Evening star., 1919-02-23
CONGRESS PLANS STEPS TO MAKE
HOME EASY FOR LABOR
Kenyon Bill Creates Commission to Inves-
tigate Industrial Housing and Report
Findings Next Season.

3
tackiing this problem. including those
OF Brazil and Argentine. Even dur
ing the war the governments of Euro
pean nations have been advancing
along these lines. In Great Britain
alone the government has aided in
dustrial workers in the construction
OF 100000 houses, and these are per-
manent homes.
War Brought Emergency Relief.
Under the spur of war necessity to
meet the need of shipbuilding and
manufacturing munitions the United
States government indeed undertook
the construction of many large hous-
ing projects, approIriating upward of
S10o, 100000 for this purpose. But in
| most cases these were of temporary
character, intended to meet the emer-
gency, and the goveTnment is at pres
idly as possible.
! The proponents of government aid
in industrial housing do not propose
that the government shall build houses
and give them to the, workers, or even
that 1t shall actNas landlord and rent
them. What they do propose is that
the government shall aid the workers
| to build homes for themselves In this
they have the backing of many think
ing business men who realize the val
| ue to their industries in the matter
of permanent employees if they can
employ home owners. The American
Federation of Labor also is strongly
| in favor of such plan
AS a general proposition. the lend
ing OF money in small amounts to
persons of moderate means to build
| houses is on the decrease in this
country, according to witnesses ap-
pearing for the Senate committee,
! r. a "a NJ inv
blocks bringing greater returns and
requiring less watching. During
| the war there has been a serious halt
| in the building of small homes suited
for industrial workers in this coun-
/ try, except in the case of the govern
ment housing project. This is due
largely to the great increase in the
, cost of materials and the scarcity of
! labor. The country is in arrears in
the matter of home construction. The
governments helping hand to make
up these arrears is all the more need
ed now.
Figures From Last Census
| Considerable light is shed ton the
housing situation in this country by
the hgures in the last census on home
owning, taken in 1910. it is shown
that in the United States proper there
were 20,255.55 homes; that there
were 17,S05,S ,S45 dwellings: that there
were 9,083.711 owned homes and
10,697,S95 rented homes, with no re-
ports on 1912 as to ownership
OF the owned homes, 5.9s4,2s4 were
| free of membranes, and 2931695
were lncumbered with mortgages or
loans of some kind. The percentage of
rented homes in the cities was far
greater than the percentage of rented
farm homes OF the farm homes. GIG
! per cent were owned and 3S.4 per
cent were rented; in the case ,af all
other homes, only 3S.4 per cent were
owned and 62.s per centwere rented.
In congested areas such as New
York, Chicago, Boston and Phladel-
phia the percentage of rented homes
to owned homes is very great. For in
stance, the number of homes in New
York is given at 1.026,S27 and Of
these Ss4,616 are rented and only
115,9T5 are owned. Those owned with
out membranes numbered less than
$4,000.
In the District of oflColumbia there
is a large proportion of rented homes.
/ The figures given show that at the
/ last census there were 1873 owned
homes and 51.so7 rented
Acute Need Is Widespread. ].
In the larger cities abroad as well
as in this country the question of
cheap and sanitary dwellings for
workingmen has in many cases be-
come acute. The erection of houses
by capitalists as an investment has
| rarely proved adequate to meet the
/ situation. In foreign nations an In
vestigation of the subject shows that
national, state and local housing COM
| missions, societies for the promotion
and erection of homes for Industrial
/ workers have been tried out and have
not met the situation. Systematic
government regulation. stimulation
and financial assistance have finally
been resorted to. The question OF
housing Industrial workers has been
one OF great interest in Europe for
many years. In fact, international
housing congresses have been held in
Europe since 1889, when the first was
held in Parts. The last Of these
meetings took place at The Hague
In 1913. before the outbreak OF tho
war.
In general way the method OF
granting government adm European
countries falls into three main class-
es. First, the building Of homes dt-