Evening star., 1902-08-21
CITIES OF SUNLIGHT.
Aspects of the Housing Problem in
England.
From the London Spectator.

From the London Spectator.
The housing problem is one that is ever
with US. 1t was with us both in town and
country in the eighteenth century, and MIR
Whitbread's poor law bill Of 1907 especially
aimed at remedyipg the deplorable condi-
ton of the cottages of England at that
date. Despite all that has been done since
then, the problem is still one that fills the
mind with horror The population persist
emily outgrows remedial action, and the
centrpetal tendencies of production and
commerce create centers that have none of
the normal attributes of social life. In the
case of insects such as bees and ants, the
housing problem is remedied Immediately it
becomes acute by an organized and auto
matte system Of transmlgration. The in
stinct of these creatures tells them that the
first duty of social life is to maintain the
efficiency of the race and that the race
ceases to be efficient the moment that II is
ill-fed and tll-housed. The human race has
the same instinct, and has for thousands of
years poured from east to west in search
or fresh woods and pastures new as he re-
suit of defeat, conquest, famine and dis
ease. The race with the keenest capacity
for colonization has been the surviving
race, and Englands capacity for expansion
in all directions has been one of the most
marked signs of its vitality. But in the de-
velopment of social institutions as truly as
In the ascent of man himself, we find that
there arrives day when instinct must be
replaced by reason.
There arrives time to take the case now
under discussion, when the instinct for eX-
pansion must be replaced by reasonable
solution or the problem that lies behind all
eXpansion-the problem OF how TO live un-
der happy, wholesome conditions within a
limited area. Now that problem is apart
from the instinct of expansion, insoluble
unless, not one or two one or two thou
sand, persons apply themselves to the prob
lem but unless the whole nation faces the
difficulty. Housing legislation is a good
thing; building laws, sanitary laws, burial
laws, poor laws, are all necessary and ad-
mirable efforts, but they are the efforts OF
the few. and, however well administered,
are totally incapable Of solving a problem
which in itself will never be fully solved
while there remains one family personally
ignorant of the things that belong TO its
peace.
Social problems will never be solved I'M
til the education problem is solved. Edu-
cate the people, and the social questions
will answer themselves. 1t is not because
we disregard and would minimize the value
of legislative efforts that we say this. The
work that the legislature can do is of enor-
nous value; but there can be no doubt that
the work that the people can do for them
selves. home TO home. manufactory to man.
ufactory, city to city, is final. Therefore We
welcome the efforts of societies such as ,he
Garden City Association, which has just
held Its conference at Liverpool, and which
is pledged to a program that will, If sue-
cessful. do much to relieve the pressure Of
town life. We do not expect miracles at
once; we do not think that in few months,
or even in a year or two, we shall see the
great centers of industry turned into gar
den cities; but we do believe that the edu-
cation of the people into a desire for better
things is a work Of abiding value that
makes for righteousness and national health.
The cry, Back to the landr' has now no
significance to the people we would have
go back, or to the people that We would
fain induce to remain in agriculture. The
housing problem in the country drives men
and women to the towns; the housing prob
lem in the towns drives men and women to
destruction. The Cities OF Dreadful Night
swallow up their thousands, and the world
cries aloud for some Midas-touch that Will
turn these cities into Cities Of Sunlight.
Can the thing be done?