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Show RAISE l HI I COSTS flPPEAHS OWEHS Much of Great Program for Next Year Takes in Suburbs WELLESLET HILLS. Mar.. Dor 9. Thcro has been much discussion of late as to whether the building boom has spent itself. Roger V. Bab-son Bab-son evidently doesn't think it has n commenting today on the building outlook he called attention to seeeru bulllHh factors. "New building." sayj; Mr. Babson, "is tho outstanding feature of our I business recovery. It Is what started us on the road to better business Never before ln the history' cjf tho i country have so many new houses been built as in the first ton months Of 1922. For every house that was built In L921, two hare been built this year. Last year in twenty-seven northeastern states ot tho country we spent tCSS.OOO.OOO lor homes; this ' year wo have already spent 11,001,-000,000, 11,001,-000,000, and when the gong rings on December 31, the total will eery likely . ..how 100 per c-nt more than In 1981 I COOP YEAR AHEAD. "This building revival Is not confined con-fined to houses either. House building has been the most spectacular, but ' we have also but II many moro of- I flees, factories, schools. hospitals, churches, amusement halls. public roads, bridges, reservoirs, memorials, , In fact, all kinds of construction . Whereas, our normal .building total j Is n,bout $ ::. 000. 000, 000. tho end or I this year we shall have built to tho extent of $g,000,000,000." When asked If he did not think that we have already over-done thH ; building boom. Mr. Babson replied: "I do not tnlnk so yet. I look for continued building activity , both In j residential and business building for I the greater part of 1J2 3. Beyond thai time, I expect a decline. A survey just made by tho National Assocla- j Hon of Real Estato Boards shows that, out of a total of 184 cities scattered scat-tered over the country, 121 cities still report a housing shortage Of tho ! remaining 63 cities, 53 report no shortage and only 10 a moderate1 shortage. This study corroborates my ' opinion that there Is still much rcsl-dentlal rcsl-dentlal building to bo done, although tht peak may have been passed." RENTS t OMING DOWN. "What about rents'" Mr. Babson 1 was asked. "High rents have probably passed their peak. Tho long BWlng Will be downward. Here again it u a question of supply and demand The coming decline in rents will not be abrupt, ut least, not until this bubdlng boom has supplied more of the snortage. Rental advances for the present ar." slightly more numerous than declines, but In tho majority of cities there I no movement either up or down. Gradually, of course, the trend will turn downward as the demaud la more fully supplb-d. industrial and busi-; busi-; ness rents show surprising stiffness I due to business recovery, but these do not indicate any long continued I advance. "I am particularly optimistic with regard to suburban building development. develop-ment. The boom In city building will probably not last more than a year, but suburban building Is different. Auto traffic is no congested In tlie blg cities that shoppers had rather trade in suburban stores than drive into tho heart of our groat cities. City dwellers arc looking for homes in tho ! country. I cannot emphasize too strongly the Importance of this ten- dency toward suburban expansion." B1 S J IKS' STRIKE." The statistician was naked what effect ef-fect building material prices and Ubor would be likely to have on the building outlook. "'1 hat's where tho danger lies," ho replied. "Unless prices of building materials aro kept down at least near present levels, the people will stop building, just as they did in 1H20. Iu fact. I do not think we will seo quite so much building noxt y.ar unless there is some reduction ln costs During Dur-ing tho next few months material j prices should show some seasonal j weakness. But as sure as the material dealers otart ln to boost prices net summer, they will choke off their business. The same warning applies ' to labor. Wages are already as high ! as they cau be- and still allow much I building. Both labor and material men should reall.o that it Is better for them to have steady building at I moderate profits than it Is to have a j short spurt of building at high profits. I followed by a long period of Idle-! Idle-! ness. MORE WINTER WORK "However, what interests me as much as anything is tho necessity of eliminating the waato in time, labor and materials ln the building business busi-ness I firmly bellevo that a saving of 10 to 25 per cent in the cost of bulld-i bulld-i lng could be made by cutting out j this waste Tho country is literally throwing away J 1,000.000.000 annuul-ly annuul-ly Which might bo saved for the Industry In-dustry and help to reduce the cost ot construction. Over a half bllllou dollars" loss occurs from lack of employment em-ployment in tho dull sfaaons. strikes, poor labor management, etc. 1 am glad to seo that Wide-eweke men In tho contracting business ure experimenting experi-menting with methods to facilitate building ln the winter time. The uso of canvas protection for bricklaying, salamanders and ste.am jets to pro-vont pro-vont freezing of concrete, und other methods of committing bad weather are being moro generally adopted "But Isn't winter building more expensive?" ex-pensive?" queried tho Intervlewe WASTES POINTED OUT. "Yes: but even if tho cost is 10 per cent or 12 per cent greater, tho contractor (as has been estimated) could afford to take a smaller profit, and tho workmen less wages, rather than do nothing all winter." Mr. Bao-eon Bao-eon replied. "Moreover, the man who builds in tho winter tlmo has the pick of the labor market. Often the greater efficiency of winter labor completely offsets the other added costs. "Other things that make building so expensive are high labor turnover, poor and inadequate equipment, careless care-less handling of material, failure to plan in detail. On the labor side, tlmre are wasteful regulations and restrictions, requiring skilled men to do the work of unskilled, prohibiting labor saving devices, limiting the number num-ber of apprentices, and so forth. "All these thlnsg combine to make tho high cost of building When the men who aro conducting the industry learn to cut theso wastes out, then v. .-shall .-shall have moro building- at lower cost to the people, and mcro profit to the industry." BUSINESS IMPROVES Genora! business is still improving improv-ing The index of the Kubsonchart shows general activity but 2 per cent below normal, an improvement of 1 j per cent during the last week. This is I tho hlKtr-st point reached lu ovi two yo rs. |