Evening star., 1945-02-24


trucks could have accomplished IN
much less time all that was oelng
done bv that army of workers. HaV-
ing seen some of the ultramodern
machinery of Japan and some OF
It's streamlined industrial efficiency
I asked the reason for this reverslon
to primitive methods. The answer
was that the coolie labor was cheap
and that it was desirable to keep II
employed.
The American Federation of La
Dor has called upon Congress to
enact a housing program designed
to provide Is million new postwar
homes and jobs for 10 million work
ers during the 10-year period fol-
lowing the war. This program would
include good many things:
An amendment of FILA mortgage
insurance loans to reduce interest
rates, extension of amortization to
30 years and provision for suspend
ing payments when home buyer is
unemployed expansion of slum
clearance and the re-housing OF
100000 low-income families annual
ly; financial aid to municipalities
wishing to rebuild; continued price
control over building materials until
the danger of initiation passes; pro-
lection of veterans against profit
eering; encouragement of mutual
home ownership by wage earners
authorization to local housing au-
thorities to acquire permanent war
housing and remove temporary
housing as rapidly as possible; hous-
ing for loW-income farm families.
Excellent Program.
It's an excellent program on the
whole, but it leaves one wondering
whether the AFL proposes to have
it carried out by the horse and
buggy-or coolie and basket-meth-
ods of the past or in manner in
keeping with modern means of con-
struction. Great progress has been
made in developing new construc-
ton methods, but few of these have
been put to general use because of
the opposition of the building trades
unions.
Since the immediate effect of
these methods is to reduce the num-
Der Of workers required on a given
project, the resistance of organized
labor is not unnatural, even though
it is unwise. 1t is unwise in the
light Of experience, which demon
strates that labor-saving and cost
reducing methods do not result in
decreased employment in the long
run. Whatever works to put the
things that people need within their
reach at lower cost, works for ex-
panding production and more Jobs
for everybody.
There's a whole world to be re-
built when the war ends. The pros
pect for construction is Hmitless.
The carpenters, fathers, bricklayers,
plumbers, hodcarriers will come into
their oWn-unless they obstruct the
program by persistisg in the make
work policies of the past. Our coun-
try can have its share of the real
work to be done. We know how.
We pioneered in prefabrication be-
fore the war, though we failed to
put it to use.
Need Labor Leadership.
But ours is not the only country
that has learned modern industrial
methods. Some of these countries
Russia, for example-will be util-
izing what they've learned, whether
we do or not, and one day, unless
our building trades see the light
we may find ourselves playing a
secondary role in the worlds recon-
struction.
If it is too much to expect indi-
vidual workers to see this world pic
ture and accommodate themselves
to 1t, 1t Is not too much to expect
their national leaders to see it. The
AFL has its economists, its research