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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 101, no. 2607: Articles]: March 2, 1918

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REAL ESTATE AND (Copyright, 1918, by The Record and Guide Co.) NEW YORK, MARCH 2, 1918 CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTION OF NATION'S HOUSING PROBLEMS American City Planning Institute Meets at Philadelphia. THE second meeting of the American City Planning Institute was held at the Bellevue-Stratford, Philadelphia, last Tuesday, and representatives from Canada and England, from Boston to Chicago and the South were present. Lawrence Veiller, Director of the Na¬ tional Housing Association, called the conference to order, and the continuous all day and evening sessions started their lively discussions on war housing. Joseph M. Richie, General Organizer of the American Federation of Labor, pointed out that everybody was repre¬ sented but the workmen. Architects, city planners, experts on industrial rela¬ tionship, state sanitation inspectors, in¬ dustrial educational workers, manufac¬ turers, contractors, Y. W. C. A. repre¬ sentatives, both men and women of local and national official and non-official in¬ dustrial housing committees, all will¬ ingly submerged their individual in¬ terests and plunged broad-mindedly into the spirit of five-minute discussions of the many direct and collateral subjects involved in the housing question now engaging the mind of the President of the United States, both houses of Con¬ gress, the Cabinet, industrial leaders, Chambers of Commerce and the work¬ men themselves. Permanent Construction Favored. "To What Extent Shall War Workers Be Housed in Temporary Barracks— in Permanent Homes?" was the subject of the morning discussion, and perma¬ nent construction was overwhelmingly favored, based upon the experience of Great Britain and various communities in the United States considering the interests of the individual worker, the industry and the community. John Nolen of Cambridge, Mass., well known for his work in city planning, advocated permanency, showing that the cost was but little more than make¬ shift temporary construction, and that cost in, any event should not be the primary consideration any more than there should be an attempt to build the cheapest possible vessels or shells or uniforms. The point was raised that soldiers are quartered in temporary barracks and then why not workmen? But it was pointed out that the soldiers remain in such quarters usually but three or four months at a time and that usually an ideal location is selected, women and children are excluded, men are under strict military discipline, high standards of sanitation and other regu¬ lations can be enforced, all of which does not apply to industrial workers. Frederic Law Olmsted of Brookline, Mass., also declared that temporary structures meant inadequate and un¬ satisfactory housing. Charles W. Leavitt of New York spoke in favor of permanent construction, based upon his years of experience in handling thousands of industrial workers, showing that most plants manufactur¬ ing war goods would continue to manu¬ facture some class of goods after the war and that not only workmen's homes, but the administrative buildings of the plant, should be of a permanent char¬ acter, as they would be required regard¬ less of thf nature of the product. Frank E. Blake, of the Remington Arms Company of Bridgeport, asserted that temporary barracks for skilled workmen had been a failure in their experience, and that they had expended three million dollars in the best class of permanent dwellings for their em¬ ployees, most of the structures being brick with slate roofs. Houses for superintendents are designed to rent for from $20 to $35 a month. Most of these houses are on lots SO x 100 feet, but still they are too close together. They have also constructed three dormitory buildings, three stories in height, for girls, the cost of each building being $65,000, containing 125 rooms. They have had no complaints regarding either the rooms or the furnishings. Rentals are from $2.50 to $3 a week for single rooms or double room with two beds. A la carte restaurants are provided and reception rooms for the use of girls. Leslie H. Allen, of the Aberthaw Con¬ struction Company of Boston, explained how speed and permanency could both be accomplished. If necessary, he said, they sometimes rushed houses up, com¬ pleting the outside walls, roof and tem¬ porary flooring for emergency use, and then as other houses were entirely com¬ pleted families could move into these and the unfinished homes could then be completed. W. H. Ham of Bridgeport, which has become the nation's laboratory for working out many housing problems, pleaded that the Government should set a high standard for workmen's houses, as its action would set the style for the next hundred years. Construction should be permanent and the cost amortized over a period of thirty years. He showed that speed and permanency were both possible, and that they had put up a brick schoolhouse and turned it over ready for a hundred and fifty children in four weeks* time, the base¬ ment having been previously excavated. Thomas Adams of Canada, Chief Advisor to the Canadian Commission on Conservation, and a leader in solving the war housing problems of Canada and Great Britain, described what had been accomplished at Gretna, in the south of Scotland, where with but little than vacant land to start, permanent housing with brick walls and slate roofs had been provided for ten thousand women and five thousand men. He declared that the twenty thousand skilled ship builders in the United States at the start of the war would be increased to two hundred and fifty thou¬ sand, and that these workmen should be given permanent homes because the United States would need these workers to build up its merchant marine after the war. He also showed that good houses were not alone sufficient, but that wholesome amusements and recrea¬ tions were also essential. Opinion was unanimous in favor of permanent construction except in rare cases where a plant was manufacturing war munitions, which would be aban¬ doned immediately at the close of the war. Shall Houses for War Workers Be Rented or Sold? was the discussion at the luncheon meeting. Joseph M. Richie, representing skilled labor, felt that this was a question which the workers could best decide for them¬ selves, and that probably some would want to rent and others would want to buy, and it might be best to provide for both. The copartnership plan or joint ownership in a community of houses, represented by a stock interest, was suggested as affording the work¬ men the advantage of ownership, still providing for the mobility of labor through the easy sale and transfer of stock. Mr. Ritchie said that about thirty-six thousand men were now employed along the Delaware River in the shipbuilding industry, and that when the Hog Island and Bristol yards were in operation and additional shifts were added this would be increased to about sixty thousand. Tending to show that workmen at present were not better able than formerly to purchase homes, even with the present high wage scale, he called attention to a canvass which had been made by responsible committees in Philadelphia, dividing the city into ten districts and examining 157 articles, which showed that the purchasing power of working men in that locality is no greater now than in 1914 at the lower wage scale owing to the present genera! increase in prices. Custom and locality also were sighted. Thus at Akron, Ohio, there is a shortage of homes to rent, while at Hopedale the custom is to rent exclusively; but both plans were felt to be desirable, permitting the men to take their choice. Provisions for Women. The Housing of the Single Worker was the text of the afternoon session, and was divided as follows: 1. Shall We Provide for Housing Many Women Workers? 2. What is the Best Way to House the Woman Workers? 3. Shall We Encourage or Discourage tlie "Take a Roomer" Campaign? In this discussion representatives of the Y. W. C. A., women architects and other workers experienced in the hous¬ ing problems of girls and women took a leading part. Mrs. John D. Rocke¬ feller, Jr., Chairman of the Housing Committee of the Y. W. C. A., sent a letter, which was read, outlining the fundamentals which the association deemed for the best interests of girls and women workers, which included: 1 —Single rooms wherever practicable. 2.—One shower bath for every ten girls. 3—One toilet for every six girls. A—A scientifically conducted kitchen, and S —Wholesome recreations and amuse¬ ments and proper facilities to receive men friends. It was also felt that girls should have representation in the management of the home, and that they could best be handled in groups, as follows: A—• Young girls. B—Older women. C— Colored girls, and D—Foreign, non- English speaking girls, who should also be provided with an American matron. It was shown that girls spent more time in their rooms than men, and that girls want clothes closets, and that it is better to keep different nationalities together, as Italian, Swede and Russian women, for instance, do not generally get along well together and do not like the same foods; also, while American girls like the privacy of a single room, foreign women do not object to double rooms. Some discussion was given to other likes and dislikes, such as the comparative popularity of tubs and showers, it being shown that girls under thirty like side showers, which do not RBCORD ANP GUIDES IS IN ITS FIFTIETH YEAR OP COTyT|NV0VS PUBLICATION,