Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-03

Who have a whole house to themselves, and
there more than half million who have
only one room in their tenements which can be
heated The people swarm and they become
more crowded every year. You see no little
houses here. The cottage system Is practically
unknown. and the rich and the poor are crowded
together in the same building. The difference
hes IN the location and the character of the
room. The buildings usually OF FIVE or six
stories. In the basement You will find eobblers.
butchers and grocerymen. while back around
the courts every imaginable trade goes on and
families live in narrow quarters and work at
something o. other to make a livelihood. On
the fret floor, IL the street is a business one.
there will be irst-class sto:es, restaurants
beer halls. and above these you NAV find Ger
man colonel or a general. a rich business
han On the same floor in the back rooms
will be cheaper quarters. and As you near the
top Of the house the character of the tenants
tails and their numbers increase. There il a
difference in rate according to different parts
Of the city. but there are cheap tenements
everywhere and YOU find the poor in every
block l visited the other day a single house
which contained 400 families and in which
lived more than 500 people. 1t was build
Ing Of about a hundred feet 'front.' running
back. perhaps. for 200 feet and built around
I've great courts. There was no ward con-
nected with il except these dirty courts paved
With cobblestones. and in these hollow-eyed
children swarmed and old men and women sat
against the walls irving to catch the sun. The
building consisted of six stories and it Was en-
tered by passageway in the middle. At the
door OF this a. ! came in i saw two young
women standing with babies at their breasts.
and the children playing in the rear were of all
ages and sizes. As looked at them and the
people about them IL struck me that the
building Was typical of the world. Every
variety OF life was going on among them. On
IA AZ loV,. 4
another part young girl and an old man were
trying TO teach baby to walk. and as l stood
there an undertaken came through with little
coffin, containing baby, under his arm and
With its weeping mother following behind
It's sole mourner. This building is known a.
Meyers Hof." and it is one of the largest
tenement houses in Berlin.
TYPICAL. IESEMESrs.
Think Of it7
Here are l.500 people sleeping every night On
IN area Of less than one-haf acre Of ground
Some Of the rooms contain more than one fam
NY and not Q few Of the poorest of the renters
take roomsrs- i visited some Of the tenements
They seemed 10 be clean, but they were small
and there was a couple of beds in nearly every
room There were about 100 families living
around each court and these courts were not as
large a. the average city back yard At the en-
trance 10 each court there were billboards like
those you ind IN large Office buildinas in
America, upon which were registered the names
Of the tenants and the numbers o. :heir rooms
Upon the ground floor there were little stores
and dropped into . barber shop at the corner
OF one Of the courts and chatted with the
barber. His room was about five feet wide by
ux feet deep. and he bad a sign on the outside
Of 10 stating that his prices for shaving were
pfenntgs or . little more than a cent and he
cut hsir for about double this rate. He told
NE that he bad often a hundred customers a
day and that he had double this number on
Saturdays He sold matches and cigars and
made Wigs - well a. barbered and he said that
his rent for this room was 81 so a month and
that he slept here at night
kenss are, am told. continually rising in
Berlin. and the smaller the income the bigger
The proportion Of rent The most OF the labor
ing people like TO live near their work and a
large majority Of the people engaged in the
dinerent industries here live within twenty