New-York tribune., 1905-01-15
MORE MODEL TENEMENTS.

The plan OF Mr.. Henry Phipps to invest
million dollars in model tenement houses is based
upon a clear conception of the essential elements
Of success in any attempt to solve the housing
problem. In this sphere the highest philan"
thropy is and must be enlightened business abil-
ity. A tenement house may be the perfection OF
comfort and sanitation, but it is not model
tenement house unless it pays. When it earns
fair interest on the investment 1t is an example
70 builders and real estate owners whose only
aim is to make money. and it is an object lesson
to tenants of what they have right to expect
Of their landlords as rent payers and not as
beggars Rooms that are rented below cost are
not a home, but a charitable institution. A
charitable institution is a most excellent thing
for some persons but it is not what the great
body of the people who dwell in tenement houses
want They want light, healthful homes at
fair price, while for the most part they have
been able TO get only dark unsanitary dwellings
for a rental utterly out of proportion TO the real
estate investment This is partly due to the
rapacity of landlords, partly to the ignorance OF
tenants, and partly to the comparative lack OF
really good workmen's dwellings at any price.
The generosity OF Mr.. Phipps prepares the
way for supplying this lack on really liberal
scale The original million dollars is merely
nucleus for if it earns per cent, TO be invested
in more houses, it will be possible TO build with
increasing rapidity and model houses will grow
at the rate Of compound interest. But the di-
rect benefit is only the smallest part Of the good
TO be done. AS Mr.. Phipps says, any discour-
agement Of investors purely business basis
would stop building and leave the people worse
off than they are now. The trainers or the pres
ent tenement house law, under the able guild
ance Of Mr. Robert W. De Forest, kept this
truth in mind and struck the happy mean
which insured sanitary homes without reaching
for irnpossibiIities. New law tenements are
found TO be q good investment If now on
scale large enough TO make an impression houses
better than the speculative builders would erect
are provided and made profitable, a powerful
pressure will be put on the builders to be salts
fed with moderate returns and do all that they
can afford to do in the way Of improvements.
One or two model tenements will not do this.
They are mere exotics. The importance of Mr..
Phipps's enterprise lies in It's scope. 1t can
have an appreciable effect on the market Spec
Native builders may never be content with
per cent. and their houses may continue to be
inferior 10 the model, but the standard not only
for apartments but for rents will be set. Other
model tenements will spring up. and the better
class Of builders will tend more and more TO
COPY them. Each year the number of suitable
dwellings will increase and make it more dini-
cult for the extortioner to keep tenants in I'M
sanitary structures. THESE, instead or oelng the
home of vast numbers OF self-respecting people,
win become the resort only OF the shiftless at
decreasing rentals.
The would-be model tenement which is not
conducted as a business enterprise earning
small but regular profit will only exaggerate
the evils Of tenement house life Buildings such
as Mr.. Phipps proposes to erect possess power
of eXorcism, making the bad tenement house un-
profitable and forcing owners In general 10
make improvements a measure of business
sagacitV