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. FOR SALE AT MT. CLEMENS, MICH. An exceptional business oppor- tunity. Large Kosher Hotel with established patronage, fully equipped, beautiful grounds and well situated. For Details Phone Cherry 5350 "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 Need-- In this Day of Super-Needs? LE(:IARD WOOD A Powerful Administrator! At the head ut the nation, the strongest man to be )'ad) One who will surround himself with the strongest men he can get, give them the necessary authority, back them.up, and fr - nklly accord them full shale of the credit for the job done. One who will advance us toward that position of world security and prosperity which will become the peace-worth-while, paid for in ad- vance with the blood and treasure of the war. LEONARD WOOD Is beyond comparison the strongest man the rank. of Americans offer for the Presidency—by Charactee —by Training—by Opportunity—and by Performance This advertisement is paid for by Leonard Wood League of Michigan- '''. M. Alger. Pies. Walter C. Piper, Vice-Pres. C. A. WEISSERT, Sec. and Treas.