Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1905-04-29

Off Fifth avenue with suites" calling
for the payment of $1,000 year.
When Manchester decided to erect
tenement houses her officials went
about 1t in no half hearted way. There
was district In Oldham road where
death rrapcd an annual harvest of from
90 To 81 out of every 1000 who were
condemned to live there 1t WAS a vile
district, and in 1913 the city RACED the
novels, purchased the land and built
homes for Its people. As 1t stan,lS to
day II Is undoubtedly the finest model
tenement in Great Britain. and any
criticism | may make of 1t is not direct
ell against the building or It's manage
mcnt, but against the whole system of
municipal tenement planning.
SO far rs any scheme which contem-
plates housing Il thousand. more or less.
persons In II limited area can be a sue
cess, this one fully meets all require
m"ntS. Those who formerly lived In
WretChrd dcnS now are tenants In an
cditiCe which with the land represents
an expenditure of about 500 900. The
death rat" has fallen from 30 to less
than 80. There Is not room in the
building which does not open directly
to the street or to an enormous court
and there is not Il 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 IL feet. Most of the apartments
are of two rooms, and the rent aver
ages 81 week.
The building Is five stories high and
Is built around an immense uuadrangu-
lar court about 100 feet square. This
was designed for n 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 1t is a paying Investment from n
financial point.
There is Il distressing SameneSS about
the quarters. When you have looked
ut two rooms you have seen all there il
to see There is too much brick and
mortar. 1t bears the aspect of II per
son. 1t Is n thousand times better, no
doubt. than the quarters which We're
torn down, and it is vastly superior to
the habitatiOn Of the average laborer,
no matter what his country, but Man
chester will never erect another tcne-
mcnt house on so elaborate Il scale
The city Is now ut work on n 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 il Is erecting cottages. which
will be rented to persons of small
means. Each cottage will have its gar
den. and there will he parks and play
grounds, schools and churches and ali
of the ordinary comforts of n normal
existence. This may he too good for a
man who simply works for living,
and it Is possible that Manchester and
other British cities are assuming more
responsibility than normally attaches
to municipal governments. shall not
argue this, but 1t may be set down as
self evident proposition that crime.
poverty and disease flourish where
houses number the more stories, where
people are crowded into the smaller
areas and where they are denied con
tact with the soil. The great cities Of
England and Scotland have learned this
lesson and are prolitinG by It,