Evening star., 1925-05-24
PEAK WAGES and MATERIAL COSTS
FACTORS IN HOUSING SITUATION
Effort to Supply Homes for U. S. Employees Not Halt
ed BY Lack of Loarable Funds-Higher
Salaries Greatly Needed.

optimistic when speaking of plans that
have been considered for wholesale
housing Of Government employees. They
recognize the difficulties Of such a
| movement, with location anywhere IN
the city proper.
1t may be within the possibilities
| that such a movement might be car
ried to a successful conclusion when
a location some distance from the city
proper has been chosen. The chances
even then would seem to be much
brighter when such a movement was
| undertaken with the aid of master
builder who buys his supplies In great
quantities. his properties in the sub
, urban line by the acre rather than by
the square foot and whose employment
Of skilled and unskilled labor is con-
tinuous and large.
Chief Reason Ignored.
Government workers have received
a comparatively small advance in sal
aries to meet the added cost Of every
| thing they must have, including, OF
able to save to such an extent as they
| once did. But even at that nearly all
the larger uptown banks carry adVer-
tisements urging deposits Of part OF
the semi-monthly pay, and stay open
after hours that they may receive the
| savings.
Five bankers made answer to the
two queries: do Government en-
| ployes save?" and do the men do
their share of the saving?" Four
held that rs to 80 per cent of their
savers were women or girls and one
that the men outnumbered the
| women. The argument of the four
| was that the man clerks did not have
enough salary to enable them to meet
expenses and accumulate; that the
women were closer, that they were
always considering the rainy day"
| when perhaps they would be sepa-
rated from the job; that many of the
women were from out of town, and
that while they would hold on to the
job as long as possible, they did not
contemplate residence in this city for
any length of time.
Many Have Homes.
Many old-time employees of the Gov
ernment have their homes fully paid
! for; others have been paying for
years and have years to go before
they can read their title clear.
One real difficulty is in getting a
sufficient nest egg for the initial pay
ment, after which the next knot in
| the wood will be found to be the up
keep. Original cost is frequently low
compared with upkeep. which in
creases as the passing years take
heavy toll from buildings none too
we'll constructed in the first place.
Moreover. it is the record of cities
| that population is continuously shift
| ing and as domiciles become less and
| less attractive, or neighborhoods
change, property becomes less and
| less valuable and the home owner
may live to regret his investment.
Not infrequently the home buyer
on the installment plan tires of the
constant, apparently never-ending
payments. His chief trouble seems
| to come from neglect to provide for
the maturity of the second trust, and
this does not lie at the door of the
Government employe more than at
| eral.
Does Home Buying Pay?
Arguments. and telling ones at that,
! have been advanced against the own.
your home doctrine. One of the
| leading financial promoters Of great
office and manufacturing structures
| contends II is better to rent in the
| long run than to own property.
Government employees. if paid wages
| on a scale with other wage or salary
| earners, would be the better able to
solve their own housing problems. in a
manner satisfactory to themselves at
| least. Relief in this direction is even
more promising than any eleemosynary
| contemplationS.
| The Women Speculate.
| "I see," said the old-time trader to
the old-time broker, that you have
quite a number of woman customers
| in VOur trading rooms
| "I'll say So" said the old-time
broker, "and they are very welcome
Yes, 1 know" he continued, lin the
olden days we did not want their trade
took umbrage when it was given and
| got rid of the customer as soon as pos
| Sible.
| That time goes back to the days
| when women did not know how to
trade. When they were poor losers
used various arguments against their
luck and not infrequently wanted
| their money back-when it was gone.
| Now 1t is entirely different. Woman
| traders have learned that if they would