Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1937-02-12
Mass Production Houses
Coming, Like Automobile
Continued from Page One.)

so-called old-line building industries.
Even today very considerable part
of modern construction is an ESSEN
bly, job.
Every Day Is Moving-Day.
Nevertheless, this trend toward
mass production of houses will gath
er speed during the next few years.
The pressure is mounting. Families
are beginning to ponder as never be
fore a shocking fact: The budet dol
lar will buy more automobile than 1t
will buy house. That realization is
biting deep into consumer conscious
ness. Comparison of the worth you
get from handtooled tinkering and
the worth you get from an assembly
line will blast-home from their an ces-
trail ruts. Moreover, the average fam
ily's scale of values is radically shift
ing. People today are thoroughly sold
on utility, liveability, and freedom.
The coming generation may tend to
swap houses somewhat as they now
trade-in their automobiles for new
models.
Other sharp upheavels are plough
ing the ground for further prefabri-
eating. In the upper brackets of in
come, our better-to-do families in
these modern times are erecting fewer
castles. In today's era, ostentation and
vulgar display have lost their charm.
Fewer families crave to put up a
princely palace to make the tax-gath-
erer blink and to lure the criminal
elements. In the lower brackets there
is a growing clamor for higher stan
dards of livin-not at a bigger price
but at smaller price. BY this time,
the public we'll knows what it would
mean if house could be built in the
shop instead of on the lot. Housing
must i5ecome a mass production in
dustry
New Baby In Mass-PrOductiOn Family
The next blessed event in industry
should be the birth of the packaged
home-the home that is wrapped in
cellophane all ready to set up and oc-
cupy-the truly and fully prefabricat-
ed house From the very start, the
asking price of a good five-room
house (not including the LOTT ought
to be $4,000. To greater and greater
extent new homes will be made by the
modern machines of industry. They
will feature the new machinery of liv-
ing. Such houses will increase COM
fort and security, from the lightning
rod and insulation on the roof, to the
heater, cooler, and sprinkler system
in the basement. This home of the
future must be brought within reach
of the millions in order to be made
by the million.
Look at the Eother family items
which have gone into quantity produc
ton. Why can an average reader use
100 tin cans a year? Because a ma
chine is able to swing out 400 cans a.
minute. If you tried to roll your own
tin cans with hand-snips and solder
ing iron, cans would l-e in the jewelry
case and not on the food counter
Giant industries have put on the road
one automobile, say, per every six
or seven people Mass production has
improved quality, enlarged quantity,
and lowered costs Of the nations
transportation food, and clothing
Now, why not use mass production
to provide the nations shelter? From
my viewpoint, that question admits
of but one answer: "Give us the
'packaged' home"
Where Is Missing Link?
Why has prefabrication not yet
caught the public's Imagination The
missing link of ready-made homes to