The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-10

A Plan to House u.
Warrington c. jan s-Grs., crease in tn. ponu,,,o,

Warrington. D. c., Jan. 8.-Great
corporations In every city to build
houses for 10 in groups Of At least
800. and to retain the management
and administration of those houses
- long - they last.
That II the solution Of the hous-
ing problem which II proposed by
John Ihlder, manager OF civic de-
velopment for the Chamber of Com
merce OF the Unitsd States. He
offers It % his personal opinion as
to what should be done. But about
100 OF the local chambers OF COM
merce have already fathered hous-
ing companies somewhat after this
fashion, and the national chamber
10 preparing to hold . series of
conferences. with Mr.. Ihlder as
consulting specialist, to determine
upon . national housing plan. So
it may be safely guessed that the
Chamber Of Commerce of the Unit
ed States will attempt to solve the
housing problem by applying big
business organization and efficiency
to it. ...
The move is significant. II seems
to be the first organized effort to
solve the housing problem in this
country. 1t may be taken a. the
effort Of American capital to meet
its responsibility in this regard.
The housing problem 10 world
wide. In every country that en-
gagged in the war. building of dwell
ings practically ceased for two to
four years. In England It was i'm
mediately recognized that private
capital was not competent to han
die the problem. It was neither
prepared nor willing to do any
thing adequate. Neither could the
British workmen pay the rents
which must be paid II capital II to
get its interest and profit. Yet
men and women are dying for lack
Of houses. The British government
decided that 1t was necessary to
save the British people even II
British capitalism suffered some
thing Of . setback in the process
Therefore the British government
proceeded to build houses. It did
build and 10 building them BY the
thousand. It is renting them fol
less than they are worth. The
measure il . measure Of state 20
cialism, of what Is commonly dub.
bed paternalism in this country
1t is q body blow to private cap.
ital. 1t seems to have been the
beginning Of = general process Of
specialization in England. But II
had to be done. Capital couldn't
do the work, SO government had t.
do It.
|. Government Houses.
The same thing was true in THU
country during the war. Dwellingl
for war workers simply had to b.
had, at once and at reasonable
prices. So government had to buili
them. But after the armistice the
government housing corporation
was quickly put out Of business
1t first demonstrated that house.
for workmen can be made attrac,
tive and can be grouped into pref.
ty villages, and that workmen aD'
preciate such houses.
This country does not face Sc
serious a postwar housing prob
lem as Great Britain. Yet it i.
more serious than you realize un
less you are hunting an apartment
We are about million and a quar-
ter short of the number of houses
we need in order to house our pop
ulation as well rs we did befor,
the war. This means that Their,
are at least four million more PEG
pie in the United States than VI
have comfortable housing room for
That is bad enough, but tn,
worst Of it is that nothing adequat,
is being done to remedy the situa
ton. Capital has not met tn,
emergency in this country, an!
more than 1t did in England. Ant
government has not even tried
The revulsion against government
ownerships, control and initiative
which followed the war, made tina
| impossible. We have therefor'
preserved intact our beloved sys
tenn Of private enterprise. but tn,
said enterprise in the buildin,
trades has not made itself con
spicuous except in the unsavor!
ways recently revealed in the New
York Investigations.
The Situation Today.
You think you see q good deal O
building going on. Then conside
these facts: For seven years be
fore the war We built An average o
100000 houses . year. In 1917 VI
built . good part Of this number
In 1918 We built hardly any. II
1919 We built about 10000. An.
in 1890 the total promises to b.
less than in 1919.
Consider that last sentence. Tn,
housing situation 80 far IL not get
ting better. It is getting worse
We are not failing to make up tn
shortage in houses: We are falling
to keep up with the normal in
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