Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/469

 THE FIRST GERMAN MUNICIPAL EXPOSITION 45*

many people will bewail the destruction of the old, half-timbered, high-gabled, houses especially when they see the rather plain- looking flat buildings which have replaced them. It certainly is a pity to destroy the picturesque ; but when one sees the filth and degradation in these unsanitary, crowded, dirty houses, and realizes that human beings are making these places their habita- tion not from any love of the picturesque, but from sheer necessity, whether because of convenience to their work, or because nothing else which they can afford is available then the beauty fades, and one views the place as a menace to social welfare. To object to the razing of such buildings because of a present inconvenience, as some of our people have recently done, denotes a sociological short-sightedness. To alleviate such inconvenience is, on the other hand, highly commendable; and in Kiel's exhibit we find so-called barracks -r- temporary one- story buildings built in rows, for homeless families. One of these brick barracks, with twenty one-room dwellings cost 25,000 marks ; and another with twenty-five one-room dwellings, cost 27,600 marks. A two-story building with twenty two-room dwellings cost 27,800 marks.

Careful inspection commends itself to some people as a means for combating the evils of poor housing. Stuttgart offers the best example of the advantages of this method. The Stuttgart officials found 15,000 persons in unsanitary, overcrowded dwell- ings in 1901. Small flats were so dear that lodgers had to be crowded in, in order to help pay the rent. Moreover, rents were increasing, and evidently it was none too early that something be done. The suggestion of building municipal dwelling-houses did not appeal to the officials. May 21, 1901, they took up the problem, and on June 20, 1902, a Municipal Renting Agency was ready for operation. The services are free.

The committee which formulated the regulations was charged to include the following points :

To obtain regular monthly notice of new, and rebuilt, houses from the build- ing commissioner ; regular quarterly notice of houses in process of construc- tion ; regular quarterly notice of dwellings to b.e let ; once or twice weekly to compile a list of dwellings to be let, with number of rooms, floor, city district,