No Time to Lose

Though the worsening war in Viet Nam dominated the headlines, there was no respite for Lyndon Johnson from other pressing presidential problems. Last week, the President took time from his worries to name James H. Rowe Jr., an old friend and political adviser, to head the Citizens Committee for Johnson and Humphrey, a volunteer organization that will drum up support for the President's reelection, as "Elect A.B.J." (Anyone But Johnson) buttons were being increasingly displayed. The President also told a meeting of state directors of the U.S. Employment Service that the hard-core unemployed must be trained and given jobs so that the U.S. will remain a "bustling, thriving, go-go nation."

Most go-go feature of the week was Johnson's urban message, which went to Congress while he was at his Texas ranch for a Washington's Birthday retreat. The message contained an ambitious program to provide 26 million new homes and apartments for low-and middle-income families in the next decade, more than ten times the number of such units built in the past decade under federal programs. In hopeful theory at least, the plan should eliminate all substandard housing in the nation. If Congress approves, the construction of 6,000,000 of the homes and apartments would be subsidized directly by the Government for low-income families over the next ten years. In the first year, 300,000 homes would be built, and for the first time, 100,000 needy families would be given a chance to buy the subsidized houses. Private industry would receive Government inducements such as tax write-offs to construct 20 million other houses and apartments.

Cities in Crisis. The major aim of the President's proposals was to induce private industry to assume a larger role in solving the nation's housing problems, as proposed in a study by a presidential slum-housing commission headed by Industrialist Edgar Kaiser. To that end, he urged the creation of a National Housing Partnership of major firms that are not now in the building industry. Because of its large size, the National Partnership could reduce costs by standardizing construction plans and making massive purchases, and at the same time serve as a central clearinghouse for local developments.

The President also asked for creation of a National Insurance Development Corporation that would end "redlining" practices, by which insurance companies refuse to insure homes and businesses in potential ghetto riot areas. As well, he requested $1 billion for model cities, a threefold increase over last year, and passage of the Administration's oft-requested fair-housing law. All told, the multifaceted program would cost taxpayers $2.4 billion for the first year.

"Today America's cities are in crisis," Johnson warned Congress. He might have been thinking of his own prospects when he added: "There is no time to lose."

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