Evening star., 1934-09-10
JUDGING OF HOMES
TO START MONDAY
Entries Are Still Being Re-
ceived in The Stars
$1,000 Contest.
BY G. T. KELLOGG.

One week from today judges in The
Stars $1,000 Better Homes contest
will begin careful and thorough
study Of home improvements entered
in the competition.
When they have finished this job
the winners of cash prizes ranging
from $3.50 to SIS will be announced.
Entries will be received at The
Star up until midnight Saturday
night, and mailed entries postmarked
before this hour also will be eligible
The judging of improvements culm-
mates five months of intensive pub
licizing of the benefits of home
Improvements through The Stars
contest.
But the award of the prizes, while
important to those who will receive
them, is not the vital factor in the
campaign.
Even the Losers Win.
All contestants, whether they have
won any of the awards or merely
competed, have the satisfaction of
knowing they have made their homes
more livable, modernized them, and
have contributed to the upbuilding of
the community in which they live.
In addition, they have added their
share to achievement of the real aim
of the campaign the contest was
designed to stimulate-they have
given work to building tradesmen,
indirectly to supply producing work.
men, and this, in its turn, has helped
to drive away the depression.
The Star had all these things in
mind when, on April Is, it inaugu-
rated the Better Homes Contest. The
more than $1,000 in cash prizes, it
held, was a small price to pay for the
stimulation such a contest would give
to building trades-and, ultimately,
to all business.
The Star felt there were many
homes in the city and suburban areas
which had felt the effects of the de-
preston through neglect and lack of
repair. 1t was in an effort to mod
ernize these places, to beautify the
Nations Capital and to make its
homes more comfortable also that
eAA~ SOAVSoo Woo OO4AAANgCAs
U. S. Follows Suit.
Since the contest has been under
way the Federal Government has ar
rived at the same conclusions-that
cities may be beautifled and mod
ernized, at the same time giving en-
plCyment to men in the building and
supply trades over the country and
stimulating business in general.
Bankers, leaders Of industry and
hard-headed business men in Wash
ington as well as over the country
have agreed that the Federal Housing
Administration, established to carry
these opinions to the people in con-
crete form, has a larger opportunity
for aiding to "cure" the depression
than any other relief agency.
The F. H. A. is using the same ar
guments, the same logic to show that
home and property modernization can
bring about return to normal of all
business that The Stars contest has
used for the five months of its exist
ence.
Entry Blanks Available.
And, while the contest is drawing to
a close, the publicity campaign for
better homes which it inaugurated In
Washington and its suburbs is being
carried on here by a committee set
up under the newly established Fed
eral Housing Administration, as it is
being carried on in cities all over the
country by similar committees.
Improvements made this Summer
still may be entered in The Stars
contest in an effort to win one of the
cash prizes. Entry blanks and infor-
nation are available at The Star and
a note or telephone call to the Better
Homes Contest Editor will bring them.
Prizes are divided into two classes.
one for homes valued above $4,000
and another for homes valued at
$4,000 and under. In each class a
first prize Of $3.50; second, Sl0O, and
third, $50 is being offered, in addition
to four honorable mention awards of
$25. each. The Washington Board of
Trade is giving 500 for outstanding
landscaping improvements, and an
other 500 is offered the citizens
association whose members show the
greatest interest in the contest, meas
ured in terms of entries.