Evening star., 1947-11-23
Shortage Of Materials
Threatens Campaign
For Home BUILDING
Ry the kssoeioisd Press

b the A&Soeioffd Press
NEW YORK, Nov. 22-Shortages
OF certain essential materials are
threatening to hamstring Americas
home building campaign.
Builders in various sections OF the !
country are reporting gray" mar
kets springing up-closely resen-
] bling the notorious black markets Of
| the immediate postwar period.
In Minneapolis, Mayor Hubert
! Humphrey today asked the Justice
Department to send Federal Bureau
| of Investigation agents to investi-
gate reports of boarding and black
marketing of critical building ma
terials.
| These rumors are so persistent"
| said the Mayor, that they may
have q basis Of fact. I intend to
| And out.
! There's hardly a square inch Of
warehouse space available in Min
neapolis today. Something must be I
! in them"
Some shortages have become so
| fantastic that one of the largest
housing projects in New York re-
Gently was opened for occupancy |
with no doors on bathrooms or
closets.
Shortage of Nails.
The National Association of Home
Builders, completing a survey of /
strategic materials, reports "a really |
I; dangerous shortage of nails"
The New York Journal of Com /
merce says the shortage of nails is
| becoming so alarming that some
authorities fear 1t may force vir-
tual shutdown of building activi-
| ties ."
/ The National Committee on Hous-
| ing reports that lumber dealers are
short Of millwork everywhere ."
The Western Pine Association
lists orders for lumber running
close to 100,000,0O0 board feet in
excess Of production at 81 lumber
mills for the first 10 months of the
/ year. This equals about per cent
Of total production.
Field Comments.
! The effect of these shortages on
construction jobs throughout the
country Is indicated in comments
from the field made in connection
with survey conducted by the Dow
; Service, New York building reports
organization. These comments in
clude:
J AUGUSTA, ME.-"Building ac-I
tiyitv is low. Lack of materials is the
/ cause"
! DAYTON, OHIO.-"The only re-
| tardants to record breaking activity
are shortages of gypsum lath, gal
vanized and cast iron soil pipe and
, some electrical wiring accessories"
! ST. PAUL, MINN.-"Local short
age persist in . rocklath, plumb
: ing pipes and fixtures, wiring and
/ electrical fixtures"
; GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.-"Ma-
terial shortage retards competition.
! LINCOLN, NEBR.-"Building in
dustry is expected to thrive particu-
larly as materials become more
readily available"
AUSTIN, TEX-"Building ma
terial yards are -hesitant about
] quoting prices except for immediate
delivery out of whatever stock is
on hand"
; RALEIGH, N. C.-"Construction
volume is as high as local supplies
! Of material and labor will permit"
With some areas short of certain
types of material which are plenti-
! full elsewhere, distribution appears
to be at fault. Fred II. Ludwig,
president of the National Commit
tee on Housing, blames the general
shortage of millwork primarily on
the lack of box cars to transport
: much needed lumber to the manu-
facturers."
! Like steel production" he says,
! "the production of pine mills is re-
ported near an all-time high. The
demand for lumber is wider and
greater Therefore 1t trickles more
slowly to the millwork manufacture
ers."
I AS for nails, Mr. Ludwig declared
! In an interview that retail and
wholesale dealers in Eastern States
/ have no nails. but gray market op-
orators are offering from $4,000 to-
/ 100000 kegs at fantastic prices run
ming from s7.70 to s14 keg."
OPA Regime Effect.
! Irving S. Olds, chairman of the
board of the U. S. Steel Corp, Of
fered an interesting explanation for
7! the scarcity of nails in the course
/ of q recent news conference. He
said many manufacturers scrapped
their nail making machinery during
the OPA's regime when they were
unable to obtain prices for nails
that would allow them profit on
that part of their business. He said
OPA policy had determined profits
on an over all" picture even though
the profits resulted from wholly un-
related operations of company
producing diversified lines.
Mr.. Ludwig ascribes the present
1 diversion of nails into gray market
channels to a practice of manufac-
sturers paying for scrap metal in
nails instead of in cash with scrap
metal dealers marketing the nails.
Another source. he believes, lies in
defunct house prefabricators, who,
being forced to close down, are now
marketing their warehouse stores
at high prices.