Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-10-06
BUILDING TO BE
REVIVED AGAIN
BY CHICAGOANS
Cheaper Wages Cause Capt.
talists to Feel Safe in Erect
ing New Structures.
NO BIG DROP IN LABOR
Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger.
- - - Eu-s1-r

and Philadelphia Public Ledger. 4S
BY c. .. EVANS.
CHICAGO, Oct G.-Pick and hammer
are telling that a $1O,OOO,OOO structure is
sOoR-to be erected in the downtown dis
trict and tell also that ghost which
has frequented hat region and paid visits
throughout the whole of Chicago these
many months has been laid. 1t is not
merely that the process of wrecking the
old Grand Pacific Hotel has begun and
that the Illinois Merchants Trust Com
pany. cOmbinat ton of three large banks.
viii soon house itself in new structure,
but that the great building problem In
this city is close to solution.
| That enterprise has typified everything
here in the building line-costly material
costly labor. combination of employer,
emplOye and material man in the various
tredes. The new apparent certainty
| that the construction will 20 forward
means a pretty thorough change, and the
tools Of the workman will sing the prom
| Use of Judge Landis for mis- comprehen-
sive decision and the cracking of his whip
around the heads of schemers and evil
doors.
Throughout the city now the resistance
of the unions to the reduction in wages,
represented by 81 per hour for carpenters
in place of S1.25. is rapidly melting. One
| of the most authoritative men in the in
| dustry Of erecting and managing build
| ings expressed himself today as con-
verted from Il deeply respondent state
of mind to one of strong hope.
The workers who have been preventing
themselves from earning a living have
cause equally with the capitalist for
satisfaction in this turn of affairs. Nor
is there any cost plus in this under
taking. 1t is a matter of good stiff prices
for the work clearly stated in contract
form, the builders to take their own
chances as to profit or loss.
The projectors of this undertaking are
among the most sagacious business men
of Chicago, but they have been the OBJ
jects of worry not unmixed with SYM
pathy on the part of observers who have
feared that they would construct their
buildings on attic costs and before It
was done would find they were getting
/ basement rents. They foresaw people
| pointing at this structure some years
hence and saying, "NO, it is not yielding
an income because it was built in high
times One may predict that that re-
mark will never be made, for if any
! thing was ever studied with care this
/ problem has been. Moreover tests in ad-
vance have disclosed the willingness of
4 tenants to pay high figures for their
quarters. The shortage of Office space
in this city is truly distressing and rents
( generally are not going down, but up.
I With the present scarcity and the prob
ability that there will be before the struc-
ture has lived very long "A great revival
in business, the position Of this project
! seems pretty secure.
The construction will mean great
deal for those directly interested and
still more for the city at large. 1t viii
be 4 leader. And into this building viii
go an extraordinary representation Of
the business of the countrywide bank
deposits. trusteesships of estates on
large scale lands. railroads. manufac-
lures. oil wells and re6neries with the
normal aggregation Of miscellaneous in
tcrests.
Chicago always has been a battlefield
of emplouer and employe. especial in
the building trades The outcome in this
case viii be an example to many in that
and other lines Labor has declined
somewhat in the past few months. but
those who have studied the statistics
/ have learned that lat OF. advancing slow
~ wher- price advances, moves down
with { lCal slowness when prices are de-
cliniTc. 1t IS likely. therefore. that for
some years to come wages viii remain
high compared witch the rrewar figures.
and enterprise can not stop altogether for
that reason.
The heavy stroke that has been given
TO corrupt union leaders and crooked
employers and material men by the dis
closures in this city is Ioosening wages
and material costs al around. and there
are unquestionably better times coming
in that connection.
Wages on the railroads are now noted
by our best authorities as the greatest
obstacles TO general adjustment of costs.
AS one put ii today. the men running
the trains are getting from a third to
half more than the workers in the towns
through when these trains pass. The
railroads. the same commentator re-
marked. are now seemingly ruled on the
one side by the Government and on the
other side D. the unions. With a mil
l'on and a half TO two million men
working for these companies, this is
matter of great importance to business.
Wages must come down there before
business can get an impulse from cheap
er transportation A Judge Lands
ought to he put on the job-Copyright
1921 nv pu1Tic Ledger COm0aDN-