New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-04-01

10 London, the plan OF model lodging houses was
first carried into operation. Up to the present
time the most gratifying results-sanitary, econo-
mic, aud moral-have attended the experiment
or course in New. York, where the prices oil iaoor
are higher than those in the old world, such houses
could not be let at the low rates prevailing
in ENGLAND. But the scale Of rents here might be
reduced full thirty per cent below the present
fgures and still landlords would realize handsome
returns from their outlay
Iii, worth while to glance at the advantage ac-
crling from these houses, as they are erected and
managed in the Old World They are so arranged
IA 10 afford accommodation TO all kinds Of lOogrrs,
from the single man OF woman to tho family OF ten
or twelve persons Perfect ventilation, gs~and
water are the essentials frat thought Of; the rooms
are Of suitable dimensions the stairways are vide,
there is common kitchen with cooking apparatus,
and reading room on the ground floor. II is in
these arrangements that the good eiecs on the
means, the health the minds and morals OF the
tenants, to which we have adverted, are 70 be
found. The rents paid for oil the decences emu
mersted are surprisingly moderate: by the single
man or woman, for one room, ten shillings per
month; BY the family Of ten or twelve persons,
occupying four rooms, thirty-two shillngs These
sums represent in American currency 81 80 and
So respectively. Now, making all due allowance
for the higher price Of labor az good accOrnmoda-
tions might be afforded here for 81 and Sl2 pc
month. Compare these London rents, and the
equivalent rendered, with those Of New York For
single apartment, poorly ventilated at the top of
house. where the supply Of water is imperfect
where filth is allowed TO accumulate, and where it
is no uncommon thing to find one hundred persons
cOneregated like swine in a stye, s. per month Is
the usual charge; for three rooms, required by
small family, $40.
There is another and worse disadvantage at
tacbed to these houses. Wretched and squalid as
they are in themselves, it is yet the first object OF
the owners or agents to realize the most money On
them with the least possible expense for repairs,
Therefore the most acceptable tenants are to be
found among females moro or less openly OF the
class of prostitutes. Such dodgers can pay high
rents more easily than the mechanic who, beside
being thus scandaousy taxed, has perhaps the
modification of finding his own decent wife daily
COMPOUNDED with the disreputable females who
have become her fellow dodgers.
The differences to be deduced from these facts
are more melancholy than the facts themselves.
Denied that wholesome recreation, which it should
be the peculiar blessing Of aboring man to find
in his home he will be driven to those outdoor
excitements which are bane to so many thous-
ands. No street Of tenement houses Tin fact
scarcely any street in city is without its cor
ner groggeries. To these corrupting dens many
men with no natural passion for rum are driven, be-
cause the decencies which probably are necessity
with them are not to be found in their dwellings.
Indeed, the evils, seen and unseen, of our tene-
ment houses are "legion;' and the State is only
tardily discbargng duty in striving to prevent
their continuance or increase.
Weare not aware of more effectual remedy than
that we have indicated. OF course, in case of the
erection in New-York Of such "model lodging
houses as we have partly described, it would be
necessary to have special act of the Legislature for
their proper government 1t is impossible that
hundred or even fifty persons, thus associated to-
gether, should be altogether left to their own
volition. The rules applied to these new tene-
ment-houses need only be such every repu
table person on entering them would acknowledge
as necessary, and be ready to observe; while
the violation of those rules by others should
be held as just ground for their expulsion.
In all our large hotels there is a certain regime
which every person entering and abiding in
them is bound to respect. Those establishments
for the comparatively rich are happy institution;
let the poor enjoy advantages of like complexion.
They would assuredly have them il the proper
construction and government of senement-houses.
The plan Is deserving of our consideration; and
once adopted, the probabilities are that VIZ should
improve upon it.