THE HOUSING QUESTION 
61 
How many houses, not the excellent cottages which 
have been built by Local Authorities, but just the good 
old-fashioned sort, would they have built ? How many 
—with prices what they were and the clamour for 
building and repairs by rich firms and individuals what 
it was ? Shall we say a thousand a year ? It would 
be a sanguine estimate. 
What has been done by private enterprise in America, 
Germany, France and Italy since the war ? Practically 
nothing. This fact is known to every authority on the 
subject. And British private enterprise would have 
done about as much. Will those who oppose house 
building on estates by Local Authorities tell us by what 
other means modern, healthy lay-outs can be secured ? 
Of recent years builders of middle-class villas have 
found it has paid them to introduce some kind of 
art and amenity into the lay-out of an estate. But is 
it likely that speculative builders will take the trouble 
or afford the expense to do so in working-class houses ? 
They will do what they must to comply with local 
building by-laws and no more. The practice of 
converting Britain into a crowded and insanitary 
ant-heap will duly proceed. It has “ sufficed " in the 
past. Why should it not “ suffice " in the future ? 
And now for the fourteenth and last excuse. 
The Law as made in the 1919 Housing Act was 
clear. It became the statutory duty of Local Authori 
ties to submit and carry out an adequate scheme for 
housing the working classes in their area. It was 
further provided in the Act that, if a Local Authority