New-York tribune., 1909-11-14
Famous Inventor Tells What Is Expected OF IL
and incidentally Gives Opinions on science
Health, Happiness and EconomIcs.

swelter in two rooms In Newark and over
in New York They should have sanitary,
decent housing FIRST Of all. Let them have
this and :here viii not BE- 80 many social
lists and anarchists. 4 man who owns a
s.ooJ home Is satisfied. At first l planned
a two-fqrily house; then I found every
man wanted his own home, no matter now
small. and. anyway. an individual house
was preferable. l kept my eye on the re-
auirements OF the Ss-a-week man. mclualhs
his daily expense for carfare II he moves
out OF the congested districts. Maybe my
present style is still little too ambitious
although the price OF sl.2oo is intended To
cover every cost. woodNor plumbing, anu
profts 10 the builder. There are large
living room and kitchen on the first h"or'
two bedrooms ana bath on the second hooT'
and two children's rooms in the attic. The
floor plan Is = by 80 feet. There rs an y
foot front porch; all ceilings are high ana
windows large No. the roof is not tile,
though il looks 50 ola the model II Is
moulded concrete like the rest, bat tinted
10 resemble tile. All panels and ornaments
are 20 he moulded i'm one piece with the
house. There was some talk about monot-
onv. al the houses being alike. We'll,
have the moulds arranged like the parts
Of a puzzle They can he shifted and rear
ranged so that six kinds of houses can be
built with one set Of moulds. We can
vary the tinting. the ornaments, the porch
and other. exterior features so that while
the interior remains the same the architect
ural appearance is radically changed.
This ho1se is a gift I'm a sense. and yet
il is not charity. II is my experience that
when YOU give outright to a man you
make an enemy Of him. II is 2 queer fact
Men resent gifts They do not want things
done for them. they want TO arrange their
affairs in their own way. Look At Pull
man. model town that failed. l am
giving away the concrete house in this
way have spent about eight years and
,0aoo0 on the invention. No one else
seemed ready TO work out the idea il in
terested in me. and 1 took it Up. won't
ask any royalties on the patent. hut VIII
issue licenses TO responsible persons to
build the houses at not more than Is per
cent profit 10 themselves. OF course, ]
viii take care that nscrupulous builders
do not defeat my object and exploit the
invention for their own benefit. II Will re-
auire considerable capital TO build houses
on this plan. so that a cheap class Of spec
,lIators win not nc attracted by il. set
Of noulds viii cost S25, 900, and allowing
fourteen days 10 build one house. the cost
Of the moulds per house is Sl0, figuring 8
per cent interest and per cent breakage
on the investment. Ordinary wooden
moulds would cost 1900 AMI S2.00 more
for labor. IL viii take about four DAYS
TO assemble the moulds. six hours to pour
them fun of concrete, six days for setting
and four days for removal of the moulds.
We can pour houses I'm winter as well as
summer merely by warming the cast iron
moulds by the installed heating plant. 7
have received hundreds Of applications for
licenses 10 build. Many Of them have come
from Italy. where stone and concrete or
stucco houses are more familiar than in
this country
While talking the inventor brisky led the
way 10 a studio where artists were model
ling ornamental designs in plaster for the
concrete house. and showed the YARD eX-
hibit Of concrete that had flowed through
angular conduits like water. lie commented