Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1919-08-08

house the same principles of STANDARDIZATION,
machine factory and quantity production hat
are employed by all other great industries
Most experts agree that the real crux 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 hind, and is therefore ulc dominant
item and the most potent factor IN the entire
problem. II is all very well to eliminate the
waste IN the other factors-wase of time labor
or materlal-hut if the productivity of human
labor and capital in construction can be increased
the result would be real step toward the Solu-
lion of the difficulty and the benefits of such an
economy would accrue TO MI parties involved.
THAT the rcady-made house will come event
ually is evident from the progress made The
first experimental building designed to demon
stritc the principle Of standardization and fac
tory production was successfully erected in 1909.
Since then the work of demonstration and de-
vclopment has proceeded with the general result
always pointing in my Judgment 10 the sound
ness If the principles and thrir ultimate success.
"Thc help we need ought To come from gov.
eminent research department established for that
purpose. This department would have 10 bear
the same relation TO housing which is commodity,
or the bureau Of mines to minerals In other
words the housing Of the industrial army is as
important in peace that Of The munion work
ers In war times or the fighting units themselves
And for these purposes the government spent
hundreds of millions of dollarS-and established
special department 1t is a fair question wheth
er the Importance of the problem today does not
justify the establishment of permanent bureau
of housing"
"What effect will this increased activity Of the
lumherjack 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 proyi-
sion for regrowth, seriously deplete the supplies
needed by home industries and impose hardshps
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 a
pamphlet by Colonel Graves warning the wood
using industries, the lumbermen and all interested
in home supplies Of forest products foreign
trade in them, that the question of lumber
pOrts cannot safely be left to the care Of itself.
The situation is especially critical, he points out,
with certain of our highest grade woods, such Ms
ash. oak. hickory, yellow poplar and black walnut,
when are the support III Important lnIuStrleS'
and with southern yellow pine, of which the
main bulk of supply is approaching exhaustion
and which is likely TO be exported in large guam
titles to meet after-the-war demands.
The situation Colonel Graves holds, is one of
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 to
safeguard and develop their timber resources. The
United States alone appears to be content TO
build up great export trade without considering
tbe ultimate effect upon domestic timber re-
sources and their capacity in the future to supply
the home market"
Sound public policy does not, however, neces-
sarily demand the encouragement Of exports.