Evening star., 1944-05-13
By MARGARET NOVEL;.

A sensible, down to earth under
standing of what the average home
owner may expect for his postwar
home begins to emerge from the
glowing pictures which have been
painted during the last six months
1t would be difficult to find any
house today which does not suffer
in some way from broken down
equipment or lack of care. There is
little doubt that fixing up the frayed
edges of existing homes and putting
household equipment in working
order is going to be postwar first.
Men Of the home building in
dustry, who know by long expe-
rience what the public wants, what
the materials market can produce
and approximately what the labor
situation will be present an intel
ligent, practical procedure.
All Sections Affected.
Washington homes, at the end of
the war, will be sadly in need of re-
pair. In this respect they will be
like every other home in every other
town OF the United States. Despite
the increasing effort of every house.
holder to keep his property in good
order, he plays losing game which
accelerates quickly after the first
two years.
With many home owners in the
service, those at home too involved
with war work to attend to home
details, much of the upkeep has
fallen down entirely, or fallen onto
the shoulders of the "little woman"
who at best can only begin to I'M
derstand the regular schedule es-
sential to first rate structural up
keep.
With only a limited number of
workmen available for maintenance,
months elapse before servicemen
can get around to small repair jobs
with the result that minor breaks
become major ones rapidly. Lack
Of necessary repair parts to replace
worn out mechanical equipment has
resulted In bathrooms and laundries
being permanently "out of order"
Washing machines, refrigerators
vacuum cleaners and other house.
hold equipment have been side
stepped pending the time they may
be put in working condition again.
Reconversion Slow.
Much as we love to dream about
the wonderful new furniture, the
all-electric kitchen, the fool proof
heating and the glass walled rooms
which undoubtedly will be ours in
time, 1t is foolish to believe that
these things will be available when
the guns stop firing. 1t takes
months to get out the specifications
for new equipment, and many more
to retool to turn it out, and while
all of this is going on buyers have
to be educated to accept the new
products. Human beings change
their way Of living very slowly.
They buy what they are used to,
and what they know will work. They
prefer that the "other guy" waste
his money on the new gadgets that
have not yet been proved efficient,
With all of Americas 80 million
residence units crying for moderni-
cation and major repairs to main
tain their equity 1t is likely that
home owners will consider these
problems first. During the time it
will take to make the transition
from war to a peacetime economy
emphasis can, and should be, placed
on the modernization of existing
structures and the repair of present
equipment. Factories can immedi-
ately operate on pre-war schedule.
New parts will be available for the
equipment turned out In 1912.
Most important part of this pro-
gram is that it can get into opera
tion Immediately, employing return
ing labor as fast as it is available.
The result of this will be an increas-