Evening star., 1939-10-28
Living Standards
Due for Recovery,
West Believes
Building and Loon
Executive Says Decade
Will Retrieve Ground

Signs in the business skies give
basis for the belief that the incom-
ing decade will retrieve most of the
ground in the American standard
of living which began to be lost so
rapidly 10 years ago this last week.
George w. West, Atlanta, presi-
dent of the United States Building
and Loan League. said that the
happiest anniversary the Nation
has yet had of the great market
crash of october "a, 1929, came this
year. when it was smothered by
good news from the employment
and pay roll statsticlans.
The league chief cited a few fig
ures from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics to show how the ground
work is being laid for people to buy
and furnish more homes, which he
contends are the backbone of a
country's standard of living.
Figures on Recovery.
among lIle IlguIeS are.
l. An increase in total estimated
agricultural employment of
1,110,0O0, comparing August, 1899,
with August, 1898.
2. An increase of $10,50O,000, or
6,5 per cent, in factory pay rolls for
the month of August, which was
double the customary August in
crease.
3. Rise of employment in the
long laggard durable goods indus
tries to 84.2 per cent of the 1923-25
level as compared with only 724
per cent year ago.
4. Rise of pay rolls in the durable
goods industries to 81.7 per cent
of the 1923-25 level, as compared
with 63.1 per cent year ago.
This does not appear to be one
of those flash-in-t -the-pan revivals
in business, but rather a steady re-
sponse to the demands which have
developed through some of the lean
years, plus a stimulus directly at
tributable to the war abroad and
antlcipations of an expansion of
markets because of it." said Mr..
West. Home building is one of the
industries where we see decided
gains sufficient to make the year the
best since 1929 in residential con-
tracts awarded.
Other Employment Gains.
meanwhile the dealers in furni-
ture and lumber and building ma
terials have also reported gains in
employment, while wholesalers in
home furnishings all the way from
electrical appliances to linens and
upholstery report sales anywhere
from one-fourth to one-half as large
again as year ago. All this means
that much of the new money pour
ing through the veins of industries
Is being spent on homes. Coupled
with it is the fact that more people
are acquiring homes of their own
this year than for a decade, and they
are able to buy more reasonably
priced, better planned homes than
possible 10 years ago, when the con-
struction industry was over shooting
its market by $4,000 and $1,000 on
every house built.
THE increasing expenditure on
homes means that the standard of
American living will improve in the
1940s, just as it declined in the 193Os.
Where the national income is shriv-
cling, family's shelter is the first
to feel the pinch in the budget, of
the three great necessities, food,
clothing and shelter. Food cannot
be drastically cut without injuries
to health. Clothing is tied up with
the psychology of people about their
appearance and their ability to get
or hold job, but less and less can
be spent on the home over period
OF years without jeopardizing the
safety of the shelter. 1t does mean
a lower standard of living, however,
to be constantly decreasing expendi-
lures on the home This coming dec
ade, if it fulfills its current promise
OF having few years of almost, if
not certain, boom business activity,
will see return to the higher stand
ard of living as far as shelter goes"