Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-05-24
From the New York World.
How New York Lives.

Elchl ANb fplhii iHtN'h-'A - A''+-
ISHABITANTs IN TENEMENT HOUSES.
There are, according to the records of the
Department of Buildings. 2l,0OO tenement
houses in the city of New York In total OF
| $1,000 buildings of all kinds. Taken all
through the city the new and the old, the
| first and the second classes, they average four
stories in height and are constructed to
hold two families and half to each floor, or
ten families to house. Accordingly, ii all
these buildings are full the tenement house
population OF New York is 100000 families,
| which at five persons to a family, would make
| !, $50, 600 men, women and children This is
| evidently an over-estimate. but certain eSpe-
| renced agents of tenement houses on the
east side say that 20 per cent. Is ali that need
| be deducted for houses or parts Of houses
not occupied. That deduction leaves net
tenement house house population OF SiU,OOu
souls.
1t has been said that the tenements avera-
| ged two and half families to a floor, or ten
families to house. but the population is not
at all equally distributed in some buildings
there are as many as five families on floor,
and in others one or two. Most OF the build
ings are so built as to effect the greatest pos
sible economy in space, in ventilation and IN
safety. High and narrow, with contracted
| hallways and walls of the minimum thick
ness allowed 10y the Department of Build
ings, with little or no open space IN the rear
| and frequently a rear tenement building M
stead of court. they are hardly bearable as
| places of habitation in the winter. and still
| less so in the summer. Indeed, 1t has be-
come a common sight to see their inmates
sleeping on summer nights on the roofs oi
! their dwellings or iii carts III front oil them
rather than suilocate within doors. 1t Is
/ Al Il 4 th.rr CHI
that gives them any attraction to the poor,
and their cheapness is due 10 the possibility
of packing them with tenants and to the
practice OF building them on the most eco
nomical plan.
The tenement houses are not As many sup
pose confined exclusively to the lower dis
tricts they are found all over the city ana
| fringe the island on the extreme east and The
| extreme west sides ali the way mp town. The
most fashionable part OF New York Is nanked
| by them on either side. and n straight lnt
drawn from Murray Hill to First avenne on
the one side and from Murray Hill to Tenth
| avenue on the other would discover some o
the very worst Of these dwellings. They ar'
const antlv increasing too within the past
eighteen months 500 new ones have been put
up, some down town below Houston STREE
and others up town rs lar as Harlem. The
distress of the time has not relieved them OF
their usual class of tenants 80 much as 1t has
| filed them with new class. which formerly
! inhabited private houses The cheaper teno'
ments are better patronized than ever, an,
| landowners who would not venture to huIld
ordinary dwellings houses to stand vacant
are willing to tnke advantage of the pres"n
low price of labor by erecting tenements
which insure n safe and steady, though slow
return for the Investment.
=. Al NFs
fifteen TO twenty families. and in some ther,
are more huddled together and making lli'
bearable as best they can. The crowdins
would be less tolerable but Tor the fact that
by their male tenants at least, the tenement'
gre used almost exclusively for sleeping
places. All day the men are away at work
and in the evenings and on Sunday they pas
| most of their time in the parks or III ant
around the saloons which flourish III th'
neighborhood, and of which MS one of 1T
features, more will be said anon. In ih'
spring and summer months the women, too
forsake the close buildings for the not mucl
fresher air OF the curbstone and paNem"nt
outside. A walk along first avenue, IN th'
locality indicated, after dusk, at this time q
the year, will discover the doorsteps allv'
with women nursing their infants and Will
young girls gossiping among themselves q
WIN iil' lpuhE Ai'h sA-' '''N
and roadway literally swarming with child
rem screaming and shouting at play, Will
the scene is lit up by the brilliant lights o
the myriad liquor saloons. The sights an,
sounds are not at all like those of an AMER
can city. They recall rather Saturda.
night scene in the bacl: streets of Dublin O
III the Irish quarter of Lon,'on.
Perhaps the most noticeable feature of thi
tenement house district is the eXtraordmar
number of liquor saloons 1t contains. At
casual glance one would say that there was
grog shop to every five houses on one blocl
there are no less than seven. These are dii
ferent in appearance from the German lager
beer saloons of the lover districts as the pee
pie who patronize them are from the Gerna
beer drinkers. Instead of the low rooted
dark basement, with its modest little coui
ter and its sombre proprietor dispensing bee
from behind one secs large SNOWY stores
brilliantly lighted without and gorgeous witt
in, with long mirrors rejecting the array {
shining and var-colored glasses ranged alon
the counter. The dispenser of drinks
usually short, thick-set man ; with clea
shaven face, snowy shirt and high collal
spotless apron and crystal pin, who looks Al
though he expects TO he an ''nldhlrmon froi
the 1eestrict.' The keepers of these place
are, indeed, people of considerable politics
Influence" Almost without exception the
are members of the district or general con
mittees of their districts IN some one of IL
various political parties. They are captain
of tens and tifties OF the local political ma
mates.
Times are very hard among the tencmen
, | house people Hardly n house but has OF
poor family in distress because the father
husband is ont OF work. There is no mi
| t.kino the sigus of real hurdAhip lhuug