Evening star., 1923-01-16
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

When has any economist boasted
of the thriftiness of a community as
proved by the fact that most of its
inhabitants rented their homes rather
than investing in them? When has a
landlord computed his rent at lower
rate than the interest value of the
investment, plus the annual depre-
citation as the building grows old and
plus the cost of running, heating and
| lighting it?
Washington is to celebrate Thrift
week soon, and one day will be de-
voted especially to the economy of
owning instead of renting. Aside
| from the convenience, efficiency and
comfort of occupying a building ex-
pressly planned for the purpose to
which it is put, the emphasis is TO be
laid upon the fact that no investor
knowingly cheats himself in COM
putting his rent rate on the interest
value of the money invested, as COM
pared with what he would get on
that amount if loaned on good Sc
curity. The owner, of course, gives
7,
fixes his rents at the outside margin.
That is why thrift is measured not by
the great number of renters, but by
the number of money-saving owners.
X X x X
From that standpoint there is no
more thriftless individual in Wash :
ington than Uncle Sam. He has
r. n
erecting his own home, with special
quarters for the Secretary of Com
merce, the Secretary of Labor and the
! Secretary of State, besides quarters
owned by the government for twenty
two bureaus of the Department OF
Agriculture Instead OF thriftily be-
coming his own landlord he persists
in paying out millions of dollars an
nually in rent receipts. Uncle Sam
can borrow capital for less than per
cent-yes, for less than 4 per cent
while other people have to pay from
6 to per cent for what they need
for building investments. The other
folks are clamoring for their own
buildings to stop the loss of high
rents Uncle Sam is timidly wait
ing for what? For building costs to
come down. When building costs
come down, rents will also come down
proportionately and then he will ind
no greater reason for building than
is apparent now. Rents take their
cue from building costs and always
will. The government gets it's loans
for about half what private lndi-
viduaIs do, but pays more for 1ts
rentals than careful private renters
pay. Hence the arguments for gov
ernment-owned department Buildings
are twice as potent as for private in
vestors and home owners. To COM
plete the needed government build
| ings will probably require four or five
years.
"Spare us from seeing the blue sky
converted into a billboard" is the cry
of the lovers of nature and the
beautiful Here comes an applica-
ton to the District Commissioners. on
behalf of an Englishman, who wants
to employ an aviator who can write
letters a mile in length with a smoke
pencil upon the blue sky while he
speeds 120 miles an hour. That the
application is in earnest is proved
by the fact that the sky-writing has
been done, and even in the same issue
of the news telling about the appli
cation there comes the story from the
California coast to the effect that a
! fog bound ship summoned a pilot by
writing with its powerful searchlight
| the word pilot" across the sky above
/ the fog.
| x X < X
I At a dinner given in honor of NJ.
Albert Thomas, director of the Inter
national Labor Organization of Eu-
rope, the president of the United
] States Chamber of Commerce, Mr..
julius H. Barnes, spoke in favor of
the chamber of commerce becoming
affiliated with the international labor
union. He disavowed any desire to
level down American labor to the
grade of that of Europe, but rather
favored helping to level up Euro
J pean labor conditions
! President Barnes added: 1T is with
| this idea that the Chamber of Com
merce of the United States is sert-
ously considering the advisability of
.participat ting. so that we may under
stand and influence comparative world
| industrial relations"