Evening star., 1914-05-05
Returns on investments il
Sanitary Houses Topic Be-
fore House Committee.
BORLAND BILL REMEDY
is CLASSED AS "VAGUE"
Views Expressed Upon Proposed Ex-
penditure of 100000 for Bet
tering City Conditions.

Practical questions as To what return
could be expected from money invested
to build houses for unskilled working
men. and thus solve the slum problem.
were put UP to Representative Borland
and to officials of the Sanitary Housing
Company hy Representative Winslow OF
Mass chusetts today at the hearing he
fore the House District committee. Mr.,
Winslow took the ground that the legis-
| lative provisions for the solving of slum
and alley problems as presented in the
Borland bill to accomplish sanitary hous-
ing are vague. and that in order TO in
terest capital in four -million-dolar in
vestment you must ret down to brass
tacks. as he expressed il.
Several members of the committee are
little incredulbus concerning the claim
Of the Sanitary Housing Company that
it can pay > per cent interest to in
vestors. place per cent in fund for
management, repair, etc, and per cent
in "A surplus fund.
Those who spoke before the District
committee today were Representative
| Rorland of Missouri. George Nerrall of
| the bureau of statistics. Labor Depart
| ment DR. George NJ. kober. William III.
Baldwin. Richard b. Watrous and Gen.
| George NJ. Sternberg.
| repeating that slums in Washington
are not wanted. He said that the exist
| ence of slums in a city ia not neces-
sarly reproach upon the city. as
slums in his opinion are an outErowth
of the city's development He also said
| that the slum problem is now a ma
| tional one, and not merely local one:
| The problem in Washington. he
said. is to get good homes for men
who can pay less than 81. month for
rent and there must be no alley tene-
| ments."
He showed some handsome photo
graphs of English workingmen's
homes as provided by various hous-
ing movements. Several members OF
| the committee marveled al the beauty
of the buildings, which contained
| three rooms and scullery" at from
six to eight shllings a week.
| Representative Borland said that one
| of the things to be looked after closely
would be to see that no real estate COM
| panies used the provisions of the san
itary housing bill to exploit real estate
| The bill. as has been described previ-
ously provides for a method of financing
| housing companies through an issue OF
bonds of the District of Columbia.
The pictures of the English houses
were so pretty that Representative Wal
lin suggested one of the difficulties mus
be to keep away from these unskilled la
would be attracted by the comfort ane
cleanliness and general attractivenesss.
| Mr.. Borland agreed with him.
Housing Problems.
| George Verrell of the Department OF
Labor gave long columns of facts and
figures compiled by the bureau in ref
erence to housing problems abroad. He
| said the statistics prove that private
capital is not sufficient and that govern
ment funds and credit have been found
necessary in Europe where housing com
panies have been in existence for twenty
years at least.
He said s7oOO.OOO is loaned by the gov
ernment for this purpose in England
and Wales alone. Following Mr.. Wal
Inns question he said that 1t had beer
true that the skilled laborer had il
several cases gobbled up the Yer!
homes that had been built for the un
skilled laborer, and he also said tha
| the housing companies are making
more profit than formerly.
Now on Business Basis.
"It shows" said Mr. Winslow. "tha
what started out to be pure philanthrop,
has got to be put on a firm business
basis. That you must make the Invest
ment attractive.
Gen. Sternberg explained some of thu
methods whereby he claimed the SAM
tary Housing Company can keep it:
expense for repairs down to a small sum
One of these. he said. was to give gooe
tenants who keep their houses well re
bate Of a months rent in a year.
Dr. Kober and William H. Baldwin
explained some of the inner working.
of the housing company
The committee will give another
hearing on the bill.