the mill output, particularly of war products, all of which is covered in the respective reports herewith submitted.

He stated that the cartridge company has drawn its workers largely from Lowell proper and the surrounding towns, such as Billerica, Chelmsford, Tyngsboro, Dracut, and Tewksbury, which are from 3 to 7 miles from center of Lowell. The big drain, however, has been upon Lowell, which has caused a shortage of workers on essential as well as nonessential output. He stated that about 60 per cent of the workers generally were unmarried women, of whom a large proportion are girls, and that the most serious feature of their housing problem was the accommodation and protection of this class of help, due partly to the proximity of Camp Devens, 15 miles within easy trolley distance, bringing so many soldiers into the city.

The girls outside of the families are now boarded in boarding and lodging houses and live under deplorable conditions, especially from the moral standpoint.

MARE ISLAND, CALIF.

Report of Mr. Harry George to the Secretary of the Navy on December 22, 1917:

The growing need for additional employees at this yard necessitates a solution of the housing problem in Vallejo. It is almost impossible for employees coming from other places to secure accommodations, and men taken on often request their discharge as they are unable to obtain reasonably comfortable accommodations in Vallejo within their means. The rents in Vallejo have recently been raised, thus adding to the gravity of the housing problem. The work now in hand at the Mare Island Yard, and which may be reasonably anticipated during war time, necessitates the employment of additional workmen.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.

Statement from report of Miss Marie Obenauer, dated April 25, 1918:

The conditions chiefly responsible for the rapid labor turnover, which is the principal cause of the labor shortage in the WrightMartin plant, are the lack of housing accommodations and the in adequate transit facilities to and from and within the city of New Brunswick. Approximately 3,000 of the 3, 600 factory employees live outside of the city. The congestion in available housing accommodations, as shown in Miss Neinburg's report, compels hundreds of those men to travel daily to and from their work. Mr. Moore's report reveals the difficulties of the two daily rides from three-quarters to one and a quarter hours in crowded trains which stop over a half mile from the plant. Poorly equipped trolley lines connect the station with the plant and one of these is practically useless because of the absence of a footbridge over the Pennsylvania tracks, as shown in Mr. Moore's report. This situation creates an irritation in the force that expresses itself in "quit ting for trivial causes or no apparent cause" and accelerates the flow of labor through the plant. This turnover is amounting to between 200 and 300 men a week and is costing the Government over half a million dollars a year.1

Statement from report of Mr. Stuart Moore, special representative:

The population of this city has increased from 20, 000 to 40, 000 within the last few years, and the city is highly congested. Employees of the plant are living in cellars and attics, five to the

1 Estimate of the employment manager for Wright-Martin firm. The firm's contract is drawn on the cost-plus basis.

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room in many cases, and are paying $6 a week for rooms not fit for decent people to live in. Higher salaried employees are boarding or rooming in absolute discomfort in rooms which are far below their desires but the best that are obtainable. Not only is it impossible to place any further force in the city, but it is dictated by sanitary and social reasons that additional housing be provided for those already attempting to live there.

Numbers of good mechanics refuse to stay in the city as their standard of living would be reduced far below what they are used to and would consider themselves entitled to.

The turnover in the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation for the past week was due to sickness to the extent of 25 per cent. This is ascribed to poor food, unsanitary living conditions, etc. Tuberculosis is fairly prevalent. The amount of overtime could hardly be responsible for so much of this ill health, since two shifts worked until recently 10 and 12 hours a day.

NEW CASTLE, DEL.

Statement from report of Mr. P. R. MacNeille, Industrial Service Section, War Department, to Mr. G. H. Dorr, office of Assistant Secretary of War, June 19, 1918:

There is at present 60 per cent turnover each month among the skilled class of employees on account of poor living conditions. It is estimated that it costs from $50 to $100 to employ and train

a new man.

NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y.

Statement from summary report made by Mr. H. W. Forster, in November and December, 1917:

Employment departments of industrial plants without exception report that applicants for positions find much difficulty in securing accommodations for themselves and find it almost impossible to find accommodations for their families. Nine companies report knowledge of 422 men who failed to enter their employ during 1917 because of inability to obtain satisfactory housing. Other companies who did not keep records of this matter stated that undoubtedly many applicants failed to enter their employ for this

reason.

Six companies employing 562 men report that 192 men left their employ in 1917 due to lack of satisfactory housing. Only eight companies have no knowledge of such loss of men.

NILES, OHIO.

Statement from report of Mr. H. W. Forster, on May 10 and 14, 1918:

Without exception, employers report that the turnover of labor is high and attribute a large part of it to the housing shortage. Accurate statistics were lacking, but turnover rates of from 12 to 20 per cent per month seem to be common. Repeated testimony was given to the effect that skilled men are continually coming to Niles to work and staying only a short time because of inability to find quarters for their families.

The records of employees leaving, while not complete and probably somewhat inaccurate, indicate that since September 1, 1917, 1,000 men who had come or had been brought to Niles by the company had failed to remain because satisfactory housing for their families was not available.

Niles has no district that can be called a "slum" district. However, many residents are living under conditions that are unsatisfactory if not unhealthy. Attics and basements are occupied, and we received very strong evidence of undue room congestion. One

instance, apparently authentic, was given of a family of four and nine boarders in four rooms. We were also told of instances in which the same beds were occupied by the night and day shifts in turn.

PORTSMOUTH, N. H.

Letter of H. L. Wyman, acting industrial manager, navy yard, Portsmouth, N. H., to Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Department, Washington, D. C., dated December 24, 1917:

There have been a number of cases of workmen who have come here from other localities who, being unable to find even approximately satisfactory place to live, have been so dissatisfied, purely on that account, that we have lost their services.

Letter of Metal Trades Council of the American Federation of Labor at Portsmouth, to L. S. Adams, industrial manager, Portsmouth Navy Yard, dated March 15, 1918:

*

It is impossible to obtain decent living quarters anywhere within reasonable distance of the navy yard. * * Nearly every available house is crowded to its capacity, and it is impossible for many employees to bring their families to live, forcing them to keep up two establishments, sacrifice the comforts and conveniences of home life, and resort to boarding out in overcrowded hotels and boarding houses at excessive prices. * * * It is a common practice for landlords, who know it is impossible for a tenant to secure another place, to boost rents at short notice from 50 to 100 per cent, often forcing him to vacate, store his furniture, and room out, or leave town.

*

*

*

Single men are little better off, and in many cases live in cheap, crowded rooms, often three or four men in one room. * To meet this emergency, many men live in distant towns and cities, traveling morning and night for a long distance by train, often spending several hours a day on the road. * * Large numbers of the best mechanics, accustomed to a fair standard of living, are unwilling to put up with these conditions, although in many cases they have come here from long distances at great expense. They work only a few days and then leave, while their experiences influence others to stay away.

PORTSMOUTH, OHIO.

Statement taken from report of R. P. Blake, dated August 20, 1918:

Condition of Whitaker-Glessner Co.-This company employs 4,900 men and needs 500 more by October for shell-plant increases. Its labor turnover is about 18 per cent monthly, and it has been unable to increase its forces further because of housing shortage, the turnover now balancing the recruiting. The company feels that the 60 houses it has just completed and which are filled is all that it can afford at present.

QUINCY, MASS.

Letter of H. G. Smith, manager, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, South Bethlehem, Pa., to inspector of machinery, United States Navy, and superintending constructor, United States Navy, both at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation (Ltd.), Quincy, Mass., dated January 22, 1918:

With this condition as to housing the inevitable has happened, and that is that employees being a long distance from the shipyard

are losing a great deal of time, and on account of this they become quickly dissatisfied and leave the plant, this resulting in a very large turnover of labor, it being necessary in December to hire about 3,000 men to increase our rolls by 1,000, whereas a similar increase could be made a few months ago with a very much smaller loss. In addition to this very large turnover of labor the average daily attendance has fallen off as the increase in employees has taken place, so at the present time this attendance is under 70 per cent.

Report of board of investigation to commandant, navy yard, Boston, on March 25, 1918:

The better workmen, desirable, essential, in fact, for good work, often will not come, and will rarely stay unless the living conditions are what they are accustomed to for themselves, and, if married, for their families. This general statement requires no proof. It is accepted everywhere that the permanency of the working force is the chief essential of rapid production; that the turnover of labor is fatal.

Report of H. W. Morton, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Department, to Mr. Otto M. Eidlitz, Director of Housing, dated February 23, 1918:

The single men put up with almost any form of inconvenience in order to stay on the job, sleeping anywhere from two to eight in a room; in some instances, sleeping in relays-that is, a man occupying a bed for a certain length of time and then leaving the bed and allowing another to have his turn, which condition is most deplorable.

Letter of Mr. W. N. Buchan, chairman, City of Quincy (Mass.) Department of Health, to Hon. Joseph L. Whiton, mayor of Quincy, Mass., dated March 26, 1918:

Two members of the board of health, accompanied by four police officers, three of whom were in uniform, started from the police station at 1 o'clock in the morning and proceeded to the district adjacent to the Fore River Shipbuilding plant, all within five minutes walk. The conditions, with but two exceptions, were extremely bad, so bad that this board will be compelled to take drastic measures at once to eliminate such conditions, even to condemning the greater number of these houses and causing their vacancy.

The men were sleeping three, four, and five in a room, sleeping in their clothes in some cases, but all of them sleeping in their underclothes. Of the 110 rooms visited in 13 lodging houses, we found 241 persons sleeping in rooms unfit for such purposes on account of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and poor ventilation. Only one window was found open, and several places containing a bed with an adult sleeping in it with no window or other means of ventilation were found and the doors closed.

In one place we found a boy of 14 years sleeping in the kitchen with his clothes on; in another two men, one woman, and a baby in one room. In another, a man and wife and six children, surrounded by filth. These rooms were supplied with kerosene lamps in most cases, burning low. Working clothes and shoes were piled on chairs or on the floor.

The stench that emanated from almost every room upon opening the door was unbearable, so much so that one inspector was compelled to discontinue the work.

It is the opinion of this board that a man sleeping under such conditions does not receive the proper rest and is in no condition to do a day's work on arising.

This serious matter is a menace to the health of the community and will receive the strictest attention of this board.

SHARON, PA.

Report of Mr. R. P. Blake on housing needs of Sharon, Pa., dated May, 1918:

A careful analysis of the labor turnover in this district shows the lowest figure for any important plant to be about 9 per cent a month, with the highest figure 45 per cent per month, the average apparently being about 20 per cent a month, or at a rate of about 240 per cent per year.

The effect of this high labor turnover in interfering with production is most marked, and while there is no means of measuring the loss exactly, the opinions of the various plant managements interviewed on this subject are that by cutting this turnover in half, increased production of from 5 to 15 per cent could be obtained.

The extent to which the housing shortage is responsible for this turnover is also problematical, but all facts and opinions obtained agreed remarkably in showing that housing shortage is very important and probably the main cause of labor turnover. Perhaps the most definite proof of this is the fact that records obtained from about half of the plants reporting, and therefore great enough in volume to show the trend, indicate that during the past year about 2,500 men left the district because of inability to get satisfactory housing. Similar records indicate that about 2,000 men additional, after coming to Sharon, refused to go to work because of congestion.

Overcrowding existent.-No detailed survey of this condition was made, but brief and general surveys of representative districts repeatedly brought out evidence of beds being used by two shifts of sleepers, room congestion as high as an average of three or four per room per house, basements and attics used for living purposes, and houses crowded too close together for healthful and satisfactory living conditions.

WARREN, OHIO.

Report of Mr. H. W. Forster, dated May 13 and 15,

1918:

Trumbull Steel Co.-A long interview with Mr. Flora, vice president; Mr. McFate, secretary; and Mr. Booth, treasurer, developed the following: This manufacturer has just completed an openhearth plant to assure his supply of steel for tinplate. He is finding it very difficult to get a full quota of men to operate his plant, now being about 600 short. If he could get and keep a full force, he could increase production 25 per cent. He is unable to get men because of lack of housing. His turnover of labor is very high

because of unsatisfactory housing. If he could get adequate housing, he believes it would cut his labor turnover in half and increase production 20 per cent without increasing his present force.

WASHINGTON NAVY YARD.

Report of Mr. I. N. Phelps Stokes to Mr. Otto M. Eidlitz, Housing Committee, dated February 25, 1918:

During the past few months the turnover has increased materially, due to the increasing difficulty of securing suitable accommodations, and although the effort to secure good mechanics has been maintained, and even augmented, the net daily increase has fallen from 14 to 9. Capt. Willard and his staff are undoubtedly right in attributing this falling off mainly to the scarcity of available housing within commuting distance of the navy yard, a condition which is growing rapidly more acute.

* * *

Capt. Willard and all of the officers with whom I talked agree that unless prompt measures are taken to relieve the scarcity of housing it will be impossible for the factory to increase or even maintain its present force, as many of the new men who have come from a distance with the expectation of bringing their families to Washington later, have been unable to find accommodation and are unwilling to remain permanently without their families. Furthermore, it is the experience of the navy yard that married men living apart from their families are not so dependable or efficient as those living with their families.

THE GRAVITY OF THE PROBLEM.

Estimates prepared by the Housing Corporation in the summer of 1918 indicated a need for housing for 212,733 men workers and 79,916 women workers, or altogether for 292,649 persons engaged on war contracts in 71 cities or districts. (See Vol. II, Table 1, pp. 390-393.)

There was abundant evidence, supplied or corroborated by the War and Navy Departments, that unless suitable dwellings could be provided for these workers the fulfillment of contracts indispensable to the war program would be gravely imperiled. The measures adopted to meet this emergency are outlined in the following pages.

THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE.

The direct lineage of the Bureau of Industrial Housing and Transportation of the Department of Labor may be traced to the Council of National Defense created by Congress August 26, 1916, and composed of the Secretaries of War, Navy, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor. To assist the Council, the President of the United States in October, 1916, appointed as an Advisory Commission: Daniel Willard, for transportation and communication.

Howard E. Coffin, for munitions and manufacturing, including also standardization and industrial relations.

Julius Rosenwald, for supplies.

Bernard M. Baruch, for raw materials, minerals, and metals.

Dr. Hollis Godfrey, for engineering and education. Dr. Franklin H. Martin, for medicine, surgery, and

sanitation.

Samuel Gompers, for labor, including conservation of health and welfare of workers.

This council was charged with the "coordination of industries and resources for the national security and welfare" and with the "creation of relations which will render possible in time of need the immediate concentration and utilization of the resources of the Nation."

COMMITTEE ON LABOR-SECTION ON HOUSING.

The Federal Government sought expert advice in the mobilization of industrial resources on a nationwide scale. The appointment of Mr. Gompers to deal with labor, including conservation of the health. and welfare of workers, was a direct invitation to offer a practical, constructive program with reference to the living conditions of industrial war workers. With this in view, a large and representative committee on labor, appointed by Mr. Gompers, was called

together on April 2, 1917, and national subcommittees were organized on wages and hours, mediation and conciliation, welfare work, women in industry, information and statistics, press, publicity, coordination of social agencies, cost of living, and domestic economy.

At the outset it was determined that a housing committee was needed. It was organized as a part of the committee on welfare work under the chairmanship of Mr. Louis A. Coolidge, who has since served on the National Committee on Amelioration and Conciliation. It was not until May 3, 1917, however, that a chairman for this important section was secured. Mr. Gompers then appointed Mr. Philip Hiss, of New York.

Mr. Hiss made a tour of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, visiting practically every important center where war activities were being carried on. He appointed housing representatives in many cities and formed a small central committee for action. In August a questionnaire on housing was sent out to over 200 cities. The replies indicated the need for houses in many war centers.

On the 30th of August there was held an informal conference of housing, town-planning, and architectural advisers. The information laid before this body led to the conclusion that it was practically impossible for private capital to meet the pressing demands for industrial housing as a result of the war emergency and that the Government would be forced to make funds available for housing. Permanent buildings were advocated wherever appropriate.

CONGESTION AT BRIDGEPORT.

At this meeting the situation at Bridgeport, Conn., was presented. It was stated that during the past. two years the Bridgeport pay roll had increased at the rate of $500,000 per week. High rents were stated to be absorbing fully a quarter of this. Owing to the decline of home building after the outbreak of the European War, the city had become dangerously

congested. Practically all the Bridgeport industries were engaged in war work. Existing plants had been extended, unused plants had been rehabilitated, and new plants had been built. In the face of this the War Department, under the pressure of the desperate need for munitions, and on the theory that new plants could succeed only in industrial centers where there was a nucleus of trained machinists, had furnished several million dollars for the erection of a machine plant to which it planned to let cost-plus contracts. With no new housing available and with existing quarters crowded far beyond the point of comfort or safety, there could be but one result. The plants working on cost-plus contracts were bound to draw labor away from those working on fixed-price contracts and thus contribute to disastrous delays in the delivery of war materials.

Bridgeport was not the only city congested by war industries. It appeared that the entire Philadelphia and Washington districts were saturated; that the vast Navy, Army, and shipping interests in the Newport News district had developed an appalling situation in the once pleasant group of towns which surround Hampton Roads.

There were signs of approaching congestion at Akron, Cleveland, and Portsmouth, Ohio; at Alton, Peoria, and Rock Island, Ill.; at Davenport, Iowa; New Brunswick, N. J.; Bethlehem, Pa., and elsewhere. The government, through its various departments, was daily locating new plants and placing new orders. The War Industries Board, created on July 28, 1917, had only just begun to function. The board had not yet been introduced to the housing problem. The Government was spending vast sums of money to house its machinery, but, consciously, not one cent to house its men. It was bidding against itself for labor, increasing the price of production, and limiting the quantity.

REPORT OF SECTION ON HOUSING.

The main facts of this situation were set forth in a three-page report, supported by voluminous data, which was presented by the Section on Housing to the Welfare Committee which met in Washington on September 21, 1917. The conditions revealed by the report were so serious that the matter was laid before the Council of National Defense.

The following week (Sept. 25) a small representation from Congress was called together and Mr. Hiss again presented his findings. It was thought that there was yet time to add an appropriation to the urgent deficiency bill then in committee.

The members of the Housing Section desired to see the war preparations profit by the open building days of the autumn. Time was the essential ele

ment. If houses could be put under roof before Christmas, armies of workmen might be living in them by spring, and the United States could set a new standard of efficiency. To this end a survey had been made of bricks available east of the Mississippi River. In normal times the brickyards close on October 15, but it is perfectly possible to continue brickmaking much later in the season. By the use of cement, mortar brick walls may be erected even in winter weather. In spite of the abnormal demand for carpenters, there existed acute unemployment among the bricklayers.

Here, then, was a crying need for houses to shelter the workers who were absolutely necessary to carry out the war program. Here were men who could bring years of experience to the making of plans which could be drawn to fit each local problem. Here was building material avilable. Here were unemployed bricklayers ready for work. Here was building weather. It seemed to the members of the Housing Section an opportunity for effective action.

COMMIS

ADVISORY COMMISSION-HEARINGS AND REPORT.

Since every day was precious, Mr. Gompers addressed a letter to the President, who referred the question to the Council of National Defense. In turn, the council requested the Advisory Commission to consider the matter. From October 3 to 6, inclusive, therefore, the commission heard testimony. Mr. Daniel Willard, chairman of the commission, in a masterly manner brought out the answers to the popular objections which must be overcome if the United States was to break past precedents.

The four days' hearings convinced the Advisory Commission that there was a shortage of houses in the war industrial centers and that this shortage was directly curtailing the production of ships and munitions. It therefore made two recommendations:

1. That the War Industries Board consider this congestion of industrial population in the placing of new war orders.

2. That the Council of National Defense appoint a committee to consider the housing question further, and that this committee be asked to report in ten days.

THE "TEN-DAY COMMITTEE."

The council thereupon appointed a committee "to investigate the problem of housing workers employed on Government contracts, to determine its extent, its relation to the war program, and, if necessary, to suggest a remedy."

Mr. Otto M. Eidlitz, civil engineer, and head of one of the largest building firms in America, was selected as chairman of the committee. With him were associated Mrs. Ralph M. Easley, chairman of