The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-05-28

This little girl even finds room for
her dollie in one of the $500 trailers
Of the settlement near Portsmouth,
Va. Whole families can comfortably
occupy one of the new units. Play
grounds, schools and recreation GEN.
tiers have been built to accOmmo-
date the residents.
time occupations, the trailers will
find wheels again and serve vaga-
bondage or house migratory work.
ers, and the ground that had been
host to thriving city will once more
be an open field-no worse for wear.
For Portsmouth there will be no
bad effects, no ghost slums, no re-
grets."
In this project also is seen the
forerunner of vast field for trailers
in postwar Europe. With millions
of persons returning to ravaged cit
les, communities like Trailer City
will pop up to house them until per-
manent quarters can be construct
ed, he predicts. If American manu-
facturers can get sufficient mate
rails in time, it is not unlikely that
they will provide units for hundreds
ofytowns as big as Portsmouth's to
dot the European topography.
See New Trailer Use.
Peacetime uses for trailers will
also show the effects of their war
time use. Large groups of migra-
tory construction workers, moving
from one reconstruction job to an
other, will use trailers so they can
move their homes with them. Sea-
sonal farm workers will do the same
thing. Lighter and more powerful
automobiles will make road travel
more popular with statesmen and
professional men, and trailer homes
will permit them to keep their FAM
lilies together while they travel.
An upsurge in travel interest fol-
lowing wartime repression will en-
nance the normal market for trail
ers, too, and thousands of families
who are finding these mobile homes
satisfactory during the war will de-
eide to retain this type Of living.
The trailers that were moved into
Portsmouth are tributes to the man.
ufacturers' ingenuity, for they are
as sturdy and comfortable as pre-
war models despite sharp curtail-
ments in available materials.
The chief shortages-rubber for
tires and steel for under-carriages-
are not serious because the units
are placed on foundation blocks and
are immobilized for the duration Of
the war, unless they are to be
moved to another site after their
first assignment is filed.
However, shortages Of such basic
materials as masonic, plywood and
stainless steel have necessitated sub
situations. The Portsmouth trailers
have less than 275 pounds of steel,
only three pounds of copper, and
use homeosote in place of masonic.
The experimentation required by
these substitutions will pay real div
idends in the future, experts predict.
We've learned better ways to do
things" these experts say. 1--WE
now can save weight, add space and
increase comfort without increasing
cost. After year or two, when we
get supply of the new light metals
and plastics we'll produce trailers
that will be luxurious and practical
and at small cost"
Meanwhile, the Portsmouth prof.
ect is doing big war job. Incom-
ing workers pour into the project
every day, bringing their families
into new type of living experience.
Once in, they plan to stay.
"This kind of life," explains one
worker after five days in his trail
er, sis as much fun as camping and
a lot more comfortable.