Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-08

given up only too often acres and acres of
new slums in the suburbs. Where
the new houses are well built and on good
sites they are of unsuitable type, and the
rents are so unreasonably high as to be
beyond the means of one family, SO they
have to sublet to other families, and thus
by overcrowding, with the increased wear
and tear following in its train they rapidly
deteriorate and leave the mass of the
people as bad in many respects as 1t was
before. The product of private enterprise,
then, is insufficient in quantity and inferior
in quality
The Houses of the Poor in Washington
1 think the same may be said of the
houses occupied by the poor of the city
of Washington. They are insufficient in
quantity and inferior in quality" But, for
tuna tely, under our present building regu-
l2tions the number of these inferior houses
cannot be increased, and in process of time
our Sums will be wiped out by the nat
ural process of decay and the action of
the board for the condemnation of insani-
tary houses. This is. however, a tedious
process and how about the poor people in
the meantime. unless construction keeps
pace with demolition? Consumption and
other diseases due to overcrowding and in
sanitary housing conditions will continue
to claim an excessive number of victims
among the poorer classes of the commun-
ity, and Washington, with its magnificent
public buildings. its beautiful parks, its
broad and wcll-paVed streets. its expensive
bridges, it's luxurious apartment houses
and it's commodious private houses, many
of which may justly be called palaces,
will still have its plague spots hidden away
out of sight in the alleys.
The death rate from consumption in this
city has considerably diminished during the
past ten years. and this is indication
that some progress in the relief of inSani-
tary housing conditions has been made. But
we still have higher tuberculosis death
rate than that of Npw York ri which n
1865 was 23S per hundred thousand while
that of Washington was 256 per hundred
thousand. The rate in England and Wales
for the year 1898 was 142 per hundred
thousand. In e entire registration area"
of the United States the rate for the same
year QS93) was 16j per hundred thousand.
In view of what has been said We are
confronted with the practical question as to
how satisfactory results may best be OBJ
tanned in the improving of housing condi-
tions in the national capital. Private en-
terprise has thus far failed. but every
couragement should be given to individuals
and corporations to enter upon the work of
building low-cost houses on low-priced land
for the accommodation of the laborng
classes, skilled and unskilled. In some OF
our cities wealthy philanthropists have
taken I'D the work and have invested mill
lions of dollars in model tenements for the
poor One of the latest and best of these
phianthropic undertakings is that of Mr..
Henry Phipps of New York. who has placed
one million dollars in the hands of trus-
tees for the purpose of building houses
for the working classes of the city, with
the provision that the income from rents
shall be limited to 4 per cent and shall be
invested from time to time in additional
houses. Would that we had Henry Phipps
in Washington.
A Million Dollars.
a million dollars, properly invested,
would make a very appreciable impression
mortality would rpo
ally influence the progress of a considerable
number of our colored citizens in the way
of wholesome living and good citizenship.
In England the work of housing reform is
not left to private enterprise and philan-
thropic organizations alone, although much
has been accomplished by the cooperative
societies. Mr. Thompson says:
They. have provided over $4,000 hGnses,
at cost of about 95,000,ooo tGs25, 09o;o00),
and are eager in many districts to lay out
hundreds of thousands of pounds year by
year in the creation of more healthy
houses" In addition to this the municipali-
ties have spent large sums of money both
for clearing slum areas and for building
new houses.
In London the city council has built 3,447
dwellings costing GSG0,0OO on thirty-eight
acres of land costing s140O00 The money
to accomplish this has been obtained under
the housing act of $780, at low rate of
interest t2k to 3la per cent? by loans hav-
ing long time to run-thirty to sixty years
IN the city of London, also twenty-five
acres of the worst Sums in the city have
been cleared and rebuilt by the Church
of England. The entire cost of the scheme
for clearing and rebuilding the twenty
two acres is officially estimated at only
G2A0, 600 So small outlay is required
to transform so large an area of slums
into habitable and presentable houses. Nor
is this amount sunk without some sort of
commercial return. The rents are so esd-
mated to yield annual dividend of
per cent upon the initial outlay The land
referred to belonged to the Church of Eng
land, and had been leased for one hundred
years. The reclamation was effected upon
the expiration of the leases.
The Housing Question Here.
The housing question in Washington has
it's own peculiar difficulties, but, fortu-
nately, our slums are not very extensive
in extent, and We have an abundance of
cheap land in certain sections of the city
and in the suburbs upon which to build
homes for the working classes. Owing to
the comparatively low price of land it is
not necessary to uild lock houses OF
four five stories, but by following the
plan introduced by the Sanitary Improve
ment Company each family may have an
front entrance, a back yard and an exit to
the alley in rear. These two-story fats
have become the prevailing type in this
city and have been copied elsewhere, even
in England. They give an abundance of
light and air and afford each family that
privacy and independence which Is SO
highly priced and conduces to self-respect
and high moral standards
GEO. NJ STERNBERG.