The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 14, 1924, Page 3

a 4 | | Thursday, February 14, 1924 THE DAILY WORKER GOD, NOT LABOR, OWNS THE WORLD, THINKS Y. M,C. A. Chamber of Commerce Says Amen By STANLEY BOONE (Stall Correspondent of The Federated Press) DETROIT, Feb. 13.—The gospel according to the Y. M. C, A. and the board of commerce—in which God is banker and landlord to whom we hu- mans must pay rent, with no mincing of words or dollars—is given in the Budget Book With a Conscience, which is the Bible in the annual thrift week campaign this year, “Certain cardinal principles are re- quired to guide the conscience in God’s Ownership,” the preface of the little pamphlet says. “God, having created the earth and all that it con- tains, naturally owns it. In recog- nition of Hig rights as owner, con- scientious believers in His goodness usually give a definite proportion of their resource’ to help establish His kingdom on earth,” “Partners” With God. “God has made every person a partner with Himself in administer- ing His estate for the benefit of the whole human family,” the preface continues. “God’s obligation to pro- vide has its) corollary in man’s privi- lege to work. The earth yields its treasures to all who work and each should account for the portion re- ceived. This involves a separation of income into distinct compartments of which there are three: Giving, Saving, and Spending.” The workers on God’s railroads and in God’s factories, if they would be prosperous, should hurry to the nearest preacher or missionary as soon as they get their pay envelope and give away a large part of their wages before they go. home to the wife and children. The minimum, b; the way, is 10 per cent, This curi- ous budget book goes on, “Under the Christian dispensation .. . not only is the giving portion set apart in a peculiar sense, hut all the rest, whether it be saved or spent, is like- wise used as a sacred trust. In the Same way the acquiring of the whole income, as the disposing of it, is ac- complished under a conscious sense of partnerhip with God.” Boost Real Estate Sharks, Qn the opposite page of this in- troductory gospel an equal space is given to boosting the game of the insurance company, the banking house, the bond broker, the real es- tate dealer, the building and loan association and the retail_ merchant all in the name of “Pay Your Bills Promptly,” “Work and ” “Make a Budget.” ‘ This budget, which was sold here ...for 10 cents, is the handiwork of the United Stewardship Council of Churches in the U. S, and Canada and the National Thrift Committee of the Y. M..C. A. On the back cover is the further disclosure that, “If you have personal or family problems you would like | tim to talk over with someone of expe- rience, speak about them to a Y. M. A. secretary. He may be able to arrange for an interview with lawyer, banker, realyestate dealer, building and loan association, priest, nab malniatess as you rari n a supplement pamphlet en- titled “Ghetetianized Dollars” testi- monials on the subject are given by A. R. Nicol, retired president of the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steam- ship Co.; Henry P. Crowell, former sident of the Quaker Oats Co.; John Z. Miller, head of the Mutual Pr pi ae Erie, Pa.; pees: uinn, syndicate newspaperman, an F, Willis Jenks, a “well known and successful commercial traveler of the middle west.” Landlords Piling (Continued from Page 1) his investment. Browne, President United Real Estate Owners’ Association, made this confes- sion before the Housing Com- mission: “I don’t care whether they (the landlords) are Jew or Gentile, or whether they are| First rich or poor, but they are all|taking more or less out to make a|shortage to large profit, potential profit- cers. 3.” The landlords and the builders have rape limited their construction work in | pa New York State and in every other section of the country principal be setting up of apartments w! tigators have led them to the con- Saycstion i ereiinbie. suly-tee. sare is le for one- tenth of the population incomes of $5,000 a year or more. n with the large amount of construction é g e ) a Edward F. Boyle, of New York Children’s Court, told Commission that in the last pag bee was just one house aunts hen using at @ room, What this means to the obvious. The land eF 858 il vention. about.”” I’ve even lost my wife. to |find themselves th the test eae — lve them greatest The findings of the New York inves- Ms ag Daily Worker Makes Big Hit With North Dakota Farmers By JOSEPH MANLEY. Secretary, Federated Farmer-Labor Party ee T the Bismarck,: N. D., convention of the Nort! Dakota Non-Partisan League the DAILY WORKER created little short of a sensation. The issue of Wednes- day, Feb. 6, which featured a front page analysis of the North Dakota situation and appealed to the delegates, acted as a real stimulant to the few militants in the con- The general comment was: “The paper that publishes that kind of stuff knows what it is talking It was interesting and instructive to note the enthu- siasm of the farmers for the account of the big New York Lenin meeting, carried in another issue that reached them. They were overjoyed to learn that such a tremen- dous demonstration of city workers could take place. It » may be a surprise to many, to quote one six-footer: ; “Pve had enough damn een A yen vegies ey : the ing for it, now I am bankrupt, without a home, rcheaghenegene I’m ready to fight, yes fight for . the dictatorship of the proletariat.” A few ised stunts like this on the part of the DAILY WORKER and it will be on the map in North Dakota. The farmers, particularly the bankrupts, are ready to accept in increasing numbers the Communist analysis of their condtions and the leadership that it ent School Teachers Get Interested In Our Fight on the Firetraps School children and their parents and labor unions have all expressed interest in the campaign of the DAILY WORKER against the firetrap schools of Chicago. Now public school teachers are becoming interested. Yesterday a public school teacher, who has been following the campaign of the DAILY WORKER against firetrap schools, came into the office of the DAILY WORKER to deliver in per- son a letter, which she did not wish to sign because it would endanger her job. Her letter follows: To The DAILY WORKER: I have been following with interest the in- vestigation of the fire-trap schools in Chicago made by your enquiring reporter. I have been teaching in the Chicago schools for 15 years and know that everything your reporter says about our dirty old school buijdings is true. But what are we going to do about it? It im true that $4,000,000 in in- creased taxation was voted at our late election, but that is only a drop in the bucket. Chicago grows by leaps and bounds. It grows so fast that 100 new school children must be taken care of, and two new teach- ers provided every day of the school year. That means 400 new rooms must be built every year at a cost of $8,000 per room. At the present -building cost the $4,000,0000 is spent on this one item of new buildings for elementary schools, The schools can- not be-completed for two years. The | 4 building program was stopped entire- ly during the war, so it is away be- hind now. In September this year, 75,000 children were without seats. These children are on half-time, that is, they are on the street half the e. One might ask, “Is Chicago so poor that its school children must suffer this poverty and need?” The answer would be, “No! Chicago is wdilthy.” Illinois is a wealthy state. But those who own the wealth of our city, the great corporations, the public utili- ties, the Big Business interests have no interest in the schools and public welfare. The Chi Teacher’ Federation has been working on the school prob- lem for 20 years. They have figures to show that the Big Interests of Chicago escape fully nine-tenths of their legitimate taxation. This is done thru the Board of Review of Cook County, which can be seen al- most any day, at its pleasant task of cutting approximately $1,000,000 blem only for the wealthy class Mr. Stewart|which never had a housing problem. of the The working class, having the great- est need for homes, was left in the lurch. Profiteering Rampant. There is no way of arriving at an accurate estimate of the mass of pro- up by the landlord class. Two oe are certain, however, of all, the landlords have been advantage of ja dete charge most exorbi- tant rentals for a; ents that are unfit to live in, nd, the rate of profit has been increasing in direct rtion to the increase of rent by the working class and the ‘distress in which the mass of people because of the acute housing ¢onditions, law that was enacted in New to aid the construction of more houses by making new residential ings tax exempt, has not helped the working class at all. This law landlords E has been used by the their per day from the taxes of the rich. The burden of taxation is borne by the little fellow, who cannot hide his home or real estate. Please have your enquiring reporter call upon the board of review. I believe that Mayor Dever has been asked to do so, fy enforcing the tax laws, but he is not in a position to act. It is reported on good authority that the campaign contributtons of both the Democratic and Republican arties are deducted by the obliging Eoasd of review from assessed taxes, While the Mayor is personally honest, it would be difficult for him to change this happy custom. ELEMENTARY TEACHER. Labor Takes Over National Bank at Bakersfield, Calif. BAKERSFIELD, Calif,, Feb. 13.— The Bakersfield. National Bank: clos- its doors as a capitalistic institu- tion at noon Feb, 2, and opened again at 2 p.m. as a labor controlled bank. The change was made by the ‘pur- chase by workers of 700 shares of bank stock which represented over two-thirds of the total and thus gave the control of the bank into the hands of organized labor. The legal trans- fer was made on Jan; 26 and was furth@red by the efforts of Dr. Walter F. MeCaleb, organizer of several labor banks thruout the country. The bank will open Saturday afternoons and evenings to accommodate workers, The change of control of the bank was celebrated by a reception in the bank Saturday afternoon and a ban- quet at night. Kate O'Hare to Talk Here, Kate Richards O’Hare will deliver a lecture on her prison experiences at the Studebaker theater here next Sunday morning, at 10 o'clock, This will be Mrs. O’Hare’s only lecture in Chicago, up Ever Greater Profits As Sufferin 162nd Second Street and Woody- crest Avenue, which could be rented at a maximum of $100 a room and yet net 8% profit. He declared that he does not control the property and the rent for the apartment in this house had already been fixed at $20 @ room. \ Mr. Matthews, another builder, told Industrial Commissioner Shientag, that many of the individuals who bought low priced houses, immedi- ately raised rents. He said that in these old type houses the courts al- lowed $6 a room. On the basis the owners were receiving 30% on the joney invested or 14% gross return on the rental value. se proper- ties have gone up 100% in market price. When Mr, Shientag was asked whether these landlords were getting a generous return, Mr. Matthews was quick to reply: “landlords today get what they have the nerve to ask for.” Ingenious Tricks of Landlords. The landlord class has been br ingenious in devising ways a the lawn and evicting tha vaante wht e laws an 0 refuse to pay high rentals. One of the means employed by the landlords is to have the old tenant move out and then charge the new tenant a higher rental. In this fashion great impetus has been lent to the increase of rent in New York. [| ‘tors have reported thousands of such con- trived The pre! re- rt of the Block Survey conducted in Manhattan and Brooklyn in Novem- ber, 1928, by the Housing Commis- ne cites ee jamin. nee on us the landlords: “From one of the BROTHER CHARLIE FINDS OIL TRUST IS VERY WICKED Wants (Oil) Govern- ment to Seize Oil (Special to The Daily Worker) LINCOLN, Neb., Feb, 13.—Gov- ernor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska, brother of William Jennings Bryan, and Governor W. H. McMaster of South Dakota, today joined forces in what they declared will be “a re- lentless war against a nation-wide. oil combine that is gouging the public out of millions of dollars,” Both governors have appealed to the federal government for relief from “unconscionable and unjust oil and gasoline prices,” the Nebraska governor demanding federal control and regulation of the oil industry. In an exchange of telegrams today, the executives pledged the support of their respective states to “an un- compromising” oil price fight and assailed what they termed “a uni-" versal policy of highway robbery.” McMaster, in his message to Bryan, said in part: “Never in the history of the coun- try has the oil combine so flagrantly and defiantly set out upon a policy of highway robbery. “The hour is not far distant when the people will demand that Standard Oil and her allied interests observe the rules of fair play or the Ameri- can people will destroy Standard Oil and nationalize the industry.” Governor Bryan replied with: “The oil combine has defied the government, state and national, and has outraged all cones in its auda- cious corrupting of public officials to do its bidding. “The confidence of the public in their government is shaken. Inves- tigations do not stop the robbery of the public and threats of prosecution have ceased to scare the oil combine. “It continues to tie up the oil pro- ducing agencies in one gigantic com- bination and to continue its strangle hold on the consumers of gasoline, “The government should act by taking over the oil industry and regulate the prices and protect the public.” Relief Conference Organized at New Haven After Meeting (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 13— Following a mass meeting at which William F, Kruse told of his experi- ences and impressions of Russia and Germany, and of the help extended to the. hungry German masses by their Russian fellow workers, a Ger- man Relief Conference was organized under the auspices of the F. S. R. of New Haven. Eighteen delegates re- presented three local unions, five fraternal organizations and eight other labor groups. An executive committee was elected with instructions to canvass all local rok ati ge in the interest of an enlarged conference to be held in three weeks. Contribution lists are to be circulated and a meeting and social affair is to be arranged in the heart of a strong German settlement just west of the city. Plans were also Projected for a tag day. Lathers Compromise Demands. ST. LOUIS, Feb. 13.—Union lath- ers here have compromised their original demand for wages of $1.87% an hour and settled for $1.50 an| hour. The hourly scale affects only metal lathers. Wood lathers will re- ceive $8.75 per thousand laths applied instead of the old rate of $8. Metal |N lathers formerly received $1.25 an hour, who were unable to pay this increase were subject to coercion—the gas fix. tures were torn out but electrical epi pliances were not installed so that the tenants had to remain in the dark.” Another trick employed by the landlords to boost protte is to play upon the race prejudice that exists in New York against Negroes amongst some people. Mr. Joseph 8S, Flynn, a member of the West em Ten- ants Association, summed up this phase of the profiteering game as fol- lows: “When a landlord does not suc- ceed in getting higher rents, the first thing he does is put in a colored agent. After he puts a colored agent in the tenants become panicky and frightened and think the house ering ibe sae ee colored man and then if the landlord does not succeed in” an increase in rent, very possibly the house will be sold to a colored man. They event- ly get more money.” One of the state investigators told me of another clever trick resorted to by the landlords to boost rents. “Take the four story house where I live on West 7ist Street. The house was sold at $26,000. It then passed thru probably ten hands. Most of these sales were fake. Finally it was sold by the present owner for $45,- 000. Four of the ten transfers were in the same realty office. The book- keeper, stenographer, and office boy were each involved in purchases ct the use of their names a g ts | increase. Page Three Cotton Kings Build More Mills he South Where 60-Hour Week Rules; Would Kill 48-Hour Week In North| By LELAND OLDS. (Federated Press Industrial Editor). Demand that women and ¢ been building duplicate plants low and the 60-hour week for They have given New England labor a long dose of unem- ployment and part time. Now they say this will continue to grow worse unléss a reduction in working standards is ac- cepted, If present conditions continue, say the mill owners thru their chief coun- sel, W. F, Garcelon, wages must be reduced, They hold it unfair for one state to be saddled with a 48-hour week while competing states have anywhere from 54 to 60 hours. And| then as a sop to the sentimental they add that they would have no ob- jection to a national 48-hour law which would put all manufacturers on the same footing. Latest reports show Massachusetts mills operating thruout December at only 69% of single shift capacity while mills in South Carolina were operating enough overtime to bring jtheir average to 6% over single shift capacity. Southern states with 16,- 747,046 spindles reported over four million spindle hours while New Eng- land 18,862,001 spindles only report- ed two and three-quarters billions hours of activity during the month. From all parts of Massachusetts come reports of increasing curtail- ment. Fall River reported decreased output for the first week in February. Mills at Saundersville and Le:wood have reduced activity from 40 hours Silent About Oil, Noisy About ‘Reds’; Is Defense Society NEW YORK, Feb. 13.—Following the issuance of blue, white, green, yellow, pink, and other motley books by the prolific governments of Europe, the American Defense So- ciety is about to publish a little Red Book of its own. It will be called, picturesquely, “Reds in America.” This 400-page volume, which you will scarcely have time to read, will tell what every good American fascist should know. It will consist of docu- ments, published in part by the Bos- ton Transcript and placed at the dis- position of the Defense Society by the U. S. secret service, Many of the documents may be classified as light summer fiction, tho more colorfully imaginative. The society has declined to state ‘he source of the monry employed in the publication of the Red Book. Detroit Press Banquet Postponed to Mar. 15; Dunne Will Speak (Special to The Daily Worker) DETROIT, Mich., Feb. 13—-On ac- count of the full meeting on Feb, 15th and 16th, of the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party, of which Comrade Wm. F. Dunne is a member, the “Boost Our Press” Banquet that had been arranged for Saturday evening, Feb. 16th will be postponed until Saturday, March 15. Tickets already purchased for Feb. 16th should be exchanged for March 15th tickets at the District Office in the House of the Masses, 2101 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit—(Signed) Edgar Owens, District Organizer. District o. 7 Amalgamati of City landlord there is always an increase jn rent. The landlord wants a $14 Increase in rent on a $26 apartment if he is to paint and paper, is the re- port from two houses. A white sink was put in and a new stove, and the rent was doubled, Installing elec- tricity or renovating the apartment was the occasion for a rent raise of | 200%. More frequently no improve- ments are made even after an in- crease.” Testifying before the State Com- mission, Mr. Pancrazio Genonese, al mechanic, thus described this condi- tion: “One landlord sells to another. and says I am a new landlord and! you have to give me a raise for paint- ing. But they don’t even after they promise and then another landlord comes and says I am a new landlord and want to put in electric lights, and you have to pay for electric lights and they don’t get electric lights ever, but we have to pay the 50.” Mrs. Coff of the Madison House cited the following rather painful illustration of the cruelty and greed of the landlords. She told how a landlord had said to a widow with four children in a three room apart- ment: “Now you can open the elec- tric light or not. If you open it and use my improvement you will have to pay $3 a month more. If you do not open you will remain in the dark.” This tenant was forced to live by candle light to save the $3 a month The only condition under which the widow could pay for the improvement was to cut down on her food which was already reduced to a minimum. The landlords even stoop to fool- ing many a tenant into the belief that they are planning to occupy these abominable homes themselves. They rength! thus succesd in having the poor move | the \ of the profiteer underlies the present move of Massachusetts| mill owners to secure the repeal of the 48-hour law in that state. For months the big cotton mill interests of the north have hildren be sacrificed to the god in the south where wages are women and children is legal, a week to 24 hours. Similar reduc- tions are reported at Winchenden Springs and Glen Aldne. Meanwhile investment of New England capital in the south continues. Remarking on it the National Bank of Commerce said: Bankers Tell Why. “Recent purchases of southern | mills by New England interests and more especially the actual transfer of complete mill equipment from the north to the south have emphasized the acceleration of a movement which has been under way since at least the beginning of the century. The tendency for cotton manufactur- ing to make larger gains in the cotton growing states than elsewhere in the United States is partially due to greater accessibility of the raw mate- rial but more important than this has been lower taxation and cheaper labor costs. Not only are the wage scales lower in the south but the working hours are longer. The change may in fact be identified as part of the world-wide movement of the cotton textile industry to seek locations where lower labor costs prevail.” The world-wide movement here re- ferred to includes the investment of British and American capital in the growing textile industry of China and India where workers toil for 10 or 15 cents a day and where 16 hours a day is not uncommon. Calendar of the New Time Is Issued by Italian Federation The Italian Federation of the Workers Party has just issued a beau- tifully illustrated calendar for 1924. The calendar is called the “Calendar of the New Time.” A page is devoted to each month! and each page has two or three well chosen illustrations that try to tell a connected story for the month. Altho the Italians are serious revolutionists they find a place for a few humorous pictures. Soviet Delegate Will Participate in Naval Parley ROME, Feb. 13.—A sequel to the naval parley held in Washington will take place here next Thursday at which a representative of Soviet Russia will be present. The confer- ence was not held in Switzerland owing to the boycott of that coun- try by the Russian government in reprisal for the assassination of Vor- ovsky, Soviet envoy to Lausanne. The plans are at present for a secret conference tho the Russians will fight for open sessions. Besides the big European powers, leading South American nations will be rep- resented as well as the Scandinavian kingdoms, Jugoslavia, Greece and the Netherlands, The United States will not be rep- resented even by an observer. pe AS aa Greek Labor Protests. ATHENS, Feb. 13,.—The Greek} Confederation of Labor is appealing | to the Government to repeal all laws | directed against trade unions. They also demand an eight hour day, in- creases in wages and better condi- tions in the mercantile service, out and are consequently enabled to increase the rents.for the new tenant. Miss Blackman of the United He- brew Charities told of this practice to the Commission, when she said: “In several instances which I can- not recall specifically, the landlords have tried to force the removal of a tenant on the technical ground that he wished the apartment for his own use. In all these cases our worker was able to prove to the satisfaction of the court that the landlord was using unscrupulous means in getting rid of his tenants so that he might increase his rentals considerably,” Have Iron-Clad Leases. The landlords have devised a lease known as the iron-clad contract by means of which they bind the tenant to the most oppressive conditions and have them at their mercy. This de- vice is, of course, against every prin- ciple of the law of contracts, but the government to date has mot taken any steps to stop the landlords from enforcing this arrangement, | Even s0 conservative a magazine and authoritative a spokesman for the Wall Street bankers as the Com- mercial and Financial Chronicle has been compelled to describe this iron- | clad lease in denunciatory terms. We | quote in part: “An ordinary reading almost fails to show that the land- lord is bound to do anything, unless to collect rent, but the most mar- velous stipulation is that he bin A make ‘rules and regulations’ which! he may add or alter from time to) time, and the tenant agrees in ad- vance to accept and be bound by re- quirements made and subject to re- vision thus.” Profit System At Fault. The intolerable conditions to which wor! masses are subject in the CANADIAN APPLE GROWERS GOING INTOBANKRUPTCY Bankers Stop Loans to Ruined Farmers By SYDNEY WARREN, (Staff Correspondent of The Federated Press) KELOWNA, B, C., Feb. 13,—-Like the raisin growers of California, the fruit growers of the Okanogan valle: f British Columbia’s famous apple growing region, are being driven te the wa 1 despite their co-operative or- ganiz Last year’s fruit crop was one of the biggest in the history of the val- ley but the growers will receive on an averagé only 40 cents a box for their trouble in cultivating, pic ng and packing a box of apples. Deduct from this sum the actual cost of putting a box of apples on the market, which is 80 cents, and it does not take a reparations committee to determine the financial status of the Okanogan fruit grower. Just because the grower only gets 40 cents a box for his apples does not mean that the consumer buys his fruit proportionately cheaper, for this year he is paying from $1.75 to $2.50 for a box of good apples, Play English for Suckers, The price of orchard land wag in- flated by real estate operators dur- ing the war years when fruit prices were mounting skywards. Rough land barely set out with trees was un- loaded on discharged soldiers, middle class English immigrants seeking to maintain their economic position “in the colonies” and that class of small business men, thrifty mechanics and the gullible who visualize an apple orchard with a bungalow and a mod- est share of prosperity. These were all good prospects and many of them bought orchard land for from $1,000 an acre upward, Now since the bottom has dropped from the fruit market they.are ready to dispose of their holdings for as little as one-third of what they orig- inally paid for them in order to es- cape complete ruin. One man in Okanogan v y, who two years ago sold a housé’ and an orchard of ten bearing acres for $16,000 now offers ten acres of bearing fruit land for $5,060. Bankers Stop Loans. The policy of the banks is not to lend any money to fruit growers al- ready indebted to them for previous advances on their crops. This year they are refusing to advance any money on last year’s crop as they have been advised that freight bills for the most part will be all the re- turns that the growers will get for their fruit. Stores in the valley that have been compelled to; extend credit to the growers are also facing asrrisic as wholesale houses are pressing them for settlement of their fueviaee: Early last year the Okanogan growers brought Aaron Sapiro, co- operative expert, to the valley and he proposed a reorganization of the whole fruit industry. His proposals were adopted and 83 per cent of the growers signed under the new co- operative scheme, but despite elabor- ate co-operatives, the employing of high-salaried experts to handle the fruit crop, the fruit growers find themselves in the present hopelesq situation. Two- Labor Papers Suspend. BALTIMORE, Feb, 13.—The Mary- land Worker a labor weekly has dis- continued publication, | * * CRESSON, Pa. Feb. 13—The Penn-Central News, a labor weekly, has suspended publication because of an injunction grocured against it by the opposing group in a miners’ dis- pute in which it was involved, Get unity thru the Lal ty! Workers Become More Acute housing crisis are not due to the fact that the landlords are bad as in- dividuals, nor is this sad state of af- fairs to be accounted for by blaming the landlords for their being afflicted with rapacioys greed. The crisis arises from the fact that industry and exchange are today con- ducted on a profit basis. The houses are manufactured for sale as com- modities and not for use. Com- modities are distributed to net the maximum profit possible. An an- alysis of the rise in the rentals of the homes of the workers involves an analysis of numerous other manu- facturing processes conducted on a capitalist basis, Thus the prices of building ma- terials, according to the latest fig- ures of the Department of Commerce, have gone up 106% since 1914. Out of each dollar that the home-owner pays for his house, the workers re- ceive $.25, according to the informa- tion of Dr. John M. Gries, chief of jthe Division of Housing of the De- partment of Commerce. The other $.75 is divided among the manufact- urers of building myterials, con- tractors, speculative builders and salesmen as profits and overhead, How hard this capitalist method of housing has been on the working masses is brought home very force- fully in the conclusion of the New York State Housing Commission in this statement: “This report clearly shows that family incomes in this state have become steadily more dis- proportionate to rents and costs of houses. Even the large amount of construction which has taken place during the last ten years has affected only the well-to-do and will not for a long time help that three-quarters of the population of the state with less than $2,500 a year,” nn