The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-27
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
NEEDED; MORE HOUSES.
FREDERIC ). HAsKIN. pi
waAhington. .. G

4
| Washington, D. c.. Dec. 24.--Not
enough houses in some places and
whole cities OF empty houses in other
places.
| That is the situation with regard to
ihousing which the United States faces.
!. and 1t Is one of the least serious phases
| OF. a world housing problem. In
European countries. not only have
! whole cities been shot to pieces, but
| houses, both in the city and in the
country. have literally fallen to pieces
| rslack OF the labor and the material
wherewish &c repair them.
| its housing pI oblem in earnest. The
british Labor party is back of plan
for the government i. to construct
houses in the country where farm IN.
plan generally described as the
Garden city PLAN" which has been
advocated by students for some years.
Generally regarded heretofore as
i somewhat Utopian. it seems to have
been seized upon now as a possible
! solution of the housing problem in
| Highland.
In this country the problem is much
lie serious, and there does not ap-
pear to be much public sentiment in
the building of houses. The senate
appears to be opposed even to the
completion of the roomi1g house for
] war workers, which has been half
built here in Washington by the gov
| eminent.
| On the other hand. the plan which
| Secretary of the Interior Lane is work.
farms is understood to 1eclude the
building of houses on these farms,
and even the equipping of them with
machinery and live stock. That is
the way the thing has been done by
the Land Settlement Board of Cali
fornia, and in Australia, whence the
California people got their idea. Dr..
Elwood Meade, who was chairman OF
the land settlement board in Califor-
mia. Is here in Washington helping
Secretary Lane work out his plans.
and DIR. Meade is known to be in favor
of selling the soldiers fully equipped
farms, with/houses, machinery and all,
| on longtime payments. He holds that
it is worse than useless under present
conditions, to give a man a piece or
raw land without house or tools, and
expect him to make living out of 1t.
If the government must build
houses, it is generally conceded that
the building of farm houses would be
the best expedient. For the problem
in this country arises largely from the
fact that during the war people have
migrated in tens Of thousands from
the country ii cities Anything that
| Will tenu to Stlrnulate the reverse
move ment, and keep the soldiers from
congregating in the cities, is much to
be desired.
In a speech made recently. Joseph
D. leland, vice president of the
United States Housing Corporation,
said:
Never before has the world seen
such a moving about of population as
America has witnessed in 1917 and
1918. The census, if taken today.
t<< 4 I'll al e1rrsf
official estimates based on normal
growth -,
n It is the belief of most experts here
in Washington that a similar shift will
take place in the next year; but
whether this will be more or less ex-
tensive than the shift during the war,
they cannot predict.
The reason for the unprecedented
series of migrations during the past
two years is well known to everyone.
1t was the mushroom. growth of gigan-
tic war industry plants. Scarcely q
manufacturing town in the country
but has increased its population from
20 to 200 per cent. Norfolk. Va. with
q normal population of 60, 900 finds
itself sheltering 100000 souls. Both
banks of the Delaware from Bristol to
Wilmington have changed from quiet
agricultural communities to crowded
ind ustrial towns.
OF Course, immigration to this coun-
try virtually ceased in 1915. These
migrations. which have OVERLOADED
the industrial cities, were entirely in
ternal. The workmen and their fami-
lies who crowded the cities came from
somewhere in the United States, and
it has been shown that many of them
came from farm and mountain dis
tricts. A number of them came from
large cities which are not predom-
inantely industrial cities. During the
same time 100000 men left all dis
tricts to join the colors. The popula-
. ton was literally shuffled.
). The big munition plants of this
j. country will not shut down. but they
will undoubtedly curtail their working
forces--frOm 80 to 80 per cent, it has
been estimated. On the other hand
"non-essentiaP' industries restricted
during the war, will take advantage OF
their chance to expand. All of this. 1t
is said, points to another migration.
In England the situation is similar,
but much more serious.
The submarine campaign has
brought home to England the fact
that the island must be made as
nearly self supporting as possible.
The housing problem there is con-
nected with the vital need for re-
vival of English agriculture.
Authorities say that rural housing
conditions in England are little better
| than in the cities. Most of the dwell
| lngS lima DlteQ Dy the 4IdTIleTS dTe
ramshackle affairs fast crumbling to
pieces. During the war, l.-bor could
not be spared to fix them, and now,
| it is said, they are scarcely worth
, repair. In the suburbs the state OF
affairs Is nearly as bad.
The populations of cities expand be-
cause cities offer to their inhabitants
|, a wider range of employment and OPP
portunity, and a degree of social
pleasure impossible in the country
, 1t Is for this reason that since time
, immemorial the city has occupied its
, placse in the dreams of the country
boy and girl.
. Even SO weighty a social force as
{ this can be eliminated, it is claimed
by the building of well equipped
; towns, providing each for a popula-
fic,,, cf laQ This iS the