Crittenden record-press., 1918-04-04
Government Plans 10 House Its
Big New Army Of
ShipbuiIders.
TO Be DONE IN RECORD Time
Community Houses. Equipped Like
Club. for Single nen-Homes With
All Modern conyenienees for
Married Men-S,andardi1a.
ton for High Speed.
BY JAMES n. COLLINS.

In hastily rcmodrlcl suite OF
Washington offices today sits man
who has war task that appeals to
the Imagination.
Between now and July he Is TO
build sj0Oc0OOO worth of homes for
workers Ia Uncle Snms new shlphulld-
Ing army. which is being mobIlyed
from the picked mechanics Of every
state In the union.
This nrmy will number something
'fkc 10000 men. Fifty million dol
lars invested In houses for work
force Of that size gives sl25 per man.
That seems rather limited sum Of
money with which to provide anybody
with warm sanitary living quarters,
having baths, hot and cold water,
steam heat. electric light. modern
kitchen facilities. and nll the com
forts Of home. Yet this man is going
to make his 1925 per man suffice for
the Job and carry out his construc-
tion In record time.
II Is interesting to figure with him
lIttle-If you Just remember that
present figures must be rough csti-
mates 10 certain extent.
First Of all. he can eliminate n large
proportion of this shlpbulldlng army,
because many Of the new shlpyards are
handy 10 cities with ample housing
and nll convcnlchccs, and Uncle sam
will solve the housing problem In those
places by improving the transportation
service between n mans work and his
home. Hut other shlpyards have been
created In undcyelopcd spots along
our wide stretches of scaconst, and In
these places II becomes necessary tn
provide workers with modern living
quarters.
Community Dwellings
Thousands of these shlphullders will
be single men. and for them special
type OF community dwelling has been
designed on the order of club house.
Each community dwelling will accom-
modate 1916 men. Each man will have
n room to himself and Il will be an
outside room. Each clubhouse, more
over, will be divided into five groups
or separate clubs Of from ~ to 30
men. Each Of these separate clubs
will have shower baths and n large
community lounge, making II pos
sible for n worker to find congcnlnl
crowd Of his own and for that little
community subdivision 10 organize It's
own home life, amuscmcnts, sports
social affairs. md studies, Ench
club house will have community DIN
Ing room with modern kitchen and
serving facilities, giving board on the
mess plan at reasonable rates md with
minimum labor. These community clu'
houses arc To be Of frame constfuc'
tlon. but standard type. Many o
them will be erected In localities whlcl
nrc not likely TO become permanent
shlpbullding ccntcrs Therefore per
mnncnt construction hns not been th'
chief necessity. Nevertheless they
viii he substantial enough to last =
years II need ho. md where erected
IN localities with severe winter wealth
cr will lack nothing In warmth
When the plnNs for such honsc
were standardized by the shipping
board experts, they achieved two re
suits In house building that seemed u
be new. First, speed Of construction
All the doors, windows. pipes nn'
other things that 20 into house wer
put on n bnsls OF uniform Sizes Niue