The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1919-09-13

house the same princ;p. IS" of standardization
machine, factory and d hntity production that
are employed by all other great industries
'Afost experts agree that the real cruz Of the
Industrial housing problem lies not In land cost,
taxes or interest rates. but in the house Itself
the cost Of construction. The investment in
building is anywhere from three to ten times the
cost Of the land, and is therefore the dominant
item and the most potent factor in the entire
problem 1t is all very well to eliminate the
waste in the other factOrs-waste Of time labor
or material-but if the productivity Of human
labor and capital in construction can be increased
the result would be real step toward the solu-
ton of the difficulty and the benefits OF such an
ec0nOmy would accrue to all parties involved
"That the 'ready-made house will come event.
ually is evident from the progress made The
first experimental building designed to demon
strate the principle Of standardization and fac
tory production was successfully erected In l9C9
Since then the work of demonstration and de-
velopment has proceeded, with the general result
( always pointing, in my judgment, to the sound
ness Of the principles and their ultimate success
'The help we need ought to come from d gov
eminent research department established for that
purpose. This department would have to bear
the same relation to housing which is commodity
that the department of agriculture bears to wheat
or the bureau Of mines to minerals. In other
words, the housing of the industrial army is MS
important in peace that Of the muntion work
ers In war times or the fighting units themselves
And for these purposes the government spent
hundreds Of millions of dollars-and established
a special department. 1t is fair question wheth
er the importance Of the problem today does NOT
justify the establishment of a permanent bureau
Of housing"
"What effect will this increased activity OF the
lumberjack have on our lumber SUPPLY" Is an i'm
pOrtant question.
The expectation Of American lumber on the
scale likely to result from the European demand
for material will, unless accompanied by prnv
sion for regrowth, seriously deplete the supplies
needed by home industries and impose hardships
on the consuming public here is the view Of Henry
s. Graves, chief Of the United States forest serv
ice
The department OF agriculture has issued !.
pamphlet by Colonel Graves warning the wood
using Industries, the lumbermen and all Interested
home supple! Of forest products Or foreign
trade in them, that the question of lumber s.
pokts cannot safely be left to the care Of itselS
t. situation is especially critical he points ont
with certain Of our highest grade woods. such m
ash. oak. hickory, yellow poplar and black walnut
which are the SUPPORT Of important industries
and with southern yellow pine, Of which ths
main bulk Of supply Is approaching exhaustion
and which is likely to be exported in large oman.
titles to meet afterfhe-war demands.
Tho situation, Colonel Graves holds, d one a,
ominous possibilities. Most of the leading IN.
dustrial nations Of the world" he says. whether
lightly wooded and dependent upon imports or
heavily wooded and exporters are taking steps "a
safeguard and develop their timber resources Tho
United States alone appears to be content to
build up a great export trade without considering
the ultimate effect upon domestic timber re-
sources ana their capacity in the future to supply
the home market"
Sound public policy does not, however. neces-
SarilY demand the disbursement Of exports.