The New International Year Book

kinds of face brick, window and plate glass, sheet-iron and plaster-board. In lumber, price reductions are also seen in ash, basswood, plain and quartered oak, North Carolina pine, studding, rafters, ceiling and partition lumber and all hardwood flooring, including yellow pine. The condition suggests a general house-cleaning on the part of dealers, in anticipation of lower manufacturing prices, and the manufacturer, realizing that decrease in material prices will stimulate building, is faced with the problem of developing his production resources in such a way as neither to overstock nor to be caught later in the year with production and supply inadequate to meet a great demand.

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The diverting of materials and labor to construction work connected with the war naturally created certain conditions which are still with a post-war legacy-notably the housing problem. The high cost of war-time and postwar building at once involved the element of finance, and various legislative proposals of a remedial nature were made with a view to relieving the shortage of apartment houses and dwellings-especially acute in and around New York City. Many of the measures suggested were unfair to property owners, and when the banks were consulted there was found to be a great reluctance to finance building projects on account of the low return on the investment.

The State Legislature rejected a group of proposals presented by Governor Smith, and the reaction at Albany appeared to take the form of a statement that housing should be regarded as a Municipal concern, and not a State concern. Among numerous proposals in this group was that of New York City Municipal Loans for building purposes, and with it went the constructive proposal to constitute building loans and mortgages as exempt from taxation.

A committee on housing was appointed (the Lockwood Committee) and in its initial investigations of the entire question, it undertook to look into certain alleged combines for price main tenance among the building industries. As the investigation progressed, an astoundingly scandalous condition came to light. The work of the committee commenced in Oct. 20, 1920, and Samuel Untermeyer, the attorney, at the opening of the third session said:

"Now, what we intend to show is a banding together among the material men, first, in separate associations in each of 32 lines engaged in building materials, from the manufacturer down to the retailer; and then the banding together of the different associations under the head of the Building Materials Employers' Association; and then we propose to show that not only has labor been dragnetted into the Building Trades Council in many instances, but that employers have been dragnetted and forced into certain of these associations by the relation that exists between the Building Trades Council and the Building Trades Employers' Association."

In the course of testimony from a long list of witnesses, evidence came to light which disclosed a far-reaching and intricate condition of corruption, bribery, and coercion a condition plainly making against the progress and normal expansion of building. Many indictments are called for, and at the present writing the hearings of the committee are still continuing and the final outcome of the investigations cannot be recorded,

On May 5, 1920, the annual convention of the American Institute of Architects was held in Washington, D. C. These conventions are of marked importance in that the reports of their several committees represent inquiries and investigations of nation-wide scope and significance, and the subjects assigned to the different committees are designed to be of great constructive aid to the entire architectural profession.

At this 53rd convention reports were received on (1) Education, with recommendation to extend the usual four-year course for students; (2) structural service; (3) small houses, a new committee being appointed to study the whole subject and problem of financing small houses; (4) competitions; (5) schedule of charges, considering the question of raising the architects' fee from 6 per cent to 8 per cent, referred back to the State Chapters for study during 1921; (6) jurisdictional disputes; (7) community planning.

Another interesting report was reviewedthe report of the American Institute's Post-War Committee, which was appointed to inquire into and report on conditions and problems of architectural practice as found to exist after the war. The accomplishment of this committee is of distinct interest, and so germane to the purpose of this review that the following notes are given at length from the Journal of the American Institute of Architects:

a. The committee received and tabulated under separate headings a mass of opinion, suggestion, and criticism from individuals and societies bearing on various phases of the problems confronting the architectural profession.

b. Establishment of a point of contact and machinery for coöperation between organized labor, building and engineers.

c. Establishment of a definite basis for cooperation between organized labor, building contractors, and engineers which, it is hoped, will be an opening wedge to more sympathetic understanding between these great elements in the building industry.

d. Laid foundations for closer association with the building industry through participation in the Conference of the National Federation of Construction Industries.

e. Placed an argument for Registration of Architects, with practical data for Registration Laws in the hands of organizations and individuals in nearly every state in the union.

f. Placed the question of the organization of State societies, together with an outline of the experiences of states having such societies, and also a form of Constitution and By-Laws in practically every State in the Union, through the membership of the Post-War Committee.

g. Started a larger body of architects thinking concurrently along formulated lines of study than ever before.

h. Developed a form of organization that has many features to recommend it as a workable machine for carrying on educational effort of national scope.

i. It has developed, through the effort of the special l'ost-War Committee of the Washington State Chapter a chart indicating desirable fields for investigation in the study of problems affecting the proposition of architecture.

j. It has laid the basis for an international professional relationship, by correspondence and interchange of documents and information.

The Post-War Committee further outlined several important subjects for future study and action-subjects of great importance to every practicing architect. These additional subjects are given as follows:

1. What should be the function of the American Institute of Architects?

a. A national organization of the profession. and a direct factor in economic and social life, or

b. A dignified academy, attainable only by a few, and dealing only with the internal ethics of the profession.

2. What should be understood by the term 'Architect"?

3. Desirability of giving Local Chapters (of the American Institute of Architects) more authority in formulating Rules of Practice for the guidance of their members.

4. Creating sentiment in favor of State Registration Laws.

5. Parliaments of Building Institutes.

6. Relationship between Architects and Drafts

men.

7. Methods of organization of an architect's

office.

8. Value of dignified publicity.

rials, forbidding construction until 10 years after the war, many have been designed, but not built. Building costs, again, are the reason. The plans for the great Victory Hall for New York City are among the war memorial works which are at present being held in abeyance.

It is reported that Whitney Warren, the prominent New York architect, has been invited to supervise the rebuilding of the civic buildings of Louvain, in Belgium. Reconstruction work in general progresses steadily in France, although it is obvious that many more years will elapse before the extensive damage of the destruction in the North of France will be fully achieved.

Great Britain is experiencing difficulties in solving post-war housing problems similar to our own the high cost of building and the difficulty of getting building loans except at exorbitant rates of interest. Theorists are devising solutions which are based on re-distribution of population, but meanwhile the great industrial centres are suffering from increasing congestion.

It is generally believed by the architects of this country that building will begin to resume something of its pre-war trend in 1921, for while 1920 has been by no means barren of architectur

9. Remuneration for the architect's services. al activity, conditions have been far from normal. 10. Expense of estimating.

11. Schedule of charges.

As an instance of the activities of some of the State Chapters of the American Institute of Architects, "The Architects' Service Bureau of Minnesota, Inc.," should be of interest throughout the country. The members of this chapter, observing the offers of free plan service by lumber-yards. "plan factories" and other enterprises, conceived the idea of a coöperative effort to provide accurate, carefully thought-out plans for houses of 3, 4, 5 and 6 rooms. The work of this Minnesota experiment proved to be of such a constructive nature that it served as a basis for the plans subsequently developed by the Small House Committee of the American Institute of Architects.

Of actual architectural works, as was implied before, there are relatively few important examples to cite for 1920. Many buildings projected in 1919 have gone forward in their construction through 1920 and will be completed in 1921. Of these one of the most notable is the Cunard Building, in New York City (Benjamin W. Norris, architect). In Detroit work progresses on the Durant Building (Albert Kahn, achitect), the largest office building ever erected. Its cost is estimated at $8,000,000. The same architect also has the First National Bank of Detroit (Michigan), a $4,000,000 building, and others totalling $23,000,000.

The most important completion of the year was that for the Nebraska State Capitol, for which the winning design was made by Bertram G. Goodhue, of New York City.

There has been a more marked building activity in the Middle West than elsewhere in the United States, and the greater part of this has been in the industrial and commercial field. A number of hotels have been built, and a great many theatres (of the large motion picture type), while many public buildings have been held up due to limited appropriations which failed to over the great increases in building costs.

While this country has passed no such wise resolution as France in the matter of war memo

Under conditions which obtained during the war, and conditions which resulted from the war, it is by no means surprising that the progress of architecture both here and in Europe has been greatly retarded. See articles on HOUSING, CITY PLANNING, etc.

ARCTIC REGIONS. See POLAR RESEARCH; SPITZBERGEN.

ARGENTINA. A republic on the eastern coast of the southern part of South America. Capital, Buenos Aires.

POPULATION. There are fourteen provinces, ten territories, and one federal district, with a total area estimated at 1,153,119 square miles. The population according to the census of 1914 was 7,885,237. It was estimated January 1, 1919, at 8,411,000. No later figures for the population by provinces and other divisions were available than those given in the preceding YEAR BOOK, which were for January 1, 1918, as

follows:

The capital and largest city is Buenos Aires, with a population estimated September 1, 1918, at 1,637,155; the second city is Rosario, with a population estimated in 1918 at 235,000; other large cities with recent estimates of population are: Cordoba, 156,000; La Plata, i19,000; Avellaneda, 105,000; Tucuman, 100,000; Santa Fé, 60,000; Mendoza, 62,000; and Bahia Blanca, 75,000.

EDUCATION. Elementary education is free and subsidized by the general and provincial governments. It is secular and compulsory between the ages of six and fourteen. At the close of 1919 the schools numbered 9268 with an enrollment of 1,190,231 pupils and 36,615 teachers. Secondary education is controlled by the general government which maintained 37 national colleges with 11,022 pupils and 1244 teachers; 37 special institutions with 11,261 students and 897 teachers. Besides these, there are 59 military schools, 82 normal schools, and 79 schools annexed to normal schools; the universities of Buenos Aires, La Plata, and Cordoba, whose students numbered respectively, 10,404, 2835, and 5506; and the two provincial universities of Santa Fé and Tucuman. A popular university was in process of organization in 1920 with departments of philosophy, law, history, science, letters, medicine; foreign languages, etc. The budget for education in 1919 totaled 57,626,228 paper dollars.

In 1920 it was planned to establish at Rosario the National University of the Littoral, with complete courses in technical instruction covering a study period of five years, three of which were to be devoted to general scientific studies and two to the study of special subjects. The aim of the university was to be the preparation of experts in mechanical, electrical, construction, and civil-engineering work. It was to take the place of the industrial school which was formerly in operation in Rosario.

PRODUCTION. Agriculture and stock-raising are the main sources of wealth, the area for agricultural and pastoral use being placed at over 400,000,000 acres, which, however, was only conjectural. There are still large tracts of lands that have not yet been disposed of in the territories, estimated at an acreage of nearly 238,000,000 and suitable for pastoral uses. These are sold or in certain instances are given free of charge to colonists. It has been estimated that about 10,000,000 acres of the cultivable portion required irrigation. The following table shows the acreage of the leading crops for 191819 and 1919-20.

The above figures of exports each cover the 12 calendar months of 1917, 1918, and 1919, respectively. See AGRICULTURE.

As no coal is mined in Argentina the country is dependent upon the United States and England, but its scarcity will be seen from the fact that only 707,712 tons were imported in 1917, and 821,974 tons in 1918, as against 4,046,278 tons in 1913. The railway, industrial, and domestic necessities of the country suffered severely during the war, not only from the scarcity and the abnormal prices of coal itself, but also from the resulting speculation in quebracho and algarroba firewood, in the charcoal (the poor man's fuel) derived from these woods, and in Argentine petroleum as fuel oil. Coal rose from $31 per ton at the beginning of 1917 to $50 at the middle of 1918, wholesale. The woods used for firewood and charcoal are quebracho and algarroba; it requires about 21⁄2 tons of quebracho to produce the calorific value of 1 ton of coal.

Petroleum is the most important of the mining products of Argentina. During the war, wolfram was in considerable demand and at high prices, while mica was also sought by one or two concerns throughout the Republic. Copper has been produced in a desultory way for limited periods in the past. The provincial governments of Argentina possess the control of mines in the respective provinces as a result of the provisions of the national constitution, while those in the national territories are under the direct control of the national government. Mining concessions, however, are regulated in all cases by the mining code of the republic.

COMMERCE. Exports and imports for 1918 in gold pesos were, respectively, 801,466,488, and 500,602,752. The following table shows the total Argentine foreign trade, the sum of the imports and exports, by countries, for the years 1913, 1917, and 1918, values being expressed in gold pesos:

Belgium Bolivia

1,292 159.009

Countries

Australia
Aus.-Hungary.