, 1919-08-07

house the same principles of Standardization.
machine, factory and quantity production that
are employed by all other great industries.
Most experts agree that the real crux of the
industrial housing problem lies not in land cost,
taxes or interest rates, but In the house itself
the cost of construction. The investment in
building is anywhere from three to ten times the
cost of the land, and is therefore the dominant
item and the most potent factor in the entire
problem. 1t is all very well to eliminate the
waste In the other factors-waste of time, labor
or material-but If the productivity of human
labor and capital In construction can be increased
the result would be a real step toward the solu-
ton of the difficulty and the benefits of such an
economy would accrue to all parties involved.
'That the .ready-made' house will come event
ually is evident from the progress made. The
first experimental building designed to demon
strate the principle of Standardization and fac
tory production was successfully erected In 1909.
Since then the work of demonstration and de-
velopment has proceeded, with the general result
always pointing, in my judgment, to the sound
ness of the principles and their ultimate success.
The help we need ought to come from a gov
eminent research department established for that
purpose. This department would have to bear
the same relation to housing, which is commodity,
that the department of agriculture bears to wheat
or the bureau of mines to minerals. In other
words, the housing of the industrial army is as
important in peace as that of the munition work
ers in war times or the fighting units themselves.
And for these purposes the government spent
hundreds of millions of dollars-and established
a special department. 1t is a fair question wheth-
er the Importance of the problem today does not
Justify the establishment of a permanent bureau
of housing"
"What effect will this increased activity of the
lumberjack have on our lumber supply?' is an i'm
portant question.
The expectation of American lumber on the
scale likely to result from the European demand
for material will, unless accompanied by provi-
sion for regrowth, seriously deplete the supplies
needed by home Industries and impose. hardships
on the consuming public here, is the view of Henry
s. Graves, chief of the United States forest serv-
ice.
The department of agriculture has issued a
pamphlet by Colonel Graves warning the wood
using Industries, the lumbermen and all interested
In home supplies of forest products or foreign
trade in them, that the question OF lumber ex-
ports cannot safely be left to the care of itself.
The situation is especially critical, he points out,
with certain of our highest grade woods, such AS
ash, oak, hickory, yellow poplar and black walnut,
which are the support of important industries,
and With southern yellow pine, Of which the
main bulk of supply is approaching exhaustion
and which Is likely to be exported In large guam
titles to meet after-the-war demands.
The situation, Colonel Graves holds, is one of
ominous possibilities. 'Most of the leading in
dust.ial nations of the world" he says, whether
lightly wooded and dependent upon imports or
heavily wooded and exporters, are taking steps to
safeguard and develop their timber resources. The
United States alone appears to be content TO
build M a grent export trade without considering
the ultimate effect upon domestic timber re-
sources and their capacity in the future to supply
the home market"
Sound public policy does not, however. neces-
sarily demand the Encouragement of exports.