The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-16
punprNG CHrAp Housrs.

0OHADAN1 CnEAF hOUBE9s
 The Memphis News makes an appeal to the people of that city to build bet ter houses. and the advice applies as we'll to Montgomery as it does to Mem phis. Economy of both time and money are working. together and the results are not good The houses built in the present. day are not equal to those erected long ago. There can yet be seen in our city wooden dwellings built fifty or sixty years ago which are to- day practically as sound and as firm and erect as they were when the build- CTS finished their work
 The reason of this Is well known to those who remember how houses were built in yfhe old days. Then. to begin with. the very best lumber was select was to be erected. whether the early cutting of yellow pine was better than that of the present day Is . matter we have heard both asserted and disputed, but however that may be the fact re- mains that good material was always selected for good houses. Then it was thoroughly. but slowly, seasoned, not by rapid steam-heating process. but In . kiln, with wood fires. and the lum- Der was dried so gradually that 1t was fully seasoned, even though several weeks were necessary to get 1t thor oughly dry. Time was not such an ob- ject then as now, and from six to twelve months. or even longer. were spent in the erection of frame house of ten or twelve rooms. And 1t was really framed, with mortice and tenon at every joint, made to fit and securely pinned. Good material, thoroughly sea- soned, good workmanship and ample time all entered Into the construction of houses which have stood from half to three-quarters of a century, and are yet as firm and secure as at first.
 It is different in the present day. Speed and cheapness are. the two things Insisted on by those who build most of the wooden houses now. Whether the pine timber Is not as good. or whether the best has all been used, is immaterial, but the fact remains that much inferior lumber Is used. It Is seasoned by steam in a few days, then the frame of the house is nailed to- gether, the house finished and covered with cheap paint and ready for occu- ,pancy in less time than would have been required for the frame work fifty years ago. The result is a house that looks we'll at the start, but in ten years or less 1t is edilapidated and coming to pieces. and presents a much more time worn appearance than do houses built long before the war.
 The fault Is not altogether with the mechanics. There are as good carpen- ters now as there ever were, and they do good work as ever. but those who have houses to build nowadays in too many instances have but two condi- tions to insist on: the house must be built within the least possible time and at the least possible cost. Hurry and economy necessarily demand cheap ma terials and cheap work, and the result is seen in dwellings, on which repair ing begins, almost before the smell of the first paint has departed.
 It is not the fault of the carpenters. as we have said, but 1t is none the less unfortunate that the ordinary frame houses built in the present day are put up son the most temporary 0plan, and they last accordingly. It is not a good thing for a city. It would be much better if building could be done with an eye to durability instead of all this hurry. Many of the houses now being built look as if they were only for a temporary camping place instead of a great city. It Is a pity, but none the less a fact.