St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-08-03
Overcrowding In Cities and Towns.

IQ0 IOl1OWlnS, >IrOu+ bH0 NoW OrK
Record and Builders Guide, contains
some valuable suggestions to the growing
| towns of the South and West, that aspire
to become q metropolis in the near
future: This circumstance, that as land
increases in value, the poor, whose rent
paying capacity may be said to be fixed,
have to concentrate themselves into
smaller house space, makes the problem
| Of housing this class increasingly difficult.
1t is unreasonable to expect them to mi
CRATE to suburban districts. The fact that
this course is never pursued anywhere.
show that there are great obstacles in the
way of it. In the first place. the poor
cannot afford the cost that would be
entailed travelling two and fro from their
work daily, and secondly-a fact no one
ever thinks of-suitable homes are never
provided for them in the newer districts.
Tenements, and in some cities, "model'
lodging houses, are erected, but these are
not for the really poor-that is, for the
very class concerned in ''overcrowding.
No one builds for them. Not until houses
have served better purposes, become, as it
were, degraded from higher uses, do they
serve as the habitations of this not incon-
siderable portion of humanity. Indeed, it
is question whether if buildings afford
ing suitable accommodations were erected
in the new districts they would attract
this class from their, ancient haunts, so
long as they could remain there for the
old surroundings, the old stores, saloons,
ETC., that meet the requirements of GER
tain kind of life would naturally be miss
ing, and consequently the district would
be less agreeable and attractive to the
very class the buildings were intended to
accommodate. Tle efforts of philanthro-
pists to house this class in a sanitary way
have been repeatedly defeated, and their
''model" buildings have become the home
q of the artisan and the clerk ;, zssa
Now, long with the overcrowding due
to the concentration of the poor in conse-
quence of the increase in the value of land
there goes overcrowding due to municipal
improvement within the overcrowded dis
tricts 1t was determined last year to
make "breathing spaces'-small parks
in different parts of the city. The work
has not progressed with any great rapidity
so far, but all arrangements have been
made and it WILL of course be carried
out. Naturally most of these parks are to
be placed in the overcrowded districts of
the city, for it was "overcrow ding" that
necessitated them. But to make these
parks tenements will be torn down, and
after the foregoing it is easily seen that
one of the effects of this will be to increase
overcrowding. For instance, the Null
berry Street Park will cover 2 70 acres,
and ninety three buildings, including
eighty-six tenements, will be RACED. Fifty
FIVE of these latter are front and thirty one
rear buildings the former with stores and
the latter without. Roughly estimated,
they accommodate at the very least six
thousand people,, probably over seven
thousand but, accepting the smaller fig
ure, let US ask what is to become of these
people Most of them will concentrate
still closer in the old district and some will
go into neighboring districts of similar
character and intensity the .overcrowding
there. ~ What has happened in London
will happen here. Recently, when the
Cadogan estate was improved by clear
ing away hundreds of small cottages in
and erecting instead dwellings of better
class, the people displaced found refuge in
West Chelsea, which is now described as
rabbit warren"
a The conclusion to be drawn from these
facts is not that the municipality should
desist from the making of parks and other
these Improvements should be recognized
and steps taken to provide dwellings for
the displaced population. This will not be
done by private enterprise. 1t is not pro-
ftable enough to house thevery poor ex-
cept in very inferior dwellings. To make
parks and widen streets in overcrowded
districts does not improve the condition of
the city. 1t simply shifts the overcrowd-
ing from one spot to another. What the
city should do is to erect sanitary buildings
for the people it's Improvements displace.
In Europe, where municipal action covers
a field so much wider than it does here,
there are public lodging houses and tene-
ments in most of the large cities, which, in
addition to lettering the condition of peo-
pie, increase the revenue of the municipal
4ity md makes Tux esso much less. So far
we have addressed ourselves 10 only one
side Of the matter.ssAsAy(,.5f,.r r M