Evening star., 1946-08-28
Wyatt Seeks 10 Diver
Entire Production Of
Hardwood 10 Homes
BY The A.soeioisd Press.

HoIuWVVu IL nUlneS
BY the A..eeiaisd Press
The entire national output OF
hardwood flooring and millwork
will be earmarked for home
builders If Housing Expediter
Wilson Wyatt has his way, a
subordinate disclosed today.
This proposal and other suggested
controls on lumber were up for dis
cussion at meeting between hous-
ing officials and aides of John D.
Small, the civilian production ad-
miniStrator
Lumber, the most important
building material, was not covered
in sweeping series of new Gov
ernment construction controls an
nounced last night-including u
per cent cut in factory, store,
school and other nonresidential
building.
Shortages to Be Transferred.
Mr.. Wyatt predicted the new
actions will transfer the materials
shortage squeeze" from housing to
other construction and will help
builders complete thousands OF
partly finished homes before wine
ter sets in
Mr.. Small joined Mr.. wyatt in
announcing the actions. They had
disagreed on the program until Re-
conversion Chief John Steelman
stepped in. as arbiter,, Apparently
Mr.. Steelman's peacemaking failed
to cover lumber.
A housing official said Mr.. Wyatt
has been plugging for an order
which would reserve for home build
ers 100 per cent of hardwood floor
ing-beech, oak, hard maple, pecan
and birch--and all regular door
frames, window frames and other
millwork.
Some Controls Already Drastic.
Some of the new controls already
announced are almost that drastic.
Ninety Ave per cent OF all bathtubs,
80 per cent OF water closets and
lavatories, IS per cent OF gypsum
board and lath and IS per cent of
more than 40 other materials must
be set aside by manufacturers and
dealers for sale only to holders Of
veterans housing priorities.
This is effective September /, Mr..
Wyatt said, along witfla big Increase
in the list of building materials SUBJ
ject to priority control
In another action yesterday, Mr.
Wyatt delegated to OPA the job of
enforcing the maximum sales prices
OF new homes for veterans. He said
that OPA would be able to take ad-
vantage Of its 500 arear rent Offices
for the enforcing task.
Further. OPA also win have the
authority to revoke, deny or suspend
authorizations and priorities assist
ance to builders who violate the
maximum sales prices or fail to give
the required preference to veterans,
the housing chief said. He added:
Where criminal prosecution Is in
dicated, certification will be made to
the Attorney Generals Office"
Of1cials of the National Hous-
ing Agency described the priority
rulings as more important than the
cut In ronresidential construction.
The cut will show little effect for
about two months, they said, but
the priority and set-aside action
will increase Immediately the
amount of materials available for
home building.
These actions not only should
convince builders that they can
complete the structures that have
been started but encourage them to
plan for expanded production. Mr..
Wyatt said,
Home Builders Issue Warning.
The National Association Of Home
Builders In a statement warned
that unless materials flow quickly,
there will be 100000 or 300, 600 un-
completed houses standing around
this winter, and veterans won't be
any better off than today
The association president, Joseph
Meyerhoff of Baltimore, added that
mo amount of optimistic statements
can conceal the fact that the (hous-
|ing) program Is in perilous condi-
ton" The new moves, Mr.. Meyer
hoff said, follow the lines that
we have. been advocating all along"
The materials newly placed on the
housing priority list include:
Linoleum, rubber tile, asphalt and
felt-base floor coverings, cooking
stoves, heating stoves and space
heaters: metal cabinets, cutters and
downspouts, lighting fixtures, insect
screen, metal weather stripping, oil
burners and domestic stokers, plumb
ing fixture fittings, septic tanks,
steel joists, oil and water storage
tanks, water heaters, caulking lead,
copper water tubing, metallic cable,
residential size steel and wrought
iron pipe. stucco wire mesh, asbestos
cement siding, shingles. range boilers,
concrete reinforcing bars, finishing
lime, combustion controls for heat
ing and hot water, raceway electri-
cal conduit, structural shapes made
of steel or aluminium, bituminized-
fiber drain pipe and sewer pipe.
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