Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-31
HOUSE FAMINE ABROAD

TIE mousse famine WIN WHICH
/ America is confronted is by !
means confined to this countr
Meyer Bloomfield, writing in Il
saturday Evening Post of this wee
# social conditions in England ar
heir relation to the housing prol
EN-, says:
The house famine has been
growing on the country. Dur
ing the war building operations
came to a standstill, of course.
The result to-day is bad over
crowding and congestion in near
ly every town in Great Britain
in all the mining districts,
where the men are bitter and
discomfort is rampa MT; in all the
agricultural sections; and motor
iously in the leading manufac-
turing centers. The common es-
innate is that the country is
about one million houses short.
AT present landlords are pre-
vented from raising rents above
the pre-war figure by the Re-
striction of Rent Act. They cry
out that ruin is staring them in
the face. The act holds good for
six months longer, after which
a jump in house rentals must
surely come. That will not help
matters. From every point of
view there is the most urgent
need for prompt action. If there
is, no one win expect miracles;
the men will wait a reasonable
time for houses If they. see that
the country is at last. awake to
this need and is doing something
worth while to meet it, But they
will not put ups with more
promises.
There is another reason for a
bold housing venture: No one
knows just how much uHemploy-
ment. even of a temporary kind,
may hit the country; or where
it will occur. All sorts of dis
locations are taking place, and
more are bound to take place
during the crucial next six
months. Until the factories have
had time to get back to their
proper work and raw materials
are forthcoming sufficient to en-
able industry to get into it's stride
there Will be a period of anxiety
for everybody. The building of
a large number of houses would
provide legitimate employment
to thousands-hundre of thou
sands of men who would be other
wise out of work. To provide
three hundred thousand houses
would employ four. hundred thou
sand men of the building and
allied trades and spur the furni-
ture and other household trades.
AS the present cost of building
material is more than double that
of the pre-war figure, and as
prices may in a few years go
down somewhat. no builder is in
clined to take all the risks. The
government is, therefore. making
its plans for a national house,
building project subsidized by the
state under an arrangement with
various local governments.
National aid for housing, both
as commendable employment
project and as a means of meet
ing the outspoken demands on
the part of masses of workers for
better conditions, is only one line
better conditions, is only one line
of state activity. There will be
a large extension of such activity
in other directions. What has
already been promised only fore
shadows other far-reaching en-
terprises intended to serve the
same purposes. Lands, forests,
farms, highways, transportation,
public education, social insurance
these are among the topics
which have left the academic
shades and have become live
practical issues.
He might have substituted Amer
"a" for Great Britain" and tn
acts he sets forthwould apply wit
lmost equal force. The housin
roblem is closely linked with socia
nrest. The hovel is, the breedin
lace of Bolshevism. The life of tn
alton is no better than it's home
fe. If large percentage of peo
lie live in filthy, unwhelesome sur
their habits will be filth
nd their society will be unwhole
ONE. The opposite is also true
food housing. pleasant homes an
ecent surroundings make for goo
itizenship. Bolshevism and content
tent are utter strangers, but conten
lent and proper home environmer
re boon companions.
We are hearing just now consider
bic about government loans fo
ouse-building. And why not, pray
he farmer who desires to improv
is farm or his living conditions o
he farm can have governmer
BAN on reasonable terms. Why nc
hen the working man? If one an
reaches socialism so also does til
ther, but as a matter of fact neithe
re socialistic. Both have thei
asis in sound finance and good bus
ess. The experiment is we'll wort
he trial. We have wasted so man
illions of dollars since the war be
an that we might put a few mi
ons into a well ordered housin
Ian, with bonds to cover the sam,
feeling that we have bee