The sun., 1903-03-08
The JANITOR GIVES HIS SIDE.
HIS DUTIES AND RELATIONS
WITH THE TENANTS.

4 Responsible Tor Nany Tuinks III N Npur's
ment House-Why II IL Hard 10 Please
All the Tcnants-sources Of Com.
| plants Against Him--Experts say Jsni.
tors Are Improving All the Time.
The Ianitor. sitting on the steps leading
| from the sidewalk 10 the basement OF the
house whose management Ia in his charge,
| looked critically at the periodical which
excuses its existence by alleging that 1t
is witty. He seemed annoyed. He laid
, the paper down, not gently.
1T makes m. tired, oil this talk about
janitors," he said. Every paper see is
! Pull Of what suppose are considereo Jokes
about janitors. / don't see why they are
| printed They aren't true and they don
| tell the truth about janitors.
sI've been a janitor for ten year,. I'm
| still employed by the agents Tor whom
| I frst worked. Some OF the tenants have
| been in houses have run for ycars. One
| tenant changed lis home simply TO follow
me from one apartment house to another.
| The best friends I have are among the ten
| ants. All this talk about jani'ors being
robbers and ruffians Is bosh.
The janitor smoked tho offered cigar.
His good temper returned iheh ne spoHo
! again.
TN teIl YOU something about janitors.
| When you've heard IL you MAJ rot take a.
much stock in all this cheap talk as you 40
| now
Then the janitor began, and here is part
| OF the many things he said during an hour
| lecture on the duties. responsibilities ana
limitations Of apartment house janitors;
.Even IL 1t were Possible to obtain
| complete census Of the tenement houses
| of ali kinds on the island OF Manhattan
| IL would he out of the question to estimate,
except in the toughest way, the nninier
Of janitors who preside over their dHs,
TIMES. With the great increase IN tne
number OF apartment houses OF various
| grades during the past three decapes, .he
possibilities of this now trade have broad
| ened and multiplied until 1t II conserva-
tive estimate to say that to-day mere are
| 20 1000 men whose time is given TO the care
Of sPa,tmsn3 ne te1e"ss soss' whose Es livelihood de-
| pends in whole or in part on TINS source
Of revenue.
.From the caretaker Of the transformed
dwelling house on Cherry Hi renuiN 20
accommodate six or eight famlli 10 the
| veli.dreesed superintendent OF modern
| untown apartment building covering
full city block, with a dozen stories and
| $50 families, IL q long step; but the duties
and RESPONSIBILITIES Of the janitor in each
are essentially tho same. They diner
onlv In degree.
| .To do the work made necessary by tue
nresent mode Of life In New York hundreds
! ~ mcdaniel OF all trades have been with
drawn from their Orlgnai oNuPdeoHn'
in which they were apprenticed. to earn
| form an imso n Ant class in the community.
| for their duties bring them into personal
| contact not only with the owners ana
agents of the buildings in which they serve,
| b1t with the tenants. the tradespeopie
and the city government. ] get along
smoothly with all of them-that Is, most
| OF the ti.ae.
sThe outies Of . janitor include every.
thing. Primarily he IL hired TO represent
| the owner OF the building IN protecting
! il and in keeping it up.
He is responsible for the appearance
/ of the sidew aiks about the house, the con-
dition OF the public nails on all the floors,
the stairwsys, the fire escapee, the nrs
hehiing plants within the house. the eiec-
tric cali bells from the vestibuie 70 the
apartnents, the dumoweiter, Inc Assi.s,
and generally the wnoie OF the uiiu'hs
not In the direct care OF tne tsnants
III this were all that he had 10 iook uvsr ...s
he would be reasonaoiy ousy thnn' .'
a. q matter OF fact, In addition 10 .ne @ ou.,ee
for which tho owner pays hnh, .nI ! !t
IL the handy man ana !acsoI S
Tor every TENANT 10 .ne ous, san ~
must oe an expert IN ey W "
manual endeaNor 10 pe suoee. ,,
'Sonetimes the JsihtoI " tne Iei. eV,
lector for the owner Always ne ~ 'nr
direct representative oi the akehIe -, o.,
the disputes 'fat sriss' ho. oniy oe'"
tenant and iandiord but between TENANT
and tenant. ..s,
II there rs any trouoio oi any uSciP
tion in an apartment house ,he JiitoI
In the handiest representative hGh
authority TO whom appear may oe nlnce. s
p Soh Bah OF the community IN "nIch IRON IRON
100 to 80 persons ave, New iork ysmtor
CONES in for as mucn aDuse as ,he secretary
Of War al the end OF iofeisn caIhpSRh.
In all the newer apartment hou-''t
there are dozsns OF iaDof- devices
operated by steam. eiec,ncty ana water
which are comnitied completely 10 the
care Of the janitor. To run them econom-
icAlly and TO repair them when they are ou
OF order requires a pretty fair PRACTICAL
knowledge Of steam, electric and hydraulic
en"inesHng.
srhs jsnitor must be aole TO repair the
electric elevator when !, breaks down
and to tinker the pumps when they get out
OF order All of the big apart msnt hou-e-'
practically, are built 50 that their upper
stories are above the city ~ater level and
the aps't'neats on the upper hoors ar.
s-ved from tanks on the roof
saroasn pamp. mean no water IN th.
tanks and that means q general ami uniied
howl from pefhaps ~ Is-r cent 81 ia. faii-