The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
CHILDRENMOUE WELCOME NOW
RACE SUICIDE NO LONGER ABET-
TED By FLAT OWNERS.

Matters Helped by Growing Custom
az Sending Boys to Boarding School.
"A lot OF nonsense is often talked In other
cities about, the trials and tribulattons OF
New Workers with large families and email
means. when hunting for a home, ' said Q
real estate agent. There are plenty OF
New Workers firmly convinced that be-
tween the class Of tenement, not even
digniHed by the name Of fiat, which rents
below S25 q month, and the plate glass,
gold trimmed apartments which bring
nearer o., 500 o month, there Is q ohhdless
gap represented by an army OF apart
ments whence children are forever barred
by landlords and agents,
Elm the minds Of theee persons a married
man who can afford to pay only SsS or $40
q month 10 doomed TO 60 childless through
life unless he is willing to live In a tenement
house or to move away from New York.
Az q matter Of fact, there is mighty little
truth in that view Of the situation.
4Raoe suicide was never less imminent
among the we'll to do middle class than
now, and never was the demand for apart
ments renting from tS5 to $50 q month 90
great ,as now. As soon as ono is vacant
1t is snapped up like a STRAY dime by a street
! uTCulU, anu VIA IN hoicI w."
of these flats which do not take in children
is extremely small.
Approach an agent who hasn't been In
the business more than two or three years
and he won't know what you are talking
about IL he is asked to give a reason why
children are kept out Of the middle class
fats, H0 will be sure to answer, But
they are not kept OUT that Is, II his business
ia In the most popular residential districts,
like the upper West and East sides OF the
city.
Aseven or eight years ago' Well, l
admit things we're different then. At
that time fats had not been multiplied az
they have since, and some Of those built
were sandwiched in with private houses
The practice OF putting up long blocks
of apartmehts, all of the same class, WAS
not then general.
in some cases, In many cases, indeed,
owners Of isolated apartment houses put
q ban upon children az tenants out OF con-
sideration for the private houses on either
side. No children need apply were
among the orders given TO agents. Other
owners drew the line at one child, an infant.
A third class were willing to admit two
children, one in arms. Two children was
the limit with many owners, and boys In the
khickerbocker stage would queer the deal
for almost any would-be tenant.
pJust about then, / remember, the news
napers fairly bristled with hard luck stories
~ parents Of four or five children who
searched day and night in vain for suitable
housekeeping quarters, and these stories,
more or less true, went all over the country,
and went on record as describing truth
fully the ~unenviable position Of the children
OF this city. They have stayed on the
records ever since.
, Again, when President Roosevelt got on
his famous anti-raoe suicide letter, there
u was discussion about the difficulty OF finding
n houses in New York where children were
welcomed, and hard luck stories once
more got into the papers and were never
oontradicted. Property owners and real
estate agents are, as a rule. too busy 70
bother sending answers to criticisms,
whether good or bad.
II don't mean to say that there are mo-
large families now who find 1t difficult t6
get the accommodations they want in pre-
cisely the locality they favor. That's
lust the trouble, being so awfuHy set or
! one particular street or house, or on NOV
ing Northumberland almost quite free
from children. Having children OF theil
own makes some people want to steel
clear OF butting up against other peoples
children. which is O very foolish programme
to map out in New York.
sThere are some medium price apart
> ment houses in this city-not many, con.
!. sidering the many hundreds OF the sam
GLASS. but somewhere no children ere
Q taken, and a few which limit the numbo'
OF children to two in a family, but none q
these houses is in the fat districts. Mos
I OF them are in the private residential sec
tons.
an the rank and file Of apartment houses
situated in sections Of the city given owe
a more particularly to apartment house,
and apartment hotels, rules relating to tn
8 taking in OF children are now very elastic
and il parents find 1t hard to get into
8 S4S or q $40 fat In a good neighborhood
; is because they persist in tacklng the rev
, houses where youngsters are not vel
coined.
n Half a dozen children? Well, l dom
q know about that. The fact Is tenants will
ing to paw $40 a month or 80 don't ofteI
It have a half dozen children under 10, ant
above that age children are reckoned a
. adults.
. Families with four or five children ar
not though, and in the uppe
e West Side OF the town there is not the leas
h trouble in finding accommodations 10
them. Below Fifty-ninth street landlord
are more particular as to the number o
Ii children than they are uptown, except o
course In the tenement districts, 80 called.
d There Is one phase Of the question hay
noticed with much interest. II has de
veloped in the last few years and Is growing
, fast. It is that an increasing number. o
:, tenants are sending their boys to boarding
:" sohools-boys between the ages Of 8 and 10.
. "At one time to send children away Z
boarding school meant that the parent
were almost rioh, that they lived in 9 Who'll
house and kept q servant or two. 1t doe
" not mean that now. Many men who hv,
with their family in . SIS fiat have a boy o
BOYS at boarding school.
THAT il the reason the boys parents lily
in a ts5 fat. They cut down expenses n
Il every way 30 as to get the boys out OF tn
~ city, and no one approves the plan NOR
~ heartily thar house agents.
"a Boys make far more trouble in fat house
"a than girls. They are the cause CT far NOR
" rows than girls, and they are far more de