New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-03-23
HOVAE WANTED.

UOVsR WANTED.
HouEcs are prime niece sites and absolute
conditions Of civilization. A city may DO OK
trcmoly wealthy, and growing still richer ever
year; but If il lacks domiciliary convenience
for oh i,s population. if it hs' moro heads to b'
covered than il has roofs 60 shelter them, il ha'
failed mparaliyely to emerge from condition
OF primitive barbar!sm. As evidence Of thi'
condition. il will continue 10 exhibit the vice'
aud succumb 60 the yicissituaes of q rudcr life
no, merely in the lack OF material comforts, bn
in low average OF longevity 0nd low stand
ard Of morals. Society without houscs Ii
society without homes; and this implies bots
tic absence Of the purcst cnjoymcnts OF which
man Is canable, and q deficiency OF those inhu'
encos which secure the peace and perpetuity o.
States Yet every year New-iork exhibits thu
spectacle Of thousands upon thousands O. we'll
dressed vagrants, Of bcggars with morey in
their pockets, wandering wildly about. consult
ing fran,ically the advertisements IN tie
newspapers, holding agltated interviews
with the brokers. aud yet not al oil rum
that on tho First of May, they will not
be- driven 10 elect between tabernacle upon
the Battery and the cold and greasy boarding
house with third elias accommodations and
Grst-class prices. There is hardly man in
Ncw-YoEk who has a family to shelter. and
whose means arr too moderate To admit OF the
luxury Of fee simple, who hos not gone through
tho purce,ory of house-hunting. and been driven
almost to the depth of despair by tho extortions
Of landlords. aud lie apparent impossib.lity OF
finding suitable residence. High rents ARE
tho inevitable result of limited supply OF
houses. while The demand continues. landlords
will continue TO asa an enormous slice ont OF
your income. for tina. which does not feed you,
to sit upon nor bed to sleep upon. but simply
a roof to protect you from the sun, the rain and
tho wind. A house. and decent one. you must
have, tor it is the house that keeps mp appear
Basement cellar, nor in garrett. SO you cut
the Gordian knot by emigTa,ing 10 the rural dis
,ricts and spending most OF your precious life in
riding TO and from the city; or You take your
children to clearinghouse or hotel, in which
they know nothing Of home, arc stuffed with III
dgestible food, and pass their hours Of rocrca-
ton in the street with chance playmateS. or in
the kitchen with the servants.
We have been going on in this hand-to-,nouth
way for good many year, until accumulated
evils and inconycnicnces have grown intoler-
able House Wanted" he's become the
mOurnfullcst heading next 20 "Child Lost "
which can be affixed TO an Advertisement.
People believe that there is no possible way OF
avoiding oil this bothclation, trouble and
anxiety; aud, some with more and some with
less philosophy, they submit TO it, as in old
times everybody submitted to Spring pile
botomy and physic. Now, If there bo no
remedy for this crying evil, We must accept it
with modification at the limited extent OF
human resources. Some philosophers hold
great cities to be great nuisances, and 30 they
ere il their crowded condition necessitates
discomfort and q disregard for tho plsinest laws
Of health and social economy. But We have no
belief in such philosophy. If God made the
country and man made the town, God none tho
less made man gregarious, and SO nccessita,ed
the building Of cities. lie also gave us common
sense to build them judiciously. and It IL our
own fault Il We exhibit less ingenuity than ants
or beavers. We know that clean streets to
walk in b. day, and well-lighted streets to walk
in by night, are possible, and it is irritating to
bo told, in tho face Of such Improvements as
wcrc made long ago In Edinburgh, and are
still making in Paris, that We cannot have
cheap, clean, wcll-ventilated rooms to live in.
Land m0y be costly, but there Is no limit to
the skies above US, end the age which has dis
covered railways, and locomotives, and gas.
lamps, and cooking stoves, and cottOn-spinning
and aquoducts, can surely plan houses which
shall secure maximum of accommodation
within minimum Of space.
We are not surprised to find that this subject
has slready stt,sct9d the attention both of