Evening star., 1922-12-31
ny COL. CHARLES KELLER, U.S.A.
Engineer Commissioner. District OF
Columbia.

Being human, most city off1cielS are
anxious to please and to be well thought
of by their clientele, the public. which.
being also human and of infinitely va
ried humanity, has a constant multi
plicity of grievances. To explain. cor
rect or end these grievances is the
never ending task of those who. like my
self. are charged with the responsibility
of administering the affairs OF large
cities. and 1t is natural. therefore, that
we should seek by study to learn what
are the principal causes of dissatls1ac-
tion. real or fancied. so that our efforts
to help or to avoid them may be more
intelligently directed.
Among the most active causes of irri-
tation to our people and of trouble to us
are the generally torn-up condition OF
our streets and the dirt and the dls-
order existing in so many places, caused
by the wide prevalence and abnormaiiy
large amount of building. We are. OF
course gratified by these evidences OF
prosperous growth. but. like Arnold
Bennett. 1 feel that Washington will be
a fine city if We ever get it finished: and
W
Commissioner. l have been moved TO IN :
quire when Washington will be- II nor
finished, al any rate so nearly coIipie'e''
in proportion to actual needS as 10
allay most Of the troubles that ansTt
the wayfarer and TO permit my able
assistants of all degrees to draw an oc-
Ca Sional quiet breath.
Gives Views ON Building.
Partly, therefore. from unselfish con-
Germ both for my employers. the people
of WASHINGTON. and for my loyal aSSo-
ciates of the District government ana
partly from the selfish but natural nope
for somewhat less laborious days and
nights. I have been specializing about
this question of building and trying 10
figure when it is likely to come to an
end. As will be seen hereafter. was
quite willing to have my analysis prove
that building activity here had passed
it's peak and would hereafter decline
However. in spite of this preference. a
correct picture of future probabilities
was really what I sought so that II
finally became necessary to modify my
original assumptions and TO adopt more
correct bases for my conclusions.
Because il may be interesting to
follow my steps and to see how the
search for the best obta1nabie 1acts
finally led to conclusion somewhat
unwelcome to some, ] am setting
down the whole story and not merely
SlNlHS lIe IdSlS ao AiiiesA'-
veloped.
Market Saturation Seen.
1t is, of course, also of interest to
many of the residents of Washington,
particularly those who are paying
high rents to arrive at some reliable
conclusion as to the time when reliel
from our familiar and vexatious hous-
ing shortage is likely to be expert
enced.
that is visible in practically every
part of the city. new houses rising
in solid rows and large apartments on
every favorahly situated spot, the
statement that the market for new
homes is approaching the point OF
saturation is often made.
Many Squares Built Solid.
Merely as an illustration of the
growth of the city in recent years
the following blocks, selected at ran
dom. were naked. unimproved land in
1916 and have been solidly built up
since that time: 34th. Rodman and
Quebec streets in square 2O63: ldaho
avenue in square 1912: Newark street
in square 1914: Porter street IN
in SQUARE aO6S: Wisconsin avenue
Wacomb and Newark streets lr
snnares 1918 and 1919: 29th street In
SQUARES 2069 and 20S3: Newark @ ane
AIacomb streets in squares 2o's, Eooo
aoS1 and 2Os2. All of the preceding
are in or near Cleveland Park. 1r
Columbia Heights. squares 2s4l &c
$3.50 Inclusive. have been solidly bull,
mn on four sides. 26 squares OF lof
hiocks in, all In Brightwood ParE
squares 1890 to 1896. $3.50 and $40:
are practically solid. and 25 or more
squares have also recently oeei
Tbese are merely illustrative OF the
situation. but they are sufhclently
scattered to picture the CROWN ina
has taken place. These squares. since
1916. have been convertssdi, si,,s sror.' or asar
ravines. covered sometimes with ma,
tive forests, into solid masses OF
houses.
steam shovel Vital.
Incidentally. this list and our gen
r., knowledge of what has gone OF
IN >Petworth. Brightwood and othel
localities where the ground Is natur
ally rough leads US to ~onoer no"
h;sb rents would have mounted hat
not that putting. noisy, smoke-pTo
ducine tool of the present-day pu1iu
or the steam shovel. been ready to az
i i,: ,n mart in leveling hills and fillinf
ho,loWs-such as for years here II
Wa shinrton served to retard the eS
mansion of the city beyond its hm!tef
lowlands.
obviously such a grading operation
as we have this year witnessed on TN
west side of connecticut avenue op
nosite the Zoo would have been too
slow and too costly to permit ever
the boldest of speculative builders
to contemplate 1t as commercia
possibility. and. in any event, III
effect in relieving the present con
gestion would have been correspond
ingly remote.
Homes Available In 1916.
So far. apparently, no effort ha!
heen made by any one to learn thu
exact extent to which our housing
needs have really been met. We can
however. arrive at a conclusion pos
sessing a reasonable degree OF &C
curacy, and it is for this purpos'
that this article is now written.
In 1916 there was an abundance O.
living accommodations in Washing
ton. This is proved by the fact tina
rentable houses and apartments wer'
then numerous. 1t is difficult to esti
mate how great this surplus was. ant
for the purpose of this article W.
shall ignore. this factor and assume
that the supply and demand fol
homes was exactly balanced at thu
opening of 1916. This error is on tn
safe side, since our attempt Is to III
the earliest date when housing short
age will be at an end.
1880 Dwellings Erected.
The records Of the inspector O
buildings of the District of Columbii
show that 1880 dwellings and 1s-
l hull T,y1v 1
1915, to June 80, 1922. divided by ifs
cal years as follows:
DWELLINGS AND APARTMENT HOUSES