New-York tribune., 1902-06-28
WOH4N Rent COLLECTOR.
MISS GEARY'S EXPERIENCES AS AGENT
FOR MODEL TENEMENTS-


..Dtficultiesc" said Miss Blanche Geary- She
said il rn,lsingly and with rising infection Then.
seeming to decide. she resumed briskly: why.
the engineers and the scrubwomen are the chief
difficulties
Miss Geary is rent collector for model tene-
rnelt house company. She has charge of 33s ten
ants for il. and with the completion OF conte1n-
Mated additions TO its East Side property this
number viii be increased by two hundred and fifty
in a total annual rent roll Of S5o.0g Miss Geary
will Jose perhaps $50 in year. For several years
some OF her buildings have not lost dollar
Miss Geary Mas the first and is still almost the
only woman do that sort Of thing in this city.
You see" she said. still contemplating the sins
% the engineer. If the water is not coming up
hot enough OF is 50 hot that your pipes are burst
Ing all over the house. If the tenants come In
a procession and threaten leave because they
freezing to death. if the furnace is con-
sImirg tyco or three times much coal it did
Under the last man You had. why. then. you know
there's something wrong with the engineer. In
The days when these things used TO trouble me L
didn't understand furnaces well enough to go down
and teach the engineer his business. Nowadays L
tell when is leaving his danlper open
and letting ali his coal up the chimney. didn't
know how ckoosa good engineer first. nor
what the matter with him when he n
satisfactory. Now il takes me just about three
Gays 10 size engineer Up completely, with all
his good and bad points
TRIALS WITH "sCRUB LADIES'
so the engineer trouble s long since vanished.
II belonged my salad days But the scrub
lady'-hess her heart,-is always with us. one of
my greatest difficulties is TO get the halls and
stairs properly cleaned We have desire to
this point. We perfectly willing 10 pay
Whatever IS necessary to have it well done But
there is not scruhwomau in New-Iork who will not
clean ttre- fights OF stairs in pail Of water,
thick hasty pudding with mud. We furnish the
soda and SOAP All We ask is that they change the
water once or twice during the forenoon. But that
IS absolutely what they refuse do. If L put an
advertisement ia the paper / will have line Of
women q block long here after the JOB, and every
of them viii have a tale of about the ex-
ceeding number and poverty Of her children
Then if / take her on she will wash down my
stairs in liquid mud. leaving long streaks Of 1t
wherever her cloth has wiped will Try dozen or
in rapid succession until last get good one,
and then she is perfectly sure to get rheumatism
after while. get married again. or undergo
some other calamity which ncccssitates the same
dreary round more. l wish some philan-
1hroplst would found school for scrubbing- L
would cooperate. and give them Of my build
ines TO practise on with the greatest pleasure.
Then another trade / have to know," continued
Miss Geary. relectively is plumbing. When there
Is a drain stopped up tell the plumber what
and whore the trouble is What is the plumber for?
Well, ne is hx the trouble when he knows what
il is but half the time he won't know what II Is
unless you tell him OF course. if you nave resi-
dent plumber II the house. with "A helper. you can
Just order him attend the repairing, but if you
wish to conduct the house economically you must
Know good deal about plumbing yourself.
An essential thing Is TO know the wages re-
oeTed 10y all classes OF employes-Carpenters. jani-
tors, printers clerks. mechanics OF all kinds-in
order to know whether they capable OF pay
ing the rent. Sometimes people viii take your
rooms when they quite incapable OF paying
The rent When they tell you their occupation you
must know what wages they probably receiving
lheE, again. You must know the different sections
9f the city. and certain streets. and even GER
houses IL them: and when you find that an appil-
cant for OF your fats comes from there. you
Know thar you be very careful indeed
HER ARDCOUS DUTIES
Miss Geary's work differs saently from that of
me ordinary agent. She never admits family
without first visiting il in the place in which IT is
residing when application is made In pursuance
OF this policy Miss Geary travels from Jersey city
% brooklyn and UP and down and crisscross the
eieth Of Manhattan. Amy one who comes INTO
these tenements' said Miss Geary, must be both
c5eah and respectable. There are a good many
c.ean people who not respectable. you know
80 some respectable people who are not clean L
mo the only way satisfy myself thoroughly on