Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/305

* HOUSING PROBLEM. 265 HOUSING PBOBLEm. often occupy one room, but sometimes several families. Jjoarders are taken to lielp pay ex- orbitant rents, and the rooms are rented in the daytime for manufacturing purposes. The mor- tality in such dwellings is very high, the prevail ing diseases being typhoid fever, diarrhtea, and all contagious diseases. Tuberculosis is char- acteristic of the tenement. l'"or the individual, bad housing means uu- cleanliness, sickness, lack of privacy, and often contact with criminals and prostitutes. This causes the corruption of the young, lack of self- respect, discouragement, intemperance, and low morality. In New York City it was estimated that out of a population of 2.55,033 only 300 had access to a bath. Ordinarily the most primitive provisions for cleanliness are lacking. Home life, with normal parental and marital relations, is impossible. Furthermore, every working man and woman loses, on an average, twenty days a year on account of sickness. Economists are agreed that where more tlian 20 per cent, of the income of the head of a family goes for rent, as is often the case among the poor, privations must be en- dured along other lines of consumption, espe- cially in food. The districts where overcrowding and bad housing prevail are centres of crime, vice, and epidemics, and impose upon society not only a large bill for the maintenance of hospitals, almshouses, and prisons, but greatly lessen pro- duction through the inefficiency of workers. It is estimated that the working population of Eng- land between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five lose 20,000,000 weeks in a year. To this loss in working time must be added the inferior quality of the work of people enfeebled in mind and body by poor food and unsanitary homes. In England the housing question was taken up a,s a municipal problem, and it has recently be- come a question of public policy. Lord Shaftes- bury was influential in obtaining legislation as early as 1S51. The housing problem on the Con- tinent represents a phase of industrial life. Small homes for operatives are built near the large fac- tories. As early as 183.5 Andrg Koechlin, a manufacturer at jMulhouse, France, began build- ing houses for his workers. The United StatejB has been far behind European countries. Public interest has finally been aroused by the reports of tenement-house commissions, and the knowl- edge of what has been done abroad. The Amer- ican public was astonished to learn that New York below the Harlem was the most densely populated city in the world, with 143.2 persons to the acre in 1800, and 1.50.7 in 1000. The eleventh ward had in 1890 a population of 703. .50 to the acre. Efforts to improve housing conditions have been made by cities and by private individuals. The municipality has two methods: (1) Expro- priation ; and (2) regulation. ( 1 ) Expropriation has been carried on to some extent in all English cities. It involves questions of increased taxa- tion resulting from the expense incurred, the displacement of the population who will over- crowd neighboring districts if not provided for, and occasionally tlic building of model tenements by the city. Liverpool ( ISOO). Glasgow (18G0), and London (1808) first undertook to re- construct unsanitary districts. Later, general laws were passed, the most important of which is (hat of 1800, which provides for displacement and for the intervention of the municipality only when private initiative fails. Expropriation may be very expensive. The London acts of 1875-78 made unsanitary conditions a source of prolit to the owners. Glasgow has been especially suc- cessful in her linancial management of these areas. Edinburgli and Liverpool have left much of the expropriated ground as open space, while Dundee has converted these districts into thor- oughfares. London, Liverpool, Glasgow, I£ud- dersfield, and Birmingham have erected model dwellings. Expropriation is a success in lower- ing death-rates and decreasing crime. Better methods of construction make it [xissible to house more people in the same area. (2) Municipalities may also improve housing conditions by sai.itary and building codes and provision for inspection. iSucli legislation includes requirements as to light, air, cellars, halls, windows, fire-escapes, plumb- ing, and sanitary conveniences. The New York laws are in advance of all others, for which they serve as a model, but adequate inspection is sel- dom provided. If owners are compijlleU to keep their property in a good condition, they become more careful in the choice of tenants. Thus the undesirable clas.ses are gathered into one district where they are easily looked after. Private asso- ciations do a good work in looking up abuses until laws are well enforced and the people taught to deal directly with boards of health. In New Y'ork City there are over thirty societies. The Sanitary Aid Society, Ladies' Health Protec- tive Association, and the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor may be mentioned. The Mansion House Council on Dwellings of Poor and the Sanitary Society of Edinburgh are prominent in Great Britain. In France and Belgium the elements of household hygiene are taught in public schools. Efforts undertaken by private individuals may be classified as : (1) Commercial, (2) semi-phil- anthropic, (3) philanthropic, and (4) houses built by private employers for the benefit of their employees. The commercial enterprises pay as large a per cent, as possible, giving at the same time good accommodations. The semi-philan- thropic companies limit their dividends to a nor- mal commercial rate on high-class investments. The profits of the philanthropic trusts are u.sed in improvements and erecting new property. Housing by employers usually pays a good re- turn. The buildings put up by these various enterprises are blocks, small houses, and lodging- houses. The very poor must rent rooms or smaU houses. For the lowest classes, so degraded that they cannot make use of improvements, the meth- ods of the Octavia Hill .Association are most satisfactory. Jliss Hill began the work in 1804, when .Tobn Ruskin spent £3000 in purchasing unsanitary property in a vicious neighborhood. The plan is to take old property, to put in neces- sary repairs, to demand a prompt payment of rent, and gradually to add improvements out of the surplus from a repair fund. The standard of living of the people is raised by making the tenants realize that care on their part results in improvements. Thrift is encouraged by discounts for payment of rent in advance. When the ten- ants are ready, new buildings are erected. The association owns property, or, as agents, collects rents. ^Vomen volunteers have happily combined rent-collecting with friendly visiting. Similar methods have bom adopted in other cities. Phila- delphia has an Octavia Hill Association, Gotham