Arizona republican., 1909-03-01

the private house will be entirely ex- tinct on Manhattan island. The dis appearance of the institution known as the Great American Home is pro- ceeding rapidly in all the large cities of the country. but conditions are such that it is advancing with far greater speed in the metropolis than anywhere else. A century ago nearly, if not quite. a majority of families owned the houses in which they lived Today. in all the large cities of the country. not 10 per cent do so, and in New
 York the proportion is only about 2 per cent.
 At the present time the total number of residents in New York Is only a little short of 4.5OO,OOO. Of these less than 20,000 families, or. on the basis of five to a family, 100000 persons, own the homes in which they live. All l the remainder, 9S per cent of the citys total population, occupy homes owned by some one else. Sitting under ones own vine and fi6 tree is purely an imaginary occupation. so far as New Workers are concerned. The twentieth century in fact may be said to mark the beginning of a new era. After the Stone Agc the Iron Age, the Fire Age and all the other ages, the Homeless Age seems now to be at hand.
 This charge is partly the result of necessity and partly the result of choice. At the tremendous prices ob- tained for New York real estate even a modest home represents an invest ment of from $25, ,000 upward, which of course puts home-Owning quite out of the reach of the ordinary man, who is compelled to house his family in a hotel. apartment, tenement or board ing house-or else go to the suburbs. More than 2,000.000 people in New York live in flats, which on the one extreme. are called apartments, and may cost $50.G00 a year rental, and, on the other extreme. are known as tene- ments and rent for $1O a month. Ap- proximately 100000 persons make ho- te,s their residences and 100, 900 more, bachelors chiefly, live in clubs. Per haTs a million and a half are housed in private boarding establishments which occupy the buildings once used as private homes. The remainder is made uTt of those who rent houses.
 Even among those who can afford to- own homes, however, rapidly in creasing number are turning to hotels mad apartments. Those who elect to dwell outside the city in many cases prefer the convenience of hotel life to the responsibilities of house of their own, with the inevitable servant prob fem. Many of those who are classed as suhucbanitcs are hotel dwellers, and to accommodate these elaborate and luxurious hotels are springing up in suburban points about the city.
 The truth Of the whole matter is that domestic life has been brought to a realization of exactly the same fac tor that has marked the commercial development of the country. that is. that consolidation means a saving of eXpense-to some one. In the field Of the great industries it is still question as to whether the consumer profits, but in the field of domestic activities there is no doubt that the user, that is the consumer. of a home can get more for his money in com forts and luXuries through a corpora ton than as an individual, a state ment which is borne out by the fact that the man of moderate means on the one side, and fashionable society on the other are both coming more and more to inhabit country hotels.
 The two most exclusive and aristo- cratic suburban fields Of New York are Long Island on the one side and