Sprague Asks Reduction of Unit Costs of Construction

"There can be no housing on a considerable scale unless the unit costs of construction are reduced," Oliver M. W. Sprague '94, Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Banking and Finance at the Business School, said Saturday night at the Harvard Club before the New England District League of Federal Savings and Loan Associations.

The former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury urged concerted action by producers of building materials to hold prices down. He stated that "business organization is inadequate for housing on a large scale."

If prices can be kept down, agreements with unions can be made to prevent undue advances in the already high standard of wages, Sprague said.