The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-11-07
GET READY TO BUILD

The recession in the prices both of
labor and Of materials began several
months ago and still continues. De-
mands for new construction are going
up. Bradstreets compilations. week
" reports by such trade journals as
the American Lumberman, studies OF
the general situation by architects
and engineers, all imlpy that the re
sumption of building ought not to be
far ahead. Money for new enterprises
IS likely soon to be available once
more. Careful bankers have been IN
willing to make mortgage loans based
upon the inflated valuations of the
last three years: today. while they
are watching the descent In prices
and calculating where the new perma-
nent level will be found, they agree
that It win be higher than the level
OF 1913 but much lower than the dizzy
altitude of the years Immediately fol-
lowing the war.
As to the cost Of materials: The
peak advances for materials of every
kind made an average of 240 per
cent. BY the middle of the present
year the tendency to a general low
ering of rates had brought the cost
lof materials down to an average of
10 per cent over the pre-wwar figures,
and they have been declining ever
since that time. Contractors even
declare that lumber is back to the
1914 level. Concerns that in August,
1920 quoted reinforcing steel for CON
crete work at $1O5 ton offered pre-
ctseiy the same material in September
Of this year at $40 ard $50 ton. Bar
relen lime came down I per cent be-
tween April and July. last; wood lath
10 per cent. common brick IA per cent,
stucco board 16 per cent. A contrac-
tor now can shop around among his
bidders. Few manufacturers these
days maintain the take it or leave
It" attitude. Statesmen are anxious to
shade" their figures rather than risk
the loss of even small contract The
most astute student of the oscillations
OF prices cannot guess precisely where
the pendulum will come to rest after
the present backward swing. The es-
Inmates of 200 architects, engineers
and contractors the country over range
all the way from 80 per cent to 100
per cent above the 1913 level, and the
majority place the stationary point at
SO per cent This is a distinctly hope
full omen, indicating an enormous de-
cline from the high levels of 1919 and
1920 and the early arrival of condi-
tons manifestly favorable to the per-
son who wishes to build either home
or a business structure.
AS to labor: The peak advances In
the wages of labor in all the two-score
4rod ~ foIxy
| per cent. A conspicuous factor in the
present. situation is the continuing di-
luton of these excessive labor costs
Architects having analysed the cost
of all the labor entering into the erec-
ton OF a Notwithstanding not only
the labor on the job itself but the la
Dor required for the production of the
materials, in mining, numbering, man
ufacturing and delivering-conclude
that labor makes no less than SO per
cent of the total cost OF an average
construction. An engineering expert
employed in the Hoover survey of
waste in American industries finds
that far the greater part OF the 100
per cent by which he represents the
completed building must stand for la
Dor; the balance he apportions be-
tween the raw materials in their orig
inal state and the use of funds for
their development. He shows that
| three-fifths of the cost of a brick and
SIS per cent of the cost of steel must
be charged to direct labor. With 10
per cent added for indirect labor in
/ the form Of supervision and clerical
work, he reaches the same total as
does the architect and makes the en-
tire labor cost IS per cent. Now wages
are declining. No one expects them
| to go back to the rates paid In 1918.
Americans want labor in the building
trades and all other departments of
industry to be justly paid, and no one
denies the proposition that wages
should keep In ration with the cost of
living. AS an Illustration of the pre-
vailing conditions. the members of
such compact organization as the
plasterers' union. who last January
in Boston struck for an advance from
81 to s1.50 an hour and fought hard
to get It, are content today to work
for 80 cents an hour or less, and their
helpers are now receiving two-thirds
Of that sum. Also labor is more eff
! cient and is responding to that other
American demand that it shall render
a just days work for the compensa-
| tion 1t receives. Last season multifa-
rious jurisdtctional disputes between
the unions, the assignment Of un
skilled men to tasks requiring tech
meal efficiency, the general and gem
orally admitted practice Of slowing
down the gang to the speed of It's
least competent member, the frequent
recurrence OF petty strikes, and the
limitation of output that these tactics
caused. combined TO bring about an
increase In costs that competent In
vestigators place at $1,000 for every
/ $21. 900 Of outlay Tho unions, In self
defense. If for no other motive. tend
toward the abandonment of these poll
cies today. Owners now are paying
lower wages and getting better values
for their investments than at any time
IN recent years.
i Wisely. therefore may one get