Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1905-03-18

nic,.aI. ow-c, -.s plants
rnl mo-. thJn l..,,t nam G. IF puaIic
electric light,u, II.alS. E.c.y large
city owns or q. c..tr; its street rail
ways. tn" total Ic,I. considerably in
excess of tie hunI.nd mark Two hun
drcd and fifty cite, own their markets.
100 cites maint=in baths and wash
houses, and IN equal number own huri-
al grounds. Forty three cities own
piers, docks and QuAyS. There is in.
vested in all of these productive enter
priSeS n sum of money in excess of
$3.50, 100000. Plans already adopted
viii increase this figure beyond the bill
lion mark. These rough statistics give
but an Inadequate idea of the scope
and extent of the movement. All of
this has bc'n accomplished i'll less than
thirty years and most of it in the last
decade.
In addition to having taken measures
assuring the acquisition of all public
utilities, London is the greatest landlord
in the world. 1t has already erected
tcncments, lodgings and cottages which
shelter $4,000 persons, who regularly
pay rent into the common treasury
This is only the beginning. Plans have
been adopted, funds raised and work
is in progress on buildings which will
provide for 10000 more of the home
seeking class of the metropolis. These
investments represent an expenditure
i'll excess of S2J,OOO,OOO.
There are only thirty eight cities i'll
the United States with Il population
larger than that which will dwell in
the houses owned by the city of Lon
don and under the control of its county
council. Its tenants will number more
than reside in such populous and pro
greSSive cities as Albany, Lowell, Port
land, Atlanta, Richmond, Nashville,
Hartford. Wilmington, DeS Moincs and
New Bedford.
The great housing act" as it is call
ed, was passed by parliament in 1870
y
don county council. No such radical
piece of legislation was ever seriously
considered by laWmaking body in the
United States. 1t had its origin in the
fact that the landlord class was deaf
to public opinion. There We're more
than million people Gcnicd the oppor
tunity of renting decent places of
abode.
In this emergency parliament took
drastic action. 1t clothed the London
county council and similar bodies in
the larger cities with powers they have
not heStatcd to use. The housing bill
provides three methods of attack.
Part l places upon the London coun-
ty council the duty of preparing and
carrying int effect (uftcr sanction by
the secretary of state and parliament
schemes for the Improvement of inSan-
itary areas which are of such II size as
to be of general Importance to the
whole county. In any such scheme it
is essential that new dwellings shall be
provided OH the area dealt with for at
least half the persons displaced.
Part > enables the borough coun-
ellis TO take proceedings before Il magis-
trate for the closing and demolition Of
single houses which are unfit for hu-
man hnbitation. 1t also enables the
borough councils and the county coun-
ell, either in conjunction or otherwise,
to undertake schemes which are too
small TO be of Importance to the whole
county. The borough councils also have
power to purchase and destroy build
inGS which prevent the proper ventila-
ton of adjacent buildings
Part > is even more sweeping and
revolutionary in its character 1t en-
ahlcs the county council to purchase by
agreement or with the consent of the
secretary of state and parliament, by
compulSiOn houses for "the accommo-
dation of persons of the working class
or land for the erection of such
houses" In passing it may he we'll to
note that there is no instance on rec
ord whcr0 the secretary of state and
parliament have withheld their con
Dnnt. The confcdcratcd cities Of Great
Britain control parliament.
An even more extraordinary power
was granted by parliament three years
ago In order that county councils
should have unlimited scope in solving
the housing problem it was enacted
that they should have the right to
purchase or acquire land outside the
areas of their jurisdiction" for the pur-
pose of erecting dwellings for the work
Ing classes. This step WAS urged and
adopted for the reason that spectators
We're acquiring and holding large tracts
in the suburban districts best fitted for
an extension of municipal housing
schemes. The bill provided for COM
pulSory sales, the price to he fixed by
competent and dSiutercStcd appraise-
ment in the event that the negotiating
parties failed to reach an agreement.
Still the agitatorS for better housing
were not satisfied. They complained
that the original bill was defective by
reason of the fact that the London
county council WAS deharred from de-
moliShin@ inSanitary areas consisting
Of less than twenty houses 1t frequent
ly developed that one or more houses