Evening star., 1919-02-16

. !.
Mbor-saeilE house should be within
reseh of the working woman. -ss.s.s
Ihe male committees have not iG-
mefed the womans point of view.
'Ihey consider that her Kitchen VIM
dow must be. placed so that she. can 3
see the children playing hi the gar (.
den ana SO that she does not stand In <
her own light while .c0oking They
FOR men) that the draining board
should be on the left hand side Of the
sink, They dislike a sunk we'll for
the door mat because 1t barbors dustsg
women object rather to its contains
ing puddle Of water. They know
mat cupboard doors should not be
placed SO that granny. sitting by the
nfe, mas TO move every time a meal Y
is made ready, They know that rannx
cupboards make a comfortable house.
out say that houses built during The
war were often capboarui@ss for want
of tim her,
English people. both men and e,cnn-
en-, want some things that Anne F: cana,
don't care about. They li!.a their front
garden rallied OFF from the road, and
prefer fence Or wall that cannot be
seen through. They like backyard
wall, too. The housing committees
realize that these barriers cos a good
deal and think that householders
might be willing to give them up ii,
The money saved could be spent on,
n me tho house ,s N9 one in ENGLAND wants
i.
90 not wish SO strongly for a whole ]
house to Themselves e.; 90 the Eng n
llsh. but IL they. itye in what the re-
port calls "fatted houses" they like
tnese 70 beIoniy two stories high.
NO one, or hardly ahy ono, wants GEN.,
tfal heating, or q C3fnync.s wash house
shared by several fiat; o. houses. The
English ideal working nf..n's house is,
Always the English country cottage,
SeiI-contained, not overlooked by ne' gl-
fr,r, 4 Al. K
warm weather, with Garden Of its
own, and room for fowls or a pig. The
town dweller tries to get as near this
as possible and sometimes sacrifices
good deal in the way of comfost to
an unattainable ideal The new houses
maysdo something TO change his rs crast
or fathef her tastes, for in this matter
women are more progressive than
men.
There is oine respect in which work.
h'g men can help or hinder hoasing
REFORM enormously. We have been
tod tfat the cost of building is one-s
thlrd OF it charges for labor. The re-
naming two-thirds allows OF various
economies attainable by standardszing
httings. taking advantage of the con-
tours OF site, using materials ob-
tainabie locally, choosing sites near,
roads or convenient to river or rai,.
transport. But how shall we econornize
IN labor: Hardly by reducing wages 3
II builders and carpenters have wages.
much reduced below the present scale
they cannot live in the houses they
build.
The Scottish housing report saws
,hat the number of bricks laid by a.
Iaporer IN ten hours may vary from
$50 to 1000, and seems to attribute.
the variation to degrees of skill But
II appears that Loco bricks day was'
once common thing, and that now
the trade Union concerned expects the
number to be about 400 If this is one
OF me trade union customs to be re-
stored after the war. then every brict
cottage will take twice as long in
pu1idins as II need, and the brick work
Will therefore cost m;.ch more than IL
this 4o0-brick custom" were allowed
10 lapse. Americans will remember
row workmen have been brought over
from the United States at more than;
twice the English wage To do woYk
IN London, and how contractors have
round II paid them TO give the bigger
wage 10 the quicker workman II
should he possible for Covcr., r,s-.,4
marking on ii large scheme O: IN
GuStrlal housing to obt in some ,ax--
auoa OF this clStom for the Dur. ose
of Gutckening and cheapeniiis building.
mere ~ no time now TO discuss the,
hiddie-ciass housing problem. How
many thousands of families are now
HNing in houses built in the latte.
hait OF the nineteenth centryo They,
are only habitabIe il cared for bS-s
large stan os industrious servan,s.
ihe rooms TOO high 10 warm and TOO
costly TO light account for proror-
tioh OF space small compared with in
tefmfdabie passages and Alp-like
staircases. There are attics and tscre
are easements Water has TO be ear
RED upstairs and downstairs; coal
must be carried from remote ceii,,r-t
age skylightSs almost inacSessl hle,
must De cleaned; windows are so high
tf1at putting UP new curtains recu yes i
mountaineer's head and an acrobat's
skin with VepladderS. The household
lnen is Kept ON the third floor in q
paiatial press, but must be aired su d
basement kitchen Everything tina
can be'made of tarnishable metal is 20
made. everything on which dust could
ran Is arranged 20 harhor it,
Middle class Engiishwonen are
tired OF living in houses that take all
their time aad then often look rse-
lec'ed, But t;l the 300 600 o., }}e
million or million working class
houses are built. the "well-ofr' class
es must wait with what patience they
can muster. Fortunately they have
an instinct for hoinc-making, nut
thar acts both ways, for The man
Whom they make comfortable ~ an
intolerab!e house can hardly bc con-
Vlneed that It's architect should srni
hanged and its builder beheaded
,topl right, 1919, b. Edward Marshsll)