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REAL ESTATE
AND
(Copyright, 1917, by The Record and Guide Co.)
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1917
ORGANIZATION TO FURTHER THE ADVANCEMENT
OF THE BUILDING INDUSTRY FORMED
Will Cooperate With Existing Associations
A T the rooms of the Building Material
-*»â– Exchange, Woolworth Building, last
Monday, a permanent organization was
formed, having as its purpose the ad¬
vancement of the building industry, for
the general welfare of New York City.
The work of the association will be wide
in scope, and will cover a field not hith¬
erto attempted, except spasmodically, by
various individuals and associations
identified with building. It is not the
purpose of the new association to inter¬
fere in any way with individual organiza¬
tions, but it has been felt for some time
that if these various interests could co¬
operate, to a far greater extent than is at
present possible, much good would
result.
Various Organizations Included.
With this idea in mind the membership
of the new association will include rep¬
resentatives from various organizations
whose interests are in specific branches
of the building industry, but without sup¬
planting them. Through cooperation
with similar organizations in other cities,
and with the National, State and city
government, improved conditions affect¬
ing materials, labor, transportation, mort¬
gage loans, real estate and other sub¬
jects relating to building, can be obtained,
and legislation suggested which should
better conditions generally.
The temporarily depressed state of the
building industry in Greater New York
prompted a recent mass meeting in the
office of the President of the Borough
of Manhattan. Out of this meeting a
general committee and various sub-com¬
mittees were appointed to study the sub¬
ject from the several important angles of
supply and demand of housing and other
buildings, supply and demand of build¬
ing loan and permanent mortgage money,
supply and demand of labor, supply and
cost of materials, and the bearing which
the building laws and ordinances may
have on the subject.
Sub-Committees in Accord.
The various sub-committees as of one
accord have realized that their studies,
conclusions and recommendations would
be in vain unless a well-planned, modern
and permanent association was immedi¬
ately formed to carry out the sugges¬
tions and findings, through a whole¬
hearted cooperation between all the in¬
terests engaged in this great industry,
be they builders, financial institutions,
capitalists, architects, general contractors,
sub-contractors, material manufacturers
or others.
The business men in a trade can no
more proceed intelligently without joint
study, mutual education and united ef¬
fort than an individual firm can progress
without conferences between the mem¬
bers of the firm or the heads of depart¬
ments. By the same token it is just as
essential that an industry composed of
a number of trades and interests be
amalgamated and co-ordinated.
It is through a concerted study of
problems bringing about a well balanced
perspective _ of the relationship of one
trade and interest to the other, and a
standing together of all trades and in-
tf^rests for the adoption and carrying out
of wise recommendations and policies,
that a true economic progress is to be
made in the building industry.
A S the outcome of the mass meet-
â– **• ing held several weeks ago in
the office of Borough President
Alarks, a permanent organization
was formed this week, having as
its object the general welfare of
the building industry. Cooperation
with existing associations and in¬
dividuals is the desire of those
back of the project and in no way
will the new association conflict
with the older organizations, but
rather it is designed that help be
given in those matters which are
really beyond their scope and
province. As already announced
in the Record and Guide similar
movements have been started in
several cities throughout the coun-
tr}'. The ultimate object is to cre¬
ate a national organization which
will be in touch with conditions
throughout the country and be of
service not only to those interest¬
ed in every branch of the building
trade, but also to the federal au¬
thorities, should occasions arise.
Important as were the disclosures
brought to light in the recent mass
meeting ?nd in the deliberations of
the respective committees regarding
the present times upon which we have
fallen, these serve merely to accent
the outstanding fact that each one of
the various conditions now somewhat
a-kilter is sure to return to normal
and then we shall be confronted by the
question as to whether or not this
great building industry will be in shape
to meet the demands that will be made
upon it.
If there had been in past years and
still existed an amalgamated association
such as has just been formed, there
would not have been need for the re¬
cent mass meeting: there would have
been no confusing and dissimilar beliefs
as to the causes of the momentarily de¬
pressed state; there would have been
no placing, by respective groups, of the
entire blame, one on the prices of ma¬
terials, one on the high wages demand¬
ed by labor, one on the disinclination
of the money interests to advance loans,
one on transportation congestion, or on
Government priority demands.
Function of Organization.
On the contrary, the organization,
through its respective committees, bu¬
reaus and experts, would have known
the true situation with respect to each
stage of the past years. It would have
recorded and would have published cor¬
rect statements regarding the true facts
and all interests including the special
buying public of the building trades,
would have maintained a true concep¬
tion of the inter-related conditions.
Each trade would have been assigned
its proper station in the business bat¬
tle, would have been told what course
to pursue, over-supply of construction
in some directions would have been
controlled and the under-supply in other
directions would have been brought up
to standard.
The fundamental ills in the building
business existed long bef'ore the pres¬
ent war and have only been made more
graphic and more unbearable by the
war. Many other industries within past
years have gone through just such ex¬
perience and each year has seen some
new great industry added to those
which have organized and formed per¬
manent organizations, each with a won¬
derful machinery for the upbuilding of
the trade
"From experience and observation in
organizing other trades," said Franz
Neilson at the meeting, "it is funda¬
mental that the new association should
have as its keynote the object of sell¬
ing the building idea. The more people
understand the building idea, the more
the timid capitalist learns of the true
economy of building now as against
waiting for the future, the more help
he knows he can get from an organiza¬
tion in working out his building policies
and plans, the more intelligent inves¬
tors there will be in our field and the
more intelligent will be the extension
of our activities.
Maintain Public Confidence.
"If we can foster legitimate increase
in demand for our output, if we can
develop cooperative planning and exe¬
cution of various methods leading to
this result and if we can encourage the
harmonious and intelligent relations be¬
tween the various interests, we will in¬
deed go a long way towards establish¬
ing the industry in the highest confi¬
dence of the public and maintaining it
as a vehicle for our future solidity and
prosperity.
"VVe should be an intensively active
organization with executive and active
heads in our various bureaus. We should
reach the buying public with building
facts, we should reach supplying indus¬
tries with a true knowledge cf our de¬
mands, both present and prospective,
and we should give to our own several
divisions true pictures of what each can
profitably do and what it would be un¬
profitable or unwise to undertake.
Qualifications of Officers.
"Our organization should have a
president who is disinterested, or per¬
haps we should say who is interested
intensely but commanding the confi¬
dence of the greatest number. We
should have vice-presidents represent¬
ing the largest interests. There should
be a general manager and bureau secre¬
taries ; an executive committee should
be made up of preferably a small com¬
pact set of men of ability and resource¬
fulness who can work in effective team-
play and without being cumbersome; a
board of directors or representatives
from each of all the interests, no mat¬
ter how small, yet with interests repre¬
sented by members of the board in pro¬
portion to the number of individuals
and firms engaged in the interests, due
regard to be had to the importance of
the respective interests.
"The association should engage in re¬
search work and should collect and dis¬
seminate accurate building information,
getting it officially, authoritatively and
interestingly before the public and the
trades and interests taking up the in¬
dustry."
Many of the leading industries were
represented at the meeting last Monday,
including building material supplies.
(Continued on page 644.)
RECORD AND GUIDE: IS I.N ITS FIFTIEl H VEAR OF CONTINUOUS PUBLICATION.