Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1919-03-20
BASKER lille
SUGGESTS Plan
FOR new HOMES
Former Mayor Offers to Become
One Of 50 10 100 TO Sup
ply the Cash.
SUGGESTS 100000 EACH
Thinks Material Could Be Secur-
ed at Wholesale Prices
for the Purpose.

Of his departure last evening for the
twin cities, suggested to a representa-
iltive of the Daily News that he would
be willing to form corporation, 10
be composed Of fifty to one hundred
business and professional men Of Wa
tertown, each to furnish, say, two
Thousand dollars more or less. as the
case may be, for the purpose of be-,
ginning an active building campaign
lin the city.
that prices are SO high for most
building materials as to be prohibitive
for the average man who contemplates.
building in the near future. Most OF
them would prefer to wait a while, be-
lieving that prices will materially
decrease by the time another spring
rolls around
! Materials at Cost
BY forming big company, SO as to:
buy the necessary materials in large
| quantities and conducting the building
operations Mpon a somewhat extensive
scale, the cost could be reduced to a,
lpoint within the reach of the average
person 1laeslii5g d new home, or who IS
ysaaaa;sss.as ..ssy il reasonable rental for
the use Of sorYe.
II suggest that II such a. cooperative
| plan were formed upon a working
basis, retailers would be willing to fur
nish the required materials at figures
but slightly above the actual whole
sale cost-only enough additional to
| They can afford to do SO because
| otherwise, as / have suggested, as it
appears to me. there will not be yery
large amount Of building done in the
| city this year. People do not feel that
they can afford to build under the
with many who express q willingness
| to build but who also say that under.
the general price !c..al which prevails
| now they do not feel Justified in doirg
so, since the building of q home is a,
u :, ! +
permanent investment and the occu.
rental interest on the cost of construc-
4 tions and the value of the lot.
| Demand for Houses
/ "The demand for houses is great
Hundreds Of families, believe, would
be added to the city's population if
proper homes were provided, and II
think it is up to the people who are
able to furnish the means for building
them to get busy and see that some
thing is done to supply the necessary
leash.
The main point now is to avail our
selves of the opportunities that are at
/ our very doors for adding TO the sum
/ total Of Watertown's population II
number, for instance, could be secured
4 at wholesale prices, plus just enough
i to cover the freight, plus q nominal
sum for handling 1T. and hardware
and other building materials could be
gotten upon similar basis, and
through such an arrangement we
could increase the city's population by
q couple OF thousand or more, the BEN
Iefits would accrue in the increased
! ! business that would result from the
increased number OF inhabitants of the
town. am IL position TO get some
Iof the necessary materials at wholesale
4 prices.
Supply Homes First Need
4 The first need of the city right
n now, according to information which
comes to me and which many off our
people are talking about. is to provide
Il homes for the families that would
come to live among us if they could
Il secure places In which to live. ~
aiS won. t build the homes Tell
4 ing about how our population would
q increase II we had the houses In which
to shelter the prospective newcomers
won't construct the buildings It viii
take cash to do that, and II seems tc
q me that those of us who haye Il little
cash that We could spare right nov
fought to formuiat d some plan BY which
the cash could be supplied for the pub
poses in quest Ion .@s
81 am sure i am willing to coopsrats
4 Iii any chat Scss.tl
n anyb0dsr has y better pIan Ao offer
let sus have is time for action