The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-11-11
TENANTS AND HOME OWNERS

Statistics of the last census revealed
bad condition OF affairs as to the num-
Der OF tenants and tenant families in va
rious portions of the United States, par
ticularly in the great cities. 1t seems
that so per cent of the families, includ-
ing both farm and city population, are
tenants, which means that more than
half the people are homeless. OF. the
farming class one third are tenants.
which is about the same proportion as
in Belgium, France. Germany, Portugal,
Norway and Holland. Thus it appears
that the. tillers of the soil, the working
farmers, are no better off in that particu.
lar than are those IN what we in this
land of boosted freedom and prosperity
are wont to call the ''effete monarchies
of Europe
In 1860, according to official figures,
the wag e-earning class in the United
States was So per cent. OF all persons On.
gagged in gainful occupations, including
farmers. In 1888 1t was Go per cent. and
in 1890 rs per cent. During the last three
decades there has been continuous and
rapid concentration of land ownership
into the hands of a few. and thereby the
development of an industrial feudallsm
which Is entirely at variance with the
spirit of our free institutions. At the
present time more than thres-fourths of
those nomnally included in the laboring
classes are liable to be thrown out of
work at the end of any week, and those
who have families may be turned into
the streets at the end of any month.
New York city furnishes a m ost strik-
ing illustration of tenement house pow
erty. In that great metropolis, with half
of its area unoccupied, "a per cent of the
families are tenants, per cent of the re-
manning live in mortgaged homes, SO
that only four out of every hundred ia M
lilies own their own homes free OF de bt
and they are among the wealthy classes.
Under existing laws and methods it is
only question of time. and not a very
long time, when similar or,worse con-
dition will exist in every other large
city. Even III Philadelphia, known far
and wide as the city of homes" and one
which once claimed that nearly every res
ident. including the hum blest wage work
or, owned the place in which be lived,
the conditions are bad enough. The city
contains 204, 292 families, of which 49,
800. or II per cent, are tenants. Nine per
cent OF the homes owned by the occu-
pants are mortgaged and only Ii per
cent of the entire 204, 292 families own
homes entirely free of encumbrance.
1t Is a noteworthy fact that while the
mum Der Of home owners in this country
has been growing smallerievery year, pub
lilo expenditures have enormously in
creabed, especially within the past twen-
ty years. During the ten years from 1870
to 1880 the increase in public expendi-
lures wasa4 per cent, sfrom 1880 to 1896
the increase was AZ Eper cent. And yet,
with jump of 3S per cent in fthe ex-
penses of the government, the increase
of population for that same decade was
only 25 per cent. Well may the question
be asked, Whittier are we drifting?
The primary cause OF SO large ten.
antry is the difficulty that people of
small means experience in be coming
home owners in desirable localities. and
that difficulty arises chiefly from the
monopolization of land. There can be
no home for anybody without land.
A piece OF the earth on which to cree,