Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-14
NOW MY IDEA is THIS
Daily Talks 18th Thinking Phadelphians Subjects They
Knop Best
| building house today is fully double the

building house today Is fully double the
old figures.
1--WE arc now going through exactly what
the country experienced after the close of
the Civil War with one important difference
as I see It. The fifty years following the
close Of the Civil War were the greatest that
the world has ever known in the invention
and output Of labor saving machinery. This
made it possible to increase wages and at the
same time reduce prices because it did not
cost so much TO produce the material as be-
fore the labor saving machinery came into
general use. Whether or not there will be a
similar increase in invention after this war.
with Its correlatvc reduction in the cost OF
materials without the radical lowering OF
wages, cannot be said now, but there is
little indication of it at present
''WhilC the cost of labor and materials
has had this enormous advance, the cost of
the utilities has more than kept pace with
them. Thus the cost of water and sewerage
installation and of paving is now three times
what it was in 1914.
"There is one ray of light in the present
situation for those who hope for lower house
prices, and that is the fact that the cost Of
the ground has not increased so largely as
tho other factors which enter into building
construction. For this reason it is possible
to buiM house today to sell at an average
of about double the 1914 cost although the
prices Of the other clements show an average
increase OF about 120 per cent
Il Labor the Chief Factor
'"Thc raw materials for housethat is.
iu their unprcpnred state the stone in the
QuarrN the wood unfinished etc.-repre-
sent only about per cent Of the cost Of
the structure, The other 30 per cent is all
the cost Of labor in preparing the materials
and in putting them together.
The general economic level of values
averages about 20 per cent above the former
figures. In those things where labor saving
| machinery Is used. and 1t has therefore been
possible TO increase the output per man. the
raise during the last five years has been
below this average; but In all commodities
! wherein the human clement enters largely
the value above this average depends upon
the amount Of human labor consumed In the
| production Of the article. AS building is
practically all human labor, it follows that
! the general increase must be above rather
than below this level.
The Builders Problem
'"The problem now before the builders of
| Philadelphia is to find way in which to
| build small houses at price which people
| can afford to pay, when 1t is taken into con
sidcration that most incomes have shrunk
| materially since the close of the war. or
rather since the collapse Of prices in 1920.
With labor and material costs where they
now are, that is not easy of solution.
! 1.-THE normal demand of Philadelphia for
new houses to take care OF the growth Of
the city IL about 5000 houses year. Before
the war, for a period of about five years, we
were producing 1900 new houses annually
more than sufficient to take care of the in.
crease in population and with few to spare.
This year We will not get more than 1900
and the number produced in the years since
the war has generally been far below that
| figure.
''The. question naturally arises what be-
came Of the people who had to be housed
during this period of non production In
building? One Of the chief factors in the
solution of this was the fact that n 1915
there were 10000 vacant houses In the city
Out Of these, 10000 tcncmcuts have been
created in the last five years.
another thing is that the people demand
the best house that can be built. We have
made efforts TO lower the cost of houses by
eliminating or changing some Of the up to.
date features. but people will not buy these
houses; they have become accustomed to the
best and will not accept anything else. 1t Is
certain that all new houses must have all the
accommodations which prospective buyers
have come to look upon as necessities"