Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-07
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Two Ways Of suildIns = House: One
With Complaints First Hand and
the Other Rslaysd - Advan.
tasss Of the Country Towns
for Mechanics
by SARAH d. LOWRIE

L who works at his trade when there
Is job to be done In his part OF the
country. or II no house is to be wired or
engine installed he does the more expert re.
pair work in one or another Of the village
garages, or IL there is a hurry call for
plumbing. which the two village plumbers
are too busy to All. he ia available; or later
on in the summer, when the full tide OF
city excursionists is on, he can be got for
extra hours by the distracted hotel men to
drive motorcar to and from the distant
railroad station.
There is actually no time Of the year in
which he cannot find q Job that requires
journey Of his home. His daughter is now
a trained nurse earning top salary; his
eldest son is nn electrician employed in one
of the bigger cities. and his two younger
children are finishing high school. His wife
ant garden and her mother for company
when the family are away. Both Of these
Industrious. agreeable people have had q
good start in life. Tho man was his fathers
assistant. and his father, was a prosperous
family was the daughter Of music teacher.
She is now better off and with a more as.
sured provision for her future than her par.
ents had.
In the country town in which they live
tucTc 10 uO sOCidi ulHereUCe DetWeeH tHelE
family and the Doctors or minister's or chief
merchants. Their children bid fair to be
better of and more expert than they. but
along special lines. That is they will con-
tinue to specialize If tn, live in the larger
cities, where variety Of Jobs are less easy
to come by.
T THINK for the purpose Of the good, all.
L around American workman the country
town. with chances in the outlying and
nearby country towns. has far greater ad.
vantage than the city II he is able and
willing to yary his occupation along the
same general line. Fortunately the unions
organized in the country towns in such a
way that they can dictate the number Of
men in any one trade or in any one job.
!! say fortunately because however much
benefit the city trades uniOnist may get out
of the Thou shafts and thou shalt nots"
of the unions. he would be ruined in the
country towns by those same safeguards.
For instance. on the new house where the
mechanician- -garageman plumber was work.
ing, there were number Of carpenters who
varied their labor as stonemasons and then
as painters. The head workman Of each job
!. e., carpentry. stone masonry, painting and
stuck to his particular work.
but the head builder shufled the others about
to suit the urgency of the case. He was
able to build a house and do everything
the. electricity and papering and fine cabinet.
making with the same twenty. five men EN-.
ployed continuously for six months. The
wages were the highest along any Of the
lines involved-city wages. The work was
we'll and solidly done under. that one builder.
who was also his own foreman Of each
separate division. Twenty five families had
4 good support for u little over half year.
with money saved against a slack time. The
,wner came in direct contact with the work.
A..
way, and when the furniture was moved In
and put in place, no one OF the twenty five
nen who had seen the thing through but was
and in a curious sense critically
responsible of the final look Of the rooms.
THIS, think, is the natural and just way
L for capital and labor to combine. 1t
helps human relationship and Is a mutual
benefit and recognizable partnership Of
achievement. It is the way most Of the
original houses in this country we're built in
he days of our great -grandfathers and
and even of some Of our fathers
in the newer parts Of the country. And
hose houses were better built and had more
Individuality, and in way more character
mason was not just any stonemason; he was
he stonemason.
l met an old man about this new house up
n the country, for instance, who was laying
he bricks of the terrace 'Outside the dining
.oom for the new breakfast room. He was
very old and quite opinionated. but exceed
ngly intelligent and interested in doing his
lob, because he had been the man to build
he original chimneys in the old part Of the
louse nearly forty years ngo.
He was full of reasons and tales as to why
hose chimneys now needed pointing up ut
he top and round the hearths. and he was
very particular and exigent in doing that
work himself.
What miracle of coincidence could bring
% ones house in Philadelphia the same
mortar from cellar to roof thirty or forty
years before?
THE losing the human contacts out of the
l. work We do or have done for us has only
one advantage: we do not hear the alterca.
tions or have to listen to the temperamental
complaints of the employees who build and
make for us homes: we leave that to hired
20 -betweens who are supposed not to bother
us with particulars. .|
| always thought the woman who could
employ steward or expert housekeeper to
listen to the cook when she had grievance
was let out of much wear and tear but I
suppose some one has to listen to the stew
nrd and the housckeeper when they are
and have grievance that
needs soothing ear or disciplinary touch.
so that the employer gets 1t anyway--either
through head domestic or
first hand from the chap that does the potato
peeling.
Just as the city man who is paying n
builder and an architect to make him com.
Portable in house has to hear of the DELAYS
due to strikes and broken contracts and all
the things that make house building in town
and near town so mysteriously discouraging
an undertaking.
II we cannot rub ring like Aladdin and
wish wish and see the thing built and
ready for us out on the lawn the very next
instant blinds up, curtains hung and the
kitchen fire boiling the kettle, why, then.
greatly prefer the country town way, no
matter il Jones lumbago and Smiths having
twins at home do break into the smooth
process of completion and enter into ones
days disappontments.
I'd rather be halted by Jones' lumbaro
and Smiths twins than by Lewis coal strike
and Gompers' matchmakcrs' union. In
short, I'd rather know my neighbor and EN-.
ploy him than be n stranger In my new
house until all the clever. Industrious or
lazy makcshift chaps who made it have
taken up their tools and gone their ways,