The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-21
WIVES QUITTING.
HOMES FOR
TRADES
startling Array of Figures ls
Presented at Conference
T. on Social Work.
By WILLIAM HARD.

present rapid march Of married
women out OF homes into mills and
factories were linked together to
day vthen in two separate ''gru1r
meetings Of the National Confer
ence OF Social Work startling
array OF figures on these two sub
3Acts WIS presented BY Miss viela
/. Paradise and Mtss Mary, N. win.
GLOW Of the Womsn's Bureau III
the Unit ID States Labor Depart.
mAnt and Wy Bleeclxer Marquette, OF
the Better Housing League. Of
Cincinnati, FOl1iO.
1.-TWO nnilrion married women In
the United states" Ba1d Miss Wins.
low. ARE NOW engaged in money.
earning occupations outside their
| homes. TheH number OF married
women In sIIEh occupations 10 In,
creasing ct amtitnr1enseiy more rapid
rate than IL tEAe total number Of Ill
the women ennaged In them.
I'm the ma D ufacturtng and me
chanical industries, tor instance
the total number OF an women
wage.earners Id the years from
1910 to 1880. increased only PER
cent. In those same years. h3V'
eyer, the nurnbeYg OF married women
employed In thoRe sanas industries
increased Il peit cent. Today ia
manufacturing arid mechanical IN
ly $4,000 married. woInen."
Every City slMrt Of Homes.
This revelation nv Miss WINSTON
regarding the present trend among
home-mAkers was accompanied by
an equally pesstnhstic statement
from Blocker Marquette regarding
the present prospects for the
physical ccnstruction\ OF homes.
Marquette. who IL Hnow assisting
in the building Of . garden city,
anthropic experiment by Mrs. Mary
Emery In Cincinnati, said.
Every large city ind the United
States 10 short Of homes. Building
costs today are as per- cent above
the level OF before the war. In the
last twelve months alone they have
increased 20 per cent.
mo one can measure the distress
which this abnormal situation in in.
flictng upon people in the loW.in.
come class. For several years now
IL has been next to impossible 20
build homes for really poor people.
To-day we have gone ON In this
bad development to an even more
alarming stage. It Ii becoming al.
most impossible to build. hofnGk
even for people of moderated reason.
able means. In our average Amer.
lean city the $4,000 or $5,0OQ home
10 becoming almost obSoleNe. II
cannot be built
For the last three years ve
have been fighting a losing hattie
In our efforts to get better homes
for the people we were tranaplec
down by the needs of the war
Since then we have made nolAreel
progress and on the contrary we
in fact, have gone backward"
New Loan Plan Offered.
Marquette added a calculation
which met the approval of hiE
hearers. He said:
Every lowincome family which
has to spend more than one week'E
income on one months rent 10
prospective victim OF social break.
down and a prospective candidate
for philanthropic relief at the cost
Of the city in which 1t lives"
Marquette's address was followed
by an immediate suggestion from
another housing authority on the
possible use Of United States postal
savings deposits for loans to home
builders.
"The United States Government. -
said Mrs. Edith Elmer Wood. OF
Cape May Courthouse, ~. j.,
should make loans to home-build
ers out of It's postal savings de-
posits In the manner already
adopted by Belgium and by New
Zealand.
"in Belgium there are 10000
families which now have homes
built on loans from the Belgian gov.
ernment's general savings bank.
In New Zealand one-tenth Of the
population has homes gained
through loans from postoffice funds.
Through developing a sound and
staying life for the family groups
OF it's population, the Dominion of
New Zealand has the lowest general
death rate and also the lowest In
FAINT death rate in the world"
Other Governments Aid.
Inquiry disclosed the fact that the
Canadian government also IL lend
ing money to its citizens for home
building, and that virtually every
other important government In the
world, either through national agen.
cies or through local municipal
agencies. has been driven into Civ.
ing public subsidies to private
homes, sometimes with good results
and sometimes with bad results.
THE general situation said q
social worker from the floor of the
conference today lis that the whole
civilized world is at It's wits end to
get an adequate supply Of homes in
which men and women can rear
families. We seem to be solving
every problem except the first one
on eArth-namely, shelter"