Evening star., 1946-04-28
Guide for
Veterans
By Moi.Thomos IA. Mol


This county's veterans housing
problem boils down to two things
lack of mateials to build houses
with and lac of men to do the
building.
Housing authorities are trying tt
get the PREDICTION of materials
started and rograms have beer
worked out wich are supposed te
do the job. b let's forget about
the materials light now and look
at the lack of killed building men.
Well over 100000 veterans oi
World War IIalready are back ir
clvvies. A fewmillion more will be
out soon. Nav of these ex-service
people don't klow what they want
to do or whee they're going te
point their anlitions. Gen. Brad.
ley told me tn, other day the Vet
erans' Administration expects that
more than 100000 vets either don't
have jobs to p back to or don't
want to go bak to the jobs they
had.
That means several million men
are undecided IS to just how they
plan to make long-range living
Maybe part oi the answer lies in
the housing inustry.
The industry is going to be de-
veloping in a arge way from now
on. We're supposed to get started
on the building of 2,700,0Q0 housing
units by the ed of next year, ac-
cording to Wbon Wyatt, housing
expediter.
There's a disagreement as to
when all thest units will be COM
pleted, but whI they are a-building
commercial obstruction will not be
started unless It's absolutely essen
tial. AS muchavailable building as
possible will bechanneled into home
building.
So after thesl 2, 700 900 home units
are ready for occupancy there'll still
be considerable more building to
be done.
0VpVU NcH framing.
The housing people in Washing
ton estimated $4,000 men in the
United Sntes are learning to build
houses. They're apprentice trainees
learning low to become journeymen
Many of them are veterans.
But tfrse same housing people
also estirate that the construction
leeds 10000 more appren-
tlces-ane here are some of the
building rades which need them
painting, bricklaying, carpentering
plasterin. plumbing, tile setting
stone citing. There are many
others.
A veteln who wants to learn any
one of th building trades under the
apprenticeship program gets a
couple nice breaks. Normally
young mn have to be between the
ages of 8 and %, or thereabouts
to be eliible for apprentice train
ing unde the watchful eye of the
trade urons. For x-servicemen
those ag, limitations are forgotten
Credit aften is given for related
skills pichd up in the service. This
shortenshe duration of the training.
Go to our local USES Office for
list of Establishments ir your area
giving APPRENTICE training in the
building rades. You also can get
the infor1ation from building trade
unions tlostly American Fedora
ton of Labor or direct from
Aailable Manpower.
The biggest source of manpower
availablego the apprentice-training
service ism World War II veterans
Wyatt an the Departemnt of Labor
estimate least 100000 apprentices
are needd now to provide the
necessary nanpower.
How NTH money would you make
if you gotin apprenticeship in, say,
the carpntry trade? Probably
Somewherearound rs cents an hour
at the stat, depending upon the
locality inwhich you worked. ,As
your apprenticeship progressed, the
hourly wag rate would go up until
during thelast six months of your
Apprenticeship, you'd be getting
about 81 36ln hour. When you be-
come a lurneyman "a trained
worker) yu'd be worth around
S165 an hor.
The amoht you'd be getting dur
ing the firsicouple of years of your
apprenticeslp may not seem like
a lot of mofy. But you're entitled
in addition,to the subsistence al
lowance of s. (without dependents)
or $50 (Witf dependents) provided
under the Chill .apprentice-tr train
ing program.
That subsistence allowance should
make your weekly pay check heavy
enough to gritty you. OF course
the allowanceplus your apprentice
ship wage cast exceed the $1.65 an
hour journFman gets.
I'm told blythe apprentice train
ing service tht the building trades
industry is Fry well equipped to
handle apprntice training under
the CT bill Sup. There's a reason
why that's in1ortant and here it is