Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-03
HOUSING SITUATION
TO BE RELIEVED
[Continued from First Pape. I

-"i' iteidHu explain what had Deen
done by the national housing COM
mission. He ouelined we'll ground
ed principles in that address which
would not do in their entirety for
Harrisburg, but which may be given
local application"
Mr.. Bailey then said that the first
question to be asked is: Does the
need for houses here exist" and he
answered it for himself by saying
that unquestionably it does. But
he said he doubted if anybody, aside
from possibly trained real estate men
IKE Herman p. Miller, knew whether
the demand is for houses of $4,000,
Slo,o0V, $4,000 or 1900 value or
Tor apartment houses. Likewise, it
is not definitely known whether the
desire is for houses in the lower end
| or the city, on the Hill or in the
West End
To go about solving the problem
in an intelligent manner we must
hrst learn just what it is necessary
TO do, he said, and to that end he
suggested a survey be made, either
by local authorities or by recognized
experts from the outside. He re-
called that back in 1901 when the
city was about to undertake its big
public improvement campaign, eX-
perts of national reputation were
called in to ascertain needs and
costs along various lines and he
suggested the need for some such
arrangement with respect to hous-
ing.
Mr.. Bailey said there are several
ways in which the need for houses
might be met. First, individuals
might build; second, contractors
might meet the scarcity by going
into buildings on n comparatively
large scale, and, third, the problem
might be solved by cooperative
building. The time is here. Mr.. Bal
ley said. when he believes the CO.
operative plan to be the most feas-
ible.
THE Governor says there are not
enough houses to meet the require
ments of state officials being
brought here, but we don't know
Just what class of houses these peo-
pie will desire. Let us assume, for
argument, that there is need for five
$4,000 houses. What individual
will go down into his own pocket to
make this investment? None, 1 as
sumo. But the way might be found
through cooperative effort, Just as
we found way to build the Penn
Harris Hotel. Many Harrisburg men
would put cash into such a corpora
tion," said MIR. Bailey,
me speaker urged that MONEY!
making be made the secondary con-
sideratlon of such an enterprise. The
thlng is too big to be undertaken nv
any one man. The object of the
proposed corporation would be to
meet the need first; profits would be
secondary consideration. II is NOT
the purpose to use this company to
drive out the real estate man. the
pullder or the contractor, Mr.. Bai-
icy pointed out, but to supplement
their efforts.
Mr: Bailey said he felt that there
were large numbers of patriotic Har-
Iispurs people who would put money
oqsly into a company of the
H6ra sal ne expressed the belief that
PT,?O'oVV would be sufficient to meet
a., az heeus' pointing out that with
that sum at hand it would be easy
to borrow q like amount fror, tIS
banks, which are alwavs readv ~
shoulder a "50-5O" risk. The moneU
would not be needed all at once he
pointed out, and stock subscrintionS
could be made payable over a period
of two years. -0N
asked. po ior ne
thlnk not. Personally I he
lleVe lt can be worked out in that
way" he added. - ''i''
Just think what it would mean if
q manufacturer coming to Harris
purg could go before a comnanv of
TINS KIND and tell his needs with +ha
assurance that they would be mat
Ihlnk also what it would mean in
the way of preventing labor turn
over. The worker, whether he earns,
SlO,OOO a year or $2.5 Oa dav doas
not want to move if he is contented
we nave here as in other towns dis
trlctS that are a disgrace to the citv
we must wipe them out or they will
De wiped out by legislative decree
A company such as I have outlined
could do much," he said, "to improva
conditions by establishing hipba.
standards" ei
Mr.. Bailey, following his address
answered many questions raised hv
interested Rotarians, and George g
iL-noehl, calling attention to the
chamber of Commerce housing com
mittee, introduced Mr. Mcfarland as
lts chairman. Mr.. Mcfarland smoke
very cheeringly of what is baino
done and said that with such bodies
as the Chamber of the Rotary CInb
cooperating there could be no ones
ton fthe success of the plan.