The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-23
NOBLE HOCCSON
GIVES THEORY ON
HOUSING PROBLEM
(By Noble Foster Hoggson, President,
Hoggson Bros, Builders, New York;

(By Noble Foster Hoggson, President,
Hoggson Bros, Builders, New York;
A challenge not only to the sound
judgment, but to the idealism Of the
American business man, lies in what
has come to be called the industrial
housing problem" Behind these mat
ter-of-fact words is a world of vital
significance affecting the greater,
more efficient, more beautiful Ameri-
ca for which forward-Iooking men are
beginning, in large way, to plan.
The solution lies neither in senti-
ment alone nor in unmitigated bust
ness sense; it is comprehended, how
ever, in that mixture of the two quail
ties which makes for the greatest So
ciaI value and personal success in in
dustry
The practice of providing suitable
homes for workers is in it's infancy
in America. England has solved the
problem with characteristic British
slowness and thoroughness. But in
America the land is as yet too new,
the genitive forces of industrial OPP
portunity as yet too prolific, labor as
yet too plentiful, to have brought this
incidental but altogether vital prob
lem to more than merely tentative
solution.
The Great War, however, has been
the Great Precipitator,-it has crys-
tallized conditions that would other
wise have been a generation, a cen
fury or a quintet of centuries in flux.
The housing problem in the United
tot at Lea Ct a
generation. Where yesterday it was
with many industrial organizations a
matter of sentiment or casual expert
ment, it is today a problem of grim
ecessity,-though it will never find
real solution until sentiment mingles
with business judgment to produce a
humanity Iikeable, workable result.
The reason why the housing prob
lem cannot be dealt with solely in a
cold, logical, business fashion should
be apparent to everyone. That it
is not apparent is evident from the
fact that many attempts at solving the
problem in America have resulted I'M
satisfactorily.
The English student of the hous-
ing problem provides a dwelling that
combines comfort with ample space
and general coziness. There is usually
a garden, breathing space, the mer-
cy of vines and trees to sOothe the
WEAKNESS from toil-worn senses
which too often do not sense their
own needs. The garden is no less i'm
portant than the sanitation, the ven
tilation-nay. more important in many
Respects than the house itself.
There is no need to point out the
obvious fact that the competition for
labor in the United States is stiffen-
ton of labor, the efforts of manufac-
turers to prevent competitive bid
ding for labor, the general but usually
mistaken complaint of labor shortage
all bear witness to this fact. Far
more practicable than all the solu-
lions thus far offered is proper
housing.
But proper housing does not mean
mere shelter. Man is a sentimental
animal. His hottest sentiment centers
about the home. Home ties mean
contentment; if they do not, they are
not ties for long. They mean attach
ment to locality, they mean a vital
interest in the community; they
mean, most of all, a sense of security
which implies-the psychologists and
the workmen themselves tell US
permanence, comfort and enthusiasm
in ones surroundings. This was the
meaning of the English cottage and
garden.