the long lag in home
building. But it is mot the whole
story. A great: French architect
recently remarked~ bitterly: the
20th century has built for money;
not for men.

Civil Nata
Exhibit To
Visit Michigan

The, Alert Ameviean Convoy,
gigantic,. truck-transpoxted patri- otic exhibit.designed to alert
Americans to the urgency for organizing an adequate Civil Defense will visit Michigan in Apri.

Three Michigan cities are onm/

the initial tour mapped out in

-Washington. The Convoy will be
in Lansing, Aprit 6-7; in Detroit,,
April 19-13; and in Grand Rapids,,
Aprik 21-23, The Michigan Office
of Civil Defense is already seeking a returw visit so that people in
other MicHi@ran cities may sce the
show. =" 27

Designed by Edward Burdick,

- dggignerof. the: Freedom Train,. Convoy. points out that in
today~s world, Civil Defense must
be equal. of mulitaty

forces in ithe defense of the na
tion Ft calls upon all American
civilians to give time and effozt,
now, to the proteetion of the
freedoms they. hold dear, the privileges they cherish, their homes,
their families, communities and

the nation~s vital defense ~prodwe
'tiom.
About half. of the thrée%imen~sional, sound-picture and graphic
presentations portray the,@hreat
to America and the dangérs of
~atomic, incendiary, bilogical,
'chemieal. and psychological warfare and sabotage; the remainder
show~ the responsibility of the individual and community in Civil
Defense against those menaces..
The dramatic Alert America
~Convoy was built and is financed.

tarian Valley Forge Foundation,
Inc. No charge is made for ad~mission. So massive are its displays that an exhibition hall with
more than 6,000 square feet of
~floor space is required for their
showing; 80 minutes are required
by their viewing, and ten 82-foot
tractor trailers, for their transportation.

Flint, Jackson and Bay City are
among the cities which have asked
~for the show when a second tour

is made.
A) 4

fo ge ox Poet
5 ee ee ss ae 4 * F hes for: 2 She.

Hits New Peak

boll in the histor
jaccording to the

by the: non-political and non-see~t
State Traffic
Tot! Last Year

_The record number of 176,587
accidents that occurred on Michigan streets and highways last
year resulted in mere than 50,000
easualties ~- 1,640 deaths and
48,418 injuries. It was the worst

of the staté,
951 traffic experience report released by State
Police Commissioner Donald S.
Leonard. ~ *

The death total was the highest
since 1941 and the sixth highest
recorded. Injuries and accidents
elimbed to new peaks, accompanying the sharp upwafd trend in
the mumber of licensed divers,
motor vehicle registrations and
miles of travel which began at*
the close of World War Tl.. -

Deaths increased 35, or two
percent, over the 1,605 fatalities:
in 1950. Injuries increased 2,684
or six percent, over 45,734 and
accidents went yup 14,837, or nine~,

La

per cent, over 161,750.
There~were 3,065,447 licensed
drivers, 2,560,652 motor vehicles
registrations and an estimated
23 and one-half billion miles of
travel in 198}. These totals: represent imereases of 198,000: drivers), 121,059 registrations and
nearly one and@ one-half billion

miles of travel over the: previous.

year.
Although the death - tol.was

one of the highest en recondl, the:

death rate was at an all-time low,
or 6.98 per 100 milion miles of

travel,The previous low was 7.17

in 1949. In 1950 the rate was
7.29. ve
The average daily traffic toll
for 951 was.4.5 persons killed
and 138 injured in 484 accidents.
Daily travel exceeded 64,000,000
miles.

The numbergof fatal accidents,
1,405, was exactly the same in
both 1951 and 1950, but three or
more persons were killed in each
of 40 accidents last year.

Rural areag,accounted for 68
per cent of ~Fi deaths,. but -only
389 percent of the injuries and
17 per cent of the accidents. In=
creased accident severity in fural

areas is attributéd largely to the, en

higher speeds~ vais

open highway.

- Last month, in Paris, the European section of the Congress of

workers~ housing. Delegates and
observers came from 8 countries,
including the United States|

Like most social problems, the
question ~of housing has. long
since ceased. being a purely: na
us that if we ~want to catch up in
HDurepe alone, some 2 million
homes. a year would have to be
built. And only over-all planning
and finaneing can hope to meet
that need..

In a period of time when a!l
governments are emphasizing the
necessity for high production, the
remark of an Austrian delegate,
Mrs. Molk, has particular meaning. She said: ~We~re all in fa
~j}or of increasing production but,
if workers are to produce, they -

~must be housed.~

That obviously is a question
that directly affects the union
movement. And that js-why the
unions met to see what they
could contribute to a solution.
The delegates discussed housing
standards, prefabricated -dwel!ings, artificial and synthetic materials, But the question. to. wich.
they kept returning was one of
how to PAY for the homes.

The conference recommended
the establishment of an international bank to lend money for
-housing. Im addition, it urged
that top priority should be giv~en to the policy of governmental~
~building in cases, where private
capital is unablé or unwilling to.do the job. ~. What is. more, the unions are
planning to ask specialized or~ganizations of the United Nations
to lend the support,.of their international experience to the jeb.
What they are looking for is not
merely a series of temporary
i nor a uniform dwelline~
for all countries. Differences in
climate and ways of life would
make that silly. But the unions
have drawn up certain basic standards for housing construction.
~And they want the various gowvernments, to accept these minimum. standards.:

The union delegates believe
that. the..Eurepean housing con~struction program will have a
double effect.~ In addition sto
~provitiine decent housing for
~Europeans, it should at the same
time provide work for thousands

fof persons affected by unempleyment.

Free Trade Unions held a conference to discuss the question of

tional problem. The experts tell