The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-01-08
LIVING IN CITIES.
How TO Improve the Quality and
Reduce the Cost

In4adaGing lie cost OF living in our large
cite Itai thing TO DO done is to lower
the pficeof meat and breadstutt5 to the
\ consumer, and next To make rents cheaper
\ to, the poorer classes Both arc being at
tempted In various ways and in different
cities but the first has received more atten'
ton and real thought than the second,
probably because all classes are interested
In reducing the price Of the neCessaries Of
life, and only those who cannot afford
brown stone fronts care very much about
cheap tenements. As the case stands now,
amechanic or small trader or any person Of
very small means, Is obliged, ifhe wants to
keep house, in all our large cities and many
of our smaller ones, to etinto disagreea'
bic, often unhealthy locality, and hire q
house or tenment lacking in comfort and
labor. saving appliances, and pay more for
his Door accommodations, in proportion,
than do the medium and wealthy classes
for theirs. The chief cause Of the high
rents which really Cypress large numbers
oFpeople, is of course, the highprice Of land.
It Is the large sum demanded fer the site
more than the high price OF labor, which
makes houses cost 80 much, and, OF course,
the larger the city the greater Is the difficult
ty. The first thing TO be thought Of then,
in any attempt 10 reduce tho rent Of tene'
ments, Is the economy Of land in building.
One way 10 do that, and so far as we
know, the best way, Is 10 extend the bus.
iness streets farther In all directions, and
have the stores occupy, as rule, only
the lower stories with Easements, leav-
ing the upper stories to be fitted up for
residences in the French style Of "aats."
"Hardly anybody in Paris lives on the
first floor" writes q tourist, and as air
costs nothing and the rent ofstores would
fully pay excellent interest on the price
Of land even in our largest cities, at least
in most cases, we should have one OBJ.
stacle TO cheap tenements removed by
this plan. If Il be objected that the air
Of the business centres is foul and would
be more unhealthy than the localities
now occupied by the better class OF poor,
we will say, that scientific analysis Of
the air of Manchester, England, where
two million tons Of gas are consumed an.
nUally, and there are other causes OF i'm
purity greater than in almost any other
city, showed purer atmosphere than
would be found in any room fifteen feet
square, occupied by seven persons for ten
minutes, with no pure air coming in.
With q good system Of ventilation, faith.
fully and scientifically applied, the centre
OF every city in the world, not exposed
to miasmatiC influences, could be made a
healthful place 10 live in 80 far as air is
concerned.
Next to economy Of land and good
ventilation, must be considered con.
yeniences for doing household work and
privacy. The French plan Of "aats"
gives both when followed exactly, but
many times we have seen houses lament
ably lacking in both, which were adver-
tised as "French." One can hire in
Paris, or could, for very modest sum, o
tenement containing kitchen, dining
room and parlor, with three or four lodg-
ing rooms, fitted with all the conveniences
found IN the best houses, and so separated
from tho other tenements In the house
that after you had assembled the stone
staircase, which is common to all, or been
elevated" to your own floor, you could
enter a hall which is yours exclusively,
and be as private as any one could
wish. Economy in heating should
also be considered, and il, as some
enthusiastic person thinks VIC may
sometime, We have not yet ad-
yanced lar enough to have heat
CONVEYED into each house from pipes
laid along the streets, like gas and
water, some plan can be devised whereby
numbers Of tenements can be heated by
the same great fire. OF course, in this
hastily devised plan the intention must be
to carry buildings up to great hight, and
with the memory Of the great fires 30
strongly in our minds, We must say, that
carefulness Is as necessary in tenement
houses as in stores, and any plan must
take In earnest consideration, safety and
security against fires. If, however, tene-
ment houses are built, as now, far away
from the business centers, carefully con-,
sidered plan will make it possible to re-
duce the price of rents one-half, we will
venture to say, in the larger cities. All 1t
needs Is for some person or persons to
devote themselves and their money for
while to the solving Of the problem, aim
Ing not at charity, though theimpulse must
be philanthropic, but at the establishment
Of paying business enterprise, viz: the
building OF safe, comfortable, convenient
and cheap houses, for the better class Of
Door in cities. There iV large class OF
still more needy, but in an article OF this
length We could not deal with them, and
should BIO at o loss In the matter in any
case