The sun., 1919-09-07


.Lsh,er and more comfortable homes
a., vorkmen are to be found In the
,,,,,sd States than in any Of nine Euro
"a, countries. according to William e.
s,.rnon. former manager Of the real
.,,.ts division of the United States
uousins Corporation, who made an ex-
,,r,,ve tour Of Europe In the Interests OF
sovernment housing plans. Further
Sore Mr.. shannon says, these American
xSr,s. are with rare exceptions sold on
~ ssfest terms for the welfare Of the
S.srnan, to be found In any country OF
the world.
Ths slow recognition Of these facts.
Ne Shannon says, was one OF the
..n.ss Of unnecessary delay in getting
s,,rted on war housing plans. Many Of
S,s colleagues on the housing bureau
-ere much smltten with the European
'nodel housing plans and Mr.. shannon
-. unable to agree with them. Re-
SsrdIng the situation he says:
Isyow. as to this beautifully painted
. .,,,ure Of European housing which they
"a in mind. and Of which so many peo-'
Ma write and talk and so few really
snow about The German system would
"a, be permitted by the Independent
,b,nkIng. self-respecting American work.
u,sn N exist in this country. For us the
s,,s,sn, Is wrong, the layout Is wrong,
,se design is wrong, and its long pay
.nert nlan. which in some cases Is as
-,nch az dfty years, is for no other pur-
asa Than TO keep the citizens from own
,ng property in fee, for as was frankly
IA 'As long as the Government owned
ne mortgage on a. mans home that man
would do as bidden.'
EnrIish situation Different.
arn England found rather a different
,,ats OF affairs, the manufacturer taking
tse place Of the Government, but with
about the same results. The master
with great show appears as II he Is de-
sIrous OF having his workmen' own their
tnmes, generally in the hollow, while he
lives on the hill, but the very small
monthly payment spread over years of
fine keeps the man from securing his
home in fee, because death, accident or
A convenient strike throws him out
sour people must realize, unless they
desire TO degenerate TO the European
level of dependence, that no man has
right 10 live in a home that will take
more than fifteen years to pay for, and
m healthy man is entitled to a home
unless he caa earn enough to ray a rea-
sonable value for 1t.
'The architectural exterior effect
seems to be considered by the Eng
llsh phlanthropist as far more impor-
tant than the interior comfort. The
roof must be just right, otherwise II
would be uusightly from his home on the
hlr A matched roof in Ann Hath
away style is considered ideal, though l.
permits OF only a 2 foot by foot bed
room window, bu. the occupant must not
complain, because this is archtecturally
correct and his cottage has been sold to
lin much less than cost, with an inter-
est rate far less than current. A cot
tage built so close to the ground that IT
could not have cellar ventilation is raved
over as thing of beauty. though 1t
gives the occupant tuberculosis
1T was matters of this kind that the
realtors in the Housing Corporation OBJ
iected to forcing on the Industrial work.
ers Of America.
The street layout of the English viii
lage beautiful for this country is also all
wrong. Their design Is to have many
blocked streets for the purpose of seclu-
son and those that are open must be
as crooked as possible, even where the
typographical features of the land do not
demand II.
Patterned Models Of Monks.
This ancient and un-American scheme
was very much favored by a group OF
landscape gardeners in the bureau who
renamed themselves town planners
which the architects of the bureau re-
sented and therefore renamed themselves
architects and town planners These So
AGa an =
ance Of their town designs. must have Sc
cured their experience In this work from
old books on landscape architecture pub
lished by the monks. Their plans were
mostly OF the DE Medici period when
towns were built for defence. when
streets we're on angles and curves so they
could be defended with the weapons OF
the day from the rush of invading
hordes. They did not appreciate that
Benjamin Franklin planned a town in
this country not designed for defence, but
with straight broad streets so that God
could purify every corner with his sun
and fresh air, and they did not seem TO
Know that later came the great French
man, LEnfant, who. assisted by Wash
'ngton and Jefferson, improved the plan
OF Philadelphia in the design of the ma
tons capital by putting in diagonal ave-
tANAAi blidl udlC " llAls <AiiNi ASeA
mas broken away from the European idea
Of town planning, and think it is safe
10 say we are not going back to 1t.
we have heard so much about building
homes by the mile and selling them by
the foot that some really believe that we
nave a wrong system of homo produc-
uoh | therefore made a personal in
'esugauon Of housing conditions in Eu-
Iope, and can now make positive state
ment that whether they are a row, semi
detached or detached homes, this coun-
Wy produces better built. better venti-
Mea' brighter and more comfortable
rrorKmeh's homes than any OF the nine
european countries which I visited
furthermore, this country sells these
zones with rare exception, on the safest
@ ~rns -or the occupants good OF any
country In the world.
america produces the best small
nOmes because it is the only nation
,tAl has made IT a business to do so
Is IN this country that you find the
u.ouern building association, the mod.
e'n savings bank, the modern trust
sVnpany' the modern insurance company
ana uhe realtors. all of whom assist thai
etaetor, misnamed the speculative
.aer' to give to all the people homes
Hel'can homes. homes OF top of hills
Vmes with real windows, wide doors
Neh'nated cellars, roofs with air space
snu modern sanitation-and because o
Unrestricted competition. at prices thai
Governmental agency never did anC
never can approach.
Experts Plans Were Simple.
Ill the Bureau of Housing haC
sopted the plan suggested by Messrs
SaI,ahd' Thorpe, Macomber and Monte
erue' every one a realtor and exper