The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-11-02
Factories That Are Be-
hind in Orders Because
Of Shortage ofLabor.
WORKING FOLKS
NEED MORE HOMES
Certain Kind of Shortsightedness
on Part of Real Estate Hold
ers May Prove to the Great
Hurt of Greater Rich
mond-Views Of Sew
eral Experts.

Cohen house OF Broad Street. talked to
the retail merchants ana the adver-
tisers' agencies and the Richmond
boosters generals las, week, and no
said many things that were worthy OF
The attention OF all Of the boosters
he addressed, and no doubt they took
mis- talk 70 heart Tho occasion of the
talk was Il kind Of general meeting of
the boosters and tho advertisers. and
the meeting was held around the fes
tive board According to the news
papcr reports, Mr.. Cohen argued and
argued cloqucntly. | have no doubt.
that Richmond Is not 60 much In need
of cnlarging its retail trade into and
toward the rural districts az IL i in
need of the agencies and tho things
that mako more retail trade right here
within the city Nm!ts. And here Mr.
Cohen touched upon a subject that has
BEEN attracting the attention OF poo
pie. who Lre not In the retail trade,
and gubject which. iu my opinion.
should receive a little more OF the at
tcntion OF the Chamber OF Commerce,
The BusineBs Meme Association. tho
bankers and tie real estate boosters
and boomers.
The Gfst OF II.
As well AS can call to nina from
81 casual reading Of sir cohcn's talk,
ne said that the tNiuI n increase the
retain tTslEc OF tstElii4.p4tI - 70 M "
nero more manufacturing enterprise
that Will attract more working people,
and these working people viii become
the customers of the retail mcrcha Its.
ot course his argument vas that the
more factory operatives and the more
people in manu- featuring town Who
have good and healthy pay cnyeio pes
once week. the greater and Tho might
Ter will be thu retail trade That ~
mighty good argument and true o
every sense. bui- Ar. Cohen night have
zone further ana said tha' the first
thing Richmond has 10 do 20 encour-
axe more people OF the laboring 81, s.:
people who have fat envelopes on paE-
days aud who in the nature OF the case
become large customers OF tn" retail
establishments of al kinds, Is to build
moro decent homes Tor such people
TO live in. And thereby haA IS q tale,
one that ! have touched upon several
times before. and It may b. well
enough TO touch II UP once more
More Operatives Wanted.
Mr.. Cohen may not have known u,
but the fact is thar there arc already
in Richmond manufacturing enterprises
that would gladly cmploy several
thousand more people than Jhe% can
now get There - :; demand largely
in excess OF the suprly for labor OF
the right kind tpl.s' e. man and
TO woman" the industries ;hat are al
ready here in Richmond
talked the othcr day with a large
employer. and lie told ne that factories
he was intimately connected with We're
simply begging for WORKERS. These
factories IA" Offering most attractive
kinds OF wages and can; got tile work =
ing people they need 10 Keep up their
business He declared thai enc Of the
factories lie was connected with wants
right now four hundred moe people
than are on the payroll There is 10
The offered. lie
declared, for I'VE are Offering a prem
ium. but we cant get the workers"
other factories in the same line need
at least 1000 girl operatives
| asked for . further explanation.
and here is the way he put IT Said
he, Tho real estate agents and the
owners OF real estate properties, in
my Judgment. have the wrong idea.
The agents encourage real estate in =
vestors 10 build houses iol renters who
arc supposed 20 hav. great big bank
accounts. There is not an agent in the
city who encourages investors TO build
Tor the working man.
1t seems rather hard for the Old Viz
yinia people to get over the Idea that
anv kind OF an old house will DO for
the workingman. Well the average
twentieth century workinGman will not
put up with tho house that was built
tor negroes and the lower class OF
laborers. The twentieth century la
borer wants a better house for himself
and his family, and he simply will not
go to town which does not furnish
the same. Richmond Is not furnishin &
the kind OF house that the twentieth
century laboring man and his family
call for. What is wanted il Il comfort
able home, with the modern conve-
niences, and the workingman Is willing
TO pay rent for the same but he is not
willing to pay that much rent for q
shack taht was built for an inferior
human proposition.
Wages Are Good Enough.
This good man went on to talk fur
ther. and In the course OF his CONVEX
sation he told mo that the tobacco
cheroot and cigar factories OF Rich
mond could give employment right now
TO at least 1000 moro people than they
have. These factories. for the most
part; employ young women. and they
want right now not less than 1.e0C
more than they had on their pay rolls
last week. The average girl in the
cigar. cheroot and tobacco factory OF
Richmond can earn anywhere from Sl2
to S22 per week and all of the mora
protection known to twentieth century
methods Is thrown around them. and
yet the factories are away behind in
filling their orders simply because they
are short on Ia Dor
And the trouble is altogether with
the housewares and the real estate
people. The people needed to do the
work in the factories would como to
Richmond soon enough IL the real cs-
tate owners and the agents would find
some way to furnish them with decent
houses to live in and at a rate for rent
that could be within their income.
As I'm Other Cities.
The hard-fsted real estate man IL
ready right now TO answer all of this
argument in his own way, and that
way is to explain that it does not pay
TO build houses with all Of the modern
improvements to rent to working peo-
Continued on Eighth Pago.)