New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-21
TENEMENT CONTRASTS.

An official connected with the London School
Board has recently made some remarkable as
sertions respecting the working classes in that
city. This is Inspector Marchant Williams.
He states that the schools in the Finsbury
divisions are filed with children, of whom from
60 to 80 per cent come from homes consisting
of one room only and that the same percent
ace holds good for many other districts. lie
describes a tenement house containing nine
rooms. each of which was made to accommodate
eight persons on an average. lie estimates
that there are at least 10000 families In Lon
don who occupy only one room. The dlmen-
sions of this single room seldom exceed twelve
by ten feet, and are often smaller. Working
people in New York arc not housed IN Ideal
tenements thorough and systematic as are the
sanitary Inspections there are many respects IN
which their homes may and ought to be I'M
proved; but they are neither forced nor allowed
to herd together in single rooms. A very large
proportion of the tenement population occupy
apartments consisting of two, three or more
rooms. There are comparatively few families
TO be found on Manhattan Island huddled to-
gether in a single room twelve by ten feet.
The single room used by q large family I'M
plies a condition of abject poverty, OF when
New York working people have no knowledge.
Why is it that the charge OF Overpressure Is
made so frequently by officials and teachers in
London2 Is it because the requirements of ther
Board schools are in advance of similar stand
ards in the New-York public schools 2 There
is no evidence that the brains of children are
subjected TO greater strain there than here.
The fault lies with the bodies and stomachs of
l.. thn 1arlra
well schools an annual inspection has shown
that 80 per cent of the parents are out OF en-
ployment, that 40 per cent begin their studies
for the day without breakfast, and that rs
per cent 20 to afternoon school without having
had any dinner. In another school the percent
age of those who are apt to go without dinner Is
II, and of those who go breakfastless %.
Stinted and ill-nourished bodies and hungry
stomachs are largely responsible for the over
pressure of which humanitarians are constantly
complaining. SO general is the evil that in
many school districts teachers and trustees are
strcnuously advocating the feeding OF the poor
est children at public expense.
In order TO explain why it is that thousands
of children In the London schools are being
educated on empty or half-hlled stomachs, one
must take many things into account. lntemper-
ance, improvidence and lack of employment are
the factors in the problem, but not by any means
chief in Importance The father may be sober,
frugal and Industrious and yet not be able to
give his growing family larger shelter than "A
home of ono room or to send his children to
school well-fed. Low wages and high rents
are the common factors. Quoting again from
the Inspectors remarkable letter in The Lon
dom Times we find that mOulder in Finsbury
earns when fully employed 81 81 week, of
which 81 0S goes for the weekly rent, leaving
him S3 24 with which to clothe and feed
family of six that porter will earn 81 81
pay 81 81 for rent, and have So wherowith to
support IA family of four and that shOemak-
ers weekly margin, after paying his rent, is
So 70, to be divided among n family of nine
thirty-one cents each for food and clothing. A
painter will earn 81 80 week, and after pay
ing his rent will have S3 "a for living expenses
for himself, wife and six children. A printer
will make S8 week and pay II rent of 81 Al
and laborers averaging 81 50 IA week will pay
81 0S for their one family room. In all these
instances tho wOrkingmen are employed six
DAYS out of the week. These figures cited at
random by an English official disclose the main
secret of the wretchcdnoss of the London poor.
A New York wOrkingman has only to compare
his own earnings and margin for living ex-
penses with the scanty income of his English
brother In order to appreciate the advantages
enjoyed by mon of his class in American cities.
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Charles L. Dowd, whose abors in bringing about
the change TO standard time well remembered,
al.swcrs ia The EalitVay dae some Of the popular