Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-10-14
Currier Ache
Symp+oma+ic
Of Deeper III
There d Be No Autos if
Principle Held in Past
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

THE Currier case in Detroit,
starting as a mere headache.
is symptomatic of a deeper ILL
ness OF an outwardly robust
country
In this painful little affair, a
man who makes pre-fabricated
houses. using Go labor, and
sells them for less than the cost
of dwellings made the old
fashioned way saving much time
also in the process, has been
denied a contract for 300 homes
for defense workers although his
bid was 100000 under the next
higher one.
The AFL objects not only 10
the employment Of Go work.
men i'm The building trades, but
to the Touchdown or come-apart
or mail-order house in principle.
This is by no means the first
time that this organization has
prevented the economies that
might have been enjoyed not
only by the government in public
housing projects but by lndlvid-
ualS
Although inadequate and bad
housing have been one Of the
great criticisms Of the American
way under the old deal, even
President Roosevelt and his coll
leagues in the New Order have
met strong resistance from the
AL on the ground that the
adoption Of new economical
methods would bring economy at
the expense Of the AL building
trades WOE kcrs
This is an understandable re-
action on their part but u is
lust AS easy to understand the
resentment Of the person who
finds himself required 10 pay,
say twice the possible minimum
price for now home 50 that ,
-lz1 - n fFfifffftSt. ~ wnrN-r1ours
may be provided for unnecessary
workmen, or go without ne"
dwelling.
II THIS principle had been re-
i Spccted in times past there
would be no automobiles on our
roads today because, be II re-
membered. the union Of team
sters. stablemen and helpers
was one OF the strongest in the
land AZ The time when the first
little mechanical iunebugs went
clicking and clsnking over the
streets.
They call themselves the
transfers but they have very
little 10 do with the horse traf
fic and. IN some areas. claim and
10 a large extent exercise urls
diciion over the handling Of any
thing that rolls on wheels other
than those Of the railroads
The harness makers. whose
calling also was practically OBJ
liberated by the automobile.
probably suffered more than the
transfers
They prnhahlA- haAe=a Union
bui # 50 / know nothing Of II
and. III may be that they. 100,
found new areas Of employment
IN changing world
The printers doubtless viewed
WITH great alarm the develop
ment of the linotype and its
mechanical derivations but there
are vastly more men employed
IN tho printing trades today than
In the hand-set era
The clerks who wrote by hand
in hooks in the DAYS before the
mechanical writer or typing ma
chine are incomparahly outnum-
hered by the millions OF office
help
DUT our carpenters and paint.
~ ers IN particular Of the
building trades have resisted
progress and. rather oddly. il is
the tcamSters. who gained so
much from the mechanization
Of transport. 10 whom they look
for their chief support on the
secondary picket line in oppos-
ing the adoption of efficient
methods OF creating new homes.
Whether this type of house
viii nc durable there are some
reasonable doubts. but that is
something 10 be worked out he
tween The builder and the buyer
as happened IN the development
of The automobile
il was tho buyer who paid for
the gradual and by now. great
Improvement Of tho car IN which
he now glidcs in quiet comfort
where once nc iolted in noisy
agony Of body and soul
Re paid for tho engineers mis-
takes and tho So-called guar
antcc which accompanied his
purchase was hooking writ
devised by cynical lawyers 10
snare him.
Probably the buyer Of The new
package goods home will 90
through similar experience,
but that is not the particular
business of tho building trades
workers Of the ALL and The
teamStcrs They who have
gained so much and have be-
come a power IN the land. able
10 collect import duties al state
lines and city borders and 10
boycott goods in transit. should
he tho last 10 uphold this ban
on progress.