rgentina Housing
By LARRY DAY
Buenos Aires lUPIi The fet
ed "Villas Miserias' or "Mis
ery Villages" that surround
Buenos Aires are symptoma
tic of one of Argentina's most
acute problems - housing.
A team of experts from
the Inter American Develop
ment bank which visited Ar
gentina recently estimated
there is a deficit of 1.5 million
dwellings in this country.
Worst of the problem are
the rag-tag tin and packing
crate shacks clumped together
in the "Villas Miserias," in
which some 750,000 persons
live.
In thousands of other cases
three and four families of
middle class Argentines live
under one roof, sharing one
bathroom and one kitchen.
Engaged couples either have
to move in with their in-laws
when they marry or put off
the wedding, sometimes for
years, while they hunt for an
apartment.
And yet, Argentina is not
a landlord's paradise. Not
long ago a man who owned
three apartment houses com
mitted suicide because, as he
said in a note, he couldn't
even pay taxes on his proper
ty with the earnings from the
apartments.
'Key Money'
It is an exaggeration with
all too real consequences.
Landlords place ads saying
"Lovely Two-R o o m Apart
ment, Close In, 13,000 Pesos
(115 dollars) a Month." To
rent a house in a nice neigh
borhood costs anywhere from
S350 to $1000 dollars a month.
People who rent apartments
with relatively low monthly
rents pay the owner as much
as S1000 dollars in a sort of
down payment called "key
money."
Then there are families who
occupy whole floors of apart
ment houses and pay less than
S50 dollars a month rent. Fam
ilies living in three or four
room homes who pay S5 a
month. Owners of entire
apartment houses have mar
ried children living with them
because they can't vacate any
of their apartments.
A military junta caused this
situation in 1944 when it
overthrew the existing gov
ernment. The junta froze
rents at their 1944 level and
ruled that no one could be dis
located from their dwellings
for any reason except non
payment of rent.
Then came the era of Dic
tator Juan Domingo Peron.
The 1944 decrees were made
law and put on the statute
books. An inflationary spiral
that started in the 40's and
continues today pushed prices
sky high. But rents stay froz
en. It was then that the black
market "key money" came in-
Silent Auction Is
Set This Weekend
At Ashland Library
Ashland-The annual Silent
Auction of books and prints
from exhibits and collections
of the Institute of Renaissance
Studies will be held Friday
through Sunday at the Ash
land public library.
A number of fine prints and
valuable publications will be
offered, to be awarded on the
basis of the highest written
bid submitted by interested
persons.
Of particular interest in the
collection will be a print of
Rembrandt's famous "A r i s
totle Musing on the Bust of
Homer." The original of the
painting was brought last year
by the Metropolitan Museum
of Art for a reported S2.000,
000. Among publications to be
fold are a number of dupli
cate books from the Festival
collection. Also available will
be copies of "Drama and Re
ligion in English Mystery
Plays," an authoritative work
by recent Institute Lecturer
Dr. Eleanor Prossor.
Included In Selections
Included in the large selec
tion of prints to be offered
will be "The Queen's Leaves."
tt portfolio of four illustra
tions bearing on the current
Festival season.
The 1962 edition of the
Queen's Leaves features
"Street Cries of London," the
work of Orlando Gibbons
which formed the musical
basis for this season's music
dance production of "A
Thieves Ballad." Each print
bears a number of figures and
musical notations from Gib
bon's famous work.
Biddins slice's may be ob
tained at (he library desk or
the Plaza information boolh.
The written bids should be
left with Institute personnel
or at the library rick only.
Institute Director Dr. Mar
gerv Bailey has reminded pa
trons and FesSival company
members that the Friday-Sunday
period marks the final
sale cf the noted publication
"Ashland Studies in Shake-jpeare."
f-J
mm
- "JJ
'QUONSET TOWN' Housing is one of Argentina s most
acute proolems. A team of experts from tne Inter American
Development Bank which visited Argentina recently esti
mated there is a deficit of 1.5 million dwellings in Buenos
Aires. One solution is "Quonset Town," a couple of miles
4 : 11.1:, I !
'VILLAS MISERIAS' This is on of the
worst problems in Argentina, according to
a team from the Inter American Develop
ment Bank. These are rag-tag tin and pack
ing crate shacks clumped together in fetid
"misery towns" that surround Bueons Aires
Federal Grant for
'Project English' Is
Given to University
Eugene - University of Ore
gon President Arthur S. Fle.n
ming announced this week the
university has received a
$250,000 federal grant to ac
tivate a half - million - dollar
"Project English" center.
The grant from the U.S.
Office of Education of the De
partment of Health, Educa
tion, and Welfare is for the
establishment of a Curriculum
Study Center in English at the
university.
The center will be financed
with the quarter-of-a-million-dollar
grant, supplemented
with funds and services from
the university and from Ore
gon public schools.
"Project English" is a na
tional program for the im
provement of the study of
English in the United States.
With the grant, Oregon be
comes one of four universi
ties and the only western uni
versity in "Project English"
up to now. Grants were made
last year, under the program,
to the University of Nebras
ka, Carneigie Institute of
Technology, and Northwest
ern university.
Oregon's new study center
will be involved in "A Five
Year Study of Sequential Cur
riculum in Language, Read
ing and Composition" under
the direction of Dr. Albert R.
Kitzhaer, according to Dr.
Kester Svendsen, head of the
university's English depart
ment. The five-year program of
the Center will be directed to
ward major revision and im
provement of the curriculum
in language, literature, and
written and oral composition
in grades seven through
twelve.
A major aspect in revision
will be that the curriculum
will be conceived on a broad
base to take account of the
needs and limitations of all
students except the slowest.
Clarification of the aims
and content of the English
curriculum in language, liter
ature, and oral and written
composition will be an ob-
THE
j DANMOORE
! HOTEL
1 217 SW. Mormon Sf.
j PORTLAND, OREGON
All rrln!int jueM. AM rhoM "he
: come, return. Rjrei not high, not
low. Free giragc, TV's ind rjdios.
' Reputition tor cleanliness.
) Children Under
j Seven No Charge
fa W& fcfe-
4
jective of the Center, which
will endeavor to develop a
sequential pattern of instruc
tion and bring the content of
the curriculum into harmony
with the current state of
knowledge about languages,
writing, the relation of speech
to writing, and other relevant
subjects.
Development of tests and
measures for achievement of
students in the new curricu
lum also is an objective.
Means of training compe
tent teachers for presentation
of the revised curriculum also
will be a phase of the Center
program. Summer institutes
and in-service programs dur
ing (he school year will be in
cluded in this part of the program.
The House of Personal Service
4th and Fir Phone 772-7315
VlCnSfS Nebergall'AIIMeat lb. 39
Corned BeeL 0. ,69c
Round Steak 79c
VealShould'rSleak.59c
Veal Round Steak fc 95c 13
LOCKER SPECIAL
Klamath Fed
LOCKER BEEF H.lf or Whole..
25 lbs. BEEF Family Order. .. S1 298
MEDKORD MAIL TRIBUNE.
Deficit
,lW '
from the ' villa miscna ' or "misery town ' of Lacarra.
Two hundred metal quonset homes have been built and
sold to former misery town dwellers. This picture was
taken earlier this month. (UPI)
like an ugly necklace. This picture, taken
earlier this month, shows main street of
Lacarra on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The man in the background is selling bread
and soup bones door to door. (UPI)
to use. Landlords could charge
only the given price set by
the rent administration for
their dwellings. To make up
for the loss they charged ex
horbitant under-the-table flat
payments - key money.
Relaxed Law
When Peron was tossed
out, the government relaxed
the rent laws. Landlords can
now charge as much as they
want for new apartments or
dwellings newly vacated. But
old tenants can be charged no
more than they paid the day
they moved in, with slight in
creases for things like upkeep.
The misery villages and
their occupants present anoth
er problem.
The villages started to be a
serious problem right after
the war when people stream
ed from the farms and small
towns to urban centers.
These people invariably
were unlearned, unskilled and
unprepared for any but the
most menial tasks. They came
from the interior where con-
YSTAL MEATS
CUT - WRAPPED - QUICK
MEDFOHD. OREGON
Estimated About 1.5
' r . i&t If
veniences were unknown, so
it was nothing new to have
the nearest running water
five blocks away at a public
faucet. Kerosene lamps for
light were an improvement
they didn't enjoy in the coun
try. In short, a ramshackle
tarpaper and packing crate
shanty was an improvement
over the dirt floors and
thatched roofs they had
known.
Peron and his wife Eva
were responsible for many of
today's villas miserias. The
Perons brought thousands of
country folk into Buenos
Aires to take part in their
demagogic mass rallies. Once
here they never returned.
Another cause of the misery
villages' growth were econom
ic or political crises in other
Latin American countries. In
times of strife or poverty,
thousands of Paraguayans,
Chileans and Bolivians pour
into Argentina. They too usu
ally ended up in a misery vil
lage. Mud Knee Deep
Pedro Gontangelo, 43, lives
in a villa miseria called La
carra. Not far from his home
33 cniidren were Killed re
cently when a train hit their
school bus. Gontangelo's own
three children take turns
fetching water in converted
fo please any cat
all tuna
liver 'n meat
chicken
tish
meaty mix
kidney n meat
47'
lb.
FROZEN
li
cooking oil cans from a public
faucet two blocks away. Gon
tangelo's wife washes her
clothes in a concrete tub in
stalled near the same faucet.
When it rains the trails be
tween the houses get knee
deep In mud.
Gontangclo l.n t from the
Interior. He used to work on
the railroad and his family
lived well. But he ran into a
string of bad luck. "When you
live here, ' he told a reporter
and you wade in the mud
and you watch your children
run barefoot, and you know
you've done everything you
can and it isn't enough, you
lose hope. You get so you just
don't care."
A couple of miles away
MADE WITH LIQUID V r" 4L i " "Lu- """ CV T'"V ( JfJP Si 1
VEMTABIE Oil. HHSH IN itiJL ' TKK 1 ' 7i I fjF $11
vl i i kflS Vk
I .n'ToVlp V
JUST MAIL IN A LABEL FROM A
Here's all you do to get
your 3Q cash!
Send in the major part of the lahel from a
quart (or 2 pints) of Miracle Whip Salarl
Dressing plus your name and address. Use
the handy blank at the right or a plain sheet
of paper. Kraft will send you 30 cash to use
for any fresh fruit or vegetables you choose.
So treat your family today to the world's
most famous salad dressing. Enjoy Miracle
Whip and a big bargain, toot
from Lacarra is a project
which might help people in
the misery villages start eat
ing again. Two hundred me
tal quonset homes have been
built and sold to former Mis
ery Village dwellers. There
are a few hundred more in
other parts of the city.
Outsiders call the houses
"Tin Pipes" and say they'd
never live in one. But those
who have a floor for the first
lime, and a dry ceiling, don't
knock the quonsets. Plans
have been marie to build 10,
000 of them. They cost 70,000
pesos (roughly S600 dollars)
and are sold with no down
payment and $6 dollars a
month rent.
It Example
THURSDAY. AUGUST 30. 1962
ilislion
An example of the problem
of the homeless middle class
is Pablo Casal, 23, a Para
guayan university student.
He is married and has a
one-year-old son. A reporter
accompanied him in his search
for a home.
For two weeks Casal haunt
ed the rental agencies. Usual
ly he'd pay a fee (up to S4
dollars) for a list of prospects.
Typical of these "listings" was
one found in a rundown area
called Villa Ballester outside
Bueons Aires. The house was
an hour and a half by train
and bus from downtown.
Located on the corner of
two unpaved streets, the
house was unfinished both in
side and out. The apartment
CLIP THIS! (or use a plain sheet of paper) j
MIRACLE WHIP SALAD DRESSING,
Box 6, San Francisco 1, Calif, j
Enclosed is marnr portion ol the label from a quart ar j
(or 2 ptnts) ol Miracle Whip. Please send me 30i cash to !
use lor Iresh fruit or vegetables. j
(ej
Address
Cny
GHr tipir$ 0cmbtr 3tt
C 3
Units
for rent consisted of two un
plastered rooms, a three foot
wide bath and a small patio.
A naked bulb dangling from
the ceiling in each room pro
vided the only light and run
ning water was "conditional."
That is, you got water when
it wasn't all used up by peo
ple further up the line.
The owner - who lived in
the other half of the house -wanted
2000 pesos (about $20
dollars) rent. Casal was heart
ened. Such a rent was within
his budget. He earned about
9000 a month. "But of course
you have to pay me 36,000
key money," said the owner.
Casal finally packed up his
family and went back to Para
guay. QUART OF
PI
prtnt)
-Zone State-,
t99?. Utnlt 3flt to Umlly.