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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 1945

CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

TEXT OF MAYOR F. H. LA GUARDIA'S SUNDAY BROADCAST TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW YORK FROM HIS OFFICE AT CITY HALL, MARCH 4, 1945, BROADCAST OVER WNYC AT 1:00 P.M. FOLLOWS:

Patience and fortitude.


RATIONING

I am very much afraid that our ration system is becoming too involved, or let me put it this way, I do not believe that the last revisions with increase of points for some commodities and decrease for others was well thought out. The reason for rationing is to establish a proper distribution of available food in the face of a shortage, and the reason for points is to control this distribution. Of course, if you have points, you must have ceiling prices. Unless rationing and points are well considered, they may produce an entirely different result.

I notice a tendency on the part of OPA, when a commodity becomes short, to simply increase the points and overlook the fact that when that happens there must be some compensation to provide some other commodity to take its place. This last rearrangement of point value on the part of OPA simply was not thought out or if it was, then it is difficult to account for its purpose. Let us just look at this rearrangement. It decreases the points for porterhouse and club steaks from 12 to 9. All right, try and got them. Round steak is reduced from 13 points to 10 points, and that might help some. We will skip sirloin; reducing it does not help at all. But hamburger has been increased from 4 points formerly to 6 points now; plate with the bone in, brisket with the bone in, shanks with the bone in and short ribs are increased from one point formerly to 3 points now, and neck meat with the bone in is increased from 2 points formerly to 4 points now. That is the kind of meat which is most available now and it is the kind of meat that OPA has been asking me to plug and to recommend in order to create the best balance of available meat supply. It is quite true that there has been a demand for this type of meat, but that is exactly what we wanted to create. Therefore, to increase the point value now on these cuts of meat -- the inexpensive cuts -- is, I believe, most serious.

Now, what happens. The red points, as you all know, cover meats and fats. At the same time that they increase the points for the less expensive cuts of meat they have increased lard, cooking oils and shortening from 2 points to 4 points and margarine from 3 points to 5 points. Well, that just does not make sense. Granted that there may be a shortage in margarine, what should War Food Administration do? It should see to it that we have a greater supply of margarine. We know that butter is tight and will continue to be tight but just increasing the point value of margarine is manifestly unfair. It is very difficult for the average family with the point values of the less expensive cuts of meat increased and with the increased points in fats, to get enough proteins in the weekly menu. I took this up with Chester Bowles, the able Administrator of OPA and he wired me as follows- "Recently announced point value changes are required by the supply situation as indicated to us by
WFA. Will write you in detail next week." That is quite true. I have no quarrel with balancing available supply with points. However, I insist that when one commodity becomes short, there must be another found to take its place, otherwise, we will not get the proper nourishment to the average family.


FISH

There will be a slight decrease in the official OPA retail ceiling price of some fish. It may be announced by March 9th, but there will be no chart printed until April 5th. It ought to be one cent less a pound.

Well, talking about fish, I want to talk very frankly. I am not at all satisfied - no let me put it this way - the retail sale of fish continues to be unsatisfactory. Let us understand each other. We have been advising consumers to use more fish, and what happens? Many, many, many of the retail stores jumped the price of fish. That is unfair, that is not right. I have worked with the fish industry for the last year or two and when the supply increased we recommended the increased use of fish. To turn around now and to chisel or to profiteer is not right.

I will tell you what I am going to do. I do not know if I will be able to do it or not but I am going to try. Unless there is a a change in the attitude of the retail fish stores I am going to make every effort to get the wholesale price of fish and announce it every day and every hour every day. We will figure up a reasonable mark-up so that the consumer will know what the retailer is paying for fish. I want to say again that the chain-stores are playing the game on fish. Now, Mr. Independent Fish Store, I told you once before that you have to come through and sell at ceiling price, and with such fish that does not have ceiling prices to sell at reasonable prices in accordance with the wholesale price, otherwise I shall recommend those stores that play the game.


POULTRY

Poultry continues to be unsatisfactory even though there has been more poultry coming in. I just want to repeat that the ceiling prices for broilers and fryers and roasters is 46 cents a pound and fowl, that is good old chicken soup and fricasee chicken, 42 cents a pound. This is what we did last week: We placed market inspectors in poultry stores. They did not like that one bit. We could not make purchases and even some of the consumers organizations could not make them, so we just placed a market inspector in the store. He had his badge on - everybody could see he was an inspector -and while he was there, they sold at ceiling price. At the end of the day, we had cases where the retailer simply told the Market Inspector that he was selling at 46 cents although he paid 60 cents a pound. Now look here, Mr. Retailer, if you paid 60 cents a pound for poultry, you had no business to do so. You should tell us who charged you this amount. Four or five have promised to come through and we referred thorn to the City Sheriff.

I want express my thanks to the Coney Island Consumers Council. You have cooperated very well and it was very helpful.

There isn't as much poultry as we have normally but it has increased during the last few weeks. A great many of our dealers go down to the Delaware, Virginia, Maryland area and buy the poultry on the farms, then they bring it in, bring it to the market for inspection and then sell it in the black market. Well, that has to stop, even if we have to stop poultry coming into Now York entirely. You are not going to get away with it.

Another thing, do not buy poultry at so much per bird - say $2 or $3 or $2.50 - oh, no, no, no, no, have it weighed and just pay the ceiling price a pound. In case he will not sell it that way, just telephone the Department of Markets, wait for the inspector to come, and when he does he will go into the store with you and you can make your purohase at ceiling price.


BUTTER FOR HOSPITALS

I want to say to all voluntary hospitals that I received word yesterday from Mr. Chester Halnan of the War Food Administration that in so far as the butter supply for hospitals is concerned the same system that expired last month will continue from month to month. Therefore, you have nothing to worry about for the present.


JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE -DOBRO-

Last week I told you that I might give you a substitute for potatoes. Well, we have something only I have been warned by the Bureau of Standards and others not to call it a substitute for potatoes. They do not want to put the potatoes out of business. This is just an additional vegetable which, if you cannot get potatoes, you can cook the same way as you would potatoes. It is called the Jerusalem artichoke. The funny part of it is that it does not come from Jerusalem and it is not an artichoke. It is neither. It is a native American vegetable. The oldest American vegetable comes back to America as a food, after a visit of 30 years in foreign countries. Its name is the Holianthus tuberosus. So I am going to call them Dobros. It is a native American vegetable and was grown by the Indians. Champlain learned its food value from them and carried it back to France. We now have records which indicate that the Jerusalem artichoke was discovered in Accoquon, in the Virginia section. According to Hariot, who was a member of the ill-fated Sir Walter Raleigh expedition of 1558, the Accoquon Indians grew artichokes a hundred years previous to Champlain's visit to this country. In France the Jerusalem artichoke was domesticated and improved and there it has been cultivated ever since. Today, there are over 200 varieties of this unique vegetable. The finest is known as the American artichoke, formerly known as the improved mammoth French white Jerusalem artichoke.

They had to give it a fancy name because they charged 75 cents or 80 cents for a small portion in the fancy hotels. If they called them spuds or murphies, they could not charge 75 cents or 80 cents a portion. So they gave it these very fancy names. Let me tell you about it. It is not an artichoke at all, because it is not leafy like an artichoke and as I say, it is an American plant. It is claimed to be 100% non-starch.

The Bureau of Standards of the United States Government says: "Perhaps the Jerusalem artichoke tuber with its great inherent potentialities as a vegetable and as a source of the finest of all sugars, levulose, offers the greatest possibilities in food development in the present emergency.

Eloise Davison, who is head of the Home Economics Division of the Herald-Tribune - and by the way, it is the best food page of all the morning papers, it is really devoted to food - says: "When compared with the potato, the American artichoke has a much smaller sugar content and no starch. ****The American artichoke is on sale at expensive food shops only and in a few shops on 9th Avenue. But the great middle class does not know it and will be surprised by its appearance and its characteristics when cooked. To put this vegetable on a low and middle income dinner plate will require a very intensive educational program." That is true and that is why I did not touch it last year. It was too expensive and I would not touch it. Well, we can get it now at retail for 10 cents a pound. The first carloads have arrived from Oregon. The first crop comes from the far Northwest, and they are coming in now, and the second crop will come from Long Island. You see, it is a cold weather plant. By the way, if you buy it, do not buy too great a quantity because it will not keep like potatoes. It looks like a potato, but it will not keep as well. Keep them in a cool place and cook thorn the same as you would potatoes. I have tried them and I like them. I have found them tastier than potatoes.

Do not pay more than 10 cents a pound for them. They will be available tomorrow in our city markets. If other stores want to try this vegetable, they can got a supply in 90 pound sacks at de Bole's, 120 Sullivan Street, New York 12, N. Y. Cook them just as you would potatoes and you will like them. They are very, very nourishing and have a good flavor. I am going to call them Dobro, since their scientific name is too hard.


CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN

I talked to you last week about inexpensive clothing for children.The supply ought to be here around the end of April. OPA and WPB are meeting with a great deal of resistance and we want to stand in back of them. Some of my friends have said: "My goodness, LaGuardia, what will we do when we cannot get expensive clothing?". My answer to that is that it is about time that we received some inexpensive clothing, isn't it?

My good friend, John Duber, I received your letter and I think you misunderstand what I am saying about inexpensive or cheaper clothing for children. There is no objection to higher priced clothing for children for the families who can afford them. They do not need my help. They can walk into Bost & Co., or into any of these stores and get very expensive clothing for their children. But I am concerned with the average family with 4 or 5 kids. We must get inexpensive clothes for them and we must get shoes for them. The cost of children's shoes now and the cost of children's clothing is so great that it is very, very difficult for the average family to make out. If you manufacture higher priced clothing, that is all right, there is no objection to it, but, as you say, you cannot get the material. But just stop and think about this. Don't you see everybody is entitled to clothes? Goodness knows, the average mother has just worn her fingers to the bone mending the clothes for the kids and we have reached the time now when we have to get a supply of the cheaper clothes. There is no objection to those who can afford to buy clothing, but there is an immediate need right now.


LOW INTEREST BILLS

Well, this is the last month of the Legislature and as far as New York City is concerned, not many of our bills have gone through. I am very disappointed. There seems to be so much resistance and opposition to many of the bills covering interest rates in our State even though we are an enlightened and progressive State. Just think of it - 30% interest, 2 1/2% a month, is lawful in our State. Isn't that disgraceful - 30% and 24% and 15% and 11% interest? It is unconscionable! As I have said so many times, anyone who will take 24 or 30% interest is not a business man. He is just a swine, just a common ordinary swine. I understand that the tendency is to study this. What is there to study? We know what the interest rates are and we have had enough experience with them. So write to your Senator and write to your Assemblyman and ask them to move these bills out of Committee and reduce interest rates to a conscionable rate.


GAMBLING BILLS

As to the gambling bills - well, who am I to buck these big shot gamblers with the Legislature of the State of New York? We need clarification of the law, we need some amendments to make prosecutions easier and to help families recover the money that has been stolen from them. But we cannot move the bills. So please write to your Assemblyman and write to your Senator in Albany and see if they will do something about these bills.

Talking about gamblers, did you see that story in the papers the other day? Up in Boston they have made some arrests and I believe the principals were arraigned yesterday for having stolen millions of ration stamps. Whom do you suppose they were? Haven't I been telling you that the tin-horn gambler is just a racketeer and a thief? Yes, they were gamblers. Horse racing having been suspended, they went into stealing and counterfeiting ration stamps. They are just no good. But apparently, they can prevent any law that makes prosecution easier from being passed in the Legislature of the State of New York.


RENT BILLS

You know that the Federal Government has established rent control on apartments and that the State Legislature has passed a very good bill on rent control for lofts. There is a bill now pending in the State Legislature to control rents of offices and stores. It is a very good bill and its provisions are very good, except that there is a joker in it. A nasty little joker. I do not like it. It permits an increase of 15%, but not of the rent as of March 1st, 1943 as the Legislature very properly and wisely did in the case of lofts, but as of June 1st, 1944, That is not going to help anybody. Just let me give you a few illustrations. In the Woolworth Building, a certain office rented on March 1st, 1943, for $150, but on June 1st, 1944, the rent was $200. At 40 Wall Street, a suite was $600 on March 1, 1943, but on June 1, 1944 was $833. At 295 Madison Avenue, an office was $166 on March 1, 1943, but on June 1, 1944 was $200. At 509 Madison Avenue an office rented for $125 on March 1, 1943, but on June 1, 1944 it rented for $166. At 11 West 42nd Street an office rented for $90 on March 1, 1943 and for $125 on June 1, 1944. There are others along these lines. So I hope that the sincere men in the Legislature will get wise to this joker and put the date back to March 1st, 1943, the same as was done in the loft cases.


RED CROSS

I just want to remind you about the Red Cross. Send your money either directly to the American Red Cross or through your office, or your club, or your organization or your lodge and if you have no place else to send it to, why, send it to me, or if you want to send a contribution to the Red Cross as a tribute, or in honor of any member of the Armed Forces, send it to me and I will send the soldier or sailor a letter informing him of your contribution. They have been coming in pretty nicely. I want to express my particular thanks for two contributions of 10 cents each. That was thoughtful. I know the contributors, whoever they may be, have just put their hearts in the 10 cents and I want to thank them for it. The contributions received at this
office were from 10 cents up to $1,000. The latter came from Cheese Cake and Coffee Lindys. Then I got $500 from my old friend John Golden. You know John Golden is a great man. He has been producing plays in New York City for fifty years. I think John has made a lot of money but this is the nice part of it, John Golden never made a dirty dollar from a dirty play.


BROOKLYN CIVIC CENTER

I am sure that the people of Brooklyn will be glad to hear that a plan for the so-called Brooklyn Civic Center has been tentatively approved. This consists of a group of public buildings and the landscaping of that whole section of Lower Brooklyn. It was announced in the press a few days ago. An agreement was signed between the City and a group of Brooklyn Savings Banks for the acquisition of land which will be condemned in excess of the land needed for the widening of Adams Street. It carries out my plan. You will remember, I think it was this spring, that I insisted that we have the buyer ahead of time for the excess land which will have to be condemned. I insist, as a matter of policy, that where it is necessary to condemn land in excess or where there is a re-development, that the purchaser be signed up before the City buys the land. Otherwise, we are apt to be stuck like Forsythe, Christie Street, remember? You remember that but I will not talk about it now.

Another thing, as far as this housing development by the group of Brooklyn Savings Banks is concerned, there is no tax exemption. I want to stress that because you would be surprised at the number of people who come in with plans and with ideas and always asking for tax exemption. I wonder if they stop to think and consider where the money is going to come from to run this City? And you know, conservative people who are most conservative, yes, bankers, too, and so-called big business men, always have an idea that they can do this by means of an authority, whereby there would be tax exemption or else have the City help and obtain tax exemption.


TAX EXEMPT PROPERTIES

You know how much tax exempt property we have in this City? $5,400,489,259. Let me break it down for you:

Miscellaneous .... $919,184,969.
United States Government $310,702,400.
State of Now York . . . $127,123,855.
City of New York ... $4,043,478,035.

So do not come around with any ideas if it involves tax- exemption because we have to call a halt.


CURFEW ORDER ENFORCEMENT

I just want to say a word about the so-called curfew situation and to again express my thanks to the licensed places of New York for their splendid cooperation. Now, I want to ask for the cooperation of the people. Do not make it harder for the establishment by saying "Ah, come on, come on, be a nice guy, give us another drink, come on, just one more, give us another." Please don't do that. Don't say "Well, what's the rush, what's the rush, what's the rush." Listen, don't forget that that establishment is losing money as a result of this order and it is hard enough to get along without causing them annoyance and unpleasantness. So please cooperate with the establishment that you may happen to be in around midnight.

I want to make it very clear that there is going to be no undue molesting or annoyance. Enforcement will be left to the First Platoon, known as the late tour - the platoon that goes out at midnight and is on duty until 8 a.m. Enforcement of the curfew will be left to the First Platoon. Let there be no misunderstanding about that.


DRIGGS AVENUE PLACE

I just want to advise the gentleman on Driggs Avenue, don't, don't be foolish, somebody is advising you wrong. You cannot buck the United States Government, you cannot buck the City of New York and I do not think you want to. I understand that you have a decent place, but apparently somebody is kind of advising you about this, isn't that right? You are going to make a test case. Well, it is all right with me if you want to I advise you not to do so. "We have been very lenient with you because I said that we would give ample time for adjustment during the past week. I expect you to close the same as any other place in New York City.


TRIBUTE TO PTL. BLACK

I want to pay tribute to Patrolman Albert S. Black, who lost his life a few days ago in the line of duty. I mention this case because it shows rare courage. You know some times it is not so difficult to shoot it out with some one especially if one is attacked. But the courage displayed by this splendid officer is most unusual. Around 6 in the evening of March 1st, while Patrolman Black was on duty at 57th Street and 2nd Avenue as a traffic officer, an explosion was heard and flames were seen bursting out of a store. He sent in a fire alarm and then deliberately, having heard screams from within, walked into that store. His first attempt was repulsed by the flames. Ho took off his overcoat, used it as a shield for his face and walked right into that blazing room. There was an employee there, Miss Epstein, who was trapped. He was able to reach her but unable to come out. Flames had enveloped the entire store and he could not make the rear exit. He was found dead, together with the person whose life he tried to save. You know, Patrolman Black was just fine. He was just good. He had a clean, fine record. It is because of men like this Patrolman that 18,000 men of the Police Department can answer to the title of New York's Finest.


TRIBUTE TO SENATOR BILL CALDER

Another distinguished son of New York died yesterday "" my old friend, Senator Bill Calder. I think he had more friends in the State of New York than any man who ever held public office. He was kindly, he was considerate, he was jovial. He served ten years in the House of Representatives "" from 1906 to 1916. In 1916, 29 years ago, he was elected to the United States Senate. It was that year that I was first elected to Congress. He was very kind to me. He had experience and I was new and he helped me a lot. I am afraid some times I caused Senator Calder heartaches or embarrassment because of my insurgency. He was a regular. I was an insurgent all of the time, but he was always so friendly and so helpful. I have never met any one who gave so much time and so much of himself to individual cases. He would meet at the Hotel Willard every morning, just before nine and it was not unusual to see 20 or 30 people meeting there. He would go from department to department and take up those individual cases in an effort to help. Many times it was said to him: "Senator, you don't have to do that," and he would answer, "I know it, but I want to do it." Ho was a good American. He was a splendid Legislator. He was a fine, fine son of New York. On behalf of the people of the City of New York, I extend our heartfelt sympathies to Mrs. Calder and his family.


Patience and fortitude.