The Sunday opening or closing Better Homes Week, April 24 or May 1, may be observed as Better Homes Sunday, with special services in the churches and 04521sermons relating to the campaign and various aspects of home improvement and home-life. Arbor Day, although usually falling earlier in the year than Better Homes Week, might be observed by the Committee by the planting of trees and shrubs on the grounds of the house to be used for demonstration purposes, if such a house has been secured. Garden Week may be observed in the same way or by planting home vegetable- and flower-gardens, and by landscaping improvements.

Better Homes Week ends on May Day, which is observed as Child Health Day in communities all over the country. The observance of the day is under the auspices of the American Child Health Association. Secretary Hoover is President of that Association, as well as of Better Homes in America, and in commenting on its work he has written, “with bodily health almost surely goes the natural selection of healthy associations, moral and spiritual as well as physical. Also, with such health, and just as naturally, goes an aptitude to receive the right instruction easily; to be kind; to regard the rights of others; that is, to make good citizens.”

Local committees are urged to cooperate with representatives of the American Child Health Association, securing their support in the Better Homes program, and setting May Day apart for special observance. Health is an essential factor in happy home life. The observance planned by the American Child Health Association will emphasize its importance, show how it can be maintained, and enlighten the public as to the agencies in the community which are ready to assist families in keeping their children well.

The leaders of the Child Health movement are in accord with the aims of Better Homes in America, and have heartily approved the suggestion that May Day be observed by our Better Homes Committees with special emphasis upon child health and child welfare and the problem of child training in the home. (Further suggestions will be sent to chairmen on the observance of May Day.)

In past years, numerous committees have reported the presentation of a play or pageant in connection with the Better Homes demonstration, usually with the help of the State University or the local Drama League.

Community campaigns to improve the appearance of streets and home premises are frequently held, and such undertakings may easily be combined with the work of the Better Homes Committee. The city government, health agencies, improvement Associations, Boy Scouts and others will usually be found ready to cooperate.

Interest in handicrafts and home art can be aroused by conducting a contest to show the best examples of home craftsmanship or artistic work; or by holding an exhibit of such work done by children or adults in the home. If a house is demonstrated it is an excellent plan to provide a work-shop in the cellar or attie or in a shed on the home grounds, equipped with suitable tools. A demonstration of some homecraft might be made in such a room every day of Better Homes Week. Even if it is impossible to demonstrate a house, a model home work-shop might be equipped and shown to the public.

A survey of housing conditions may be a necessary and almost certainly would be a worthwhile civic undertaking. The Better Homes Committee, which is seeking to improve housing conditions would be enabled to do more effective work if it had accurate information as to community needs. The local women's clubs will have recently completed a home equipment survey, which will materially help in such a project.

The survey may be undertaken to discover whether building is keeping pace with the growth of the community, whether any group in the community is in particular need of improved conditions or more houses, whether there are enough suitable houses available for wage-earners or families in moderate circumstances. If there are groups of negroes or immigrants in the population, the housing for

Four-room house, Santa Barbara, California, well designed, inexpensive of construction and showing the advantage of careful planting.

these groups may be given particular study. Valuable assistance in making surveys may be secured from experienced specialists connected with nearby colleges or the State university, and also from local housing associations, housing committees of chambers of commerce, and boards of health. National Headquarters will be pleased to render all possible assistance to local committees undertaking surveys.

The most important aim of Better Homes in America and of all local campaigns is to promote the study of character-building in the home. We are all interested in houses, furnishings, and environment, but principally because good surroundings make for happier home life and in wholesome conditions there is greater opportunity for pursuing the main goal of life—the development of character. The emphasis of the whole campaign should be upon this subject. The Committee should have in mind the influence of the home upon the individual in planning every detail of the campaign.

Better Homes Committees in large communities have made a special effort to interest the neighboring rural population in the campaign. With the cooperation of County Home Demonstration Agents, special demonstrations for country people have been held. (If you are planning to do this, write in for our special Guidebook for Rural Communities.)

With the assistance of the local library a good deal of interest can be focused upon collecting and reading good books in the home. If there is a demonstration house it should be equipped with a good home library. The public schools or the public library will cooperate in preparing such a list, and the public library will ordinarily lend the books to be placed in the demonstration home during Better Home Week.

The public library might also reserve a shelf filled with books and magazines on home architecture, gardening, furnishings, and the financing of home-building.

A contest may be held to submit the best list of twenty-five or fifty books to form a nucleus for a home library.

Lectures might be given, on “Influence of Books in the Home,” “Better Reading Matter for the Home,” “Better Periodicals for the Home,” and “Books and Magazines for Children.”

In rural demonstrations, a special feature ought certainly to be made of books and magazines. If the county or district has not a traveling library, a Better Homes Campaign would offer an excellent opportunity to establish one. The head of the Library Commission of your State can furnish information regarding this.

A program of home music is a valuable part of a Better Homes demonstration Concerts of the best home songs—which all members of a family will enjoy singing together—are a most worthwhile feature of such a program.

The assistance of music clubs and dealers in musical instruments can readily be enlisted for this purpose.

If you have a demonstration home, there should be a piano or phonograph in it. If you are planning your house, the Demonstration Home Committee should have a plan for the location of the piano in mind.

A contest may be held to submit the best list of twenty-five or fifty piano compositions, songs, phonograph records, and piano player rolls for the home.

A study course may be arranged consisting of a series of lectures or discussions to be held in the community, either during Better Homes Week or during the weeks preceding, on the following phases of Better Homes work:

1. Thrift for Home Ownership. Financing. The Budget.

A Home-builders’ Clinic is an excellent feature, and one which will be effective in any demonstration. Such a Clinic is held by a committee comprising a representative of a bank, a representative of a building and loan association, a representative of the Real Estate Board, with a comprehensive list of houses for sale, a member of the City Plan Commission with a map of vacant lots, an architect, a builder, a landscape or garden specialist, a teacher of home economics, and perhaps other persons familiar with the problems of financing and building a house. This Committee should be ready to answer questions of families which contemplate building or buying a home. Budget specialists may be secured also to advise families in keeping their accounts and planning their expenditures. It is well to have several complete shifts to work on this Committee, so that the Clinic may be kept open for a long period each day of Better Homes Week without imposing too great a burden on any individuals. The members comprising this Committee will, of course, give advice free and without serving any selfish interest. The clinic is best held at the Public Library or School.

3. THE DEMONSTRATION HOME COMMITTEE

The General Chairman of the local Better Homes Committee may be the chairman of this subcommittee, or may appoint someone else. Its membership should be very carefully chosen, and may properly include, among others, a competent architect and a landscape architect.

The house to be demonstrated may be (1) a new house planned by the Committee and built expressly for the demonstration, (2) a new house borrowed from the builder or owner, (3) an old house remodelled. For examples of demonstration houses borrowed, planned and built by the committee, or remodelled, see pages 42 to 46, containing a story of the 1926 campaign. Houses built from plans of the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau, some of which are Illustrated in 04824the Plan Book of Small Homes, make excellent demonstrations. Such houses were demonstrated in 1926 at Atlanta, Georgia, Prince Georges County, Md., Utica, N. Y., West Bend, Wis., and the Sesqui-Centennial, Philadelphia.

A demonstration of unusual value to a community is a school practice house—a permanent demonstration home owned by the school department and used by home economics teachers to give continuous practice instruction in household management and the art of home-making. If the schools of your community are fortunate enough to have one it may be used; if not, the Committee should try to interest the school authorities in building one.

It has been the universal experience of Better Homes committees throughout the country that builders and realtors have been willing and ready to lend houses for demonstration purposes. New private homes may also sometimes be borrowed before occupancy. The house borrowed should be selected because it is better in its architecture and construction than the prevailing types of houses in the community. It should also be of a type which would be within the reach of families of average income or less.

Old houses can also be reconditioned at slight cost, and such a demonstration is very valuable, for in many places there is a lack of new houses suitable for families of small means. Inasmuch as old dilapidated houses can often be made into comfortable and attractive homes at slight expense, the demonstration of such a house is a worthwhile civic undertaking. See the account of a demonstration of reconditioning at Atlanta, Ga, on page 45.

If your committee plans to build a demonstration house, it would be an excellent idea to conduct a small house plan competition, as was done by the committees at Santa Barbara and St. Paul in 1926. Limits as to the cost and size might best be set at five or six rooms and $6,000 or under.

If the house is built for the campaign, the cost of building and of the lot can be cleared by selling the property after the demonstrations. The house and the land, together, should not cost more than $10,000, and preferably should cost between $2,000 and $6,000, for the group in our population most in need of better homes is made up of families with incomes of from $1,000 to $3,000 a year. It should be well built and large enough to accommodate a family of five.

The Committee should insure the house against fire and theft, and take the precaution of securing police protection.

This Committee ought likewise to see to the planting and landscaping of the grounds. Often it is advantageous to do the planting on Arbor Day or during Garden Week, in cooperation with local schools and clubs.

The house should be so located that it will be readily accessible by ordinary transportation facilities.

No advertising should be permitted on the premises.

4. THE COMMITTEE ON EQUIPMENT AND FURNISHING

The furnishings and equipment of the house can be borrowed readily from local dealers. The local electric and gas companies will usually be glad to supply service free, so that demonstrations of modern conveniences may be made.

The home economics department of the local schools may well cooperate in decorating the home; schemes for furnishing and decorating various rooms can be incorporated into the regular school work, and are bound to have much educational value.

For further suggestions as to furnishings and equipment, the Committee should consult Publication No. 3 of Better Homes in America: “How to Furnish the Small Home.”

The names of cooperating firms and the price of furnishings should not be posted, either on the furniture or on the premises. Proper acknowledgment can be made in the press. It can also be made to good advantage by issuing a booklet in which are listed all the articles of furniture and equipment used in the demonstration house, room by room, together with their cost. The efficient Better Homes Committee of Atlanta, Ga., issued such a booklet in 1926. Not only is it a fitting way to acknowledge the cooperation of business firms, but also it is an excellent method of demonstrating to the public the cost of furnishing a tasteful and comfortable home. Copies of the Atlanta booklet can be supplied to local Better Homes Committees by National Headquarters.

Children's bedroom in Demonstration House No. 1, of the States Barbara Committee. The furniture is a rich dark blue and rose is introduced in the bedspread and trilled curtains. A bureau, bookshelf and fairy tale pictures complete the furnishings. The total furnishing cost was only $156.

5. THE FINANCE COMMITTEE

The duty of this subcommittee will be to raise money to pay the expenses of the campaign. A banker or other competent business man is sometimes chosen in the larger cities to serve as chairman. Since it will be found possible in most demonstrations to borrow houses, equipment, and so forth, expenses need to be high.

In 1926, of 468 committees making definite reports on campaign costs,

226 reported no money had to be raised

No general rule can be given as to the methods of raising money to defray campaign expenses, but below are lists compiled from reports of 1926 committees of methods which have been found successful. These may be of use to Finance Committees in future campaigns.

Money was donated by:

Banks

Money was raised from the receipts of:

Fairs

An additional function of the Finance Committee may be the preparation of typical family budgets for different income groups. Teachers of home economics and County Home Demonstration Agents should assist if such budgets are prepared. If a house is to be demonstrated, a budget may be he drawn up for the type of family which would be likely to occupy it. The annual income of this family may be set at 50 per cent of the cost of the house and lot, and a scheme for financing the building or buying of the house should be based on such income. A excellent way of educating the public in scientific home management is to publish such budgets in leaflets to be distributed at the Demonstration House and at all Better Homes meetings, in schools, and clubs. Such a leaflet may be incorporated in the booklet prepared by the Committee on Furnishings, containing lists of furnishings in the Demonstration House. The budgets prepared ought to be for families in different income groups up to $5,000 a year.

The Finance Committee may make an important part of their work the encouragement in the community of thrift for home ownership. They may find it possible to conduct a campaign of saving in conjunction with the local building and loan associations and savings institutions, or to promote the establishment of new building and loan associations, if needed, or of second mortgage companies with limited dividends.

6. THE COMMITTEE ON RECEPTION

The major duty of the Committee on Reception is to provide a hostess for each room of the Demonstration House for every afternoon and evening for Better Homes Week. The members of the committee are usually supplied by the local women's clubs. The chief qualification for hostesses is that they should know all the facts regarding the demonstration and be able to explain them clearly to visitors. Instruction cards for each hostess have been found useful. A form for such cards will be supplied by National Headquarters on request. This committee should keep a record of attendance at the Demonstration Home.

The movement to provide schools with practice houses for the use of classes in household management or home economics is rapidly spreading throughout the country. Such houses afford examples of what a home can be, and give to students the opportunity to study the various activities of a real home which cannot be reproduced in a laboratory, no matter how well equipped. In such houses, students who, perhaps, have never known what it is to live in a modern, well-equipped house can acquire, by actual experience, knowledge of construction, arrangement, decoration, and the use of modern labor-saving equipment; and can learn how a home is financed and managed. A practice house, because it is more real than a laboratory demonstration, is a constant inspiration to apply at home the lessons learned in it.

Where such houses have been used by schools, they have been found to be of great value. In communities where the public schools have no practice house,it may be desirable and possible for the Better Homes Committee to interest in the school board in the project of building or

Demonstration houses of Utica, New York, built by boys enrolled in vocational classes of public schools and furnished by girls enrolled in home economics classes. This six-room house was constructed from Plan 8-A-37 of the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau at a cost, including garage, of approximately 38,000.

securing one, and use this house as the center of the demonstration. It might be possible, in some cases, to interest a group of public-spirited citizens to the extent of raisings funds for the purpose of erecting or buying a practice house to be given to the schools.

The Better Homes Campaign at Port Huron, Mich., in 1923, which was conducted entirely by the children of the civics classes of a junior high school, is described in “Civic Effectiveness,” Publication No. 2 of Better Homes in America. In 1925 and again in 1926 notable Better Homes campaigns were conducted under the leadership of the same chairman, Miss Elisabeth Carlisle, head of the Civics Department of the Washington Junior High School. In all of these campaigns the active work was done by pupils, as a comprehensive educational project. The house built and demonstrated in 1925 will be used as a permanent practice house by classes in home-making.

At St. Helena Island, S.C. a school practice house was built, furnished, and demonstrated as a part of the Better Homes Campaign of 1924 by pupils in the Penn Normal Industrial Agricultural School, one of the oldest schools for negroes in the South.

In communities which already have a school practice house, it is usually advantageous to use it as one of the demonstration houses for Better Homes Week. This will generally prove a very satisfactory form of school or university extension for adult education and will also serve to acquaint parents with the public school resources for training in household management and in the art of home-making.

In some localities houses have been actually built by schools boys and furnished by girls. The construction of a house, even though it is not to be used as a practice house, is an excellent project for students in vocational classes and students of home economics. Houses built by schools children were demonstrated in 1926 at Stockton, Calif., Hedrick's Grove, N.C., Everett, Wash., Peru, Ind., and Utica, N.Y. See Publication No. 13 of Better Homes in America, on this subject.

Such a house built from plans furnished by the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau, formed the central feature of the Better Homes campaign in Utica, New York, where Mrs. Thayer Burgess was local chairman. The house was built by the vocational department of the Utica Schools, under competent supervision. Upon completion of the house, the bed rooms were furnished by the girls in the 8-B classes of to local schools, under the supervision of the head of the Home Economics Department. The living and dining rooms were furnished under the direction of a teacher in the part time school and a member of a local club. The kitchen and laundry were furnished under the direction of the budget department of a local bank.

It may be helpful to discuss somewhat in detail the ways in which schools can take part in a Better Homes Campaign, aside from building or demonstrating a school practice house.

Clearly, the department of school work which would be most intimately interested in the Better Homes Campaign is the department of Home 05430Economics, and it is repeated that the cooperation of teachers in this subject should be sought early in the campaign. The classes under their direction might give public demonstrations of cooking, sewing, decorating, making curtains and chair-covers, and display budgets and charts dealing with the subject of home management, prepared as part of the school work. Special problems having direct relation to the local demonstration may be set for home economics classes. For example, pupils may be given the task of planning, arranging, and decorating certain rooms in the demonstration house, and of figuring out the proper costs of furnishings for each room.

The example of the Civics Department in the schools of Port Huron, referred to above, illustrates what similar departments in other schools can do to bring the Better Homes Campaign within the interest of school children.

Where a home demonstration is taken up as laboratory work, or even where the Better Homes Campaign is simply made a subject of special and intensive discussion by civics classes the local study would cover with special emphasis the city-planning and zoning laws, the housing, building, and plumbing codes, the fire limits, the regulation of transportation as they affect the location and construction of the home and as they affect the welfare of the occupants. The essence of training for civic effectiveness is, however, the development of the habit of cooperating in programs of value to all. The Better Homes Campaign provides abundant opportunity of such training.

Bedroom demonstrated by the Better Homes Campaign Committee of Columbus, georgia, furnished for $101.10. Illustrating careful selection and arrangement of furnishings of Colonial type in a way which provides beauty, dignity, and comfort.

The relation of the work of other departments too a Better Homes Campaign is perhaps not so direct nor so clearly seen as in the foregoing. Many other classes, however, can undertake special study hearing on the Better Homes Campaign which will increase the value of the Better Homes movement to the community and give special interest to the work of those classes.

For example, students of physics can give attention to the heating, lighting, and sanitation of the home, and to various electrical appliances. The Department of Manual Training may make furniture or, in some instances, actually build the Demonstration Home. Interesting exhibits can be made of the work of students in this department. Students of mechanical drawing and free-hand drawing may make special studies of architecture, house-plans, and furniture design, perhaps conducting a contest to be followed by an exhibit of their work; and may supply posters and signs for the use of the Better Homes Committee.

The English Department may devote its attention to conducting a essay contest on the subject of home improvement, and consider lists of good books to form the nucleus of a home library, possibly conducting a contest to make the best list of this kind.

Home sanitation and home nursing may be given special attention by classes in physiology or in hygiene.

The youngest school children can be interested through the project of building and furnishing play-houses, or the construction of model villages on a sand-table.

Children and parents can be made to see the fun and value of home play by the Director of Recreation, who can teach them new games to be played indoors or outdoors, and cars arouse new interest in old ones.

The Committee on Awards for Better Homes demonstrations will judge each local campaign with reference to the type of Demonstration Home, the campaign organization community support, the campaign features, and results.

Under the heading “Type of Demonstration Home,” they will consider architecture, landscaping, and location, as well as decoration, arrangement, furnishings, and equipment.

Under “Campaign Organization and Community Support” will be considered local publicity and the extent of cooperation in the campaign on the part of the city government, associations, schools, churches, merchants, motion-picture houses, and others.

Under “Campaign Features” will be considered the special contests and other features.

Under “Results” are included attendance, write-up of the report, cost of the demonstration, and future plans. The Committee will also pay special attention to the factors of balance and educational value of the campaign and to the quality of its standards and of its influence.

It need hardly be said that the competition for prizes is not a chief factor in local participation in the campaign. The committees participate chiefly because they recognize the importance of stimulating interest in and knowledge about better homes. Still, the prizes add a dramatic climax to the year's work.

In 1926, the Committee on Awards consisted of the following: Dr. John M. Gries, Chief, Division of Building and Housing. U. S. Department of Commerce; Miss Harlean James, Secretary American Civic Association; Victor Mindeleff, Architect; Dr. Louise Stanley, Chief, Bureau of Home Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture; and Mrs. William Brown Meloney, Vice-President of Better Homes in America.

At a conservative estimate, more than 3,000 communities held Better Homes demonstrations during Better Homes Week in 1926. Detailed reports were submitted by 1695 committees. The task of choosing prize-winners was a most difficult one. It should be stated in this connection that only those reports which were accompanied by complete descriptive material, plans, and photographs, afforded the Committee sufficient material to warrant the granting of prizes. It is also emphasized that reports had to be submitted on the date announced in the Guidebook, otherwise the Committee could not consider them, as it met but once. The final date for receiving reports in 1927 will be May 23.

Better Homes in America suggests that local chairmen secure any of the following government publications, which they may need, by writing to the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., enclosing cash, or postal money order:

The above publications can be secured from the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

The following can be secured free by writing to the Division of Building and Housing, U. S. Department of Commerce:

Weatherproof Your House. (Paper.)

For the second successive year, Santa Barbara, California, won First Prize (in 1925 this award was shared with the committee for Atlanta, Georgia). The chairman of the Better Homes Committee was Mrs. J. O. Knighten, and Miss Pearl Chase, Secretary of the Community Arts Association, who served as chairman of the Committee in 1925, acted as Associate Chairman this year.

The program conducted by the Santa Barbara Committee was exceedingly broad in scope. The Better Homes Campaign was regarded as having civic aesthetic and social aspects, and plans were made accordingly. At the beginning, the cooperation of all the civic, educational and social organizations in the city was sought, and nearly all of these bodies entered into the work their members and officers giving not only their influence, but of their time and energy as well. The Committee itself was representative of all these agencies, and was divided into sub-committees which were assigned different parts of the work.

Nine houses were demonstrated, four of them furnished and five unfurnished. All were new detached houses, containing four, five and six rooms. The cost of each was within the reach of families with modest incomes, and at least two of them could be bought and maintained by skilled or unskilled wage-earners. The most expensive house cost $5,540 to build; two were built for 42,000. The sub-committee on furnishings drew up budgets for the equipment of three of the houses, limiting the expenditure to about one-fourth of the value of the house and lot.

Of special interest was a six-room stucco house built by a colored minister and fitted completely and permanently with refinished furniture by the Woman's Club Better Homes Committee. The only expenditure for furnishing was $27, for new curtains and paint. The house cost $2,000. (A large amount of second-hand material was used.) Another five-room frame house was planned by students in the high school architectural drawing class, and built for $2,000 by the Associated Charities Housing Committee.

The Santa Barbara Committee is accomplishing a work of tremendous importance

Living-room of Demonstration House No. 4, Santa Barbara, California. This house received first prize in the local small-house competition among houses of the five-room class.

in raising the standards of small house architecture. This work is being done largely through the efforts of the Community Arts Association, and the Better Homes Campaign has been most valuable to the city in calling attention to the work and in arousing civic pride and interest in the improvement of the appearance of new and old dwellings of all types. The Association has conducted extensive contests among architects to submit plans of houses of from four to six rooms which cost not more than $5,000. Each of the plans submitted is designed for a house on a lot with fifty foot frontage, and must contain an outline of the landscaping of the lot as well as the actual house plan. The contests have aroused widespread interest, and a great many plans have been submitted. A large number of the best plans have been published in books issued by the Association.

The Better Homes Committee this year also conducted contests intended to encourage the building of beautiful small houses and the landscaping of small residential properties. This contest was divided into three parts; prizes were offered for the small houses of four, five and six rooms; for the best small house and garden; and for the best small garden. Strict limits on size of the gardens were fixed, which insured emphasis of interest on improving homes which would be within the means of families with small incomes.

The contests were most successful. Many houses and gardens were entered, and large numbers of people visited them. In connection with the contest, the committee arranged tours, conducted by qualified persons, of the notable gardens in Santa Barbara and the vicinity. The contest was held before Better Homes Week, and some of the prize-winners were used as demonstation houses.

This small house and garden contest at Santa Barbara may well be used as a model by Better Homes Committees all over the country. Copies of the descriptive circular and entrance blank issued by the Committee can be secured from National Headquarters of Better Homes in America.

In addition to the house demonstrations and the competitions the Santa Barbara Committee planned and carried on an educational campaign of very real effectiveness. This included special work among school children, a small house sketch competition among the high school students, several minor contests for children and adults and a large number of special meetings with talks and discussions on carefully prepared subjects.

As is stated above, the committee secured the cooperation of all kinds of organizations interested in the progress of Santa Barbara; the newspapers were particularly glad to support the movement, and devoted a large amount of space to special articles and illustrations relating to the campaign and to home improvement in general. In addition to this source of publicity, the Committee printed circulars describing the house and garden competitions. Better Homes programs, and Guide-books describing the house demonstrations, which also contained detailed figures on the costs of construction and furnishing of the demonstration houses. Posters and sign boards were placed throughout the city, and it is certain that every citizen of Santa Barbara who could read new about the Better Homes Campaign and became interested in it.

It is impossible to question the success of the Santa Barbara campaign as a civic enterprise, and as an educational force designed to raise the standards of taste and to show prospective home-owners how families of small means can secure and maintain homes of beauty and convenience. Nearly 10,000 people were registered as visitors to the nine demonstration houses. There thousand attended the various programs. These numbers in a city of about 36,000, are evidence of the real enthusiasm which was aroused. The Santa Barbara Committee, under able leadership, made a unique and most important contribution to the Better Homes in America movement, and the city itself is a standing example of the worth of concerted efforts toward improving the homes of a community.

Greenville, South Carolina, is another city which has shown a consistent interest in home improvement. The Woman's Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce has long been convinced of the importance of Better Homes in the progress of the community, and for three successive years has taken the lead in conducting a local campaign. The chairman this year was Mrs. W. L. Gassaway, Chairman of the Bureau. The Greenville Committees in these years have planned with such keen

Demonstration House No. 1 built by the Better Homes Committee of Atlanta, Georgia, from Plan No. 5-B-1 of the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau. This house of five rooms was erected at a cost of $6,430.

understanding and such effectiveness that their work has had outstanding merit, both in promoting the national movement for Better Homes and in furthering the best interests of the city and its individual citizens. The excellent work done this year proves the value of sustained civic effort.

The Committee planned and built a seven-room demonstration house of stucco suitable for the needs, in that locality, of a family of moderate means. The cost of construction was $7,180.94. The lot was valued at $2,000, and the house was furnished on a budget of $2,500.

Having planned the house, the Committee was able to point to it as an example of good design, arrangement, and construction. The furnishings were attractive, and were chosen with a view to the greatest convenience and durability. The limits of the budget were comparatively low, and the appearance of the house emphasized the fact that comfort and beauty are possible without the expenditure of a large amount of money.

In a vacant lot next to the demonstration house the Committee had built rough seats facing a natural theater surrounded by trees. Here a Pageant of Dedication and two plays were given by children, under the auspices of the Committee. Here also, programs were held, with talks and discussions under the leadership of committee members and qualified experts on various subjects relating to the home Twelve thousand people visited the demonstration house and these programs.

The campaign had other features. Extensive essay and poem contests were conducted and demonstrations were made of labor-saving devices, and home plays The importance of music in the home was emphasized by informal concert of home songs. The newspapers, having seen in past years the value of the Better Homes campaign to the community, were again interested in assisting the Committee by publishing news stories, special articles, and editorials. All local municipal educational, ad social organizations of the city were invited to assist and give their hearty support to the movement. The mayor and the local clergy proclaimed Better Homes Week, and the schools participated through special project work and visits to the demonstration house. Women's and men's clubs assisted actively in the work of the campaign, and the boy Scouts acted as ushers at programs and at the demonstration house.

Greenville is convinced of the social and educational value of the Better Home Campaign and the Woman's Bureau has pledged its continued support.

AD 205

The Committee for Atlanta, Georgia, which shared Third Prize with Port Huron in 1926, had also been a prize-winner in previous campaigns, having won Second Prize in 1924, and, together with Santa Barbara, First Prize 1925. As in former campaigns, Mrs. Newton C. Wing was chairman.

The Committee made elaborate arrangements for demonstration, seeking to make their campaign as broadly educational as possible. A five-room brick house was built from plans of the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau, modified in some respects by the Committee, and built under their supervision. Also an old house in a bad state of disrepair, situated in a district where housing conditions are not generally on a high level was recoditioned at slight expense chiefly through the efforts of Committee members and school children as a special task assigned as part of regular school work. In addition to these houses, the practice apartments in two high schools for white chidren were used for special demonstrations open to the public, and the practice apartment in Spelman Seminary, a negro school, was similarly used.

The principal demonstration house was built for $6,430 on a lot valued at $2,500. It was of attractive appearance and sound construction. One hundred dollars was spent for landscaping the grounds. The house was furnished on a strict budget, which totaled $1,100. For this unusually low sum the Committee secured furniture and equipment of real beauty and convenience, and their accomplishment in this respect is worthy of praise. The furnishings were made the subject of intensive study on the part not only of the Committee members but of students in various schools. A budget was drawn up for each room; the price of every article was listed, room by room, and published in the interior budget book which has come to be a regular feature of Atlanta Better Homes Campaigns. The 1926 edition was even more complete than previous ones, and is a valuable contribution to the Better Homes movement.

The reconditioned demonstration house was the subject of quite as intensive study as House No. 1. The estimated value of the old house and lot were $2,625 ad $875 respectively. The work of remodeling and reconditioner cost $500, and the new home resulting from this work was furished for $735. The whole project of making over this old property and furnishing it as a modern home for a wage-earner was made the subject of elaborately planned work by the schools. Each step of the job was carefully considered and the problem it presented was assigned to classes and groups a regular schoold work. The results of this work were taken into consideration by the Committee, and finally, when the house was ready for demonstration, cost figures and other data were published in the budget booklet.

The practice apartments were loaned to the Committee by the schools during Better Homes Week. In then, public demostration were given and parents and others were given an opportunity of seeing the students of home economics classes at their work.

The number of people said to have attended the two demonstration houses and the apartments in the white schools ws 25,000. Ten thousads coples of the budget booklet were distributed, and fifteen thousand copies of a budget sheet presenting some of the materials contained in the booklet.

The many civic organizations of Atlanta are familiar with the Better Homes movement and its value to a city. as in previous years every such agency cooperated in the campaign. In particular, the fifty local Parent-Teacher Associations held special meetings, speakers addressed a hundred and ten clubs in the City Federation of Women's Clubs, and 1,000 members of men's clubs were reached through special programs of one sort or another. There is not space to recount all of the excellent feature of this campaign which helped to arouse interest, to educate people toward better living conditions and home life and to solve th special problems of prospective home-owners. The Atlanta campaign was a community enterprise which enlisted the support of a large proportion of citizens.

Post Huron, Michigan, is another city familiar with the Better Homes movement and convinced of its value. This year, the Committee, under the leadership of Miss Elisabeth Carlisle, teacher of civics in the Washington Junior High School, who has been in charge of former campaigns, and is an enthusiastic 06846believer in the Better Homes movement, shared Third Prize with Atlanta. Much of the actual work of the campaign was done by school children.

The houses were demonstrated, one a new brick house of the English cottage type, containing five rooms and costing $6,600, and the other a five-room frame house intended for the family of a negro wage-earner, valued at $2,500 with lot, and furnished on a strict budget for $679. The brick house was planned and built under the supervision of the Committee.

Every day during Better Homes Week a special meeting was held with talks by experts on home architecture and construction, home financing and budgeting, home recreation, character training in the home, small house furnishing and landscaping, and other subjects relating to the home. Programs of this course of meetings were published in pamphlets and in the newspapers. The Committee secured extensive publicity in the newspapers, and had the whole-hearted support of all individuals and organizations interested in education and in the civic progress of the city. It is impossible to estimate the number of people attending these meetings, but it was in proportion to the number of visitors to the principal demonstration house—8000. It cannot be questioned that the citizens of Port Huron value highly the advantages of a Better Homes Campaign.

A special Better Homes demonstration at the Sesqui-Centennial was arranged in cooperation with the Girl Scouts of Philadelphia. Mrs. Horace Hare, Girl Scout Commissioner for Philadelphia, was appointed chairman of the Better Homes Committee, and through the cooperation of the City Government permission was given to build a permanent home on the city park which is within the Sesqui-Centennial grounds. The Committee chose to build their house from Plan 6-A-17 of the Architects’ Small House Service bureau. This is a six-room brick house with a sun porch. The grounds are attractively landscape. Of special interest is thee boxwood planted at either side of the entrance. This was brought from “Hayfield,” the ancestral home of the Washington family. Old bricks for the fireplace were also brought from “Hayfield.” The house is completely and most attractively furnished, all of the furnishings having been donated to the Girl Scouts by manufacturers.

During the Sesqui-Centennial Girl Scouts are in constant attendance at the house to show visitors through and to explain its features. At the close of the Sesqui-Centennial the Girl Scouts of Philadelphia will use the house as a permanent home information center. Here they will receive the training necessary for the award of a home-making badge.

A Guidebook has been prepared especially for Rural communities and Small Towns. It contains descriptions of the following prize-winning campaigns:

Prince Georges County, Maryland.

A copy of this Guidebook will be sent our city chairmen only upon request.