Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-02-04

Iiyiny in New SGrfG.

NEW YORK. j .uuary, 1868. u" NV ear
has n3t been inauguratcd with the usual les
~tiyities. Eycryboiy feels poo; everybody
feels blue and The simple re1sonl5 that cV'ry-
body has been living al high-water marx, and
nov that the tide is rcceding, it leaves them
pretty nearly naked, and on the bare ground.
Within the past ten years the cost III every de
nartrncnt of living and labor in New York city
has more than doubled. Rents especially have
swollen to enormous proportions. Less than
FIVE thousand dollars per year will not now
e1nnlv even a small fam Y with the comforts,
much less the Injuries Of lie, and Of this near.
" half. and not ~untrequcntly m ne thaA hall,
is palI :Or rent.
A neat house, not large nor fne, in any good
street, will bring $4,000 per year, uniurnl 'heo
and there are blocks and streets of b, uses IN
ouist, questionable ueighb Drho d., formerly
let to two families Tor seven or eight hundred
do1lars ner annum, which now bring eighteen
hundred, and families must pay the small IT.
come OF one thousand, or at least eight hun
dred dollars per annum, for the privilege OF
occupying the first floor front, y or the sec
ond story back" Of these highly respectable
and desirable residences.
Now. a part of Il house in Il back street does
not fulfil Il p%alatial idea of luxury, and 1t IS
somewhat discouraglng Tor Il man VINO makes
his hundred dollars per week or i've thousand
dollars per year to feel that one-tltth OF an IN
come which he would once have consld-
cred magnificent is expended in the occupation
Of premises at which his country cons!ns turn
up their noses, and t. which he Is ashamed to
invite his friends.
But there are plenty of men, who haze been
accustomed to comfortable living, who Go not
make five thousand col ars per annum, VINO 40
not make more than the hall, or perhaps a
third of that sum-, but who must S'l'l llve' ana,
in accordance with their antecedcnta, live re
snectably. How can they do it, that Is the
question? and how supply the double and treble
amounts now required for clothing, for sewing,
far domestic service, for labor, and for the ne,
~cessities of all kinds?
One way in which it is dobe is by the break
inc nm Of households. Almost everybody now
either boards or takes boarders, mot regular
boarders, you know, my dear: but just a few
agreeable persons for companlonshlp; ana
the more they are willing to pay: the more
agreeable they are found.
There are people in New York who pay Two
hundred dollars per week Tor board ,'nearly
double what they would pay in a tirst-class
hotel. For this sum they have a suit of rooms,
a. privstc table, catered for by a French cook,
and accommodations for two serGants-ln all,
four nersons. The wages to servants, the
"eytTas," the carriage hire, the %tailor's, mill
ner's, and wine merchants bills undoubtedly
amount to hundreds of dollars more, bringing
the expenditure up to twenty thousand dollars
per year; a heavy sum for just keeping body
and the modern remnant OF a soul together for
one year. ,
But it is not of people who have 4 great deal
of money to expend that VIC have anything to
say. 1t is of the great majority, the living
stream, that pours itself out, night and morn
ing, up Broadway, through the avenues into
the street cars and stages, anu emptlcs ltsel
somewhere into the suburban districts, into
the frst-ao6r fronts, or second-story backs,
before mentioned, or resolves itself Into the
great mass OF boarding and boardArs.
Less than twenty years ago n young man
could get very decent board for himself and
wife for five dollars per week. Less than ten
years ago he could get the same kind CT board
for ten dollars per week. Now it would cost
him from twenty to twenty five: aud II ne or
his wife is averse 10 climbing three or Jour
flights Of stairs, or travelling to unknown and
b%enighted regions, east or west, he must pay
thirty TO forty dollars per week, and extra for
whatever his wife wants for lunch, except
''stew." clearinghouse keepers are suffer
ing, however, believing in the permancncy OF
human affairs, even Congressional paper money.
They have taken upon themselves the cnor-
nous rents which require the high prices to
sustain them, and find that they cannot meet
their obligations. There is q general giving
up of costly houses and rotten furniture, and a
general lookout for available premises at
figures corresponding with the depression of
the times.