The New York herald., 1921-12-29
Untermyer's Building Plan.

employer and employee in the build
ing trades from fighting. 1t is whether
it will get the building costs on a
basis where capital will naturally
seek investment. in new construction
because when the structures are put
up and offered to the public either
for sale or for rent the public will
gladly and eagerly close the bargain
at the price.
As we see the Untermyer plan to
avoid another great strike in the
building trades it will not build
enough houses and it will not build
cheaper houses, for the reason that
1t does not 60 to the heart of the
matter. which Is the whole labor cost
of new construction from top to bot
tom, from the first hour of work to
the last hour of work every day the
men are on the job, and for every
dollar of wage that is paid whether
on regular scale or as bonus or
whatever it may be.
Mr.. UNTERMYER proposes that un-
der certain conditions the employees
shall continue to work during 1922
on the 1921 scale, including the extra
81 day which was granted last May.
II, however. standards Of efficiency
are not maintained by the labor en-
co cod in q no ~ cI,Ior foId or oJooe
the dollar shall come off subject to
arbitration.
But before the extra dollar was
added in May the 1921 scale was
already too high, very much too high,
to invite capital into building in
vestment on safe basis or to Permit
the construction of houses to be
rented at reasonable rates. The ex-
ira dollar was not added because the
Builders thought a resumption of ac-
tivity could possibly follow in their
industry under such burdensome
labor costs. On the contrary, they
knew it could not.
The extra dollar was paid to escape
having incompleted construction in.
volving tens of millions of dollars
tied up indefinitely. 1t was bad bust.
ness to pay too much for getting work
done, but it was worse business to let
the buildings stand half finished and
useless, with interest, taxes and other
charges running heavily against the
properties into which the millions
had been put but which could not be
made to earn a cent until the build.
ings were completed and ready for
use. So the builders and investors
submitted to the holdup merely to get
their properties out of the hands of
the workers and to put them to earn
ing something.
Mr.. UNTERMYER's theory is that un-
der his arrangement the workers
would give the best that was in them
so as to hang on to the extra dollar
they had been getting since last May.
In this way, while the var imitation
wage scale, extra dollar and all,
stayed up, the labor cost Of building
houses. through increased efficiency,
actually would go down. But the
hard fact, with which Mr.. USTER.
MYER expects his theory to work in
bharness, is that the employer could
better afford to go on paying the ex-
ira dollar IL he got only 81 Of square
return for it than he could afford to
cut it off when he was getting only
so cents or 20 cents or so cents of re.
turn on every one of the several dol
lars he paid as the regular wage. He
would at least be getting an even re-
turn on some of his outlay. But IL
he cut that off he would be getting
an even return on none OF It.
II the employee is giving only four
dollars of work for eight dollars OF
pay on the regular wage scale he
might elect to give one dollar more
of work for the one dollar more OF
extra pay under the Untermyer plan
I " iiViu hlS pay anu hiS Jbbs bu'
what is there in that plan to make
him give eight dollars of work for
eight dollars of pay on the regular
scale? Nothing at all, as we see t.
He could fall down utterly on his
Job and yet hold his war inflated
wage scale.
Until workers in the building
trades do give an even dollar of work
for every dollar of pay, the So, 81 and
SO regular scale as we'll as the 81
extra. there is not chance that CAPT.
tai will go into building investments
so largely. or anywhere near so
largely. as Is REQUIRED by the public's
welfare and comfort and pocket.
About the only thing that is sure
Is that the old houses built In the
days of cheap costs will go on max
ing enormous profits in rentals based
on the excessive cost OF new construc-
ton. while the public clamors in vain