Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-13
BETTER HOMES MOVE
TO REACH WIDER FIELDS
,Tniue of Service Headed BY Hoover and
aided by National Figures Is
Cited in Statement.

agencies Of state colleges and national
agencies for improved health and hous-
ing, 1t should be possible, as part Of
the campaign, to show the ways in
which housing conditions Gel A most read
lily be improved.
Inxtructs Future Wives.
T. Even though most of the daugh-
tiers OF your community will eventu-
ally become homemakers, there may
as yet be no adequate instruction in
the public schools or elsewhere in
home economics and the art Of home
making, or such instruction may
reach only a small portion of the
girls in the community. The better
homes campaign, with the co-opera-
ton of parent-teachers' associations
and the school authorities, may slim
ulate extension of such instruction in
the public schools where needed, and,
where it appears advisable. may lead
to the construction of cottage TO
serve as a school practice house In
the art of homemaking. Instruction
in homemaking may be extended also
through Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls
and similar organizations.
s. There may be inadequate knowl-
edge of household management. bud
getting and household operations on
the part of the adult population. The
better homes campaign may provide
special instruction in these subjects,
and, if necessary, may lead to the es-
Enlistment OF continuous instruction
throughout the year, either in con-
junction with the home economics
teachers of public schools or in CO.
operation with the extension depart
ments of local or State colleges, or
under the auspices Of the local better
homes committee.
Surveys Home Needs.
g. The population of your ,commu-
nifty may be growing rapidly, and
there may be an actual shortage OF
houses at certain rentals. A survey
of this condition in cooperation with
the local chamber of commerce, man
ufacturers' association or other local
organization may lead to definite
prog1 am to cope with the SITUATION
and to provide satisfactory new
homes for the families which need
them.
10. There may be families in your
community in which the finer joys OF
family life are unknown; families In
which parents have forgotten how to
play with their children; where good
music is never shared by parents and
children together; where there are no
good books: where there is nothing
in the family life which would in
duce the children to spend their eve
nings at home; where there are no
common enterprises of interest to all
members of the family. The better
homes campaign can demonstrate the
play activities that will be interest
ing alike to parents and their chill
dren; can show how to develop music
and reading in the home; can provide
suggested lists of reading for parents
and children II the nucleus of the
home library: can show how to de-
veIop workshop and homecrafts
for the father and son, ways to con-
struct the home playground and the
development of handicrafts and other
forms of home art.
STRENGTHENS Character.
IL In your community, as in all
others, attention is always needed
upon the problem of character train
ing in the home. Many of the funda-
mental lessons in character develop
ment can be taught more effectively
in the home than they can in either of
the other two chief institutions OF
character building-the church and
the school. Since the son has quite
generally ceased to be apprenticed to
his father in industry. and since
daughters now spend less time in
household operations with their
mothers than formerly, attention to
such instruction has declined. Dis
cussion of this fundamental problem
Continued on Eighteenth Page.)