New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-20
FROM SLCUS TO HOMES.

Driving people out of the slums is one good
thing Providing proper homes for them to en-
ter is another. equally good and equally neces-
sary The latter must follow as an immediate
complement Of the former, but would better
still accompany 1t side by side, and would best
Of all precede 1t. Now that the one work has
been begun in earnest by the Board of Health,
therefore, it Is Of happy omen that the other
has been undertaken by another organization
under auspices that promise large success For
people, rich and poor alike, must have some
habitatiOns IL they are compelled to leave
one, they must 20 into another. Nor Is there
probably any better way OF getting them out
Of the slums than by offering them attractive
and wholesome homes, In accessible places and
at suitable rates. There are very few, outside
of the vicious and criminal classes who delib-
erately prefer the slums They would like to
live in better places but cannot They cannot
find sufficiently near their places of work clean
and sanitary homes ut rents they are able to
pay SO perforce they stay In the deathrap
tenements. That is in brief. the story of thou
sands of families in this city.
The new enterprise is not to i a charity in
the common meaning Of that term. The inn
proved dwellings will not be almshouses, and
their inmates will not be paupers. Rents will
be required and collected, as systematically
of old. They will be fair rents paying the
landlords reasonable return upon the invest
ment. yet so low as to be readily met by the
people for whom the homes are designed. And
that is perhaps, the most significant feature Of
the enterprise Its promoters believe, and
rightly that slums are not necessary, either to
provide homes for workingrnen or to pay profits
to landlords. They believe, and rightly. that
comfortable and attractive homes, with SAM
tary conditions, can be built and rented for
prices no higher than those now charged for
ramshacke dens, and be a source of profit TO
the proprietOrs This must be true, for the con-
trary would be tine most hidcous of indictments
of our social and industrial system. If we
have reached a point where Sums are neces-
sary. if wages are so low. or the cost OF land
and buildings is so high. that workingnen must
of necessity he housed In squalid and plague
engendering dens, then truly lis our civilization
a failure" But no well-informed man is yet
prepared TO believe such is the case.
Another significant and hopeful feature or
the undertaking Is that improved dwellings are
to be built not only in the city, but In the
suburbs Thus II aims 10 relieve that con
gestion of population which Is one of the worst
diseases Of the modern community. There
must Of course be Il certain density OF popua
ton I'm every large city. But there Is no valid
excuse for such OvcrcrOwding as has for years
existed in New-York With miles of vacant
lots on Manhattan Island, and thousands Of
acres Of wild land, woods, pastures and mea
dows within the city limits and Immediately
bordering thereon, 1t is scandaous that the
mass of the citys population should be more
closely herdcd together than that of any other
city in the world. London long ago solved the
problem by building great cottage settlements
In the suburbs and providing genuine rapid
transit ut low rates The London wage-earner
can live in detached cottage in Il scmi-rur'al
district and yet get to and from his work in
the heart Of the city in few minutes for =
cents fare That is the sort of arrangement
needed here. The movement for providing the
cottages is now hopefully under way. Pro-
vision for rapid transit should be made mt thc
same time and must be made if the suburban
homes scheme Is not to he failure.