Kansas City journal., 1898-01-08

taurant. where plain meals are served and
food supplied to the families at low prices:
There are rooms devoted 10 the use Oh
evening classes. for teaching girls dress
making. cooking. etc. under the super
vision of competent teachers. There Is a
mems club. kept and maintained by its
reading smoking and other legitimate pur-
poses. and for rest and recreation. Tnere
is also a day nursery maintained, Where
the children are cared for, while the moth
er is necessarily away from home at her
work. The possibility of enlarging the use
funess of such an annex is unnumpered.
Il have seen no improvement whlch up
on the face of IL appears so far. to give
us wholesome competition for the saloon.
and like places of resort. The whole family
may here find its recreation. and school
ROOM beside the home. There are in Lon
don many buildings like these already re-
ferred 10, with their clubrooms bliilarG-
rooms libraries. concert rooms. with abund-
ance of light and air. fire proof structures:
with the possibilities of the best form OF
life within the reach of those of very small
I'm Liverpool under act of parliament per-
mitting her to condemn and destroy rotten
tenements. she has destroyed old tenements
in numerous districts, and built in their
places. as a municipal investment, fine
buildings with all modern conyeniences,
Sen
investment, many such buildings. A friend
of mine recently showed me a blue print OF
like buildings constructed in the city OIL
Montreal. Canada.
LET us take time to give you just sim
gle glimpse of what this movement means
don was Bethnal Green. In 1891. on tract
of fifteen acres. there were $50 small houses
standing on soft EARTH which was sunksl
in some instances eighteen inches below the
street level. The houses were reported too
damp TO burn. Almost the whole OF the
ground space was covered: and twe1n1iy 11d
streets found in the area, which dWindleG
from twenty-eight feet in width to mere
passageways. The mortality in London was
vas % Infant mortality in the whole dis
tlict in which Bethnal Green Is situated Is
15a in a thousand. but, on these iitteet
acres 30. Two thousand one hundred anc
eighteen persons live in single room tene:
nents: 2,265 in two room tenements. anc
1lSI in three room tenements. one hundred
and seven rooms had five or more tenants
each These old buildings We're devoid al
sewers and water service. II was breed
ing place of disease and vice; Par paTiiamsn len,
appraised at what it would be properly
Worth for proper uses hrst, II, tIst b ,amG wai
cleared off the buildings: not all at once
hut by piecemeal: found for the tenant:
fair tenements within the near nciGhhor
thropic company. which erected building:
10 cost $s90.GNN. Ii cost the city of Londor
more than 600 to pave the streets ant
pay for the loss in estimated value IN tear Ear
ing out the old tenements. But London ha:
regarded this as one of her very best In
vestments. The streets and houses are re
placed by fine tree-lined avenues, fifty L
sixty feet wide. radiating from publ,
garden 215 fee; in diameter neatly terraced
with grass plot and band stand. Great
handsome dwellings have been built fou
and five stories high. each building separat
ed in all directions from opposing building
by space equal to its height. Only A. pc
cent of the land is covered by buildings
No room is less than eight feet six inche
high and no building more than Two room
deep: in fact. only one room deep. becaus
every room opens upon clear space. Thoi
living room has at least IA feet of foo
space The bedroom is seven feet min
inches in width with ninety-siN feet OF fioo
space The staircase is thoroughly ventliat
ed on open air; the stairways are lighte
day and night to prevent immortality an
accident. The buildings are fire proof
stairways are of iron and stone: they ar
cement floors, iron grders and brick arches
wooden surfaces laid on cement
Mr.. Beardsley said THAT Baltimore. Md
was one OF the hrst cities IN America
build model lodging house for men.
Eugene Leverng. a philanthropist wa
its builder It was really workingmen'
residential club. where sleeping apartment
could he had by the night or week. Meal
could he had at moderate prices; there wer
bathrooms. smoking rooms and gam
rooms workingmen were furnished con
veniences and accessories of gentlemen
ordinary club. The price charged for lode
. ing was from Is cents to so cents a night
. or from % cents to S1.25 week. The mos
. recent experiment was that of Mr.. Mills
New York city. His building was erecte
at a cost in excess OF Slooo,e0.
But it is not necessary TO await the az
tion of philanthropic men," he said. 'Ther
is much that can be done by state an
municipal government. The state of Penn
sylvania enacted law in 1893 providin
that each tenement house should hay
: an open space of at least 20 per cent {