Evening star., 1935-11-09
LOW-COST HOMES
DECLARED NEED
President of American Roll
ing Mill Co. Addresses In
vestment Bankers.

The great opportunity Of this age
Is to provide more and better homes
ut greatly reduced costs for the av-
erage American citizen, Charles r.
Hook, president Of the American
Rolling Mill Co., stated in an address
recently before the convention Of
Investment Bankers Association in
White Sulphur Springs. w. Va.
Every quarter century" Hook de-
clared, "a new major industry has,
through Individual initiative. been
conceived and developed, which has
provided our industrial system with
fresh impetus to carry us on to greater
development and an improved stand
ard of living. In my opinion, the
development Of an migrated housing
industry, properly organized for the
production of homes. to make the
advantages of low-cost mass produc-
tion available to the public, repre-
sents the greatest potential develop
ment of the times.
Mortgage Market Needed.
Coupled with the industrial pro-
duction Of homes there must be a
sound mortgage market organized on
q basis that will encourage home
ownership and which will properly
protect the interest of both the home
owner and those who provide the
capital.
II do not make this as q casual
observance. For more than year I
have been q member Of q group Of
business men known as the Committee
for Economic Recovery which has
made an intensive and exhaustive
study both in this country and in
England, of the entire field Of home
construction and home ownership. Mr..
Freed, chairman Of our committee,
spent the major portion Of the Sum-
mer studying the home building pro-
gram in England. The committee,
since its organization, has been con-
scientiously endeavoring to give those
In Government the benefit Of its best
thought with respect to what we be-
lieved to be the essentials Of economic
recovery, which means the re-employ-
ment Of men in private industry.
Last March the committee COM
pleted and made available to leaders
in Congress and the administration
q very complete analysis and sta
tistical study with respect to the back
log of manufactured goods waiting
for release. In commenting edi-
torially on March %, 1885, Mr.. Ray
mond Moley, editor Of Today. said,
and quote:
1.-The Committee for Economic Re-
covery has published privately an
extraordinary document describing
statistically the tremendous market
that exists in this country for the
products Of industry.
Here is the key to recovery. No ef-
fort, even the foregoing Of certain de-
sirable reforms, is too heavy a price
to pay for this market
THE reception accorded the March
report encouraged the committee to
make the intensive study Of the posi-
bilities in the home building fields
which, as a result Of the early studies
by the Durable Goods Industries Com
mittee and later studies by the Com
mittee for Economic Recovery, seemed
to offer the most immediate oppor-
tunity for the unemployment Of the
largest number of the emplorables.
Possibilities Not Needed.
During the past five years the field
OF home construction has been one Of
appealing possibilities, yet very little
of a really constructive nature has
been accomplished.
I'VE have all enjoyed the tremen.
dous social and economic benefits re-
sulting from the wider distribution
of goods, made possible by low-cost
mass production in other fields. AS
the situation exists today, we have no
tntegrated home building industry. but
rather q series of widely scattered,
unrelated and unco-ordinated opera
tions, and the high cost Of home own
ership is directly proportionate to the
methods employed. Lacking the or
ganization and facilities of controlled
production and modern merchandise
ing, the cost of home construction has
for many years followed an upward
trend, so that today the average ur-
ban family spends 80 cents or more
out of every dollar of its income for
shelter. |
Although we in America have good |
reason to feel proud Of our past ac-
complishments, we ought not to close |
our eyes to the experience of other |
countries. In England 1t has been |
rather generally admitted that the
building industry has proved to be the |
bellwether Of prosperity.
Estimates show that one-half Of |
the unemployment in England is at
directly or indirectly, to
the home building program. England,
with one-third Of our population and
q background Of 2,500,000 homes built
since the war, will build this year
about $4,000 dwelling units. Though
there recently has been an uptrend in
this country, at our present rate we
will only construct approximately co.
600 dwelling units this year, which, .on