The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-02
OPPOSED 10 TENEAENIS
NO GOOD IN TOWERING APART
MENT HOUSES
HOME LIFE Is TOO PRECIOUS
Salvation Army Leader Would Give
Every Family n House
and IL Gar
den

Plans for model tenements" or any
other kind Of tenements are denounced
by Commander BoCth-Tucker, of the
Salvation Army. He sees no good in the
towering apartment bUildings, but looks
upon them as a menace to home life and
to decent living, says the Chicago
Tribune He has found from his ex-
perience in the Salvation Army work
that they do not lift but drag down, and
he is not backward in saying so.
The commander believes in improving
the housing of the people, but he would
not do it unless he could do so by saw
ing the home life, and to this end he
has evolved a scheme that he claims is
practical, though it sounds utopicn. He
would give each man Il house and q
garden.
The commander discussed his reason
for opposing It at some length.
Il understand that you are to have
tenements erected here he said, land
it is too bad. Chicago is wonderfully
gifted 1t is spread out over such wide
territory that the tenement is not a ne
cessity, and should not be erected, to
ruin your city and spoil your nome life.
The tenement as now erected is an in
justice TO both the property owner and
the tenant. It is built in slum districts
but what does it dO2 1t merely drives
away those who lived in the locality be-
fore to other places where rents are as
cheap. It takes them from their work,
it adds to their cost Of living; in short,
it places a burden on home lifo.
THE home life is TOO precious to be
so rated. I do not believe III letting
paternalisrn run riot. hut you have no
right to compel q man to move and not
give him another place where the cost Of
living is the same. You have no right
to compel a man to tear down q
structure and erect another in it's place,
with light on all sides, and microscopes,
and compel him to rent at so low q
figure that he does not make a fair in
terest rate on his investment. Yet one
of these two conditions is always brought
where the tenement is erected. When
you force the tenant to move you are
placing a burden on home life; when you
force the property owner to let lin stay
you are placing a burden On the invest
mont.
1.-The tenement is = breeder OF discon-
tent for the man forced to move be-
comes bitter, and he has that right. 1t
increases rent, brings in a better class Of
tenants, and forces the poor man to otner
quarters. If it is erected at the COM
mend Of the city, the city should make
good the loss by some action.
POINTS WAY TO IMPROVEMENT
"a great municipality IS like spider
web In the center is the heart of bust
ness and each outlying division has its
special characteristics. At present the
districts next to the business and mani
featuring heart are Stun sections Wren
you build your tenements there you
change the whole complexion of this, and
improve it, but you lower the next out
side district. You bring in those who can
pay a good rental; you force out those
who cannot.
THE day Is coming when this web will
be properly apportioned. The inner cir
cles will be given over to HOUSES where
a small plat of land goes with each. This
plat will increase as the streets get
farther from the center, and increase as
the value of land grows less. On these
plats men will learn to help themselves
by learning to farm, each according to
his needs. 1t will give each man a source
of income for rainy day. It will make
him better contented, and I firmly be-
lieve will go far toward aboIishing strikes
and kindred evils.
Home life is too precious to fall into
disrepute, and this herding together Of
men must cease.
While Prof. Graham Taylor, Of the
Chicago Commons, agreed in the main
with the trend of Commander Booth
fuckers words, he did not agree that the
tenement was wholly bad thing.
'sWe do not want the New York tene-