rapidly as the cost of living, and recent price declines in the cost of living have not been sufficient to affect the situation. In all probability it will be some time before reduction in the cost of living will be sufficient to permit of any important wage reductions without a lowering of the living standards of the building trade workers, and it is, of course, not desirable that this result should occur. Moreover, building trade labor is well organized in most communities, and work under wage agreements extend over considerable periods of time and are thus not subject to frequent changes. Nor is any important change to be expected from an alteration in the hours of labor. During recent years the trend to an 8-hour day with a half day Saturday has continued so steadily that almost all of the skilled trades in practically all communities are now on this basis. No further general reduction in hours is likely. On the other hand, the 8-hour day is now so well established, and on the whole has worked so well in the building trades, that no lengthening of the work day is to be anticipated. Thus the building industry will undoubtedly continue to operate on a flat 8-hour day basis, with overtime rates so high as to discourage completely overtime work as a regular practice. At present, owing to the lack of activity in building operation, there is probably an oversupply of building labor in the country as a whole. An official survey in Massachusetts indicated that in June, 1920, 8 per cent of the organized building trade employees in that State were idle. Reports from other places indicate similar conditions as early as that date, since which it has been gradually increasing. On the other hand, if building activity should be started upon the large scale imperatively needed by our housing scarcity, there seems no doubt that there would be a great shortage of competent mechanics. RECRUITING OF APPRENTICES. Present conditions in the industry, indeed, do not seem to encourage the training of competent mechanics. This is sometimes attributed to trade-union restrictions upon the entrance of apprentices, but this does not seem to be a seriously important reason. The testimony of Mr. Fred W. Weitz, a prominent contractor of Des Moines, Iowa, is illuminating upon this point: I have not yet met any opposition from the building trades in bringing on apprentices. It is true they are limited, and when the subject is brought up of the building trades they will meet us half way or even all way on the subject of apprentices, but the sad feature of the matter is this, that I have no applications for apprentices. There are no young men caring to learn these trades. To the same point is the testimony of Mr. Paul M. Fogel, building contractor, of Kansas City: I do think also that this apprentice proposition-that the employer is partly to blame for the lack of apprentices, as they don't want to take the boy and take the time with him. I don't think they want to take the time and inconvenience of educating him, of which there is a great deal the first year, and they have just let it drift and they have taken the line of least resistance and the boys have gone the other way, and they have no inducement, and it has brought about a proposition that should be remedied as soon as possible. No easy solution for the apprenticeship difficulty offers itself. But undoubtedly much can be done by employers devoting more attention to the subject. By its nature the building industry means in many cases a constant shifting of workers from one employer to another, with a consequent loss in the feeling of responsibility of each party for the other. To overcome this, affective apprenticeship plans must be developed through groups of employees acting together for the good of the trade. The State of Wisconsin has undertaken to foster and develop apprenticeship as a matter of serious public interest. Mechanics may be developed by manual training schools, as established in Connecticut, to take the place of the old-time personal apprenticeship. So far, however, the efforts of the schools, in most places, do not seem to have been satisfactory to either employer or employee. Nevertheless, there seems no reason why the difficulties can not be solved, and the schools become the training ground for competent mechanics. This is a matter which demands the attention of the various States. EFFECTS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT. The root of the problem, however, lies in the failure of so many of the building trades to attract young men. Perhaps this is no more than a part of a broader problem affecting other industries as wellthat is to say, the unwillingness of so many American mechanics to encourage their sons to follow in their footsteps; the allurement in other words of the so-called "white collar" job. In addition, however, it does appear that the building trades have exceptional problems. Chief among these is the irregularity of the building industry. This particularly affects the outside trades, such as bricklayers and roofers, but it affects in an important degree the whole industry. In certain of the trades 200 days, and even 175 days, of work per year is regarded as a normal average; but during the past several years, this normal average has been materially reduced through governmental interferences and transportation difficulties. This loss of time seriously affects the workers' earnings. Every worker is naturally interested primarily in his annual income, not in his daily rate when working. Thus, the relatively high daily earnings offered in the building trades may actually produce a smaller annual income than a lower daily rate in factory and office work. Labor being the preponderating item of expense in building, it may be said that the cost of building is directly dependent upon the cost of subsistence and upon the continuity of operation. MATERIALS AND BUILDING OPERATIONS. CAUSES AND EFFECT OF HIGH PRICES. The manufacture and assembly of building materials are so dependent upon fuel, transportation, the direction of credit, and labor, that the committee turned its first efforts toward these fundamentals rather than toward the details of manufacturing of building materials or toward building contracting. The high prices of building materials and of labor which produces and assembles these materials have been regarded in large degree as affected by and as effects of underlying causes and as consequences of interruption. It is within the purview of the committee to formulate Federal legislation to partially reach the underlying causes, but it was beyond its limitations to thoroughly inquire into and suggest measures to cure the effects. Where local collusive combinations exist between contractors and labor, or among either, they should be thoroughly investigated and eradicated by local authorities, as in New York City. In hearings before the Lockwood Committee it has developed that certain contractors and subcontractors, supply concerns, and trade unions united in action through a central employers' organization or club and that similar clubs exist in other large cities. Where combinations in restraint of trade exist between manufacturers of building materials, these, as well as combinations in other lines, should be investigated and prosecuted by State or Federal authorities. The testimony taken by the committee has been referred to the Department of Justice. While recognizing that the providing of facilities is fundamental in the solution of the housing problem, the committee can not overlook the facts of common knowledge that there are trade associations in all branches of the building material industry, and that while such associations have legitimate activities, many of them exercise an accelerating influence in the enhancement of prices and a retarding influence on their return to the normal or actual supply and demand prices and tend to stifle competition and curtail supply and allot customers and territory. How great such influences are it is highly important to determine. It is obvious that such study and determination could not be made hastily. This committee has not had the time to make such study and determination. If the Senate desires these important matters investigated, this committee may be continued with power to proceed as to these matters under the resolution creating it as amended. It is common knowledge that one of the contributing causes to the housing shortage has been the very high prices of building materials, but it is yet to be exactly determined what proportion of these high prices is due to the high costs of fuel, the increased cost of freight, the increased cost of operation due to interruptions resulting from irregular transportation, the increased cost of labor due to the increased cost of subsistence as well as to labor inefficiency, and, over and above these increased basic costs, what proportion of the high prices is due to bonuses and commissions for loans and to profiteering. More time than has been available to the committee would be necessary to determine these factors. Under the subject of labor, the committee has already compared the wage rates in the building industry with the cost of living, and has given the wage scales in various cities as prepared from data submitted by the builders' exchanges. COMPARATIVE CHARTS. Under the subject of direction of credit, the committee has compared the index figure of wholesale prices of building materials with those of general commodities. The following chart, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Labor Department, graphically shows comparisons since 1913. EXHIBIT A.-Fluctuations in wholesale prices of building materials compared with those of all commodities; also with food and metal products (structural steel is included in the latter). The following chart, also compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compares the maximum wholesale price levels of various building materials with the wholesale price levels of February, 1921, and with the prewar price levels. S R-66-3-vol 1-25 EXHIBIT B.-Percentage increases in wholesale prices of some building materials showing Building Materials 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 |