BONNINGTOIT LT]DIBBB OO.

%/Aahoaee Daaadaao

TO CATIFORNIA RETAIT YARDS

PHONE YUkon 6-5721

505-6-7 Morris Plon Bldg.

717 Morket St., Sqn Froncisco 3

Joe Tardy

WHOIESALE TUMBER qnd Commission Broker lf you wonl me personolly,'cqll LUdlow l-O778i lf onyone ot Angelus HordwoodLUdlow 7-6168

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HARDWOODS from ANGELUS Hqrdwood Compony

FIRPine - Spruce - CedqrsRedwood qnd Other Species from Some of the Besr Mills

Reody, Willing ond ANXIOUS to Serve YOU

Inglewood 'Rumpus Room' Rule

A "rumpus room" ordinance considered for the city o{ Ingler,vood, Calif., would require homeowners to obtain a permit for accessory buildings and additions to dwellings. It is being urged by the new Building Supt. Victor L. Taugher.

Douglos Fir

Ponderosq qnd Sugor Pine

Redwood

Plywood

Shingles qnd Loth

Gene Chcrrles Becomes Pqrlner Wirh Stephen G. Freemqn & Co.

Stephen G. Freeman, president of Stephen G. Freeman & Co., wholesale lumber distributing firm with headquarters at Newport Beach, California, announces Eugene H. Charles, Jr., popular young lumber salesman of Southern California, as a partner in the firm effective September 10. Gene Charles has been identified in lumber sales for the past six years, four of ' which were spent with the concern he is now rejoining as a partner. He is well known in the territory and has been con-

"We intend to expand our sales activity throughout all of Southern California," Stephen Freeman said. "For the past 10 years we have been furnishing quality lumber via cargo, rail and truck and trailer. We are now also concentrating our sales effort on in-transit shipments, representing quality mills in the Pacific Northwest."

Housing Administrotor Gives Lie ro 'Errors' in SotEvePost Piece on Repnir R,ocketeers

Washington 25, D. C.-Housing and Home Finance Administrator Albert M. Cole said that the recent article, "Beware of the Home Repair Racketeers," in the Saturday Evening Post provided a timely and important warning to homeowners of abuses in this field, but that in one section it leaves an inaccurate and erroneous impression of lvhat has been and is being done to prevent and prosecute these practices under the FHA's Title I home repair and modernization loan insurance program.

In a wire to Ben Hibbs, editor of the Saturday Evening Post, Mr. Cole said that the Agency welcomes the article as a public service in calling the public's attention to the many schemes and shady deals that unscrupulous operators attempt to perpetrate on hogreowners, and will help further in the campaign of consumer education that the FHA and responsible lenders and dealers have been carrying on for more than two years.

"In dealing with FHA Title I insured repair loans, however," Mr. Cole said, "the article leaves the impression that the consumer has little protection from being victimized by such schemes under this program and that misuse of these Title I loans is as commonplace today as it was when, as Housing Administrator, I exposed these rackets early in 1954.

"That, however, is not the case today, nor has it been since this administration took steps to see that

Wholesate

ftlonufaclurers snd Jobbers of SASH AND DOOR,S TO THE RETAIT LUMBER DEALER,

the consumer as well as the government is given as full protection as possible under the law.

"llome repair and improvement in this country now runs at about $10 billion dollars a year. It is a big business and, as the article brings out, a tempting field for slick_ operators, and there is no substitute for the homeowner's own prudence and judgment in protecting himself against being victimized. The warnings and advice contained in this article are important for every homeotr\'ner, and represent the same counsel that the FHA and lending institutions have been issuing broadside throughout the country for the past two years. This article will help tremendously, I believe, to put many more homeowners on their guard.

"The FHA insured Title I loans for home repairs.represent about one-tenth of the financing in this field. With respect to these Title I loans, however, the article indicates that abuses are still rampant, as they were before we uncovered these abuses early in 1954, and it largely ignores the built-in consumer protections that have been instituted in this program and are now operating.

"ft would be unfortunate if the consumer concluded that, even with reasonable care on his part, Title I home repair loans were risky and wide-open to abuse lvhereas today they embody important safeguards for his protection.

"We do not, of course, contend that in such a program shady deals are not possible nor that they never occur. We do say that wherever discovered, they are vigorously ferreted out and stopped. This program is no longer, as it was in the past, based on the principle of the 'buyer beware.' Today it is operated on the principle of the 'racketeer beware.'

"We have erected barriers which make it hazardous Jor the racketeer to operate and difficult for him to survive under this program.

"We have spread warnings and counsel widespread to consumers, as this article does, on how to protect themselves.

"We have, under changes in the law made by Congress and our own regulations, increased the responsibility of the lender for the borrorver as rvell as the loan, so that the lender now, shares some portion of any loss that occurs and is required to see that the borrower himself understands and agrees to the loan.

"We have greatly strengthened and expanded our investigative machinery. Complaints in this field are prompt- ly and vigorously followed up, correction made where necessary. If criminal actions are indicated, they are referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

"Lenders are responsible for screening every dealer who does business with him and approving him for financial responsibility and reliability. Dealers who fail to adhere to FHA rules and regulations or who violate the spirit of the program are pliaced on a precautionary list, and, if criminal intent is involved, are prosecuted.

"The article, however, appears to deal with Title I loans as if the same free-wheeling abuses of past days are still going on. They are not.

"Specifically, the article says that 'crooks exploit to the hilt a weakness in the Title I setup that makes homeowners sitting ducks for fraudulent contracts and once-over-lightly work.' Our own record of action on complaints involving failure to meet contract obligations is evidence that this is not true.

"The article says that the 'Justice Department vigorously prosecutes debtors and eventually collects the money owed, but the crooks merely are placed on a precautionary list.' The fact is that the Justice Department has obtained 450 convictions and 890 indictments for home repair rackets since April 1954, many of them for cases that occurred before the present safeguards were erected.

"The article states with reference to the FHA-insured home improvement program that 'the suede shoe boys' killings are bigger than ever.' With respect to the figures appearing elservhere in the article of complaints in this field to the Better Business Bureaus, I rvould like to quote