Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 99, no. 2548: Articles]: January 13, 1917

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REAL ESTATE AKD NEW YORK, JANUARY 13, 1917 PROBLEM OF HOUSING INDUSTRIAL WORKERS Duty of Employer of Labor to Concern Himself About Conditions Under Which Workmen Live By LAWRENCE VEILLER, Secretary National Housing Association PART ONE. IT is unnecessary for me to do more than merely refer to the conditions that prevail today in many industrial towns in this country. They are too well known and have been too often described to require extended comment. Speaking generally, it may be said that the great majority of workers in those towns live in squalid and sordid surroundings, in homes that are not beautiful, and many of which do not have the basic elements of civilized life. These conditions are the natural con¬ sequence of our respect in this country for "laissez faire" principles, for the rights of the individual, expressed so of¬ ten in the statement that the conditions in a man's home are no business of his employer. ~ Until 1916 the average employer of la¬ bor has been reluctant to concern him¬ self with the conditions under which his workmen live, and, when urged to give consideration to this question, has gen¬ erally dismissed the subject by saying: "My business is to make automobiles. I know nothing about housing workmen, and I don't want to bother with it. I do know how to make motors and can¬ not possibly take the time to learn how to house workingmen. Nor, do I want the complications in my relations with labor that are bound to come from such work. I have troubles enough in that di¬ rection now without having any more." That, I think, is a fair statement of what has been the point of view and the attitude of the average employer of la¬ bor—until this year. Housing Famine. But this year has seen a great change. We have had nearly every manufacturer in the country who owned a machine shop have demands made upon his plant that it could not meet. We have seen com¬ munities suddenly import into their towns 10,000 workers in a single year; we have even seen one community import as many as 30,000 workers in a single year. Of course, there are not houses enough for this suddenly augmented population. People naturally are not going to build 10,000 homes in anticipation of a future population that no one could foresee. So, it is not at all strange that some commu¬ nities should have been caught unawares, and that we have housing famine. The situation for the manufacturers is serious, however, for they cannot run their plants unless their workmen have proper places to live in. And so, whether they want to or not, many employers of labor are being forced to take up the question of housing. Not Merely More Houses. Their problem is not, as many of them seem to think, to get merely a sufficient number of houses in the shortest pos¬ sible time. Difficult as that may be, it is a comparatively simple problem com¬ pared with the real problem of provid¬ ing homes of the right kind within the means of the workingmen and which shall prove a permanent betterment to the community, and not a detriment. It is quite natural that the employer of labor who finds himself in the situation just described, and who has put off too ■*• must be understood that the hous¬ ing problem in general is not being taken up, but rather one aspect of it, namely, industrial housing. That is, the housing of employes at in¬ dustrial plants as distinguished from the general housing of all the people of a community. long the consideration of the housing of his new workers, should in desperation be willing to accept any kind of house that can be put up in the shortest pos¬ sible time and that he can induce work¬ ingmen to live in. To many employers, confronted with such a situation, to talk of the right kind of houses, of good planning, of intelli¬ gent city development, of garden sub¬ urbs, of beauty, of economic construc¬ tion, of studying the future needs of the community—to talk of any of these things seems "idealistic" and the man who suggests them is likely to find him¬ self classed as impractical and a dreamer. Notwithstanding this, there are many employers of labor who have had the vision to realize the vital importance of these considerations and who have acted upon that realization. They have seen clearly that it is bad business for them and for the community in which they live, to build houses which are not to be an influence for good in that community and which are not going to react favor¬ ably upon the efficiency of their em¬ ployes. ' I am glad to state that there are to¬ day in this country as many as eighty large employers of labor who have acted upon this realization and have under¬ taken the housing of their workers. As soon as the employers of labor throughout the country realize that it pays to house their workmen properly, instead of eighty concerns undertaking this work, we shall find 8,000. How Better Housing Pays. That it does pay in all sorts of ways is beyond dispute. If anyone doubts it, let him talk with the employers of labor engaged in work of this kind and let him learn from them the advantages to their industry that have resulted in what may be termed the by-products of this social enterprise. It pays in the greater efficiency of the worker, in an increased interest in his work and a higher degree of skill. It pays in greater continuity of service; it means less "hiring and firing" of em¬ ployes. It pays in reducing the amount of days' labor lost through illness and intemperance. It pays in a more con¬ tented community. It stabilizes labor. It reduces strikes and labor troubles. For the man who has a contented home and is living under nearly ideal conditions thinks not merely twice, but many times, before he is willing to sacrifice his home and put in jeopardy the proper upbring¬ ing of his children and the proper do- m.estic life of his whole family. This problem of building houses for workingmen needs to be considered from various angles. Different phases of the problem need to be clearly differentiated or there is likely to be confusion of thought and considerable misunderstand¬ ing. There are several problems in¬ volved, not one, and some of them wear quite different aspects. For instance, the questions involved in housing the single worker are totally different from those that need to be studied in connection with the housing of men with families. This is, as a rule, too often lost sight of, and in discussing this question it is discussed solely with reference to the problems of the man with a family. The chief problem of industrial hous¬ ing, so far as the type of habitation is concerned, to my mind, is the problem of the single man—single, that is, so far as America is concerned. He may be un¬ married or his wife and family may be in Europe. The effect is the same in the consideration of the best method ot housing him here in America. Again, we need to differentiate clearly between the best type of house for the higher paid skilled mechanic earning $25 a week and more, and the house best suited to the unskilled day laborer whose earnings seldom rise above $15 a week. Also we need to differentiate in both these classes of dwellings in our plans for housing the American workingman as distinguished from the alien. Unless we clearly distinguish these various con¬ siderations we shall come to grief in our housing enterprises. The Skilled Worker. Considering first the type of house for the skilled mechanic of American birth earning $25 a week and more, I believe there is no real problem. Enough has been done in this country through a long period of time to demonstrate conclu¬ sively not only that the best type of house for this class of worker, but the one that he demands and is accustorned to get, is the two-story, single family, detached house. There are no serious problems involved in the development of the plan of a house of this type, consisting, as a rule, of five to si.x rooms. The question of whether its exterior walls shall be built of wood or of brick or concrete or hollow tile blocks or con¬ crete slabs, or soine other form of ma¬ terial depends largely upon local con¬ siderations and variations in the cost of such materials in local markets, as well as the cost of various kinds of labor. Cli¬ matic conditions also enter into the ques¬ tion to some extent. Of co.urse, the ideal type of house is a fireproof one, but the prevailing type that is used to the largest extent in America is undoubtedly the frame house. The time is soon coming when the frame house will disappear and will be replaced by a house with fireproof walls and roof, if not wholly fireproof; as the cost of lumber goes up and the cost of fireproof material comes down, the result is bound to be that the frame house will disap¬ pear and be succeeded by a building of greater fire-resistive qualities. The interior arrangement of a house of this kind presents few problems. The type is almost universal—a parlor, a kitchen and three or four bedrooms, with