The Portland daily press., 1866-07-14

The loss by the late fire exceeds ten mil
lions; the contributions from all sources hith-
erto, generous beyond precedent as they have
been, amount to less than sixtieth part of
the loss. These receipts have enabled and
still enable MS to save our fellow citizens from
actual starvation and exposure They will
enable us to do something more, and it is just
at this point that difficulties arise. The sur
plus, after immediatelnecessities are provided
for, might be divided pro rata, according to
the net losses OF the sufferers. 1t might be
held as permanent fund for the relief of the
deserving among them, and meanwhile loan
ed to enterprising business men who want
capital to start again. Both of these propo-
sitions have been made, but neither seems
likely to be adopted. The whole sum, when
divided among so many, is too small to be of
any real service. As loan, the accommoda-
ton would be partial, and would in most if
not all cases be extended to men whose credit
would enable them to do without it.
A communication, which we publish this
morning, urges the propriety of applying
portion of the fund to the payment of some
part Of the loss by the failure of the Portland
Mutual Insurance Company. The deficiency
amounts to about two hundred and forty
thousand dollars, mostly on dwelling houses
The contributions already received by the
Mayor and the Executive Committee of citi-
zens up to Thursday night, slightly exceed
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The
whole amount therefore would pay little
more than sixty-two per cent. of these pecu-
liarly severe losses. The possibility of extend
ing such relief to the most deserving class of
losers, the men of small means and prudent
habits who find themselves stripped of the re-
source in which they chiefly conided, deserves
the most careful consideration.
Still another proposition may be worth
making for the sake of land owners, if not
for the managers of the relief fund. We need
houses, the cheapest and best we can get.
houses in which people of moderate means
can live decently, and suffer no privation of
air, water ard light. We cannot afford to
build wooden houses; they are too expen-
sive in the end. Ordinary brick tenements
are too expensive for the class to which we
refer, in the beginning. In other Amer lean
cities the experiment has been tried of build
ing dwelling houses, after the French fashion,
with common staircase and rooms expressly
planned to accommodate one family on each
floor. 1t is only block of houses set on end
and there is no such budding together as oc-
ours in great houses fallen into los estate and
inhabited, like Sebastopol, by swarms of fsmi-
lies. In Boston, as long ago as 1855, two
model lodging houses were built by an asso-
citation of gentlemen, with four tenements in
each of their five stories-airy, well lighted,
well drained, supplied with water and lbath-
ing rooms, healthful, pleasant homes. These
tenements were let for two or three dollars
week, and were found to pay a net six
per cent. on the investment. A full
account of the experiment may be
found in the Atlantic Monthly for June,
1850. A similar work has since been un-
dertaken in New York. There Is really no
reason why now, with no disreputable old
buildings left on our hands, we should neg
lect to provide houses for our people which
shalfbe attractive enough to keep them out of
the drinking shops. 1t is just as easy and
just as che p to build according to a good plan
as bad, and the houses will rent more readily
and to better class of tenants. 1t may be
worth considering whether a part of the relief
fund would not be well bestowed in this di-
rection; it is certainly well tor landlords to
be thinking of these things; and we hope our
architects will take the matter up and tell us
what can practically be done. We are ready
to publish brief communications now, and as
long as they choose, by and by. The Boston
experiment was purely benevolent, but proved
financial success 1t seems clear that from
o business point of view there must be some
thing 10 say