The sun., 1919-07-23
X-RAYSON PRICE Or |
LUMBER AND BRICK
Sellers Deny Profiteering In
Advance Of 800 Per Cent.
in Building Material.
PLANNING MILLS BLAMED
Housing Investigators Get
Opinions, but Find No Real
Remedy for Conditions.
PLANNING MILLS BLAMED

The Joint Legislative Committee On
Housing, Of which Senator Charles @
Lockwood Is chairman. turned It's x-rays
on building materials and sky high
building material prices ut the City Hall
yesterday. The Joint Committee Of the
Mayors Committee on Rent Profiteer-
ing and the Committee on General We'll
fare of the Board of Aldermen viii
tackle the same Job on Friday, under
the guidance Of Samuel Unternyer.
Abram I. Elkus, chairman OF the Recon-
struction Commission, whose arm was
broken recently In n fall from horse.
assisted in the examination for the leg
islative committee.
witnesses, lumber and brick men.
were unanimous In declaring that high
prices are not the result of any arrange
ments or agreements among members
of any associations They are high.
they said, because labor. transportation
and everything else 10 high.
Everett l. Barnard, vioe-president OF
the Church z. Gates Company, dealers
in lumber and building materials, said
that just at present his company 10 fur
nlshins lumber for ten buildings.
whereas before the war the number was
ten times that amount"
There 10 o constant procession OF
troubles that prevent that very neces-
sary speed in building nowadays, he
said. and generally speaking they are
labor troubles"
II do not think / should go very
deeply into this" Mr.. Barnard SAID.
because 1 only know this from hearsay
job progresses first one man and then
another. one group and then another
group. want an increase, and the builder
frequently has to make UP the differ
ence.''
Builders are changing their methods.
no explained, and are now trying to
place their orders with the mill
Big Advance Not Warranted.
Asked IL increased cost of wages
among Southern mill hands warranted
the increase OF the cost OF lumber 800
per cent. Mr.. Barnard replied: mo,
don't think II warrants 1t at all. The
increase In lumber on that particular
item is due to the fact that the mills
are over sold and are putting on this
enormous price because they can get it."
IT think" he added, ~ the retailers
in this city felt safe to organise they
could do something to get the mill prices
down"
"Howg' asked Mr.. Elkus
by moral suasion," was the reply.
William K. Hammond, a brick manu-
facturer with a plant at Duchess juno
ton and an ONCE at IS West F1fty-sec-
ond street. said he preferred to sell to
dealers rather than to builders. ''in pur-
suance of my experience of losses in
dealing with people not reliable to deal
with" He explained that the selling
prices for brick put out at different
plants are the same because the cost 10
the same.
There is no difference" he said. "A
brick Is a brick"
How is It that your price is exactly
the same as the other ffty-nine In the
business he was asked.
Well, I may say II is something like
the coal mans way OF doing II. We md
that our costs are so much. We md out
what our costs are, and the costs being
about the same we have a way OF speak
Ing to each other and finding out what
our costs are. and we say we must sell
for 80 much We don't 'hx prices
may say we began this during the war
at the direction OF the War Service
Board"
Even the Towing Costs Increase.
Mr.. Hammond said that In 1914, before
the war. prices or hard brick delivered
at the wharf were 1878 per 1000, and
to-day they are SIS a thousand The
high cost of labor. fuel. oats, haying.
towing are responsible. he said. 1t cost
sixteen cents a thousand for towing in
1916. he said, and now II costs nifty
cents.
Mr.. Hammond said his production or
dinarily was 100000 at his yards.
and last year IT was 2,22s.000. 1t was
100000 in 1914. One of his plants,
with a capacity OF 100000 bricks. has
~ Ia ~