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Show UNCLE SUM IDLE THOUGH NATION CRIES FDR HOMES Nobody in Government Turns Hand to Fill Great Want in Cities FIVE MILLION HORSES NEEDED IS ESTIMATE Absence of Prosecution of Lumber Profiteers Who Gain Wealth Bj GEORGE li I l Ens staff ( orn -poiulciit . WASHINGTON. Sopt 9 Nobody in the l'nite, States government Is turning turn-ing a hand to $olvc the homing short-uge. short-uge. The government hasn't made a move, even to encourage building I nirlng the war it compelled home-building home-building to cease IH T IN IA lio LondoJi has n program to speud 4:50,000.00 for dwellings and sell them to families on long-time payments That Is being done, first because the people need homes, and second, to bring contentment, and stop the erowth of Uolshevlsni Jut in America whorr .I.ODO.uOO more homes ure needed, where people pttF-being gouged by landlords and thrown Into live streets because they haven't the money to pay high rents, not one thing has been done At the present time 2f,&00,OOS people arc crowded Into Inadequate quarters. In every loo homes 11 families uro living. liv-ing. l;l LDIN'G CHE l. Put aplenty of things are being dono to prevent ouildlng Following are some of them: Concentration of lumber ond material ma-terial In a few hands, and heartless piofiteeiing by tho producers of the : material. Not only extraordinarily high prices tor material, but prices that make I home-buying absolutely prohibitive for I the average person. Lumber prices, i: re up from 3o0 lo 400 per cent. 1'tter helph'ssness on tho part of 'the railroads in transposing the nia-' nia-' atrial even If the people's ability to buy could cope with the profiteering j pi Ices. Refusal of retailers and Jobbers to levyer prices, although at the source' of tho supply of lumber there has been! I a 20 per cent reduction In prh u the 1 last two months Refusal of mills and wholesalers to; sell direct lo the consumers, because! of an understanding with tho retail! tiade The consumers must either submit lo exorbitant proflLs by nild-i Ldhgmen or do without homes. Total absence of prosecution against! lumber profiteers and hoarders and) those curtailing the cut of timber, dc-l spite the fact that every person who has hud to do with the source of the lumber supply since the beginning of the war is rolling In wealth. Although the lorests of the country have been shamefully and criminally depleted and wasted by the lumber I nigs, there is no relation between the! scarcity of lumber and tho house s'.orlage TWO STEAKS' CUT. With 75.000,000,000 feet of lumber, j and other materials necessary, enough houses could be built In the I'nlted States to give every family that Is now ' , rbwded In with someone else a separ-l ate borne. There ar. still In the forests) :.LH 000 OOO.Ooo board feet Of lumber But the fact that It would take 75-000,000 75-000,000 000 feet to catch up with the! lousing protucm presents a serious problem alone, the annual normal cut of lumber is only lo.00o.00o.ooo t.ei inly one-third of the normal cut is supposed to go Into dwellings Nor nuilly it would take more than five years to build the houses that aro needed now, to suy nothing about the Increased needs thut will accumulate during tho next half decade. If a ban v.i re put on the use of lumber In every ctiier Industry and on exports, 11 would take two rears' cut of lumber to supply thp houses needed. The Increase of the demand over the supply was brought about by the great amount of lumber used for war purposes. th Curtailment ..l luiilding during the war and tho more than normal establishment of new families |