Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-29
REAL ESTATE GOSSIP
Week Has Been Very Active for
49, Sales. |
CITY AND SUBURBAN FIELD
But Building Is Very Much Handi-
capped
BECAUSE OF LABOR TROUBLES
Employers Are Conducting a Cam
paign to Influence Public Opinion
in Their Favor.
OF LABOR TROUBLES

This has been an unusually active week
for sales OF real estate. Both city and SUBJ
urban property, improved and unimproved,
have been dealt in to large extent and
brokers report everything lovely" as far
as the market Is concerned. 1t is only
the building situation which casts a shadow
over the local real estate field.
While. of course, there are two sides to
every controversy and both sides in this
instance make out good cases. the EN-
pioyers' Association of the Building Trades
has been most active this week in bringing
before the public Its arguments and seek
Ing support In its struggle with organized
labor
The association recently passed resolu-
lions to the effect that I'm view of the COM
plicated and unsettled condition OF labor
Industries in the District of Columbia by
reason whereof building operations are Sc
riously interfered with and practically pro-
hfsited 1t Is the sense of the board of
governors of the Employers Association of
the District OF Columbia that from June
., 1907. until such time arrangements
looking to the free and uninterrupted con-
tinuation OF building operations can be
enected there should be a cessation Of
SO much OF such operations as covers work
performed by plasterers. metal lathers tile
layers. galvanized iron workers ornamental
1ronworkerS and hoisting engineers who
now refuse to work upon the improvements
now in course OF erection"
Copies Sent Out.
Copies OF these resolutions are being sent
TO property holders Throughout the District,
together with a letter, which Is in part as
follows
we are writing you concerning the con-
dition of the building industry for the rea-
son that We believe, as a business man and
property owner you are more directly and
vitality concerned than even the contractors
and builders themselves. The owner is the
real party 10 any contract agreement
made by the contractor and his workmen.
oe they organized or unorganiZed for the
reason that 1t Is the owner who must ulti-
mately pay the full wage cost OF construc-
uon III a system in the building industry
Is In force which. by reason of waste I'M
reasonable restrictions. decreased efficiency
and high wages, makes the price of building
several times greater than it has been in
the past, it is the owner who must pay the
price and WHO must take the risk of invest
ing his capital and of getting a fair return
upon his investment. There is 40 per cent
less building in Washington today than
there was a year ago. and the only reason
Is the greater cost of building construction.
As resident of Washington you are there
fore. interested in the building business and
Its conditions.
Agreements Made
For years the contractors and builders of
the city, following the line of least resist
ance. have made agreements with the
unions in the different trades and have en-
ployed union men to the exclusion of Others
The unions thus having a practical monop-
oily of the labor market have as is usual
and natural in the case of monopo!ies
adopted the policy of getting as great a re-
turn as possible for as little as possible
1he number OF apprentices allowed to learn
D trade has been steadily decreased until
there Is real scarcity of labor In one
trade the union has closed its books entirely
and will not receive new members The
N frtff hos ole haa
followed until the workman does less than
half the work in day than was the reeu-
lar average eight or ten years ago. Besides
these things, the work has been hemmed
In with multitude of petty and annoying
restrictions which mean delay and Increased
cost You will see. therefore. that the rea-
son for the immense increase in cost of
building is not due to the increase in wages,
but to these other conditions that have
grown up in the building business AL
though the rates of mechanics are higher
than those OF other trades and much higher
than those of clerks, stenographers, teach
ers. bookkeepers and even of some college
professors, there is no question Of wages at
issue"
Suburban Market.
AS the city Is rapidly growing out In the
northeast direction, the distance to the
Oaklyn and Columbia Highlands prop
critics is lessening each day. making these
subdivisions more and more accessible
either as homes or Investments. The eleva-
ton of these and the other northeast sub
urbs is high above Washington, thus maxi
ing good location for cottages and
bungalows. which can be erected for
q few thousand dollars, thus making a
house and lot cost less than a shanty
would in the city. Many persons are pro-
viding homes of this kind near the city
anu doing away with the necessity for leav-
ing town during the summer for rest and
recreation.
House for Uruguayan Minister.
]. ". N. & T. B. Huyck have leased the