The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-07-14
How British Cities Man
age Public Utilities
Manchester Occupies First Place In tnslanu D. p,,blic
Volume of Its Municipal Work-NearS
Utilities Are Owned by the City
By FREDERICK ADAi!1
rcopyricht. 1904, by Frederick Upharn Adams,l

o7 l7Tlu avenue Will 9u''''
for the payment of $1,000 Il year
h Manchester decided to erect
tenement houses her officials "ci''
about II in no half hearted way. lhere
vos Il district in Oldham DAD WIeie
d.,th reapcd an annual harvest Oh from
20 10 50 out of every LOCO VINO WIZ
condemned to live there. II was II we
district, and in 1893 the city razed 'ie
novels, purchased the land ana pun
homes for It's people. AS 1t s1ahhs ~,
day il is undoubtedly the finest 'hnooe'
~+enoInent" In Great Britain, ana amy
criticism | may make of it is not direct
al against the building or Its manage
mont, but against the whole system u
municipal tenement planning.
So far rs any scheme which contem-
mates housing a thousand, more or less'
nersors In n limited area can be q sue
cess, this one fully meets all require
ments. Those who formerly lived III
yretched dens now are tenants IN an
edifce which with the land represents
An expenditure of about $4,000. Inc
death rate has fallen from 80 to less
thar 80. There Is not q room IN the
building which does not open Directly
to the street or to an enormous court,
and there Is not a better ventilated
structure In the world. No room is less
than nine feet high, and the smallest
rooms cover los square feet, or about
10 by II feet. Most Of the apartments
are of two rooms, and the rent aver
ages 81 a week.
The building is five stories high and
Is built around an immense quadrangle
lar court about 80 feet square. This
was designed for a playground, but
noticed that the children preferred the
streets. The walls are of red brick,
with stone and terra Gotta trimmings,
and the architectural effect far eXcels
that of the average first class fiat or
apartment building In American cities.
Everything in reason that money and
sanitary science can render has been
done, but the building is not popular,
though most Of the rooms are taken,
and it is Il paying investment from a
financial point.
There Is q distressing sameness about
the quarters. When you have looked
at two roolms sou have seen all there Is
to see. There is too much brick and
mortar. 1t bears the aspect Of q per-
son.. 1t Is q thousand times better, no
doubt, than the quarters which were
torn down, and 1t is vastly superior to
the habitation Of the average laborer,
no matter what his country, but Man
chester will never erect another tene-
ment house on so elaborate a scale.
The city is now at work on a far DIFF
ferent style Of dwellings. They are
not so ornate, and they are not so ex
pensive, but In the opinion of the high
est civic authorities In the world they
represent the type Of the future. On the
edge of the city the municipality has
purchased several hundred acres Of land
and on 1t is erecting cottages, which
Will be rented to persons Of small
a Each cottage will have its gar
den, and there will be parks and play
grounds, schools and churches and all
OF the ordinary comforts Of a normal
existence. This may be too good for d
man who simply works for a living,
and 1t is possible that Manchester and
other British cities are assuming more
responsibility than normally attaches
to municipal! governments. I shall no,
argue this, but 1t may be set down as
a self evident proposition that crime
poverty and disease flourish where
houses humber the more stories, where
people are crowded into the smalle,
areas and where they are denied con
tact with the soil. The great cities {
england and Scotland have learned tt
lesson and are proiting by it,