The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
JANUARY 10, 1936
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I have just been to the Baltimore National Home Show and I was much interested in everything I saw there, including the Armory in which it was held. My first visit to this Armory was when Woodrow Wilson was first nominated for President, and I haven't seen it since. The entire building has been reconditioned and I was told an interesting story in connection with it. It was a P.W.A. job, but relief labor was also used. The P.W.A. people received the prevailing wage rate, the relief people worked for their dole. They got no more than they would have received if they had done no work at all, and they paid car-fare to and from the job. One hears so much about people who soldier on the job or who won't work, that now and then it is a great relief to hear of cases like this where men actually would have gained more by remaining idle on relief.
Inside the Armory a little Maryland house such as you might see anywhere outside the big cities, has been remodelled in a way which would bring it within the possibilities of a moderate income.
The Federal Housing Administration has their leaflets there showing exactly how much it costs to build a house of this kind and what the monthly payments are. You pay twenty percent down and then pay the remainder over a period of twenty years, which should encourage home owning in this country on a much safer basis than has ever existed before for the average family.
I recognized an exhibit from the Treasury Department showing some of their murals and I was delighted to see so many people there showing interest in homes and the things that go into a home, for after all, home building is one of the big industries now needed in this country.
E.R.
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 10, 1936
Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007
Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.
TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.
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TMsd, 9 January 1936, AERP, FDRL