PAGE TWELVE
"HE DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
The Story of the "Master Builder" of
Woolworth and Equitable Buildings
Louis J. Horowitz, Thirty Years Ago, a Penniless, Russian-Polish
Jewish Immigrant—Today, President of the
Thompson-Starrett Company.
Thirty years ago Louis J. Horo- cantonments, Camp Upton, on Long
witz, an immigrant from an old world Island. The spot, Yaphank, was a
to the land of his new desire, gazed densely wooded wilderness, isolated
at the sky-line of New York from the and many miles distant from any
deck of a ship. Today he may look large city or reservoir of labor. Yet
upon what he has added to that sky- within a hundred days a soldier city
line, for he is the builder of the Equi. was thrown up capable of housing
table and the Woolworth buildings 45,000 of our boys and 15,000 ani•
and of many others which, though mats. And one who has seen these
high, dtt not reach so far up into the substantial wooden buildings, heated,
clouds.ANY. Horowitz, running true equipped with electric lighting, mod-
tb (MP', was nearly sou-less and ern bathing and toilet facilities will
es; when he reached American appreciate the herculean effort that
1.-/shores;
but he had that grit, push must have ben put forth to accom-
,shor
and determination which are often plish this. Twelve thousand peace-
called American, but which are often, feel laborers brought about this mira-
as in this case, imported products. cle. But this army also had to be
The first thing he did was to find a housed, provisioned, and lodged by
job, that being a condition precedent the builders, as it was too great a
to getting something to eat. He distance from any of their homes.
worked first as an errand boy, after This was building for victory.
ward as a parcel-wrapper, then as a
As the head of the Emergency
stock-boy, and then as a shoe sales- Construction Section, War Industries
man. Selling shoes gave him
the Board, Col. W. A. Starrett, recently
-
idea that he might be able to sell said: "As a peaceful nation, building
real estate, and at the age of twenty- was perhaps our most spectacular
three, five years after he had landed, chivement.
Our cities were the
this Russian-Polish boy embarked for a wonder and the administration of the
himself as a real-estate broker in world on account of their great
Brooklyn. In a short time he was buildings . . . . As a nation totally
financing the erectiqp of an apart- unprepared for war, perhaps our most
menu-house, and soon afterward he conspicuous deficiency was in suit-
became president of a Brooklyn able buildings and structures to house
brokerage firm which he himself in- and train the armies. Beyond that
corporated. While he was engaged we lacked warehouses and terminals,
on various real-estate operations, . the hospitals, specialized factories, flying
young man attracted the attentoni of fields,
and airdromes, but we were
sa
the Thompson-Starrett Company, not unprepared to produce them. All
who offered him the post of assistant of these things were a necessary
to the president. In less than a year precedent to our preparation for war.
the firm had undertaken important The lack of buildings stood squarely
construction work, running into the across the path of the wholepro-
millions. Everybody knows the grant of war-making, and American
Woolworth and the Equitable build- genius was not only equal to, but in a
ings, but few know the man who bum measure prepared for, the demand
them, says Francis J. Oppenheimer, that was to be made upon it. The
writing in The Magazine of Wall cantonments will always stand out
Street. He goes on to tell us: as a spectacular building achievement
The Woolworth building, for in - of the war."
stance, designed by Cass Gilbert, and
When the need arose for a build.
considered the most beautiful modern
fairy tower in the world (for each ing organization to manage the con-
lighted window means a point of in- struction work in connection with
dustrial energy—a worker at a desk) Explosives Plant "C" at Nitro, W.
cost its owner $8,000,000. Rising Va., the Government asked the or-
from the sidewalk fifty-five stories, ganization which had made good at
or 785 feet, it contains nearly a mil- Camp Upton to undertake the work.
lion square feet of office space. The Here are some interesting figures
equitable designed by E. R. Graham, in connection with this stupendous
forty-two stories high, contains 1,- war work. The area of operation
800000 square feet of space, and is was 1,900 acres; over 20,000 men
equipped with the sixty-three speed- were caned on the pay-roll. In
lest elevators in the world. The Nev round figures it took 35,000 cars to
York Municipal Building, designed deliver material at the site, averag
by McKim, Mead & White, cost $11. ing during the busy period 300 cars
000,000, and is the largest building per day, which, calculated on a ten-
ill the world devoted exclusively to hour day, meant that a car was re
municipal offices. It rises forty-two ceived and unloaded every two min-
stories above the sidewalk level to utes.
a height of 550 feet, and contains
The work included the laying of 75
1,300,000 square feet of space. The
exterior is built of granite, of which miles of standard and narrow-gage
there was a total of 660,000 cubic feet, railroad track; in addition. 133 miles
all of which was quarried, cut, of sewer and water-piping, 185,000
shipped, and set in place in twenty- cubic yards of concrete, 31,000,000
six months. bricks, 108,000,000 board feet of lum-
ber, a boiler plant rated at 34,000
In addition to these skyscrapers horse-power, but designed for 100 per
famed the world over, this concern cent, overload, and the installation
has erected a score of banks, financial of a water system to handle 90,000,000
institutions, industrial plants, and allons a day.
power-houses. The Union Station in - g
Mr. Horowitz is optimistic as to the
Washington, admired by every one
who has passed through that city, as outlook fin his line of wark for 1920.
well as the McAlpin and Claridge We read further:
hotels in New York, are also Thorny-
Asked about the prospects for the
son-Starrett Company productions.
money supply for building operations,
The first great achievement of Mr. he said: "It is a noteworthy fact
Horowitz's administration was the that one of the largest lenders has
erection of the Gimbel Bhuilding at recently come into the market for
Broadway and Thirty-third Street. mortgage loans, and I believe this
This was rushed through in the face bank will be followed by others. This
of every discouragement. Gimbel in spite of the fact that insurance
Brothers, who desired the new store, companies and savings-banks have
did not want to invest in real estate, been practically out of the market
it being against their policy, so Mr. for mortgage loans, due chiefly to
Horowitz had first to find a real- their using up their funds in buying
esate company which owned suflici- the various Liberty Loans. Individual
cut land. Then he had to find money investors will not be slow to follow
to put up the building. With the this bank's example.
completion of this project, involving
"Figure it out for yourself. Mort-
a total outlay of about twelve million gages paying 6 per cent interest can
dollars and the drawing up of a lease not successfully compete, from the
for the premises for one hundred standpoint of income yield, with other
years at a rental of one hundred mil- securities on the market, some of
lion dollars. the success of his admin- which have tax-exemption features.
istration was assured.
I am advised a bill was recently in-
In 1910, Mr. Theodore Starrett troduced in the House providing for
having retired, Mr. Horowitz was the exemption from the operation of
made president of the Thompson- the income-tax law of mortgages up
Starrett Company.
to the amount of $40.000 held by any
When, in 1917 ; the United States investor. Such legislation, in my
leclared war on Germany, this con- opinion. is highly desirable, as it
cern was entrusted with the responsi- would help overcome the grave mon-
bility of erecting one of the large ey shortage.
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"High prices," he continued, "are
caused by lower production and taxes.
Taxes will take care of themselves
now that war-expenditures have de-
creased, and prices can be reduced
without reducing wages, if those who
work for wages will give a fair day's
labor in return. In the building in-
dustry, for instance, where costs of
work executed under existing wage-
scales must run higher than they,
did when wages were from 50 to 70
per cent. of what they are to-day,
necessity for paying present wages
carries with it the paramount need
for increasing the output of each man.
"The contrary, however, has proved
the rule. Bricklayers who are cap-
able of laying 2,000 or more brick
per day, and who were laying 1,200
to 1,500 when they were earning $5
a day, now that they are receiving
from $8 to $10 a day lay only 700
bricks.
"And this holds true in every other
industry. Things can not go on like
this without a smash-up somewhere
along the line, and I earnestly urge
labor-leaders to take tip this question
of a conscientious full day's work
for a full day's pay.
"The restriction, too, of immigra-
tion, is having a serious effect on
business generally, and, as you know,
in the building industry particularly.
It's a long while since I ve seen an
Italian laborer or an Irish hod-car-
rier, except in vaudeville.
"The country's supply of unskilled
labor," Mr. Horowitz continued, "is
lagely drawn from Immigrants, and
therefore curtailment in this respect
seriously affects our supply and tends
to raise wages of such labor as is
available."
I asked the genuinely self-made
man for some word to the younger
generation that would help it to suc-
ceed in business.
"Don't worry about success," Ile
replied: "it will come as surely as
night follows day, to quote Shakes-
peare, if you attend to your own
work conscientiously. Most young
men just work sufficiently to earn
money so they can play around. Play
should be an accident, not the aim
of life."
How Thoreau would have appreci-
ated and what a glowing account he
could have penned of this "master
builder!" You remember Thoreau
tells how he awoke one night and
what a satisfaction it was to his soul
to remember that the day before he
had driven one nail straight. What
would be have said of the huge
Woolworth and Equitable buildings,
or of the little man that gave them
form?—Literary Digest.
SAMUEL J. RHODES TO
ADDRESS PHILOMATHIC
DEBATING CLUB SUNDAY
Hickey's for Qua:ity
At next Sunday's meeting of the
Philomathic Debating Club, March
28, Samuel J. Rhodes, local attorney
and former Speaker of the organiza-
tion, will be the principal speaker of
the evening. In addition there will be
a debate on the subject, "Resolved,
that the St. Lawrence River be Made
Navigable for Ocean Traffic," in
which Joseph Mandell and Abe Ham-
burger will advocate the measure,
while Shirley Hurwitz and Ralph
Aronstant will oppose it.
At last Sunday evening's meeting,
\Vm. P. Lovett, Secretary of the De-
troit Citizens' League, gave a splen-
did, forceful address on the subject
of the Court Reform Bill, for which
that organization is conducting an
energetic campaign. Mr. Lovett, by
reason of his many years experience
in municipal affairs, spoke authorita-
tively on the need of immediate relief
for Detroit's congested courts and of
the merits of the pending court re-
form bill.
The other half of the program con-
sisted of a debate on the same ques-
tion, which preceded Mr. Lovett's ad-
dress. The affirmative of the ques-
tion, upheld by Morris Abramoff and
Abe Shevitz, overwhelmingly defeat-
ed the negative side, David Koffman
and Max Schuster. In the vote for
the best speaker on the debate, Mr.
Abramoff received a handsome ma-
jority.
Spring
Fashions
for the
Growing
Girl
A most comprehensive showing of
girls Springtime clothing which et-
presses durability and girlishness. The
two main things to be considered in
dressing a growing girl.
Coats
ROTHSCHILD GIVES BIG
SUM FOR PRIZE POEMS
Polo coats and capes that bear the
mark of quality and good style are par-
ticularly attractive here.
LONDON—James de Rothschild
has given the Education Department
of the London Zionist Organization
500 pounds, with which to establish
a "Deborah Prize for Hebrew
Poetry" at the University of Jerusa-
lem, which Prof. Patrick Geddes of
the University of Edinburgh, noted
city planner, is now designing in con-
nection with his commission from the
Zionist Organization to rebuild the
Iloly City as the capital of the future
Jewish National Homeland.
The interest on the Rothschild
contribution is to be given every
three years as a prize to the student
of the University, who has written the
best Hebrew poem during that period.
Suits
Dainty tailored and dressy models
(Eton styles included) will be further
enhanced with a Hickey blouse.
Dresses
Silk wool and wash dresses are suffi-
ciently attractive and distinctive to ap-
peal to the most discriminative mother.
Congregations which have joined
the United Synagogue recently are
Brith Sholom, Easton, Pa.; Ahawas
Zedek, Akron, 0.; Beth El, Roches-
ter, N. Y.
vii
201 - 205
Woodward Avenue.
w
What Is
America's
Greatest
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C. A. WEISSERT, Sec. and Treas.