Can Mr. 篠原 deliver on his Christmas promises in time?

A few observations: People at that time, especially rural people in the midwest, often would not ask for help no matter how dire the need. Stubborness and pride ran deep.

As to delivery, the railroad network was much more extensive than it is today. Railway express was used quite efficiently at that time by mail-order catalogue companies..

His best strategy for construction will be using a standardized design and precut materials delivered to the site as a package. The time delay will be setting the foundations. Excavators and reinforced concrete were existing technology at that time.. A 1,000 ft^2 house could be framed, sheathed and roofed in a day by a six- person crew using prefabs. Other specialist crews would move in behind them for wiring, plumbing, windows/ doors, cabinetry installation, painting, etc. The important logistical part is scheduling the work crews so they are not tripping over one another. The houses should be fairly close to each other so the specialist crews can move from one to the next in assembly-line fashion.

He might consider coordinating his efforts with Willian Jennings Bryan, an idealistic genius who, if elected President in 1912 might have kept the US out of WW1 and altered the history of the world (without US troops, Ludendorf’s 1918 offensive would have succeeded and a more equitable peace treaty achieved, possibly preventing the European portion of WW2).

A major problem in that area at that time is the age-old one of farmers not getting a proper price for their crops. Working with Bryan on this with his ideas might have had a major impact on the economy. The rural Populist movement had many good ideas, such as the farmers banding together and withholding their excess product from the market and cutting out the monopolistic food processing companys and the bankers grasping methods.

Re: His best strategy for construction will be using a standardized design and precut materials delivered to the site as a package.

Sears Catalog Homes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_house :
Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble houses sold through mail order by Sears Roebuck and Company, an American retailer. Over 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included all the materials needed to build a house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families.

Thomas Edison’s Concrete Houses
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1996/3/1996_3_50.shtml
“I AM GOING TO LIVE TO SEE THE DAY WHEN A WORKING MAN’S HOUSE can be built of concrete in a week”

Thomas Edison’s Concrete House
http://concreteconstruction.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=718&articleID=245874
Basic to the plans were Edison’s ingeniously conceived cast-iron molds, which when assembled would produce in a single operation walls, floors, stairways, roof, bath and laundry tubs, and conduits for electric and water service. As many as 500 different sectional molds were required for a single unit.