The Jersey City news., 1906-06-04
MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1906.

of those compelled to occupy tenemenis
IS becoming more and more exigent. in
big cities. says the Newark Evening
News" 1t involves sort of practical
philanthropy Of the greatest importance
to the peace and order of such communi-
ties and goes deeper to the roots of the
betterment Of the poor than any other
project to which wealth has been judi
ciously devoted At least one-third of the
crime and misery inherent in vast COM
nlunities can be traced directly or indi-
rectly to the tenement-house conditions
which exist when that question is left to
solve itself The model tenement-house
system which George Peabody initiated
In London, and New York many years
ago has borne its fruits. If his initiative
has not been followed on a scale as ex-
tenesive as its financial soundness from
the viewpoint of invetment has warrant
ed it has had a healthy living extension
Il in continued practise, which offers excel
lent hope for the future.
The City and Suburban Homes Com
pany of New York. the parent of many
other companies, at its annual meeting
of stockholders few days since, made
-It-fufnihed fresh demonstration how cap
ital can earn fair return for itself in
the exercise of philanthropic aims. The
company is now ten years old and has
erected model city tenements for LILO
q families at an investment of So, ,3331 3331 ,53S;
and 1872 houses outside of Manhattan in
the suburban district at cost of $685.
OBJ. The financial success of the enter
prise is shown in the fact that the COM
pany, which paid only four per cent. div
idendsy in 1900 and three and one-half per
cent earlier, now pays four and one-half
and is expected to pay FIVE per cent.
when its assets shall reach S6,000,O00, a
period not far away. as it's building OPP
erations are going on rapidly and invest
ment in the stock is greatly increasing.
1t was indeed looked upon by capital
lists as one of the safest of real estate
Investments. 1t makes but fewt bad
debts, as its appeal is necessarily to the
thrifty wage earners, who have given
Hostage to fortune" OF course, there
are great numbers of the lower classes
for whom this sort of advantage could
never be made practicable. There is
huge population which riots in gregar-
iousness and finds its congenial home in
ramshackle rookeries, or in the filthy and
confined quarters which are found in so
many parts of old New York But in
rescuing a selected class of those COM
PEELED to share in such an environment
with its debasing atmosphere to enjoy
privilege, which offers sanitary conditions
with the comforts, conveniences and
some Of th eelegancies of household life,
a priceless uplifting influence is injected
into the arteries of the labor body.
Wealth could not be more desirably in
vested than in the extension of such fa-
cilities on the widest possible scale.
Manufacturers have found no way more
efficient to increase their prosperity than
to invest a portion of their surplus earn.
ings in building comfortable houses for
\ fheir workmen, simply on the score Of
Tie worth of the work done by labor.
The same principle operates on large
scale in safeguarding the general inter
ests Of the social organization.
london has invested more than $780,,
ooe-o 900 m improved dwellings for wage
earners since the Peabody, beginning
New York has vastly ygreater need
and has done vastly less, but the spirit
to do is feeling sharper stimulus every